I tried not to glare at her as a strange feeling swelled within me, but I failed.

She noticed me glaring, and lifted a lip in what looked a hell of a lot like a threat.

I didn’t know what had come over me, but it was ridiculous.

I strode away from the demon and the phoenix, heading back to the anchor.

The last thing I needed was to start feelingpossessiveof the flaming bastard who ran the resort.

He claimed we were going to be mates, but that didn’t mean it was really going to happen. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to seal a mate bond with someone who flirted with other women right in front of me.

I didn’t even want a mate bond.

Even though I was still slick between my thighs—and ignoring that fiercely.

Liam caught up to me on the path in the jungle so quickly that he couldn’t have had time to talk to her or make out with her or anything. “Elizabeth has never touched me before, and she isn’t going to touch me again, Clove.”

“My name is Sage.” I didn’t look back at him.

If I did, he was going to realize that I was pissed, and I didn’t want him to know that. I would’ve much rather been fixing the wards in exchange for my safety, not mating with him for it.

“Word hasn’t spread yet that I’ve chosen a mate. It will, and the people here will respect that,” Liam added.

I bit back a retort and picked up my pace. With his insanely long legs, he had no problem keeping up with me.

“I’m going to need spellbooks,” I said. “As many as you can get your hands on. I’m going to have to train myself, since your mom’s magic is so complicated.”

“I’ll get as many as I can.”

Thankfully, we reached the bench before he tried to take the conversation back to the mating thing.

Unthankfully, he set his hand on my arm to stop me from reaching for the magic.

“You need to eat before you continue, Clove.”

I bit back another snapped retort about my name. He obviously didn’t care.

When he handed me a paper box of food, I opened it reluctantly. Iwashungry, but he hadn’t asked if I was vegetarian like most witches—and I was.

To my surprise, I found stir fry within the box. There was no meat in it.

I blinked down at it for a moment before looking over at Liam’s food.

It matched mine.

“Are you vegetarian?” I asked.

“Yeah. Half witch, remember?”

Right.

That was difficult to come to terms with, considering how big he was and the fact that he was a dude—but I did understand.

“Did your mom know what she was turning you into?” I wondered.

“I never asked.”

I supposed I could understand that.