Page 7 of Dark Obsession
The exact color of my eyes.
Chapter 3
Salem
Boundaries needed testing, and the ring served that purpose. It’s a tracker to keep Peach always within reach. When we bond, I’ll be able to use that, but until then, the emerald is going to have to do. I want to know who she is with, what she is doing, everything.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so hyperfixated on a person before. If my brothers were worried about how I was with Queen Pandora, they haven’t seen anything yet. I want to own Peach. She is going to be mine in every way possible.
Yeah, I wanted Pandora, but only because she was betrothed to me. I saw her as my possession, but I didn’t feel any of this intensity toward her. Pandora was given to me as a political alliance, and then taken away.
Peach was given to me by the fates, and no one is going to take her away from me. She’s completely and hopelessly mine.
When I saw Peach today, my fingers were itching to reach out and take her. I didn’t want to leave her. I’ve never felt anything like this before. I don’t think about people, especially when they aren’t right in front of me. I’m usually an out-of-sight-out-of-mind kind of male.
But this? It’s all-consuming. I wonder if Peach knows how protected she just became. I will kill anyone who touches her.
“You’re scheming, aren’t you?” Silver asks as he steps in through the back door to my house. We all live in a row of three cottages. Saylor’s house is a few minutes away from us. It was her act of rebellion before she moved in with Bane in the Demon Kingdom. She kept the house—something about females always needing a backup plan.
Shadow and Laurel live in the mountains, away from anyone who could try to steal her to use her for her seer magic. It’s a dangerous realm.
Peach doesn’t live too far away from me. I staked out her house. She has some reasonably good wards and plenty of land for her to run on when she shifts. Her home is similar to mine, surrounded by lush forest. We shifters need to be able to feel free, to feel the grass beneath our paws and the wind in our fur.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I reply to my brother, stretching my neck from side to side. I look over at him to find him dressed for battle—all black leather, strapped with twin swords at his back, and his throwing stars on his side. His silver hair is braided away from his face. “You have a job?”
He nods, studying my expression. He knows I fucking hate the fact that the assassin’s academy fired me, and that I can’t legally kill now. However, that isn’t going to stop me from killing. It just means I no longer get paid for it.
Besides, I’ve been so busy with Peach, I’ve forgotten all about the fact that the academy sees me as too mentally unstable to keep me under their employ, not that I need them. I have more than enough gold and wealth to look after Peach, so she has nothing to worry about. I saved all of the gold I made from my assassin kills, and I have killed more than any other member.
“Sage and I will be back in a few days,” he murmurs, taking the seat on the leather couch next to me. “You need us, we’ll be back.”
“I’ll be fine,” I reply, running my fingers across my jaw. In fact, their being gone makes my plan even easier.
“Salem,” Silver says in my head.
I bring my eyes back to him.
“You need to court Peach. Don’t do anything rash, all right?”
“I am courting her. I gave her Grandma’s ring.”
His eyes widen. “You did?”
I nod. “Yeah, Mom said it was mine to give to my mate.”
“I remember. You always were Mom’s favorite.” Probably because she knew I’d be no one else’s.
Silver claps me on the back and then zips away.
It’s not long before Sage drops in to say goodbye. He has a cupcake in his hand, and my brows furrow. “Where did you get that?”
His chewing slows down. “Only the best bakery in the kingdom.”
My eyes narrow to slits as I lean forward, resting my elbows on my thighs. “You saw my mate?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t say anything to her, other than hello and goodbye.” He shrugs, licking the frosting off his fingers. “You know I like to eat when I’m stressed, and leaving you behind again is stressing me the fuck out.” I must be insane, because every bite he takes of my mate’s cupcake makes me want to strangle my own triplet.
“She’s going to have to get used to being around us,” Sage adds, tilting his head to the side and studying me. “She’s going to be family.”
