Page 43 of Fool's Bargain

Our bonds were unmistakable now. We’d done the deed, as their customs dictated. We were thrice melded, mates in the eyes of their kind. The only thing more official was the blood meld I already shared with Theo, which I’d decided to offer the others on Christmas morning.

Theo took both my hands, nodding to Kyril, who stood behind me with his hands resting on my hips. My mouth went dry with dread as he began to speak.

“Tonight ismitéranýchta.”

“Matera-who-ta?” I asked, ignoring how my voice shook.

“In the Haven, we celebrate what we call ‘mother night,’ where the fertile women have their deepest needs met by the men. It’s something we didn’t get to do for a very long time, but now that the races interbreed and there are enough males in the Haven to participate, it’s become a tradition once more. Tonight the Haven and Sanctuary are throwing a shared festival that will last for the rest of Yuletide. Naturally, it ends in a big orgy where many babies are conceived, but we’re going to skip the baby-making part because I know that’s not what you need.”

“And Yuletide lasts how long, exactly?”

“Twelve nights. Eight nights left, but that’s not the important part. What’s important is that you understand we’reyours, Zarya, and that your life and ours are intertwined now. Your needs are ours now too.”

“Do you wish you were there?” I blurted. “Is that what this is about? You’re going to take me to the Haven and make me choose, aren’t you? Show me how amazing a life I can have there and give me all the reasons why I should give up my whole world to move there with you. Well I can’t do it. You heard what I said. I’ve worked too hard to achieve what I have. I fucking lost a man I loved, so it has to fucking count for something!”

Both men remained infuriatingly silent and when my panicked monolog ended, Theo cupped my face in his hands and kissed me. He went slow, sliding his tongue between my lips and sweeping deep in the way he knew turned me into jelly. I moaned and crumpled against him, my mind filled with a silent plea:“Don’t go.”

“We’re not going to the Haven, love,” he murmured against my ear when the kiss ended. “You’re taking us to your shop, where we’re going to give you exactly what you need.”

“You can bone me right here, you know. I’d rather keep my shop sanitary,” I murmured against his chest.

Kyril chuckled and squeezed my hips. “As surprising as it is tome, I can acknowledge that you need more than our dicks to be happy. I think what Theo is trying to say is that we want to be part ofallaspects of your life. So will you show us what that means?”

I pulled back and looked up into Theo’s eyes, then tilted back to look at Kyril behind me. “You want me to take you to my shop, and then what? Give you tattoos?”

“If that’s what will make you happy, make you understand we’re not asking you to give up a shred of the life you worked so hard to achieve,” Theo said.

I chewed on my lip, remembering Deva’s visit a few days earlier and the significance of the tattoo she had asked for. She’d wanted a permanent mark to signify her commitment to her mates—mates who all carried marks she had already given them. This was not only common, but far more significant to them than any normal tattoo a human chose to get just for the sake of honoring a memory. Even the tattoos I’d given Bodhi had transformed with his bond to Deva. They were no longer a representation of what he and I had shared, and I recognized his desire for those specific designs had been drawn from some deeper need of his that only Deva could have fulfilled for him. Likewise, the needs I had now could only be fulfilled by these four people, and one of those needs was something Theo wanted to prove to me he could meet.

“You want me to mark you?” I whispered.

“I think she gets it now,” Kyril said, pressing a kiss to my crown.

“We’ll have the others meet us there,” Theo said.

“Actually, I’d like to work on each of you separately, if that’s all right.” I stared up at Theo, already envisioning the tattoo I wanted to give him and where it should go. The others I wasn’t so sure of just yet, only that if they all allowed me to do this, it would go a long way toward driving home what I meant to them as much as what they meant to me.

I turned to face Kyril. “Do you mind staying here and waiting for the others? We might be a while.”

“Just don’t have too much fun without us,” Kyril said with a glint in his eyes as he stepped back and dropped his hands.

I turned back to Theo and took a deep breath, squeezing his hands in mine. Then I closed my eyes and focused on a visual of my shop. The increasingly familiar rush of magic caught me through my midsection, stealing my breath. Less than a second later the sensation disappeared and I opened my eyes to the dim interior of my shop with Theo gazing down at me.

“You’re getting better at drifting,” he said.

“Let’s see if I can channel some of this newfound magic I have into the design I have in mind for you. Come sit.” I released his hands and flipped on the lights, then patted the vinyl seat of the chair. Reaching for my tablet, I settled on my stool, then changed my mind and set the device back down. The image was so vivid in my mind, I didn’t want to waste time on a mockup when I knew without a doubt that I could create it flawlessly directly on Theo’s skin.

“I trust you,” Theo said, reading my mind. I met his gaze and saw my excitement reflected back at me.

“You know where this tattoo is going, don’t you?”

He gave a nod and pulled his shirt off over his head, then glanced down with a frown at the chair. “A bed or table might be more appropriate, don’t you think?”

“Just hold your horses, big guy,” I said, smiling. I rolled close and tapped one of the buttons at the base of the chair with my toe. The electronic mechanism inside hummed as the back lowered until it was flat. Theo’s eyebrows lifted and he turned over, lying on his belly.

“Pants too,” I said, slapping his denim-covered ass. “What I have in mind is going to be epic.”

He rolled back over and kicked off his shoes, then unfastened his jeans. I felt his eyes on me as he pushed them down his hips but was too busy watching the big man undress to return his gaze. His cock twitched in interest and he cupped my chin, brushing a thumb over my lower lip and forcing my gaze back up. “Are you sure you want me naked, Zar? Seems like it might be distracting.”

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