Page 11 of Fool's Bargain

“Honey, you really don’t want to take that kind of risk.” Keagan leaned forward and tapped the table with his index finger. “Trust me, we’ve learned the hard way that you don’t fuck with Fate. Bodhi and I both nearly died figuring that out.” He reached out a hand and clasped Bodhi’s shoulder, squeezing, then sliding higher up to bracket the side of his neck. The pair shared a solemn look akin to a pair of soldiers who’d survived a war together. My blood chilled.

“You said there was a risk before, but so far you haven’t explained what that means. What the fuck do you mean you nearlydied?”

The story they weaved recounting their last few months left me openmouthed in awe. I suspected they’d left out some of the more personal details, particularly related to the intimacy I’d witnessed going on between the big ursa and my ex-boyfriend. When Keagan got up to act out one of their fights against the more vicious version of Deva’s hounds that had been after them, he ended the theatrics by propping his hands onto Bodhi’s shoulders. Bodhi tilted back, looking up at him with an expression that could only be described as hungry, and when Keagan closed the distance and kissed Bodhi full on the lips, my entire body lit up.

I eyed the pair with a smirk. “Well, whatever horrors you guys went through don’t seem to have dampened your enthusiasm for this relationship you’ve got going on.”

“We went through too much to get where we are,” Ozzie said, his accent more pronounced than it had been earlier. His eyes burned with passion when he looked around at the others and my heart somersaulted. God, I wanted that. Maybe not the awful things they’d had to deal with to get where they were, but the love they shared? It was so palpable it made my skin tingle.

From next door the strains of Wham!’s “Last Christmas” filtered through my walls, hitting me like a fist in the gut at the memory of what I’d lost when Bodhi had left. Here they were offering me something even better, but I had to trust their crazy magical process to get it. Holy fucking Christ.

I leaped up. “Fine. I’ll do whatever I need to do. I’ll be at the show tonight if that’s how this starts. Now, I remember you saying you wanted a tattoo. Shall we get started?” I looked pointedly at Deva, hoping that she could read my mood with whatever magic she possessed and understand what I needed now without me having to say it out loud.

Her face lit up, her expression softening when she met my eyes. She nodded. “Guys, this is your last chance for input. I remember the requests you made this morning, so if you want to add anything, now’s the time.”

“You know what we want,szívem,” Ozzie said. “And I gather Bodhi’s told you where he wants it.” He gave Bodhi an indulgent smile and I narrowed my eyes, wondering exactlywhereon Deva’s body I’d be inking this tattoo.

Holding my gaze, Deva nodded. “I trust Zarya. I think between the two of us we’ll come up with the perfect design.”

6

Zarya

As strange as it was to have my ex-boyfriend’s new lover seated in my chair, we’d sufficiently broken the ice with our kiss. I felt more comfortable with her than I would have with Bodhi. The lack of any real baggage between us helped, but she’d also piqued my curiosity and genuinely seemed like she cared about my well-being.

The music from my speakers changed, a new Fate’s Fools song starting that managed to overwhelm the more low-key Christmas music from next door for once. I hummed, pleased by the change while I started setting up. It was probably my favorite, one of the sultrier, bump-and-grind, bluesy numbers the band played that reminded me of making love.

“This song suits you,” Deva said. “Will you sing it with me?”

She held out both her hands and I paused with a questioning look. It seemed like she was almost asking us topray, so I narrowed my eyes at the gesture. “This is a little weird, isn’t it?”

“This is how the hounds do their job. Your soul brightened when this song started playing. If we sing it to the hounds, they’ll sing back, marking you with their magic. Then they go hunting for someone whose soul resonates at the same frequency as yours.” She shrugged. “Itisa little like praying, I suppose.”

“Did you just read my mind?”

“Sort of. One of my powers allows me to interpret unspoken words between your breaths. It’s not quite mind reading but it’s close. It’s something all turul can do. Bodhi can even pick up on it if he focuses, now that he and I are soul bonded.”

“Really?” I leaned back against the counter, curious about the implications. “So, besides what I can do with my tattoo ink, what am I in store for if I, ah,soul bondwith someone? That kiss thing you did... will I be able totastepeople’s thoughts?”

“I really don’t know. Bodhi hasn’t manifested any skills like Llyr’s. He’s a lot closer to Keagan though. They bonded early on, before I mated them both and showed signs of being able to manipulate earth magic. It was a confusing time for all of us. I don’t think my own confusion helped matters any either.”

She looked a little wistful, and yet again I was struck by how very human she seemed. Not at all like a goddess. She had a fragility that thankfully made her a little less alluring to me, but I had no doubt that vulnerability had drawn Bodhi to her instantly. I was sure it had been my own damaged soul he’d been attracted to when we met. He’d have denied it, but he was fundamentally a fixer—someone who thrived on creating order out of chaos, taking care of broken things.

I, on the other hand, gravitated toward wisdom and strength. I’d found it in myself after Bodhi had left, and I looked for the same thing in others. Not that I didn’t see it in Deva, but something about her screamed innocent to me. Like she’d been born yesterday and was still fumbling about in the world. Sexy, yes, but so not my type. I could still appreciate the view though.

I’d accepted my bisexuality years ago but hadn’t been with a woman since before meeting Bodhi. With him, I’d believed I’d be happy with a man forever. After today, I was kind of thrilled to learn that my attraction to womenandmen hadn’t faded at all. I still got turned on equally by either one and was a little excited at the prospect of finding out which I’d wind up with.

“What’s that smile for?” Deva asked in an amused tone.

“Nothing,” I said with a soft chuckle. “You’ve just helped me reclaim a piece of myself that I’d missed. Now, let’s sing this song and see what happens.”

I went to the shelf where my phone was docked and skipped the track back to the start. Then I stretched my hands out to her. A wave of calm and comfort blanketed me once again when our palms pressed together, and we sang. I closed my eyes to feel the vibration of my voice, and somewhere deeper I was sure I could sense other voices surrounding me with subaudible tones that made the center of my chest warm, sending a glowing sensation out through my limbs.

When the song ended, my body felt as though every single cell had been charged with an electrical current, and beneath the melody of the next song, I could still hear the vibrations of the one I’d just sung.

“Wow. This is really happening, isn’t it?” I asked. “How long does it take?”

“It varies with complexity. But the hounds are already off and have probably found someone. They don’t exactly obey the laws of physics. It might take a bit of time for whoever it is to reach you though, so be patient.”

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