Page 6 of Fae Farewells

He grimaced as he took a sip of my tequila, and I managed a quiet giggle at his confusion over some old southern saying I had picked up. I loved the way humor seemed to brighten his icy blue eyes from within, making them appear to glow in the morning light.

“Being perfect sounds boring.”

“I don’t disagree with that,” he confessed, his cheeks lifting with the beginnings of a smile.

“That’s—” Novak rolled his lips in, poorly covering his grin. “So fucking sweet and adorable and—”

“You guys are making me soft.”

“We make you soft. You make us hard. That seems like an even trade.”

I glared. And when he widened his eyes in mock-confusion, I narrowed mine.

“What?”

“Do you hear the things that come out of your mouth?”

He smirked. “Not until they come.”

“I fucking can’t.”

“You’re agitated. Why are you trying to hide it from me? You know I’m going to keep saying shit until you get pissy and tell me what’s wrong.”

“I just… I hate not sleeping in my own bed,” I growled, flopping onto a mattress as hard as—

I waggled my brows at Stone as he stepped out of the bathroom, a white towel hanging dangerously low on his hips.

My demon mate had taken up residence in my mind as thoroughly as my vampire had. I rarely felt them, but I did notice something brewing in the dark recesses that wasn’t supposed to be there. I just wasn’t sure how to bring that into conversation yet.

Hey, guys. Either someone has picked the locks to my thoughts, or I’ve been cursed. Or hey, guys. There’s another consciousness in my mind that doesn’t belong to me or you or anyone else who has access. Or maybe, hey, guys. I think I might be crazier than I thought I was. I seem to have developed a new personality.

“I love how everything is so extreme with you. You either hate it, or it’s your favorite. There’s no in-between,” Novak teased as he stretched out beside me. “It’s not like you’re going to sleep while we’re here. That’s not why you’re agitated.”

I rolled my eyes, though he wasn’t entirely inaccurate. I guess I didn’t frequently comment on the things I was indifferent about. What was the point? They didn’t bring me joy or discomfort, and that felt like a waste.

“Shouldn’t the guys be back by now?” I asked, then complained, “I don’t see why we can’t magic the group warm while we trek through the winter fucking wilderness. I much prefer hellfire to down feather jackets.”

“Not everyone is an everlasting battery, Kitten,” Stone smarted.

I ignored him as efficiently as I had Novak. The last few days had sullied my mood into something unrecognizable. Anger swarmed through my system like millions of wasps, seeking something to inflict damage upon.

My mates weren’t what they were looking for, though.

“I’d kill for some candy. I need something to sweeten my mood.”

“How about skittles?” Vaughn inquired as he came into the bedroom.

My dark prince smiled, his skin glimmering under the LED lighting as he shook a bag of red and purple skittles near his face. I had no doubt sorting them was a task he used to relax. The pith tokens had opened our emotional connections, and though we were trying to contain them, I could still feel his resurfacing anxiety.

The closer we got to returning to his homeland, the more his control slipped, which was why I could see the slight iridescence to his skin. He was nervous about entering the fae realm, and that pissed me off.

Not at him, but at his cunt of a fake mother.

I wasn’t sure how well he was coping with the news that his aunt had killed his mother and been posing as her for nearly two decades. I wanted to smother the false fae queen, choke her within an inch of her life, then rip her body to pieces and paint the castle walls with her blood.

She’d been holding my mother captive since I was a baby. And while I wasn’t particularly excited to see or meet the woman who had given me life, I wasn’t okay with her being a prisoner.

Nate either; although he put himself in that situation. My vampire father was never one to wait for assistance. But had he given me a little more time, we could have gone to the Winter realm together. Instead, I had to save his ass, too.