Mari was already seated at our table. The ogress was hunched over Trix, feeding her tidbits. I hoped they were dog friendly, as my furry friend tended to be as gaseous as the ogress with the wrong kind of intake.
We filled our trays, and Mari greeted us with a wide smile and enough waggling of her heavy brows that I blushed again.
Way to give it away, Angel.Matt grinned.
Oh, shut up, Wolfie.
I sensed eyes on me as we ate, and I looked up to see Cara regarding us from the staff table. I stiffened.
Do you think she knows?I asked Matt nervously.
Likely. She reads energy, right?
I flushed again.She told me to stay away from you. I mean, sexually.
You don’t take orders from anyone, not even her,was his response.
Apparently. Still, Mari knows, Cara probably knows, it’s a bit embarrassing.
His grin went almost as wide as Mari’s.Then I guess I shouldn’t tell you that every Dire in the place knows too. My scent is all over you.
I dropped my head into my hands.My humiliation is complete.
It’s not humiliation. It’s about claiming.I looked up into eyes that glowed so brightly my breath caught.We belong to each other, and they know it now.He backed it up with a surge along the link that completed the breathless issue for both of us.
“I wish you guys would stop that. It’s rude.”
We both looked up at Mari, and I bit my lip. “Sorry, Mari. You are right, it is rude.”
She tilted her square head. “Unless, of course, what you’re discussing is embarrassing. In which case, feel free to continue mindspeaking among yourselves.”
“It was stonkin’ embarrassing,” Matt said, before stuffing another dumpling into his mouth.
At this rate, my face was never going to regain normal coloration.
Cara waited for me just outside the cafeteria. Matt grinned broadly as he and Mari headed down the steps for their special abilities class.
“So.” Cara petted Trix before we followed them down. “I take it you and Matt haven’t honored my recommendations.”
“Uh...”
“And as he is looking smug and glowing with health, you managed to figure out how to push energy back to him.”
“I did, yes.”
She grabbed my arm. “Good. You can tell me all about it.”
My mind spun. “You aren’t angry?”
“No, of course not.” She regarded me with surprise. “You two are matebonded. I was hoping that would help you gain control.”
“But you didn’t say that,” I pointed out.
“Sometimes the surest way to screw things up is to tell someone how to do something,” she said calmly.
Okay, then. I added complex manipulation strategies to Cara’s repertoire.
“Tell me how it went,” she urged.
