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As I did, some of his frigidity relaxed, and he reached over to take my hand. “Are you okay? I was worried.”
I squeezed his hand. “I’m fine. Jude saved me from one of those jerk guards. Hilda was knocked around a little but I don’t think she knows details about the uprising. Whoever is the leader of this thing, it’s not her.”
“So you know about it?” Nico asked and I could hear the twinge of suspicion in his voice. I didn’t blame him for it. After all, I was a lesser a hell of a lot longer than I was their mate or fiancée or betrothed-to-be, whatever.
“I received a message this morning,” I told him. “That’s why I went to warn Hilda.”
“I trust this guard was taught a lesson about even thinking about harming our mate?” Nico’s question was directed at Jude, and they shared some kind of manly nod that satisfied the brooding man next to me. He had his platinum hair pulled back in a ponytail again, and I realized he had a scar right behind his ear. I’d never seen that before today. He turned to me and winked, catching me off guard. “How are you feeling today? Any improvement?” His hand was cool as he reached up and felt my forehead. “Hmm, it seems a bit better to me, but not by much.”
“Do you want to eat, Freya?” Jude asked, already pulling leftovers out of the fridge.
“I could eat,” I said and scooted closer to Nico. “Can it be enough for two?”
Nico eyed me, but this time, there was no harsh snap about me telling him what to do. Jude and Nico again shared a look, and he nodded curtly. “I could eat.”
“Coming right up.”
While Jude went about making plates like a seasoned chef, Soren emerged from his bedroom, except he looked like he hadn’t had any sleep at all. “What’s all the racket?” He didn’t have a shirt on, and I swore my core vibrated just looking at him. He was solid as an oak, his stomach muscles at least a six-pack that set off that V at his hipline, barely visible above his low-slung jeans.
Maybe penis was the answer after all.
“See something you like?” he whispered in my ear while passing. My face heated up even more than it already was, but this was clearly a different kind of fever. “Did I hear something about Hilda?”
“There’s an uprising brewing among the lessers. Our mate went to warn Hilda and came into contact with one of those slimy guards, but Jude was with her.”
Soren stopped what he was doing at the counter with Jude to whirl around and look at me. “You’re not hurt.”
“Of course not. I was with her,” Jude casually noted, picking up three plates and moving them to the table.
“Did you go dragon on his ass?” Soren asked, chuckling.
I shook my head. They really were a team. “He nearly did. I didn’t realize Jude was so terrifying.”
Jude waggled his eyebrows at me. “Fierce as fuck,” he said proudly as he bit into some leftover fajita steak. “But I hate that they still look at Freya as a lesser. It’s pissing me off. The guard thing plus this lesser rebellion. I’m worried about her safety and where the chips will fall after this is all over. You know the council will call for a slaughtering of the lessers if they go through with this.”
“And I’m still a lesser,” I added, though no one else was willing to say it.
“You’re still regarded as a lesser by the assholes in power. That’s different. It’s because we are not mated.”
And there it was. It hung in the air, a dark cloud always over our heads threatening the storm to come—sex determined my future.
“Freya, if you were mated, you would become royal like us and therefore protected.” The despair on all of their faces was apparent as Soren suggested the notion.
“Is that how you want it? You want me to rush to mate all of you for my own protection? How romantic.”
Nico huffed out a laugh. “Matings have been completed for far less critical reasons. It doesn’t mean it would be void of feeling. The three of us are certainly not the ones delaying the mating after all.”
“I honestly don’t know why I can’t surrender to it.”
Soren stabbed his steak with a little too much force. “Maybe there is no feeling on your part.”
Tears welled in my eyes hearing that. “You know that’s not true, Soren. I care for each of you.”
“Not enough. We’re here, willing, wanting, and some of us on the verge of begging you to mate with us. Maybe I’m speaking for myself, but my dragon is on edge every second of every day needing you, hungering for the bond only mating can solidify. That’s fine. We’ll do the best we can to protect you until you decide to mate us or run away again or whatever. Fuck!” He pushed his plate away. “I’ve lost my appetite. Do what you want, Freya.”
He stomped away to his room while Nico and even Jude pushed their plates away as well. Jude got up wordlessly and left while Nico eventually did the same.
I put my fork down, and Nico turned to me. “Choose us, Freya. We might have been thrown together by fate, but that doesn’t change that we now choose you. You are already our mate; maybe it’s time you let us be your mates.”
