Page 23 of Moonlit Alexandrite

“You hurt our mate, Dion.” The silence that followed, rang with the echo of my shout. After a moment, he cleared his throat carefully.

“Our...”

“Mate. Yes, it seems we are all bound to her. Tase too, and you might want to watch him when you get home. He has taken a shine to Red and may just bite you for upsetting her.”

“So, she’s already coming between us.”

I tugged on a handful of braids in frustration as I paced tight circles. From the corner of my eye, I could see Colbie watching me with concern written across her face.

“Man, because we have been friends forever and I know you have major trust issues, I’m going to ignore how stupid that comment was. Come back, and we can talk about it. Do not seek her out until we’ve all spoken.”

Dion grumbled something too low to hear, and the squeak of leather told me he was climbing on his bike.

“Oh, and if I find out you’ve been riding without your helmet again, I’ll kick your ass.”

His answer was the roar of an engine coming to life, and I disconnected the call before he could deafen me with it.

Tase was treating Red with kid gloves, and it was clear his beast was driving shotgun. He would be even less predictable than usual while he worked out where he belonged, and how he could attach himself to her permanently now that he knew she was ours. Meanwhile, Dion was determined to be an asshole to avoid any chance of being hurt. Looked like I was going to have to be the adult.

As always.

Chapter Fourteen

Lex

“Where are we going?” The girlish giggle that escaped my mouth was so foreign, I immediately wanted to take it back as Tase dragged me down the middle of the road. The grin he threw over his shoulder was nothing short of roguish, and it reminded me again of why so many in town compared him to a pirate. At the thought, my fickle as a weathercock in a tornado, alter-ego reared her head. “Would you like to shiver my timbers?”

Tase stopped dead and wrapped an arm around my waist to pull me flush against him.

“Was that a pirate pick-up line, baby girl?”

I shrugged helplessly as he chuckled and buried his face in my hair. I worried things would be awkward after what happened earlier in the shower, but he had taken it all in his stride. After we cleaned up the mess Rusty made of my craft room, I had shown Tase my glitter stash. He had filled an empty satchel with the sparkly bags and some thin metal wiring, two spray cans of paint, and construction paper. I was still at a loss as to what exactly we were up to, but I had an inkling I was going to find out why he had such a reputation around town.

“I’m glad she’s flirting with me. It means she’s comfortable.”

“It means she’s comfortable embarrassing me,” I groused, enjoying the feeling of my cheek pressed to his bare chest. I wondered if, as his mate, I could order him to never wear a shirt again. My succubus stiffened in the back of my mind.You have to get used to this, I lectured her.They aren’t going anywhere. They are our mates.

Mates, mates, mates.

“Babe, you’re twitching. Are you alright?” Tase asked in concern.

“Yeah, just working through our differences.”

He gave me a curious look as I pointed to my head, but allowed me to gently disentangle myself from him, and wave him on. “What’s on the agenda, oh mischievous mastermind?”

“I’m glad you’re finally learning how things work around here,” he said with a chuckle.

Another couple of streets down, Tase led me to the sports center car park. At the first car we came across, he removed two pieces of wire from his satchel and jimmied the lock on the driver’s door.

“What are you doing?!” I whisper-yelled, worried someone would notice us. Was he a car thief? Was I going to be arrested for grand theft auto? I couldn’t go to jail. How would I pee with someone watching? I’d seen the movies, and I was not cut out for the big house. Besides, I could not pull off an orange jumpsuit. Or could I? I mean, I could make it an ironic color clash and lead the fashion...focus Lex, we do not want to go to jail, even for our mate.

While I had been justifiably freaking out over our current felony, Tase rolled the construction paper into a funnel and was pouring glitter carefully into each of the air vents in the dashboard. Once finished, he packed the evidence away, climbed out of the vehicle, and closed the door.

I breathed a sigh of relief as we moved away from the scene of the crime... too soon, however, as he stepped straight up to the next car and repeated the process.

“Tase...”

“I don’t know precisely which one is his. Better to be safe than sorry. We’ll work through as many as the glitter lasts for.”

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