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Chapter Eight
“I’m selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”
—Marilyn Monroe
When Ere and Sorin came upon Divina, she was bawling like the world had ended, on her knees on top of a hill, face swollen and blotchy with tears and snot.
Alone.
No sign of the centaur of whom she seemed so fond.
Ere and his Mate exchanged a bewildered, grimacing glance while Chewie bounded ahead to console his mistress, whining and whimpering as he circled her prone, folded body, licking her face and hands.
There was nothing for it. They had to address the issue. Couldn’t very well walk around her as if she wasn’t blocking the path and about to break a couple ribs with those racking sobs.
“Umm…” Ere began, venturing closer but not too close. Like one might approach a rabid porcupine. If porcupines could contract rabies.
“Whatcha doin’?”
More shuddering squawks and nonsensical slurpy snorting.
Ugh. And now she was wiping the soggy mess from her face on her bare forearm.
Even Chewie stopped licking her, probably realizing that he was only adding to the muddle. He sat like a sympathetic sentinel beside her and continued his doggie whine of condolence.
Gone was the self-possessed, preeminently confident sensual siren that Ere first met at the Celestial Palace. In just one day, after meeting one horse-man, the divine Divina was an unmitigated, emotional and physical wreck.
Her voluminous hair straggled in knots down her shoulders and back, tangling and sticking to her tear-stained face. Said face swelled around eyes that were almost caked entirely shut by half dried tears and a fresh bout of new ones. Her button nose was thrice the size it was supposed to be. And the way her mouth contorted in those unattractive, cringe-worthy sobs did not in any way resemble the pouty perfection Ere recalled upon first acquaintance.
She was already a small female, barely five-two or three on a good day. Now, sprawled haphazardly on the ground, her legs splayed inelegantly every which way, her tunic stained and wrinkled, she looked not just tiny, but diminished. The halo of light was missing from the ever(overly)-cheerful female.
She no longerglowed.
Ere sighed, both worried and aggrieved.
Gods save him from emotional females!
Sophia was his closest girlfriend, especially since he used to be married to her once upon a time in a past life. She was only twenty-something years old in her current incarnation, and sometimes exhibited the emotional maturity of a hormonal female of that age, despite being the Queen of the Pure Ones. And evenshewasn’t as bad as this.
All of Ere’s other female BFFs were warriors. His twin sister Inanna, Cloud’s Mate, Aella, and his long-lost friend Liv. Even the human Mikayla Lane was uber badass. He couldn’t recall the last time any of them were in tears. He could barely imagine such a thing.
As he shifted from foot to foot, uncertain as to what to do, it was his stoic, silent Mate who took control.
Sorin stepped up to Divina, pulled her off the ground like she was a rag doll, and simply enveloped her in his big arms, wrapping his frame around her until she was barely visible within his protective cocoon.
Almost immediately, her cries reduced in volume, and finally, they subsided altogether into quivering sniffles.
Huh.
Distantly, Ere wondered if he should be jealous of the attention Divina was getting. He was extremely possessive of Sorin. Didn’t like anyone touching his Mate or sharing his attention.
When he first met Divina, his territoriality had reared its ugly head immediately. But now, after a day and a half in her company, Ere realized that she would never be a threat for a Mated couple. She wasn’t that sort of female.
Right now, she was like a little sister who needed comforting.
An annoying, bratty little sister, but still.
“So…you can let go of each other now,” Ere couldn’t help but say testily.
