His eyes widened. He took a startled half-step back, brows pulling together while I stormed toward him with Via still cradled in my shaking arms.
I didn’t want to let her go. I never wanted to let her go.So why the fuck isn’t it me?
Rack slowly lifted his hands like he was trying to calm down a cornered animal. His gaze darted over my face, clearly trying to figure out what the hell had just snapped inside me.
“Your back,” I rasped. The words scraped painfully against my throat. “Tell me when.”
The confusion vanished from his face so fast it was almost frightening. He froze. Completely still. Then his hands slowly lowered back to his sides while he inhaled carefully. “I didn’t?—”
His words cut off abruptly, but instead of finishing his answer, he squinted at me and stepped closer. No, not at me. Beside me. His head tilted as he stared at something over my shoulder.
“Don’t you dare avoid the question?—”
“Your tattoo,” he interrupted sharply. “Your mate-blocker tattoo, it’s visible.”
I almost snapped at him that I didn’t give a shit about that right now, but then my thoughts crashed into a wall. My sisters. Their marks appeared, too. The way the magic reacted when mates were involved.
Hope, fragile yet dangerous, violently flickered to life inside my chest.
I looked down at Via automatically. My eyes traced the curve of her mouth, the softness of her hair spilling through my fingers. Could I really?
Her head gently lolled to the side in my arms. I was adjusting her, cursing under my breath for nearly letting her neck bend awkwardly, when I saw it. A faint mark rested against the hollow of her throat.
My breath stopped. Right there against her skin sat the outline of a crown. Small. Delicate. New.
My pulse stumbled so hard it physically hurt. I pulled her closer while my hand shook on the way up.
Don’t do this to yourself.
The voice in my head tried to crush the hope before it could grow, telling me it was a coincidence. Telling me I’d imagined everything. I mean, I’d already convinced myself my mate didn’t exist.
But she hadn’t existed then. Not until I turned her.
Swallowing hard, I lightly brushed one finger across the mark. The reaction hit instantly.
Heat exploded through my veins. The tattoo at my neck flared painfully hot beneath my skin while something deep in my chest pulled taut. A golden thread snapped tight between us beside the darker tether of maker and turned.
My breath hitched violently.
“Here.”
Rack’s voice came from directly behind me now, softer this time. Warmer. I could hear the smile before I even turned.
His finger pressed lightly between my shoulder blades. “The rose mark.”
He circled around us again, and for maybe the first time in my life, Rack looked completely at peace. His usual calm had cracked wide open beneath pure happiness.
“You have it too, Calix.” His grin spread wider as his eyes dropped to where my hand still rested against Via’s throat. “You’re her mate.”
Then his expression softened even further. “She’s mine,andshe’s yours.” The words hit me so hard my knees almost gave out.
Rack huffed a breathless laugh and rubbed a hand through his hair. “I had a feeling,” he admitted quietly. “I think I knew it was always supposed to be the three of us.”
A crooked smirk pulled at his mouth. “Otherwise I probably would’ve killed you for touching her.”
A rough laugh burst out of me before I could stop it. “I wanted to kill you too.”
Rack barked out a real laugh this time, shaking his head while we stood there, grinning like absolute psychopaths over the fact that we hadn’t murdered each other yet. Honestly, surviving the last few weeks without coming to blows was probably proof enough on its own.
