Page 48

I stand on my tiptoes, trying to see if I know the location. My breath hitches when I see the intersection... I count the spaces that single houses and then gasps when it lands on one I've been to recently. It's Ekon's house.

"No," I whisper, my chest tightening. "No, no, no—"

"Yue—"

"He's with her!" I shout, scrambling to my feet. "He's at his house right now with his mate, and he," I exhale, heart thuddering inside my chest. "He, that jackass made me admit I wanted him. He kissed me, and now he's at his house with—" I stop, slamming my hand into my chest as my breath leaves me in a wheeze. I jump off the crack, breathing heavily on my way to the door.

"Yue, wait—"

I throw it open, ignoring everything she says. I storm through the back hallway, lights flickering along the way. The building morphs, changing before me.

"Yue!" Eos screams. "Calm down before you break something."

Lights crash onto the floor.

"Damn it, Yue. You break it you fucking buy it!" she growls.

I step into the humid New Orleans night, marching like my ass is on fire. My heels click on the pavement.

Eos falls into step beside me, her strides longer and unhurried. "Yue, chill the fuck out!"

"Why should I?" I snap, yanking my arm free. "That jackass thinks he can fuck me one day and then fuck his real mate the next in peace? Has he lost his fucking mind?"

Eos snorts. "You like him."

"I don't like him. He's insufferable. He's arrogant, and he's —"

"You like him."

"Eos."

"You want to be his mate, Yue."

My feet plant themselves into the concrete, and I stop walking. We're standing under a busted streetlight on a stretch of Burgundy that smells like night-blooming jasmine and wet asphalt. My hands are shaking, and I shove them into my pockets.

"I want him to fucking kneel over. He can't even be honest and tell me he found his mate," I say.

Eos tilts her head. "You want the truth?"

I nod.

"Here it is then. As a goddess, I can see bonds. All the red threads that tie people together are easy to see, meaning I've seen yours and who it goes to."

My eyebrows raise, but I don't speak.

"Surprise. Surprise. It's Ekon." She pauses when I gasp. "The thread between you two was never fake. The mate bond was real this entire time. It's glowing right now actually." Her eyes narrow on the air around me. She takes my hand and raises it. "Right here," she says, tapping the top of my ring finger.

"Then why," I say, and my voice cracks on the word, "did you let me lie? Why didn't you call me out? Why didn't you—"

"Because the bond was real." She shrugs. "I let you lie because underneath the lie, the truth was already there. You were already his, and he was already yours. Besides, something you need to figure out for yourself."

I don't say anything. I can't. My mouth is open and nothing comes out. I don't know what I want to do. I don't know what I'm supposed to feel.

Eos touches my elbow. "Yue," Eos says gently, reaching out to touch my shoulder. "Do you like him?"

"What?"

"Ekon. Do you like him?"