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I was pretty sure I knew where he was going with this, and was entirely certain I didn’t like it.
But I remained silent anyway, hearing him out.
His attention was entirely on me as he said the next part. “If the two of you sealed your mate bond, you could communicate. Ervo could remain out here, and you could go inside and figure out what’s going on. You could tell him, and we could get our girls out.”
I was right about his idea.
Honestly, it was the only real call.
Even if it meant mating with Ervo this long before I felt ready, before we knew each other, before… well, before we did anything that should logically come before mating.
Friendship.
Sharing our thoughts and dreams.
Understanding each other.
Playing around without actually sealing the bond.
“And then what?” Ervo growled. “The fae women are going to try this shit again, now that they know it works.”
“Not if we kill their leader.” Nev’s expression was wicked.
“No.” This time, my voice was the even one. “Fovea has so many brands; we don’t know how Vevol will respond if she dies. And there are already few enough women. We underestimated them this time, but it won’t happen again. They don’t know where the Stronghold is, or the location of anything else that you guys have built since they were hidden away; we can go somewhere else until we can make them understand that they don’t get to control us. No one else needs to die.”
Even as I said the words, I remembered the ruthless way the leader had ended that male fae’s life.
In the female fae’s minds, they were still at war with the men. It would take something drastic for them to see things differently.
But for now, Nev was right about his plan.
It was the best way for us to get out of the current shitty situation with as little death as possible. Just a Band-Aid over a much larger problem, but a Band-Aid nonetheless.
“I’ll do it,” I said quietly, looking at Ervo. “We can’t leave the other girls in there, and no one else needs to die. It’s not fair to them.”
Even as I said the words, my heart clenched.
This wasn’t the way I wanted things to happen. I’d wanted to make sure we were on the same page about everything—to make sure we knew each other perfectly, to the point where having sex would feel incredible, even if it ended up just as bad as it had been back on Earth.
To make sure he really, honestly loved me.
“I don’t care what’s fair to them, Mariah. It’s not fair toyou,” my phoenix growled back.
“What’s not fair about it? I get to mate with the guy I’ve been trying to make notice me for months,” I said, though the words were a bit weak.
Honestly, I wanted to wait.
But that wasn’t an option.
And I didn’t think I would ever regret a choice I made to free the girls who had become my family.
“Are you in?” I asked him.
“Of course I’m in,” he scowled. “But I’m not just going to watch you walk into a cave I might not get you back from.”
“I’ll give you my name.”
His eyes narrowed. “I want you to want this, Mariah.”
