Page 34 of The Bonds of Nyx

However, the look Thea gave me, promised many questions, and excruciatingly detailed answers once we were done here. I sighed. What was the point of having a best friend if we didn’t share every gory detail of our lives with one another?

Does she really need to know about our sex life, Angel?

I turned to glare at Elias.Since I have to share with the class anyway? Yes. Yes, she does.

“What are they doing?” Thea asked, pointing between us.

“Talking telepathically,” Adrian murmured. I couldn’t ignore the hurt in his voice, knowing he wished we’d had a chance to complete the bond. “It’s part of the completed mate bond.”

Thea’s eyes widened, and she grimaced. “No, thank you. The idea of knowing someone has access to my thoughts makes me want to puke.”

I snorted. “Sure. Because youwouldn’tuse it to constantly send dirty thoughts to that person.”

“Well,” she drawled, grinning, “when you put it like that, I could deal with it. But it doesn’t answer the question as to why we’re gathered around the table.”

“I have a mystery mate.”

“Huh?” Thea gave me a confused look, lifting a blonde brow. “What do you mean?”

“Remember the weird tattoo?” She nodded. “It’s a mate mark. A symbol of a completed bond.”

Thea pointed at Adrian, then at Elias. “But you’ve only slept with Grumpy. Not Prince Charming?”

Beside me, Elias growled, but I couldn’t help but snicker. “Only Elias so far.” I spared Adrian a look that I hope he read as a promise. I owed him a conversation. “But, at some point during my extensive sex life, I apparently formed a mate bond with a Fae.”

This time, Thea snorted as Elias tensed.Extensive?

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “You and I have to recount what we remember about these assholes.”

My best friend shook her head and laughed. “What, all three of them?”

Three?he asked.Did any of them make you come like I did?

I shifted, feeling my cheeks warm. No way was I going to give him the answer he wanted.

“That should narrow our search, then,” Adrian said, clearing his throat.

Men.I shook my head. “Don’t go judging me unless you want to put all your exploits on the table.” I spared both mates a stern look. “Yes, I had sex before knowing you. I am quite happy with my sexual experience. You do not get to judge me. And it’s four, Thea.”

“Who am I missing? We’ve got Sam, Ethan, and Trevor.” She counted each guy on her finger. But she was missing the one who’d been my first.

“Who?” Elias asked quietly, like he sensed what I wasn’t saying.

I blew out a breath. “I knew him only as—” The name caught in my throat, and I cleared my throat.

What’s wrong?

I can’t say his name,I replied, meeting Elias’s worried stare.I just…can’t for some reason.

Before Elias could say anything, Thea’s brows pulled together in a frown as she studied me. “When was this?”

“The summer you and your family went to Europe.” I stared down at the table as fractured memories of that summer flooded me. “I was doing my best to stay out of Kerry’s way. Eloise was young, Kerry had Ginny, and Andrew was still in the picture. So, without you, I was spending a lot of time just hanging out in the forest.” I shrugged. “One day, I was hiking an old path when I found an old hunter’s cabin. I thought it was cool and knew you would find it awesome too.”

Thea gasped. “The lady cave?”

I couldn’t help but smile as our eyes met. “Yeah, the lady cave.” The memories were harder than I’d expected, and it’d been a while since I’d even thought about that summer. “At first, I thought it was abandoned. I was going to walk away when I heard groans. I was seriously thinking about running. I don’t know why, but I didn’t. The door was kicked in, and there he was.

“He’d been beaten. Badly. There were cuts all over his body, and he looked skinny, like he hadn’t been allowed to eat for a while. When he noticed me standing there, he was so scared.” Tears burned the back of my eyes as I remembered the statehe was in. Tattered, broken, bruised. He’d never told me who’d done it, but I’d suspected a parent.

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