“Not the same thing at all,” I pointed out. Had he even cared when I collapsed?
“Of course I cared. If you die, it will make me very sick, and sick kitsunes can’t eat bacon.”
I almost rolled my eyes at his lack of compassion. I bet Professor Oakman’s cat, Angelica, was way more loving than Kenji.
“Thank you for helping me.” I wrapped my arms around Adam’s waist. He stiffened for a second before relaxing and returning my hug. Adam had never been much of a hugger. Not since my mother died. Or so Willow had once told me when I complained he never showed me much physical affection.
“I’ll always be there for you, Raven. I made a promise to your mother when she passed that I’d do whatever it took to keep you safe.”
“About that…I’d like to talk about Mom,” I said before a loud banging on the door distracted me.
“Hellloooo? Anyone in? I can see the lights, so don’t pretendto be out!”
Glynda?! Goddess, I’d missed my witch friend.
“Who is it?” Adam barked. “I can’t be seen here.”
“Glynda, my best friend. She’s a witch.” I went to open the door, but my incubus beat me to it.
The minute the door cracked open, Glynda swept in on a cloud of snowflakes. She shook her newly dyed pink hair and then squeaked with excitement when she saw me.
“Raven! Oh my goddess, you’re safe! I wassooooworried about you over the holidays. I pictured all kinds of awful things happening to you, like demon attacks, feral wolf attacks, mage attacks, and worse. Goddess, please tell me you found the vampire.”
The room fell silent.
I hadn’t told Adam about my vampire mate, and from the way his jaw dropped in shock, vampires were not on today’s bingo card for him.
“Vampire?”
Glynda’s eyes widened in panic. “Um, I meant vampirebook. It’s a super smutty book on WitchReads. I recommended it to Raven before the holidays.” Her voice trailed off as she stared at the fireplace, probably praying someone would set fire to Maverick’s cabin and save her from a raging case of foot-in-mouth disease.
Adam folded his arms across his chest and skewered me with a hard look.
“Vampire smut? Am I expected to believe this?”
I sighed. Adam always knew when I was lying, so there was no point in making up some nonsensical explanation.
“It’s okay, Glynda. Adam’s my guardian. I trust him, so it’s fine that he knows about Rasmus.”
“Do tell, Raven.” Ugh, from his frosty tone, now he was mad at me. So much for a free pass given I nearly died recently. I lifted my chinand stiffened my spine. To Adam, I was still a naive witch with zero life skills, but I’d grown up a lot since being at Starfall Academy.
It was about time he saw me as I really was: a mature, independent witch with five soul-bonded mates and an irritating kitsune familiar.
“Excuse me?! I’m not irritating!”
“You need to eat, little mate. This conversation can wait.”My bear’s voice rumbled in my head as he glared at Adam.
“And I need to recharge my magic…” Zane smirked while Maverick’s nostrils flared when he picked up on my interest in recharging Zane’s magic. But we didn’t have time to eat or have sex.
My merman was dying.
“My fifth mate is a vampire. Rasmus Dvorak.”
Adam shook his head dismissively. “That’s not possible. The bloodborne virus killed all the vampires.”
“No it didn’t.” A seductive voice floated down from the landing. We all looked up to see my vampire mate. His eyes locked onto me, and I shivered. Goddess, I’d forgotten how sexy Rasmus was. How much I craved his touch.
How much I craved them all.
