Page 60 of Dawn Unearthed

I nearly laughed at that. “You’ve been away from Ravenwood too long if you think that marking her without her permission’s the way to go about mating consensually.”

“I saw how she looked at you when you ran towards her. She wouldn’t mind the mark.”

“She’s new to this whole magic thing. And Ravenwood.” But, fuck, I wanted to mark her. To make her mine.

“Maybe, but she’s learning. She’ll be fine.” Ash sounded as if he didn’t care about the emotion and connection that came with bonding and claiming. Maybe he didn’t. Not with what he’d lost.

“Is that your witchy intuition talking? Or do you not care?” Trace asked, his voice far more growly than it had been before.

Ash shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know much of anything anymore. I know I’m not welcome here by anyone other than my sister—and maybe you on a good day,” he said, looking at us. “I need to be here, though. The coven needs me.”

“You know she doesn’t think you are a part of the coven anymore.” I kept my voice low.

Ash met my gaze, the blankness in his eyes scaring me for a moment before whatever magic behind them shone brightly again. “I can’t care what she thinks, Rome. You know that.”

Jaxton sighed and set his coffee down. “You’d better. Because your sister needs you, the coven needs you. This town needs you. And you were gone way too fucking long.”

“Jaxton’s right,” I added, surprised that Jaxton had exploded a bit just then. He was the quietest of us all, the hunter who stalked his prey as we bears growled and swiped.

“You can’t fix a curse. You know why I left.”

“Everyone is cursed in one way or another,” Jaxton whispered, and I nodded.

“You’re back. And you can’t leave again when things get tough.”

“So you think you can fix me, then?” Ash asked. “Because I’ve spent these years trying to fix myself, and it hasn’t worked. I know Rowen doesn’t want me here. But the town needs me. So, I’m here. Even if part of me still doesn’t know why.”

I leaned against the porch railing and sighed.

We were a broken bunch. All of us cursed in some way as Jaxton had said. Ash was back, and we were one step closer to a new coven, one step closer to keeping Ravenwood safe.

One step closer to keeping my mate safe.

Chapter Seventeen

Sage

“The amount of honey buns you make during the week is bordering on ridiculous,” Aunt Penelope said from the other side of the counter.

My arms elbow-deep in dough, I looked over my shoulder and smiled. “What? I’m in a town full of bears. Of course, there are honey buns. And honey loaves, and honey-filled donuts, and everything else you can imagine with honey.”

“Imagine what you’d bake if you didn’t have grizzlies all around you,” Rome joked from Penelope’s side. “I wonder what all of the smaller bears would want.”

My aunt shrugged. “Probably honey. If you had to deal with the polars from up north, then you’d make a lot of salmon.”

“Ooh, honey-covered salmon sounds amazing.” Rome rubbed his belly.

I rolled my eyes and looked between the two of them. I had a feeling Aunt Penelope had known the exact moment I slept with Rome. Not through magic or anything, but because I couldn’t hide my feelings from my face. Rome and I weren’t mated yet, but therewassomething there. Something between us—and not just sex, either.

One day, and I had a feeling that day would be soon, we would mark each other and fight together against the darkness, discovering what our lives could be. For now, I enjoyed taking it decently slow as we figured out who we were and what we needed to be.

“I get the first taste, though, right?” Rome asked, his voice low.

Aunt Penelope cleared her throat. “Wow, I feel like I’m interrupting,” she said with a laugh, and I shook my head.

“Behave.” I leaned down and began working on the next batch. “And, of course, you get the first honey bun. You’re here early this morning. The dough is ready, and it needs to prove one more time before it goes in the oven.”

“And to think, I used to buy store-bought everything.”

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