Page 90 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

“Contract?”

“For you to be my official mistress. You’d have legal rights and protections. I couldn’t just turn you out.”

Her mouth tightened as I spoke, and heat bloomed in her eyes. She shook her head quickly and held out a hand, stopping me from coming any closer. “I don’t want that. I told you my reasons for … what you caught me doing. I’m not interested in sex for the sake of power or prestige. I don’t want to be your mistress.”

“But you feel drawn to me, too. You feel the pull when I’m near. Your mind has rejected the offer, but your body is already imagining what it would be like to have my touch.” Was this the mate-bond I’d heard so much about? Was it the same draw Jasper and Seb felt, the reason they kept circling her despite knowing how insane it was?

If they—we—were mate-bonded to her, it was proof she was the shape-thief. Only a shape-thief could hold multiple mating bonds.

“I don’t want to talk about this with you.” She held up her other hand now, panic flashing across her face. “I don’t trust you. I don’t want to be close to you.”

“You’re afraid of me?”

Azriel winced, then nodded.

I fell back a step, my body responding to her fear. My chest tightened despite myself. The sounds of music came faintly through the walls from the ballroom, which had been opened up after the meal. The last time it’d been open was when Phineas had his etiquette event. When I’d been paired with the girl with the mousy hair, Azriel’s friend. I couldn’t remember her name. The one who was dead.

“You should get back to the party,” Azriel said. “I should—”

“You said you never knew your mother. What happened to her?” I’d read the files. I just wanted to know how Azriel would answer me.

She pushed her brown hair from her face. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t?”

She shook her head. “The official word is my human father killed her. I don’t believe it.”

“Why not?”

“That’s none of your business.” Her eyes flashed again. “How about you, huh? What makes you so convinced that a shape-thief killed your mother?”

I moved closer, my hands flexing. “I’m convinced because I saw it happen, and the thief wore my face to do it. They came to my room and used magic to bind me in my bed, then took my face and waited for my mother.” The memories of that day were scorched into my mind. “There was an attack on the estate. She came to protect me, distracted by the attack. The shape-thief let her pull them into her arms, then cut her throat.”

If I was right, then it was Azriel’s mother who killed mine.

She pressed a hand to her mouth and tears welled in her eyes. My breath caught in my throat. This was not the reaction I’d expected. She reached out to me, stepping closer as though she was going to—

I batted her hand away. “I don’t need your comfort!”

Azriel froze, one hand still pressed to her mouth while the other still reached for me. Slowly, both hands lowered. She blinked a few times and gave her head a little shake. The tears in her eyes spilled, and she quicky wiped them away.

One thing I was certain of was the shape-thief I hunted was not the same one that murdered my mother. She was too young to have been the one that did it. I was five years old when I witnessed her murder. Even a shape-thief couldn’t manifest her powers at that young of an age.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I never knew my mother. I don’t know what it means to lose a parent, because I never knew what it meant to have a parent in the first place. I … I just know it must have been horrible. I’m sorry that you saw something like that.”

The tug in my chest grew stronger, overriding my good sense. “There’s nothing to say. But you were right in the first place. It’s been a while since anyone just … hugged me.”

I felt so stupid, asking for a hug. Especially from her, the girl who was most likely my sworn enemy. But even though she said she was afraid of me, she showed no sign of fear as she stepped forward and embraced me. I braced myself, my mind running through the various ways she could murder me in such an intimate embrace.

Then all the ways I could kill her. She wouldn’t even see it coming. A knife to the kidneys. Across her throat. I could snap her neck or crush the life from her. My jaguar form could tear her to pieces in seconds. My hands rested on her upper back as I considered how much trouble I’d be in if I did just do it now.

Azriel laid her head on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

My throat swelled and I found myself pressing my face into her hair. I breathed in her scent, waiting for something to change. For my cock to realize I had a soft, warm female body pressed into me. For my hunter instincts to kick in. For something to happen.

All that happened was my arms tightened around her. It just felt so good to hold someone. To have her override her own distrust to want to comfort me. It was a foolish mistake on her part. This was exactly why there wasn’t room for compassion in the fae world, because it would be a simple thing to snuff her out of existence right now. The last shape-thief.

I don’t have enough proof. If I kill her now, I’ll be charged. Even if nothing comes from it, I’ll lose my friendships with Seb and Jasper forever. They’ll never forgive me.