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With a confused expression, she picks it up and places it back on the edge of her furniture.
Something more noticeable, then.
There isn’t anything that Hope has not touched in her quarters. As she brings two steaming mugs from the kitchen, I use the tip of my claw to send a picture of Hope with two younger spawn—her kin—tumbling to its back.
She frowns, but doesn’t stop to fix it. Instead, she joins the male on the couch, offering him one of the drinks.
He sets it down on the small table in front of them before sidling closer to my Hope.
Fury and jealousy rushing through me, I use as much of my gathered energy as I can to force the doorway to her home to push outward, leaving a path for the male to take.
“Out,” I grumble, knowing full well that neither can hear me. “Go.”
It is my beloved mate who rises up from her couch first. Rushing over to the open door, she pauses with one hand on the knob.
With the other, Hope cradles her belly.
She is not with spawn. Since the matefinder spell tied us together, she has not mated any other male, though this human thinks that she will choose him tonight. From her essence, I also know that my beloved mate is not interested in having offspring with any male. Her kin already does, and while Hope loves those wee humans, she would be content to never have any of her own.
That just goes to show that the gods have chosen the perfect mate for me.
And, yet, this human male thinks he can have her…
He gets to his feet, frowning at the open door. “Are you okay?”
“Um. Yeah. Must’ve just been the wind,” she begins before shaking her head quickly, her pretty dark hair hitting her chin as it sways. “Actually, no. I’m sorry, Jake. I thought the tea might settle my stomach but… I think you were right. I’m not feeling so great right now.”
“I told you your forehead was hot.”
She gulps. “I know. I’m pretty sure I’m feverish. I definitely think I’m coming down with something. I don’t want you to get sick.”
Fever… sick…
Oh. Oh my gods.
No.
Hope might be sick. It’s not a fever, though. At least, not one that a human would normally have.
But a mate? One that triggered the essence exchange but didn’t follow through with the mating promise or taking her male’s seed, finalizing their bond?
It doesn’t happen all that often. In Sombra, when a demon finds his mate, he usually has her bonded to him that very same eve. The gold moon deadline is only imposed by Duke Haures when the mate is human because of his first law. A demon and his demoness can form their bond whenever they wish, though they very rarely wait.
And if, for some reason, they do? Our instincts are wired to push us toward our one true mate.
I would make Hope mine now if I could. The gods won’t punish me for rejecting the gift they so graciously gave me.
But my mate… I told her last night that she was mine. I asked her to touch me and she did, giving me her essence at the same time, but it was in the dream plane. I never thought that would be enough to begin the mating dance between us.
Obviously, I was wrong.
There is only one cure to the mating sickness:mating. To ward the symptoms off for a while, an intimate touch from her male should be enough to keep her from feeling the overwhelming heat and need that comes with the fever.
But I cannot touch her. At least, not until she falls asleep and dreams.
Thankfully, Hope does not turn to this human male to ease her need. After telling him that she is sick, she uses the open door to gesture that he should go. The male—this Jake—tries to get her to agree that he should stay, but my Hope is firm. They will talk again when she’s feeling better. Until then, he must leave.
With a regrettable expression, he does.
