Page 24 of Finding Closure

“Who would I say?” I challenged.

“White,” he said at the same time as Julian.

“That wouldn’t have been my guess,” Neldor admitted as he came into the room with Lucca.

Lucca snorted. “You missed how devastated White was when the council used her lover against her. She’s been wounded ever since.”

“Yeah, she really has. It’s a wound that doesn’t heal easily,” I whispered.

“Apparently, Kerym is planning to heal it and much more,” Darby purred, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

“Get out!” I gasped.

He nodded. “I heard him gossiping to Rafe that Anya White melted his insides, and even if they’d only kissed, he was completely sunk.”

“That sounds like a disaster match,” Julian groaned.

“I disagree,” Neldor hedged, sharing a look with me. “He might be exactly what she needs.”

“Good point. She needs someone who starts a bit of trouble and will help her break out of her prim and proper everything.” I shrugged when Julian seemed shocked. “She’s spent summers with me and never showed more than her damn arms, Julian. Like never put on a swimsuit and just jumped in the pool. She’s too young to be that old.”

“That’s—good for her,” Hudson chuckled. “I was going to tell you that one of my cousins is gaga for Ara.”

“What?” a few of us gasped.

He nodded, sitting up with a shit-eating grin. “Yeah, they hooked up, and he’s so—he said he didn’t know sex could be like that and women could be sobendy. I just laughed. He wanted to ask about our sex life and if it was like a fairy thing or if he was lucky and how did he win a fairy over.”

“Food,” Neldor and I both said, snorting as we shared another look.

Seriously.

“That’s what I told him,” Hudson admitted before we all burst out laughing.

“I was actually hoping Ara and Juan might get together,” I admitted, shrugging when a few of them gave me shocked looks. “He’s come a long way, but I think he could be good for her after all she’s been through.”

“I was thinking Talila,” Neldor confessed, shocking the shit out of all of us. “She’s too much, and he’s pretty balanced now but knows how to get into trouble like Kerym and White balance.”

“If they knew this was what we all talked about,” Julian chuckled as he got the sofa ready to sleep on. “I always hoped Edelman found someone nice. He went through so much with his family and deserves a happy ending too.”

“I thought White had feelings for him maybe,” I muttered as Darby sat up against the headboard and I snuggled up to him. “She made a few comments that made me think that.”

“I think so too, but he shut it down too hard, and that can’t be recovered from, not after all this time,” Julian confessed. “I think he did it to protect her because anyone he was with would be a pawn to his family. I know that feeling well.”

Fair enough.

“Onas,” Neldor whispered. “I hope he finds someone. His whole life has been war and convicting criminals. He lost himself a few times to the darkness. My dad said that, and my mother pulled him back. I think Onas will never forgive himself that he didn’t do the same for my mother. I hope he meets someone who heals his heart so he realizes it’s not his fault.”

Like I did him. That wasn’t what he said, but it was all over his face when he fucking blushed. Damn the Prince of Darkness for being so cool sometimes.

“We forgot about Colton and Stefanie,” I said to change the topic. “I think that’s the perfect pairing and not just because she got hurt.”

“Yeah, she’s too serious, and he’s the right balance,” Hudson agreed, moving his hands behind his head.

I lost track of what he was saying, my eyes eating up the way his muscles moved and how thick his arms were. The way his Adam’s apple moved as he talked and how perfect his neck was. His shoulders were so ripped and his chest was seriously magnificent. Every inch of Hudson was male perfection and just—

“Agra, you’re squirming against me completely turned on by your other mate,” Darby whispered in my ear. “Are you seriously getting wet ogling him while in my arms?”

I glanced up at him and licked my lips. “And if I am?”

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