Page 51 of Vengeful Mates

Close if Colton showed up to taunt us. Shame burned white-hot in my chest. I scrubbed at my forehead. Fuck, I was a fool for waltzing into his trap. Even the master of magick and science could be tricked.

Eyes falling closed, Aaliyah pressed her nose to the spot where his neck met his shoulder and breathed him in. Kissed his rough and scarred skin. Relief dispersed some of the darkness from his bond. Darkness that might have erupted into a war between him and me over culpability for endangering her.

Trailing a finger along one scar, she soothed his anger with a distracting question, “Wanna come tomb-robbing with us? It’s potentially dangerous.”

I loved that she didn’t let the danger deter her.

Zethan went to sweep her back to the club, but the teasing way she put it had him soften and kiss the side of her head.

She tickled his underarm, and he squirmed. “Rewarding, though. Plenty of treasure. Lots of curse breaking. Bragging rights afterward.”

Cunning woman knew how to work him from rage to mild annoyance.

Unable to resist her body or charm, Zethan took her wrist, lifting her palm to his mouth, kissing it softly. “I’m up for that.”

“Love my bad boy bikers.” She funneled her fingers through his hair.

Convulsions tightened the bond as he climbed to a stand with her in his arms. “Which way?”

I pinched my side at the new side effect of the curse reaching through our link. We shared emotion but never pain before. Aaliyah made our connection even more powerful, variables this science geek expected to study and test further back at home.

Crossing the valley, they held onto each other like they worried they’d be separated by another sandstorm. She only had eyes for him in that moment, and he needed it. Needed to know his woman was safe after the close call. Jealousy burned under my breastbone that I didn’t factor in that equation.

“It’s the third tomb to the east,” Aaliyah told him.

Giving the curse and their pain the bird, Zethan carried her across the desert, and I fell into line beside them, claiming her hand and squeezing it.

“I can walk, you know,” she protested, rubbing at her waist.

Zethan ignored her statement, clutching her tighter, ignoring the strain pressuring our bond. “What other dangerous activities do you two get up to?” His gaze locked on me with a warning never to put her in danger again.

“All sorts of mischief,” she teased, letting go of his shoulder to rub harder at her side. “Saving sacred texts from burning. Recovering stolen artifacts. Graffitiing statues of asshole pharaohs.”

Zethan nipped her neck. “You’re making that up.”

She giggled and nipped him back. “What happens in Ancient Egypt stays in Ancient Egypt. Isn’t that right, Daddy?”

Zethan growled at my name and glared at me.

Aaliyah hit him on the shoulder, then winced at the restriction in her joint that I felt in mine. “Stop it. Don’t blame Castor for this. We both surveyed the valley and thought it was safe to enter.”

“Still going to punch his lights out.” Zethan sounded more like Slade than his usual collected self. Threats to his mate rattled him and he got extra protective.

Nothing I couldn’t handle when I dealt with a temperamental Slade all the time. Let Zethan have a go. A bit of dark magick would settle him down.

Aaliyah braced her palms on Zethan’s cheeks and forced his gaze to hers. “You do that and you’re not sleeping in my bed for a month.”

The move. Damn, that crept up on us. Five more days in Slade’s house. Construction of our mansion complete and keys handed over. Council compliance checks completed, and the development application signed off. Half our belongings packed in boxes and ready to go, the rest awaiting our attention.

Zethan patted her bottom, preferring that to spanking her. “Once we break this curse, I’ll tie you up in my room for a month straight and fuck you senseless.”

Heat wiped through the bond like a wildfire. “Looks like you’ll be doing a lot of babysitting, Daddy.” She flashed me a cheeky wink.

Constant cramps on the bond echoing in our bodies made it an unpleasant experience as we crossed the valley and found the tomb we wanted. Zethan refused to put our woman down even with the pain, and she didn’t protest once, as if knowing he needed to hold her for his own sanity.

Standing fifty feet from the priest’s tomb, Aaliyah gave me a pinched expression. “Are we going to die if we open this? You know the rumors about stale air over two thousand years old killing archeologists.”

I chuckled and spent a few moments surveying Colton’s protective spell, which fell away with repeated strikes of my magick.

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