Page 21 of Tethered Magick

“I guess we’ll see.” The tease had his eyes heating, and the warmth was catching. A flood of heat worked through my body, settling in all the right places. He kissed the center of my palm, his voice infiltrating my mind.

That we will.

My cheeks were on fire when I walked away. Had I seriously just teased all my mates about playingtogetherin the bedroom? At the same freaking time? My girly bits were already begging, but my heart was a nervous race in my chest.

For an awkward second, I glanced at Kota, who’d watched my mates’ displays intently, but he didn’t come to me.

I strode past him, heading back to the line of men waiting for me, eager to get the rest of this bloodletting done and over with, but just before I was out of earshot, he whispered, “Good luck, kitten.”

My steps faltered, and I looked sideways, catching sight of him in my periphery. He studied me as I left, his eyes boring into my back as I walked away.

Eight

Lorn

Dason took a whiff of me, and I saw his eyes transform.

“They just had to get you worked up,” he growled under his breath. “Like my job wasn’t hard enough.”

My cheeks burned. “Shit.” I hadn’t thought about my increased scent and what my pheromones would do in a crowd of unmated men.

Resisting the urge to glance around nervously, I bit my lip. This could be bad.

“Is this going to be a problem?”

“I don’t know. Too many overeager men who would think nothing of breaking the rules if it secured them a mate?” Dason’s attention narrowed on the line and the crowd of already rejected men off to the side.

My brows furrowed. “We wouldn’t be mates, though, if we didn’t smell good to each other, right?”

“All it takes is one bite, Lorn, and you’d be stuck with someone you weren’t meant to be with. How do you think we were going to mate Mara? How do some of these other men have mates? Families? They chose to bite someone who didn’t call to their primal spirit.” Dason broke his focus to glance at me and gauge my reaction. “It’s not as strong as a true mate bond, with or without a bite, but it doesn’t mean it’s not binding. Until you’re officially mated by all your mates and off the market, it’s a possibility. This is why we keep our wards strong. We’ve been trying to protect you, Lorn.”

My eyes were wide as the scene before me took on a whole new meaning.

“This suddenly seems a lot more dangerous than annoying,” I muttered quietly, keeping the conversation between Dason and me.

“Why do you think we’ve all been keeping such a close eye on you? It’s why I didn’t like you being off the stage, but so far, these guys have been behaving.”

“I can’t go back there smelling like this.” I waved a hand down my body, indicating my scent that was stronger than it’d been before.

Dason glared over my head before tugging me after him as he moved us into the shadows, giving us some mock privacy. Before I could think, he’d pulled me into his chest. “Come here,” he murmured.

Slowly, he rubbed his cheek over the top of my head while his hands stroked deliberately over my back, pressing my breasts flat against the hard planes of his chest. The light stubble on his face caught my hair, mussing it as he… what was he doing?

Reading my question, he answered me mentally.

I’m scenting you.

I have a feeling that doesn’t mean you’re using your nose, I snarked back, covering my racing heartbeat with sass in an attempt to hide how unsettled I suddenly felt. This was the second time Dason and I had been close tonight, and I wasn’t used to it.

Normally, Dason didn’t touch me. He kept a respectful distance. One I’d come to loathe. But things between us were different since he’d chased me down in the woods and declared that despite reasons he still hadn’t fully explained, he wanted me.

Me. Lorn Sakari Kentwell.

Since then, things between us had been weird. But I didn’t hate it.

It was a good weird, if not a confusing weird.

Someday I’m going to do something about that smart mouth, Dason warned.

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