“It won’t arrive until morning. The captain sent word earlier. An unexpected security check delayed his departure.” What was that all about? We had no issues when we left before.
“Fucking mages,” Maverick muttered.
“Indeed.” Thorrin glanced over at me and frowned. “Your mate looks exhausted and in need of a hot meal. You’re not taking care of her, Maverick. I’m disappointed in you. That’s not how a bear behaves.”
Maverick’s deep growl made me scowl. It wasn’t my bear’s fault I looked like death. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.
“Raven had to feed the vampire,” Maverick gritted out while glaring at Rasmus.
Thorrin tensed when he belatedly realized we had a vampire with us.
“Fuck, we definitely need to get out of here. The presence of a vampire will cause a stir, and the last thing we need is to attract unwanted attention. Follow me.”
Maverick nodded and then scooped me up into his arms. I sighed happily, grateful for his body heat in the biting wind.
“I hope the new bear has lots of food,” Kenji grumbled in my head. “It’s been too long since my last meal.”
“You ate something less than an hour ago!”I pointed out.
“A cereal bar does not count as food, witch. It tasted like cardboard.”
“It was more than I had after you ate the last one!”
I rolled my eyes and tuned out his further complaints as we followed a narrow pathway through the snow.
Rasmus stayed close, his head dipped low beneath the hood of his fur coat, while Zane brought up the rear.
My heart ached once again when I thought about my merman. He should have been with us. He was the crown prince, so why would he need to register a mate claim?
I also didn’t like the bit where he had written:All being well, I’ll return to campus in a week.
It sounded like he wasn’t sure whether he’d be back, which worried me. The tether in my chest tingled when I first tried to find him, but I could barely sense his presence now. If he’d returned home, he would be deep under the ocean. Out of reach of all of us.
Was he safe?
He hadn’t spoken about his family, so I had no clue whether they were good people. I wanted to believe Kai’s parents were like him, sweet and empathetic, but for all I knew they were monsters.
So out of five goddess-blessed mates, two had abandoned me.
Clearly I was the problem here.
“You’re overthinking things as usual,” Kenji piped up as the glowing lights of a cabin broke through the murk. He bounded through a thick pile of snow and yipped gleefully when some of it collapsed on his head. I fought not to smile at his antics and failed.
“He’s right,” agreed Zane. “Fish boy will be fine. His mother is a raging bitch, but as far as I’m aware, she loves her son.”
“Not at all comforting,” I grumbled.
Zane shrugged. “He left. There’s not much we can do now. If he doesn’t return, it means I get more time with you, so I’m not complaining.”
“I’m not a timeshare apartment!”
“What’s a timeshare?” Rasmus asked.
“No idea,” Zane admitted, “but I’m always happy to share. Or watch.”
The thought of Zane sharing and watching had me squirming in Maverick’s arms.
“Little mate, calm down. I will make sure you’re satisfied once you’re fed and have had a nice hot bath.”
