Page 23 of Fated or Knot

His catlike gaze gleamed with interest even from several feet away as his nostrils flared. Kauz’s face twisted with a severe look as he turned toward the dark elf. “You scared her.”

“Apologies, my lady,” Fal said smoothly, nodding my way. “It was simply impossible to miss Marius panicking. I justhadto investigate.”

I swallowed with a dry click. If I didn’t need to stay for another magical tattoo, I’d be bolting out the door right now. So, I nervously told Kauz, “I want the fertility blocker, please.” The sooner he applied it, the quicker I could leave.

Maybe with him present, Fal wouldn’t lay into me for leaving him unmasked last night. Though he didn’t seem angry and was clearly scenting the air, those mischievous features turning smug.

Kauz retrieved a second brush from his kit and shook another bottle of ink. I took my eyes off Fal to see the new suppressant tattoo and cooed from how unexpectedly pretty it’d turned out. He’d given me a bracelet of silver ink, with four symbols worked into the design that were so intricate they looked like silver gems from most distances. I’d need to inspect his handiwork when he wasn’t turning my hand over with his brush poised over my pulse point.

“What’re you thinking for this one?” Fal asked. He’d moved soundlessly to the chair beside Kauz, and I sucked in a smaller startle.

The summery scent that wafted from him would smell even better mixed with the waterlilies and mint from Marius. It was unfair a pair of alphas could smell so nice and yet be Unseelie. I couldn’t trust them. Right? Maybe I shouldn’t allow Kauz to give me a second tattoo, even though he’d clearly suppressed my heat as requested with the first.

“Don’t make the lady ask you to leave,” Kauz said.

Fal leaned down to rest his forearms on the back of his chair. “Please. I’m just here for the ambiance. I can shut up.” He flashed me a quick wink.

“You? Never,” Kauz stated.

I blushed and ducked my head, glad to feel the cool tingles of Kauz’s magic as he started drawing the fertility blocker on my skin. Just the act of perfuming so hard for a stranger was bad enough, before adding in how he’d dumped me here and left. Now both of them would smell my sweaty body after the last vestiges of my scent faded. How mortifying. Fal’s alpha instincts probably wouldn’t let him leave until I disgusted him with my body odor.

I looked around at anything but these two males. This was a bigger suite than the one I’d slept in last night, with a table that sat four, a detail I’d failed to notice earlier. Kauz had his chair flipped around to account for the leathery wings he had mantled to either side of his lean body.

I clenched my free hand in my lap. “I hope Marius is okay,” I mumbled.

Both of them laughed. I peeked through my lashes, catching Fal’s graceful fingers forming a lewd gesture while he said, “Oh, just give him a moment. He’ll be fine.”

“He dropped her and ran like a raging redcap was chasing him,” Kauz said, still chuckling.

“Did he? I’m going to give him so much shit for that.” Fal then switched to Serian to add something else to Kauz, the language unfamiliar but earthy and lyrical in its own way. His every inflection made him sound like he was up to no good, his teasing edge verging on lustful.

Stars. I imagined him being in the pawn shop with me rather than Marius. With how he looked at me now, he’d probably have taken me back here to seat me on his knot. Even though a stirring of heat pooled low in my belly, I pushed it away.I’m very fortunate to get another suppressant tattoo. Not the added complications of a full-blown heat.

Kauz responded in Serian, but his tone was of warning.

The shift of mood the dark elf experienced was immediate. He schooled his expression as Kauz lifted my wrist and blew on the drying ink. “Sorry, li’l pixie,” Fal said. He sounded nearly serious, the mischief placed aside for a moment. It was interesting that he couldn’t fully pronouncelittleeither. Like Tormund, it seemed his tongue was trained to flick the top of his mouth mid-word. “Not to make light of your moment. I’m sure no omega wants a suppressed heat triggering in a public place.”

“No,” I agreed quietly.

My inner omega perked up.Surely he isn’t angry about last night if he’s apologizing.That bundle of instincts wanted me to be held by my scent match. It was only natural for an alpha-omega pairing to bond over touch and comfort.

No, I can’t ask him for any of that.Maybe I’d get a chance to apologize, at least, and give him his mask back despite wanting to hoard it.

“How long has it been since your last heat?” Kauz asked. He lifted my fingers to brush a kiss over my knuckles before releasing my arm. A shiver of awareness passed up my skin from just that little touch of his lips.

I turned my wrist over. He’d picked a sparkling purple ink to make a separate tattoo that was attached to the first by a stylized swirl and a pretty knot that all seemed interconnected. The most prominent lines formed an “X,” and I imagined that was the point. No babies for this omega.

I was so grateful that I answered his question. “I’ve never had a heat.”

Glancing up, I realized both males were staring at me. “You don’t have an omega mark, then?” Kauz asked in surprise.

Fal whistled low. “And how old are you?” he asked.

They were way too interested in this, and their intensity spooked me. “How old areyou?” I countered nervously.

It was easier to respond to Fal rather than admit I’d purposefully made myself packless for four years. Without my first heat, the omega mark wouldn’t manifest on my body and I couldn’t be bitten and soul-bound into any pack against my will.

Alphas and betas simply had their mark appear when they hit adulthood, but I had pushed the moment as far back as I could. I’d find my freedom in Zemosia before I was forced into becoming a breeder for any alphas, especially the likes of Pack Ellisar.

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