Page 4 of Ronan

His face remains impassive, a mask carved from stone, before a giant, cheek-splitting smile lights him up. “Holy shit,” he whispers, pulling me into a crushing boa constrictor hug that makes me grunt, and I wrestle my way free with a glare. “You have a mate… an actual mate.”

His smile falters, then disappears completely as he gives my face a slow, searching appraisal. “Why aren’t you happy about this? Don’t want to be bogged down by the relationship ball and chain? Domestic life might be good for you, old friend.”

Shaking my head, I let my gaze wander over the compound once more. “For two godsdamned seconds, use your brain and think about what this means.”

He pauses, and I can almost hear the rusted clank of the gears spinning in his brain, cogs covered in cobwebs and nonsense. “Okay, okay… are you upset about being tied to a human? They are an incredibly beautiful species, although I guess we have a… rocky history with them.”

That’s certainly a way to downplay systematic mass murder, I suppose.

Rocky.

We’ll go with that.

I say nothing, letting him work out the details on his own. “And the mark is supposed to activate once you touch your…” The root of the problem finally dawns on his face ashis words sputter to a stop, his eyes the size of small moons in the darkness. “Wait, if you’ve touched them, you must know who it is! Which human have you been touching?”

A humorless snort blows from my nose as I shake my head. “I don’t know who it is.”

“But how—”

A heavy sigh whooshes from my lungs as I drop back onto the platform we were sitting on, and he takes his seat beside me again. “Three days ago, Elas…think. What happened three days ago?”

Face scrunched, his gaze travels across the base. It’s one of our largest, the headquarters of our military’s surveillance operations, along with a training facility… and maximum-security detainment center. His eyes land on the prisoner quarters, then slam back into mine. “The latest group of rebels.”

“I touched all of them as we put them in their cells,” I murmur, as if lowering my voice somehow lessens the truth. “When I was removing my armor for bed that night, I noticed the mark.”

“It appeared even wearing your gloves?” I nod, a tense grimace on my face. “Well, at least we don’t have to be naked all the time.”

“It’s not funny!” My hand thumps into his rock-hard stomach and he grunts, shoving me away. “There are hundreds of rebels in those cells, each of them guilty of horrible crimes. Half of them are murderers, and I’m supposed to… what? Run down and swoop one up as my mate?” Days of pent-up frustration erupt in an angry laugh, a raw, harsh sound that only enrages me further. “I’ll be stabbed in my sleep or told I’m insane… banished or killed outright for treason. There isn’t a single scenario where this works out, Elas.”

“You could use a good stabbing in your sleep,” he mutters, and I smack him again.

“Be serious!” I bark, and he sighs as he sits up straighter.

“What does it feel like?” he asks, gesturing at my hand.

I pick at the leather of my armor, attempting to find a way to put instinct into words. “At first, I felt nothing, but those cells were chaos. Shouting and slamming bars, people trying to run… it’s no surprise I missed it. Then I saw it, and I panicked and decided the best approach was to ignore it, hoping it would fade or disappear.”

“Of course you were going to ignore the Fates,” he mutters with a snort. “And has it? Faded?”

The pad of my thumb pushes on my palm and rubs, the mark under my skin gently tingling under the touch. If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can feel a deep, insistent tugging in my gut, like someone is dragging me with an invisible string. Persistent, almost painful sensations compel me forward, despite my hesitations.

It doesn’t matter that I don’t want to go, doesn’t matter that I have no interest in a mate—much less a human mate. Fate pulls me along anyway, nothing more than her puppet.

His curious stare makes me realize I haven’t answered him. “No, Elas, it hasn’t faded.”

“What are you going to do about it?” He gestures out towards the prisoner quarters. “Leadership is furious with this round of rebels, and you know how unreasonable the commander gets. He blames them for the attack on theconvoys last month, and honestly? I wouldn’t be surprised if he executes them all.”

My stomach twists in something akin to panic, a pain so brutal that it causes me to double over, my arms hugging my abdomen. I try to cover it by leaning on my knees, but the concern on Elas’s face tells me he sees right through me.

“It doesn’t matter,” I lie… to him, to myself, to the Fates above.

“Don’t pull that bullshit with me,” Elas says, snatching my hand as I let out a warning growl. “Tell me again you don’t care if your mate is slaughtered like a fucking lamb while you stand here and do nothing.”

The mark on my skin flares into a yellow radiance, pulsing into the darkness, and lights the grim satisfaction that crosses his face. I rip my hand back and shove it into my glove, leaving us surrounded by the night once more. “The Fates have cursed me either way.”

“Maybe,” he murmurs, both of our eyes trailing over to the prisoner compound. “Do you really think you could walk away from this? Leave this giant question mark hanging over your head? You’re endlessly curious, Ronan, even if you aren’t a romantic—”

“I can be romantic,” I argue, and he waits for me to glance at him before he arches an eyebrow and gives me alook.A quiet scoff escapes my lips, and I shake my head, looking away before he has the chance to prove my reputation is anything but romantic.

---