Page 60 of Dark Witch: Entangled Fates

He needed to take a step back and breathe and give Jasmine space to figure out what she wanted. If he wasn't the one for her, so be it.

The world was full of beautiful women. But beautiful women who were also Dormants were rare, and there was a slight chance that Jasmine was a Dormant.

Nevertheless, he wouldn't make a fool of himself, even if it meant watching her flirt with other men. He would grit his teeth and smile through the jealousy that clawed at his insides and pretend that he was fine with it.

That didn't mean that he wouldn't fight for her, though. Just that if he lost to someone else, he wouldn't be a sore loser.

Even if she was just a human, Jasmine was still worth fighting for, if for no other reason than to prove to those macho Guardians that charm and wit were no less important than bicep size.

When there was a slight pause in the chatter, he leaned over and put a hand over Jasmine's thigh. "Can we talk out on the balcony for a minute?"

Jasmine glanced at her friends, hesitated for a moment, but then nodded and rose to her feet. "Lead the way."

Margo and Frankie regarded him with twin puzzled expressions, but the knowing looks in Dagor and Negal's eyes told him that they understood what was going on.

When they stepped out to the balcony, he closed the sliding door behind them and pulled Jasmine into his arms. "I need to kiss you."

She giggled. "Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

"Yeah. More or less." He wrapped his palm around the back of her neck and kissed her hard, pouring all of his uncertainty and pent-up possessiveness into the kiss.

When he finally let her go up for air, she was breathless. "Wow." She brought a finger to her lips and rubbed it over them. "Whatever you wanted to talk about, that was a very convincing argument."

He chuckled. "I'm glad that we have that settled." He took her hand and turned toward the sliding door.

"Wait." She tugged on his hand. "Is that really all you wanted? To kiss me?"

He hesitated for a moment. "I wanted to remind you how good it is between us, just in case you forgot while drooling over Max's biceps."

"Oh, Ed." Jasmine laughed. "I'm not interested in Max, and he's not interested in me. I think he doesn't like me for some reason. He was borderline rude to me and kept looking at me as if I had dog poo stuck to my shoe."

Now, that made Ed angry almost as much as hearing that Max had flirted with her would have. "I'll talk to him. He has no right to regard you with anything other than respect."

"Oh, sweetie." She lifted her hand and cupped his cheek. "That's so chivalrous of you, and here I was thinking that chivalry was dead."

He felt his chest puff up even though he hadn't commanded it to do so. "I'm glad to restore your faith in my gender."

She leaned in and feathered a soft kiss over his lips. "As much as I appreciate the gesture, please don't talk with Max about me. You don't need to risk your friendship with him over a silly thing like that. Besides, I'm a big girl, and unless I've been drugged and kidnapped by a drug lord, I can take care of myself."

45

MARGO

After Jasmine and Edgar left to explore the ship, Margo leaned back on the plush couch, listening to Frankie and Mia talk about Karen.

"Gabi told me that Karen doesn't want to do the test," Mia said. "I need to have a talk with the woman and explain that it's not about making sure she has transitioned, but about tradition. All transitioned Dormants do it. It's like a rite of passage."

Frankie shrugged. "Karen strikes me as the practical sort, and she doesn't need the proof, so why go for it?"

"That's what she says." Mia let out a breath. "Karen told Gabi that the disappearance of her fine lines was proof enough that it worked."

As her friends debated the merits of Karen's decision, Margo's mind drifted to her own situation. Bridget believed that her symptoms were consistent with the transformation, and Negal was convinced of it, but part of her still doubted. What if they were all mistaken and something else was responsible for her symptoms?

Frankie's test was a simple cut on the palm of her hand that had healed in a matter of moments. The ceremony around it had been a much bigger deal than what was needed for the test.

Margo wanted the certainty that came with concrete proof that she was truly becoming immortal, and as she listened to the others talk, an idea began to form in her mind.

A brief moment of pain was worth it, to know for sure, and she didn't even need the doctor for that.

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