Page 53 of Creatures of Chaos

Popping to her feet, she points a finger at me. “Ha! I knew it!”

I groan and cover my face with my hands. This is so embarrassing. And awkward.

“You guys should just kiss and get it over with,” she says, making me groan again. “Wait, have you already kissed?”

She leans toward me, and I do my impression of a deer in headlights.

“You have?”

“No,” I say quickly, while my wily friend interprets every micro expression that flits across my face.

“But you almost did,” she says, a smirk curving the corners of her mouth. “When? How did it happen? I want all the deets.”

“We didn’t kiss, but we did have . . . a moment. At the Chaos party in Deepseat Caverns. It happened when the lights went out.”

She gasps. “I was right there. How did I miss that?”

“Probably because you were occupied by a specific bandmate you’ve sworn up and down you’re not interested in?” I answer with a smirk of my own.

She rolls her eyes. “Konan is cute, but he’s just a friend. There’s no spark there, ya know? I’d tell you if there were.” Ensley is a beautiful girl and has guys after her all the time, yet she rarely dates. Sometimes I worry she’s holding back because of me. Like she doesn’t want to jump into a relationship when I’m so utterly and completely without prospects, but she holds fast to the story that she’s just waiting for the right guy. “Back to you and Becks. You guys have been dancing around each other for years. Everyone sees it. The only thing I don’t understand is why it hasn’t happened yet.”

“It’s complicated.”

“You don’t say,” she says as she plops down on the bed beside me.

“I can’t talk to you about this.”

“Why?” she says, looking genuinely confused.

“Because you’re hissister. It’s weird.”

“Is that the reason you’ve been avoiding talking to me about it?”

“Well . . . pretty much.”

She waves me off. “Whatever. It’s not that big of a deal. Besides, I love him, and I love you. Who else would I want to see my brother with than my best friend?”

I scrunch my nose. I don’t have any siblings, but if I did have a twin brother I don’t think I’d want to see Ensley coupling up with him. But I guess as long as she’s cool with it, I shouldn’t worry about it.

“Nothing would make me happier than to see you both happy together,” she stresses.

“Did you forget about the arranged life-mate issue?” I say, reminding her of the biggest hurdle. In a few months Becks will be pledged to another female and then eventually life-mated. He’s been very vocal about not wanting to date or have a girlfriend in the meantime.

Ensley’s face falls and anger lights her green gaze. “I have a mind to hunt down those council members and give them a piece of my mind.”

“You could, but what good would that do?”

“It would make me feel better.”

“But it wouldn’t change Becks’ situation.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” she admits. “You know what we need to do?”

I shake my head. I truly don’t or I would have done it already.

“We need to find out why the council wants Becks to mate so early. If we knew why they were pushing for it, then maybe we could change their minds.”

“But how are we going to find that out? Dragon shifters are notoriously private about their internal politics.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I remember the law text I borrowed from the Emporium.

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