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The bond lets us feel emotions our mate is experiencing—the stronger the emotion, the stronger the feeling. What it doesn’t do is allow us to read the other’s thoughts. What Joel is able to feel is beyond the scope of what the bond should allow us to sense. Suddenly, I remember the image I saw in my mind when we were fucking last night. I assumed it was just my sex-addled thoughts that were imagining things, but now I’m not so sure.
Startled by Joel’s comment, I turn to look at him, my surprise written across my face, but there’s a knock on the door, preventing me from questioning him.
“If you’re not wearing clothes, cover yourselves up,” Luna calls out, her voice muffled from the wooden door. “The last thing I need to see right now is my cousin’s naked ass.”
A smile tugs at my lips as I glance at Atlas, who just shakes his head at his cousin’s comment. I’m given just enough time to pull a sheet around myself before the door swings open.
“Good morning, oh holy one,” she sings in greeting, her grin widening as she finds me in bed, surrounded by males.
My mates don’t seem as thrilled by her being here.
Joel has yet to meet Luna, and her sudden appearance seems to surprise him. I feel him stiffen behind me, but otherwise, he doesn’t move as the brightly coloured witch struts into the room, picking up that I’m not concerned by her presence. Syn, on the other hand, reacts instantly, jumping from the bed and positioning himself in front of me, snarling in warning.
I don’t think Luna is in any danger of him attacking her, at least not unless she was to come any closer, so I don’t move from my position or react in a way that might cause him to lash out. He has met her before, but he’s acting on his primal alpha instinct at the moment, reacting purely to any danger his mate might be in.
“It’s okay, Syn. She’s a friend,” I explain quietly, keeping calm. If I were to jump from the bed and start panicking that he might hurt her, it would only aggravate the situation.
After a few tense seconds, he glances back at me with a reluctant expression, struggling to work past his protective instincts. He stops snarling, taking in my relaxed posture and the fact that no one else is reacting. The tension in the room eases a little, and I give him a small smile to show him I’m not worried or scared.
“Is she always this chirpy in the mornings?” Scott asks from the doorway, my heart skipping a beat at the sound of his voice. I hadn’t heard him come in, as I had been so focused on Syn.
“Yes,” Atlas and I answer in unison. A smile tugs at my lips at Atlas’s long suffering sigh, and I turn to look at Luna to gauge her reaction.
Luna’s attention isn’t on me right now, though, and instead, she’s focused on Syn’s very naked body. Jealousy rises in me so quickly it’s like an atomic bomb going off, my vision turning red as the presence within me rushes to the surface. It takes everything in me to stop myself from reacting, my whole body flaring with magic desperate to escape. The only thing that makes me hold it back is feeling Syn’s utter devotion to me. He’s not even looking at Luna now, and the glances he has taken have been cursory to make sure she’s not causing any issues. Other feelings start to filter in as my magic slowly fades, mainly the concern and reassurance of my other mates at the unusual flare of my magic.
“Luna,” I snap, uncharacteristically harsh. I may have managed to contain my magic, but my temper is still at a boiling point, and the darkness in me is baying for blood.
She jumps and looks over at me guiltily, flashing me a sheepish smile that holds an apology. She has no idea how close she was to getting blasted by my magic or torn apart by Star. That makes me pause for a moment, the thought actually terrifying me. It would have been so easyto use my magic on her just then, a magic that I’ve been struggling to call to me in other circumstances. She’s one of the only allies I have here, and certainly one of my only true friends, yet that dark part of me was so eager to hurt her all because she stared at one of my mates for too long.
That unflattering realisation makes my blood run cold. Just who, or what, am I becoming? The girl from the secluded pack in the woods is long gone. Taking a deep breath, I focus on what’s important and shift forward, making sure to keep myself covered with the sheet as I go.
“Are you okay?” I ask quietly, running my eyes over her to look for any sign that she might not be. “I’ve not seen you in a while.”
“Not all of us can spend hours making love to our sexy mates.” Winking, she places her hands on her hips with a cheeky smile. “The queen had about a thousand pointless tasks for me to complete before I could attend the challenge today. I think she’s trying to keep me out of the way.” She pouts for a moment before throwing herself over the side of the armchair her cousin is sitting in. “What she failed to take into consideration is that I am an excellent multitasker.”
Atlas grumbles at her sudden invasion of his space, pushing her legs off him and standing to walk over to the other side of the room. Luna simply shifts until she’s situated in the seat, her smug smile telling me that was her plan all along.
My stomach clenches at the mention of the challenge. I knew it would be today, but it feels too soon, and this little reminder just highlights how much I still don’t know. Attempting to hide my nerves and discomfort about this whole situation, I focus on what I do know and what information Luna might be able to give me. “Do you know anything about the challenge?”
“No, but I have been sent to take you to the ballroom. The queen wants to bless you before your first challenge.” Her expression stays the same, but I hear how ludicrous she finds that idea, and honestly, I don’t blame her. The queen just wants to rub it in my face and seem benevolent while doing so. Atlas doesn’t bother to hide his derision and snorts from his corner of the room.
“There’s something else.” Scott perks up from the open doorway, his eyes narrowed slightly as he scents the air. Of all the werewolves I’ve ever met, Scott seems to have particularly keen senses, which he’s demonstrating now by picking up Luna’s hesitation before the rest of us. I’ve suspected that these heightened senses have to do with him being a lone wolf and needing sharper hearing, eyesight, and sense of smell to keep himself safe without the protection of a pack.
“That’s kind of creepy,” Luna comments. “Not to mention rude. You’re not supposed to sniff a lady without her permission. Geez, werewolves,” she jokes with an exaggerated roll of her eyes to attempt to cover up her discomfort, but she doesn’t quite manage to pass it off naturally. Realising this, she sighs and meets my stare. “All of your mates are to attend.”
Now I know what she didn’t want to say—Nicolai. She must have heard about his difficulties recently and him refusing to leave his rooms or even let me in to see him. If there was a way I could get around not having to get him involved in this, then I would do it without hesitation. However, there’s no way out of this for us, the queen has made herself clear. We’re all here for a reason. She wouldn’t have gone through so much effort to bring them all together unless she had an overall plan to use them somehow.
Pursing my lips, I nod slowly as I go over all this in my mind, confirming what I already know we have to do. “Does Nicolai know?”
She shakes her head. “I’ve not spoken to him.”
Joel huffs from behind me, and I know he’s remembering our last interaction with Nicolai, probably expecting this one to go just as badly. I just have to hope that he understands the importance of this and the potential consequences if he refuses to leave his rooms. Swallowing against my dry, scratchy throat, I glance around the room, taking in our various states of undress. “When are we expected?”
She looks down at a watch on her wrist and winces slightly, then meets my gaze. “An hour.”
It could have been worse, I think to myself. The queen seems to love catching me unprepared, and I was half expecting Luna to say we had to leave right now. Still, an hour isn’t going to give us long, seeing as we still have to get dressedandget Nicolai.
“I guess we better get out of bed then.”
