“You’re back,” Fionn said. “I take it the bonding was successful.”
Reaper didn’t want to talk about this. The bond was too new, too raw, too his. It felt like standing naked in a room full of strangers, with every inch of him exposed, and every vulnerability laid bare.
Cian’s hand settled on the small of Reaper’s back. The touch was light, almost casual, but comforting nonetheless, marking him in ways that had nothing to do with ink or magic. “It was.” Pride threaded through his words. “Reaper is now my Grá Croí.”
The words sent a fresh wave of heat through Reaper’s body, his pulse spiking in his throat.
Grá Croí.
Heart love.
Fated.
His.
Mine.
A burst of warmth spread through his chest like wildfire, and he had to lock his knees to keep from swaying.
Fionn’s gaze softened, the lines around his eyes easing as if he understood the storm raging inside him better than Reaper understood it himself. “And you, Reaper?” he asked. “How do you feel about this?”
His body and his soul had been claimed by Cian. It was fucking insane what this probably meant for him. He thrived under the rules and regs of the US Navy; this change was the ripping apart of every protection he’d built for himself. It would change things, change him. If he were honest, it already had. But beneath it all, buried so deep he didn’t want to admit it was there, was a flicker of something else. Something that felt dangerously like relief to know he’d never have to stand alone to face Derek again. “It’s…” he ground out, “strange, but not as weird as I thought it would be.”
Fionn nodded, as if he’d expected nothing less. “Then perhaps you should take some time,” he said, his voice measured. “The bond is new. It will take adjustment.”
Adjustment?
Hisentire world had been ripped apart at the seams and stitched back together with threads of magic and fate, leaving him raw and bleeding and oh so different.
Cian’s fingers traced slow, idle circles on his back, the movement almost absentminded, as if he weren’t even aware he was doing it. Reaper wanted to shrug him off, to put space between them, to breathe without the scent of him filling his lungs. But he didn’t. Because, fuck, it felt good, it felt right, and he leaned into his touch.
Reaper’s stomach growled the second he and Cian stepped into the hall. Zero was already at the long table near the hearth, his hair still damp from what had to have been a recent dunk in the lake, a mug of something steaming in front of him. He looked up as they entered. His sharp eyes flicked between Reaper and Cian before a slow, knowing grin spread across his face. “Well, well,” he drawled, leaning back in his chair. “If it isn’t the two lovebirds. You survive the night, Rodriguez? Or did the big, scary warrior eat you alive?”
Reaper flipped him off without breaking stride, but the corner of his mouth twitched despite himself. Zero’s smirk only deepened, the bastard clearly pleased with his own shitty wit.
Kaze paused with a spoonful of something that looked a hell of a lot like oatmeal halfway to his mouth. “About time you two showed up,” his voice carried easily over the noise. “Thought maybe you’d gotten lost in each other’s eyes or some shit. Or maybe Cian finally convinced you to run off into the woods and live off berries and moonlight.”
Cian snorted, pulling out a chair for Reaper. The wood groaned slightly under his weight as he claimed theseat beside him, stretching his long legs out in front of him. “Jealous, Kaze?” his tone was light, but there was enough of an edge to it to make it clear he wasn’t entirely joking.
Kaze rolled his eyes, “Please. I’ve seen his bare ass too many times to know Reaper’s not my type.” He smirked. “Reaper, you’ve got shadows under your eyes like you haven’t slept in a week. Did you get some? And Cian—” He paused, squinting at the pair of them. “You’ve got that smug, well-fucked, I-got-laid look going on. It’s disgusting this early in the morning.”
Jesus, don’t react.
Don’t react, or they’ll never shut up.
Reaper raised an eyebrow. “At least I’m getting some. When was the last time you got laid, Kaze?”
“My mother is not a bird; how can I have gotten laid?” Cian’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What did Reaper get some of?”
Kill me now.
“Sex.” He whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
Kaze barked out a laugh. “Fair point, fairy boy.” He jerked his chin toward the food. “Now shut up and eat.”
“Last I checked, I was the one who could cross Trace’s fairy fence. So I’m not as human as I thought.” He didn’t want to bring up that Cian insisted he’d released a wolf from his skin as he’d slept last night.
Hell no, I’m saving that shit for payback for this shit right here.
