Page 60 of Stormbinder King
I had been claimed by my fated mate, but I had gone to bed and woke up the same way.
Craving Jack.
All I felt otherwise was a strange, restless feeling inside me. Like something inside was about to crack open.
I certainly didn’tloveSymeon or whatever else was supposed to happen when you met your fated mate.
Except how would I know what was supposed to happen? All I knew was what Jack had bullshitted me into believing.
“Andromeda,” Jack called as I left the Great Hall after breakfast.
His fingers gripped my chin and he shook me gently. “There’s going to be a meeting of all the wolf packs we can reach soon. There’s been more reports of strange creatures that haven’t been seen in generations and we need to figure out the best way to protect ourselves. I think it’s still mostly bullshit, but my esteemed brother the King does not, so we are going.”
The pressure on my chin gently forced me to face him, my body automatically heating up at his touch.
“When will you be back?” I asked.
His cocked his head at me, then bent to my ear.
“You’ll be coming with me. I couldn’t possibly be apart from my fated mate.”
“You’re not my fated mate,” I said, trying to shake him off. “Your brother is.”
His puckish face darkened.
“My brother will never possess you,” he said. “And you, Andromeda, couldn’t be without me.”
“Release me from your spell,” I insisted, feeling the familiar sickly-sweet seduction.
“No.”
“I’m going to find a way to break it,” I said, almost desperately, but with a quiver in my voice.
Jack leaned closer, smelling like cinnamon-sweet wickedness, like raw masculine power.
“Try me,” he whispered, licking around my ear as his arm curved around my waist. “I’ll never let you go.”
I would have much rather stayed home with Solomon but it seemed like I had no option.
“Want to come out with me looking for early mint?” he asked, rubbing a strand of my blue-black hair between his fingers.
“No,” I said, “Take Aurelia instead.”
He frowned.
“I don’t want Aurelia. I wantyou. Stop bringing her up. I just want some fucking shifter fucking sometimes, godsdamn it, woman. It’s just fucking with her. It doesn’t mean anything.”
But I didn’t care about his lies.
“I can’t. I’m going to check my spice garden.”
I saw a golden light spark in his eyes.
I hadn’t prepared his evening tea since I found out he had only pretended to be fated mates to keep me away from his brother. I hadn’t mixed him a special tea blend, hadn’t prepared his evening tea, hadn’t done anything except submit to my ensorcelled desire for him.
And that wasn’t changing.
“Later, then,” Jack said, tipping my face up for a kiss.
