Page 8 of Fool's Bargain

He saved me by reaching out and grabbing my wrist. He forced my fist open and rubbed my palm with his thumb the way he used to after a day spent tattooing. Higher up my wrist, the vivid image of suckered octopus tentacles concealed one of a pair of scars not even the tattoos would let me forget. “You said bygones. If you meant it, I want to move on too. I can let it go if you can.” His thumb grazed the edge of my scar and his eyes conveyed the question he knew better than to put into words. Would I survive the knowledge that he’d moved on?

“I think you’ve already let it go.” I glanced at Deva, who watched us with a slight frown.

“I’ve moved on, yes. But that isn’t the same thing. Deva had to remind me your life was in danger to get me to bring her here today. If you turn her down, you’re taking an enormous risk to remain unattached as a member of the bloodline. Trust me, you don’t want these creatures to come find you.”

He touched the glowing mark at the side of his neck, his eyes filling with the pain of some memory that had nothing to do with me but that looked strikingly similar to how I’d felt after surviving my own inner demons. Deva reached out and took his hand, squeezing. Her eyes had gone glassy and I realized with the weight of an anvil how substantial whatever they had must be. But he’d said he wasn’t the only one in their relationship. Did she have this deep a connection with all of them?

“Can I meet them?” I blurted, more than ready to shift the focus of the conversation away from old scars.

Deva turned and looked at me, her strange eyes swirling with color and light. “You wish to meet our other mates?”

“I need help wrapping my brain around this. If you two are the perfect blend of bloodline blood, that means you’re hooked up with one of each, right? So if I want to meet one of each, they’re the best place to start.”

“Very well,” Deva said.

I wasn’t sure what I’d expected. Perhaps for her to pull out her phone and make arrangements for us to meet for dinner somewhere nearby. I definitely wasn’t expecting four of the hottest men in existence to justappearout of thin air in my shop. One second the room was awash in nothing more than a band of midday sunlight, and the next that space was filled with four large, sexy bodies. I blinked and stared, every thought having fled my mind.

“Honey, you’re catching flies,” a burly, bearded man said with a slight smirk.

I snapped my gaping mouth shut, and my synapses short-circuited when it finally hit me that three of the men I was looking at were members of my favorite band.

Bodhi laughed. “Yeah, I had the same reaction.” He stood and gestured at each man in turn. “Zarya, meet Keagan Sundance, Rohan Tanan, and Ozzie West, better known as Fate’s Fools. Also, meet the three newest members of the band, myself, Deva, and that big hunk of satyr over there, Llyr Xanthos.”

I waved a finger between them all and Bodhi. “You and... all of them? Is this what beingmatedmeans?”

Suddenly Deva’s insistence on finding me a mate took on new meaning. The idea of starting a long-term relationship with someone right now had zero allure, but if I had the option of someone like one ofthosemen? I could get used to it pretty quickly. And if there were other women out there like Deva, sign me the fuck up.

“It means they complete me,” Deva said. “I can’t speak for you, but if you’re anything like me, you probably have a sense of something missing. When you’re touched by Fate the way our kind are, you’ll never really feel complete until you find that missing piece. For me it was the five of them. For you it will be different. I can’t say how, but that’s where I come in. I’m here to help you find your mate. Ormates.”

“Mates,” I murmured, my eyes catching on the tall one with the swimmer’s body that Bodhi had introduced as Llyr. He had eyes the color of the ocean and lips that promised pleasure without even speaking a word. As I stared, they curled into a slow smile and I remained enthralled when they moved. I supposed he was talking, but all that mattered was the fluid grace of his muscles as he settled down across the table from me and leaned on one elbow, turning his head. Then the lips I’d fixated on pressed to Deva’s and I still couldn’t tear my eyes away while they kissed.

A hand swept across my field of vision and I blinked, staring into a pair of golden eyes and another handsome face filled with mirth.

The one called Rohan laughed. “Yeah, he’s hypnotic. You’ve got to be careful with the nymphaea. Don’t stare too long or you’ll fall in love. Do you know what flavor you are yet?”

“Flavor?” I asked, my core growing warm at the thought of anyonetastingme. I reached for my drink and took a hearty swallow to try to banish some of those thoughts.

“Of bloodline.” Rohan plopped down next to me and reached for the bottle. He blew out a breath of shimmering golden smoke that coalesced into four matching glasses resting on the tabletop. Glancing at me while he poured, he lifted his eyebrows, waiting for my answer.

“We haven’t tested her yet,” Deva said. “I figured we needed to warm up to it. Iwasgoing to wait until after I let her give me a tattoo, but it seems we’ve fallen down this particular rabbit hole a little too far to backtrack.”

“You probably don’t want me working on you after all this whiskey,” I said with a chuckle.

“Are you kidding?” Bodhi said. “You inked half of my back drunk. You always said it was one of your superpowers. I’d trust you with a needle with your eyes closed and one hand tied behind your back. I hope you realize how fucking good you are at what you do. You’re so damn cocky about it, I figured you did.”

“It’s okay if you want to settle this question first,” Deva said. “I think what you are has significant bearing on your skills.”

“You said you have a theory,” I offered. “Care to share?”

She leaned her elbows on the table and propped her chin on her hands. “Ink is fluid, right?” she asked and I nodded though the question was rhetorical. “So your command of it suggests a strong affinity for fluids. A control average humans can only hope to aspire to. I imagine you hold your liquor rather well too, and you probably drink like a fish if other examples are any indication.” She cast a sidelong look at Llyr, who lifted an eyebrow as he downed a nearly full glass of whiskey.

My heartbeat spiked and I tore my gaze away from his tempting lips as he licked them. Jesus Christ, he washers. I couldn’t keep staring at the man that way.

“You’re probably filled with nymphaea blood,” Llyr said. “That’s what Deva’s saying. There’s one surefire way to prove it.”

He started to lean across the table and Deva held him back. “You’ll fry her brain if you kiss her, Llyr. Let me.”

“Kiss me?” I squeaked, flushing at the sound that came out of me.

---