AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Orion staggered to a stop. “How old are you exactly?”
“Two thousand years—and one day—shy of twenty-one.” Izel had said that as if his age wasn’t staggering.
Orion’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t imagine living that long. The guy had to be screwing with him.
“Ask Duncan how old he is,” Izel said.
Orion turned to Duncan. “How old are you?”
“You’re a dickhead,” Duncan said to Izel. “Stop being a petty bitch.”
Izel’s features darkened. “Insult me again and I’ll leave you here to rot.”
Duncan looked like he was chewing nails. “I’m two hundred and twenty-one.” He glanced at Izel. “Happy?”
Izel smirked, though Orion suspected it was fake. “Thrilled.”
Or maybe not.
“Why can’t we just poof out of here like we got here?” Although there was beauty and lushness all around them, this forest felt…off. The sooner Orion was home, the better.
“I have been trying to get us out of here.” Izel scanned their surroundings. “Something is preventing us from poofing out.”
“Then why did you bring us here if it’s that difficult to leave?” Orion had a bad habit of asking a million questions, but he needed to know these things.
“As I already told you, this was not my destination.” Izel’s brows furrowed. “I have no idea how we got here. Yet I knew where to go when I returned to my mates.”
“Stop calling us that,” Duncan said.
Izel stopped walking. “Then sniff me, cat. You’ll see that I’m telling the truth.”
Orion looked at Duncan then waved a hand. “Well, go ahead. You know you’re dying to find out.”
So was Orion.
With a deep frown, Duncan stepped closer and sniffed Izel. A low, rumbling purr escaped his chest as his eyes fluttered closed.
“I think you have your answer,” Orion said. “Why didn’t you do that to me instead of trying to attack me?”
Duncan shrugged as he pulled away from Izel. “I have no idea why my cheetah reacted that way to you. Maybe because it thought you needed protecting. I wouldn’t have hurt you, regardless of what Beckett thinks.”
“Your idea of protection is manhandling me?”
“That was quite a show,” Izel admitted. “It was the sole reason I revealed myself. I thought my mate was in danger.”
Orion had to admit that both of them seemed like decent men. But he still wasn’t down for the whole mating thing. It wasn’t as if Orion was a virgin, but with two guys? Never. And they were talking about being mates.
Wasn’t that a forever thing?
They stopped walking when they reached a stream. Orion was glad they hadn’t run into trouble. He was so over today. Fuck a steak and fuck the idea of mates. Now all Orion wanted was to go home.
Izel’s eyes narrowed as he looked around.
“What’s wrong?” Orion looked around, too, but didn’t see anything.
“We’re being watched,” Izel said.
“By who?” Duncan asked.
