Page 23 of Enchanting Her Mate

“Better than yesterday?” I ask, pretending to be offended, but mostly curious as to how I would smell different today compared to yesterday.

She chuckles as she lifts the hem of my tunic and pulls it over my head. “You smell good every day.” Her lips surround my nipple the moment a knock sounds at my bedroom door.

A menacing growl rips from Alu’s throat.

“Yes?” I shout, knowing it must be Tibik. The others are at the food hall, and I am not expecting them to return for a while.

“I must speak with you,” he says in an agitated tone.

I let out a growl of my own as I put my tunic back on and step out into the hallway. “What is it?” I ask.

“I have just come from the food hall,” he says, his chin lifted defiantly. Though I am not sure why, because he still has not given a reason for interrupting me and Alu.

“And? What happened at the food hall?”

“Rulya was quite saddened by the destruction of her wreath,” he whispers, tilting his head in Alu’s direction.

Ah, that is what this is about. He is using this as another reason to protest Alu’s presence in our home. “Alu apologized immediately. She did not mean to break it.”

He looks at my closed bedroom door, then back at me before he takes my arm and pulls me down the hall into his bedroom. “She cannot remain here,” he says at a normal volume now that Alu cannot hear us. “Why do you continue with this silly charade?”

“I do not understand what you mean.”

“Yes, you do,” he says as he crosses his arms over his chest. “You cannot take a mate, you know this. So while you may be having fun with her now, eventually, you will have to end it.”

I hate that I cannot dismiss his words as blatant lies. There is truth in them.

“Do you wish to hurt her?” he asks.

The answer comes easily. “No. I never want to cause her pain.”

“Then you need to end it now.”

He says nothing more. He just opens the door to his room and gestures for me to leave. I am left wondering how I am supposed to let Alu go when everything inside me screams to remain at her side until my very last breath.

CHAPTER 13

ALU

When Jo returns to her room, her mood has changed dramatically. It is clearly something Tibik said, but I cannot get her to share it with me. She is distant and cold, and nothing like the strong, tiny witch I got to know in the jungle.

Being here changes her. She is still the object of my desires, but this version of Jo is a mere shell of who she could be, of who I know she is deep within.

I shake my head as I watch her fold and unfold that same tunic three times. “I do not understand why you let him manipulate your thoughts.”

“He does no such thing,” she replies, sounding unconvinced by her own words.

“Yes, he does.”

When she remains silent, my draxilio fills my head with ideas on how to handle this Tibik.

Melt his lips together! Then he can never utter another word!

What a gratifying image. Yes, that sounds like a brilliant plan. “I shall handle this,” I tell Jo, getting off the bed and striding toward the door. Before I reach it, Jo grabs me by the wrist.

“No. Alu, please do not get involved. I can handle it on my own.”

“Can you?” I ask, searching her face for the dominant Hexrin I know is in there.

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