“I don’t regret anything about Em. Having him as my Alpha is probably my best shot at having him in general. I’m not sure he would have gotten a word in edgewise with you lot if he hadn’t been my first bond.”
Ozzy chuckled and kissed the side of my head, my rumpled hair probably tickling his nose. “He is a little quiet. Kind of fades into the background.”
“It’s on purpose. He figured he could mark me and I wouldn’t care because he was window dressing. Unfortunately for him — or fortunately, depending on how he looks at it — I won’t be letting him vanish so easily. He’s mine, body and soul, and I don’t let what’s mine go so easily.”
“Only you would see your Alphas as your possessions.”
“That’s how plenty of Alphas see Omegas. It’s about time the tables were turned,” I said indignantly.
“I’m aware, little fin, and I won’t complain. I’ve been your possession for years already, ever since I offered you the familiar contract.”
“We should test your abilities now that we have a mate bond. They might have vanished.”
He groaned, shaking his head. “Don’t sound so eager. I’m not doing anything but nap until my knot softens enough to slip out of you, and probably far longer than that.”
Shifting himself to the side as best he could with us awkwardly stuck together, he made good on his promise to fall asleep. I stayed awake, staring at the ceiling with my brain running on overdrive, thinking about mate bonds and Kylan and what I had to do to keep all of my men safe from the problems I’d brought into their lives.
ELEVEN
Caspian
Worry buzzed beneath my skin constantly, making me fidgety and anxious.
Shan hadn’t noticed because he was dealing with his own shit — the fallen angel’s presence pissed him off, despite Altair seeming like a nice guy. Emmett, intuitive as always, was staring at me and waiting for me to voice my issues.
I avoided eye contact with him, our group not the only one settled at a small table in the cafeteria style kitchen.
Should I talk about it? Maybe, but I doubted Freya would be pleased to know I’d been driving myself crazy with worry over her. Would Emmett tell her? They were bonded now. I didn’t quite know what that meant for us. Could I still talk to him, or was he mate-bond obligated to tell her every word out of my mouth?
His hand came down on my arm unexpectedly and I jumped, bumping my knees up into the table. It shook, spilling a bit of orange juice over the edge of a cup and sending a knife clattering off my plate. Shan glanced over but continued to pace. I was pretty sure he planned to challenge Altair to the practice bout Freya had denied him last night, but we hadn’t seen the long-haired Zemterran yet.
“Talk to me, sweetheart,” Em murmured, pulling his chair closer to me.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not eating and you barely slept last night.”
I shoved a bite of eggs in my mouth, finding them dry and cold. Chewing slowly, I swallowed. “I’m eating.”
He sighed. “Only to prove a point. You only had one meal yesterday, too. Talk to me, or I’m going to have Shan talk to you.”
Tensing, I glanced to my angel mate. Irritation flashed through our bond. His emotions were covering up mine, and I’d never been so grateful to be in love with such an erratic man. He’d always had so much intensity going on beneath the surface, and meeting Freya had brought it all the forefront. It was yet to be determined if that was a good or bad thing.
“Can we go somewhere else?”
“I found a few private places while I was exploring the other day. Come on.”
He stood, but I hesitated. Leaving Shan here didn’t seem like the best idea, with him so wound up. Em followed my gaze and rolled his eyes. Stepping in front of Shan, he stopped him in his pacing. “Go upstairs. Freya stopped this fight for a reason.”
Shan narrowed his eyes. “He’s a disgrace to all angels. I can beat him.”
“I’m sure you can, but we all need to save our strength. Kylan could be spotted any moment, and it’s a pain in the ass if you’re recovering from some pointless training battle.”
My mate didn’t look or feel like he was about to give up, and I resigned myself to wallowing in my feelings for a while longer.
“I can babysit.” Nolan’s voice was surprisingly close by and I spun in my seat, wide-eyed.
He was right behind me, wearing black jean shorts instead of the tan ones for once. Of course, he still had on a bright floral-patterned button-up. I ate it up, following the curve of his body with my eyes from his shoulders down to his thighs and back again. His scent was sweet pastries but tinged with mango now, from Oswald. They scent marked each other like fucking crazy. I wasn’t going to be getting another taste of Nolan until they’d worn out their possessiveness and jealousy, which I was disappointed about.
