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“If he doesn’t need you for work, I’m sure he needs you for food, because this is fantastic,” I said around the pasta in my mouth.
Uma laughed. “Braxton has servants for everything. They cook for him. They cook forallof us. This is just a hobby.”
“It’s a good hobby,” I said, nodding.
We fell silent as we ate.
“How are you doing?” Uma asked.
“I’m okay,” I said. “It’s better here than I’d thought it would be. I thought…” I let my voice trail off. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, but being treated like a guest with my own room and the opportunity to say no wasn’t it.
There were things I didn’twantto say no to, but Braxton didn’t let me make that choice. I guess as my owner, that was his prerogative.
Since our day in the forest, I hadn’t seen him.
“Does Braxton date?” I asked.
Uma shook her head firmly. “I haven’t seen him with a female long-term since he came here, and that’s been two centuries.”
I sucked in my breath through rounded lips. “That’s a long time.” I’d been learning about shifters. The books on my shelf were all about shifters. First editions, sure, but written by shifters and about shifters, and there was a lot of information in them to absorb.
“Yeah.”
I fell silent again.
“Why do you ask?” Uma asked.
I shrugged. “I just thought…” I didn’t know how to put it into words. “When he’s with me, he’s sointense. He treats me like I’m the only woman there ever will be for him, but then he pushes me away, and it’s like I don’t exist at all.”
“He’s haunted by his demons. Literally,”Uma said. Her expression was strange when she said it. “He doesn’t want to bring anyone into his world.”
“He brought me into it,” I pointed out. “I didn’t ask to be here.”
“I know,” Uma said. “I don’t know why he did it, but he won’t ever let you get hurt. If that means pushing you away…”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said.
Uma shrugged and took another bite. She thought while she chewed, her brows knitting together.
“I don’t know what I feel when I’m with him,” I admitted.
I didn’t know why I was telling Uma all of this. Maybe it was because she was the only one I could talk to. Maybe it was because she knew Braxton.
Maybe it was because I felt like I could trust her. She was so different.
In this world of magic, everyone was.
“Tell me,” Uma said.
I shook my head. “I feel like I’m drawn to him. Like he’s a magnet, and I’m… metal?” I giggled, feeling silly for how it came out. “I feel like no matter what my mind says, I can’t stay away from him, and when we’re together…” I swallowed and glanced at Uma, not knowing how to say this without giving away what we’d done. “My magic gets weird.”
“Weird how?” Uma asked. She’d lowered her bowl, her food forgotten.
“I don’t know… it gets bigger. More. And my rabbit responds to his lion. Like they’ve known each other for a long time or something.”
Uma’s face had a strange expression on it.
“What do you know of fated mates?” Uma asked.
