Page 18 of Prey

He looks at me in shock.

“Oh fuck,” he says. “This is the worst thing that could happen. But it does explain some things.”

He says that last part quietly, almost as if it’s just to himself. Weird.

“You’re not upset or jealous?”

He waves a hand at me in dismissal. “Look, we all know something like this could always be a possibility. Having the same mate as my brother, my best friend, is amazing. But the fact that it’s you? I don’t know, Shas. I don’t know how he’s going to react. I’d love to say the mate bond will suddenly change things, but I don’t think it will. Joaquin and I thought there may be something more to his attitude. This may be what it was. He must have suspected something. Have Joaquin get you out of here, please. We’ll have to figure something else out as far as the dark magic goes. I’m not going to risk you getting hurt again.”

I nod and lean up to give him a kiss. He grabs the back of my head gently and I wince a little. Okay, I guess I should go find Jessa.

He waves Joaquin over and gives him instructions while I head off to find her.

She’s back in her office, now that the desk in the hallway is shattered, writing up a report on what happened with Ethan when I knock on the door frame. “Hey girl,” she says. “Come here and let me check you over. That was some toss into the hallway. I’m assuming he woke up part of the way through?”

“Yeah, and hey, surprise, he’s also my mate,” I say, giving her the jazz hands.

I sit down in the chair and Jessa waves her hands over me and I feel the pain leave my body. That’s much better.

“Geez Shas, you have the worst luck sometimes. You want to talk about it?” she asks.

“Well, let's just say it's been an interesting couple of days, and Ethan hates witches,” I say and then fill her in on the events of the last couple days.

“So, I guess it’s going to take a while to get him to come around. But first you gotta get that…thing…out of him,” she gags. “It’s going to corrupt the mate bond if you don’t and it’s already pretty tenuous on its own with his hang ups. Are you going to take him to Winnie?”

“I think Grams is the only option we have. He won’t let me anywhere near him again like that. She might know of a different way. I just did what I could in the moment. At least it isn’t keeping him knocked out anymore. I just worry because he already has so much anger and hurt right now. It's just going to keep feeding that thing until we get it out of him,” I say with a long sigh.

Jessa nods and then looks out toward the hallway. “Who’s the vamp?” She tries to act nonchalant, but I see the blush on her cheeks. Hmmmm, maybe I can do a little match making.

Thank you for the subject change.

“Joaquin? Oh, he’s a friend of the guys and part of the Club,” I tell her.

“Wait, what club?” she asks.

“The guy you just worked on? President of the Boys of Wrath, and Kadi is VP. So yeah, there’s that.”

She raises her hand to her mouth in shock. “What the hell, Shas? Pretty convenient of you to leave that part out when you were telling your story. I mean, I saw they were in riding gear, but I wasn’t paying much attention past that because Ethan was in pretty bad shape.”

That’s not all I left out. I didn’t tell her about the death threat either. Wincing, I shake my head. “Like I said, it's been a crazy couple of days. But Joaquin is a great guy. I didn’t know he was part of the Club until yesterday, but he’s been coming to the shop for a long time now. Want me to introduce you?”

“Nope. Not yet. I’ll just watch from afar for a while,” she says. “Let things calm down a bit first since it seems you are taking up a good chunk of his time right now. I’m not that good at sharing.” She laughs and stands. “I have a couple more patients to check in on so I’ll see you later at Winnie’s?”

“Yep, I’m going to try to talk Ethan into going to see her. Should be fun.”

She laughs, hugs me, and then walks me out, waving a little at Joaquin as she pushes past him and down the hall.

He swivels his head around to watch her go with a predatory gaze in his eyes. Well at least the matchmaking won’t be too hard, I don’t think. I laugh a little, nod towards Jessa, and say, “She's part of my Coven. Her name is Jessa.”

Joaquin looks back at me, eyes glowing red just a bit. “Do you know her pretty well?”

“She is probably one of my closest friends next to Emmett. So don't eat her.”

“Oh, eating her is definitely what I’m going to do, but not the kind you’re thinking about,” he growls, still staring at her.

My eyebrows touch my hairline. Well, damn, I wasn’t expecting that reaction. Look out, Jessa.

I snicker and pat him on the shoulder as I head down the hall. He finally shakes it off and follows me. Ethan’s door is closed and I’m assuming he and Kadi are having a conversation, so I don’t stop. Based on the shouting coming from within, it isn’t a conversation I want to walk in on. I do not envy Kadi right now, though I do feel his frustration through the bond. I send a waveof comfort down it and go out the doors with Joaquin to head home.

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