Page 53 of Savagely Mated


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“Wow,” Kirin says, taking the picture from him, and handing it to me. “Do you scrapbook, Darcy? This would be good to commemorate our first date.”

I’m busy wondering how the hell Einar got this. Drones send pictures back to various ministries and authorities, but you don’t usually see those pictures unless they send you a ticket, and they don’t send tickets that fast. To have this picture, Einar would have to have someone on the inside of the MoT, or maybe…

“You know what that picture is?” Einar growls the question.

“No idea,” Kirin says. Of course he knows, he’s playing dumb, winding Einar up on purpose. I don’t know how Einar doesn’t see what’s happening. Or maybe he does, and he doesn’t care. I’ve done what Kirin’s doing before. It’s when you decide you just don’t give a fuck if you’re in trouble and rile the authority up as much as you can, see how far you can push them.

“It’s our mate following you on a fucking death run in the middle of Eclipse City not thirty minutes after I took her back to the academy!”

I’ve never heard him yell before. He does it with a deep gravelly bass that makes my adrenaline spike.

“Lower your tone, old man,” Kirin rumbles. “I’ll give you that first shot for free, but hit me again and I’ll kick your ass.”

“Is that right?”

I watch, eyes wide as Kirin and Einar square up against one another. I get the impression this is a disagreement that has been a long time coming.

“That’s enough,” Rafe says. He hasn’t moved from the couch, and his tone is casual. “We’re not here to fight each other, and they’re back, unharmed.”

“We need Darcy in the academy,” Einar says. “It’s the only way to…”

“Kill the king?”

I pour a little gas on the fire by finishing his sentence. What the hell. Why not?

“You told her?” Einar turns back to Kirin.

“I did. She should know what she’s involved with.”

“We agreed it would be better if she didn’t, that way she can be innocent in most of this. She can fit into the academy more easily without all of this in her mind.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here, and I’m not going back to the academy,” I interject. Einar’s not even looking at me. He’s discussing me like I’m part of the furniture.

“Oh, yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Darcy, you will be in attendance at that school tomorrow if I have to cuff you to me in order to ensure that happens. Apparently I can’t trust you out of my sight.”

“Who the hell said you had any right to have any expectation of me doing what you tell me to do?” My voice starts to get pitchy, which I hate. I sound all girlish and annoyed.

“I said, enough,” Rafe repeats himself, slightly more firmly this time. Then he goes so far as to turn the television off. The inane babbling of the box is more obvious when it is gone.

I notice Einar relaxes, though Kirin doesn’t. Kirin puts his arm around my shoulders in a sort of possessive, comforting way.

Rafe leans forward while sitting on the couch, his hands clutched together as he looks at all of us. He seems unbothered, but firm.

“We’re not fighting in front of our mate. Einar, Kirin, if you want to kill each other, go out back and do it quietly.”

“I don’t want to kill anybody. I want our mate safe.”

“You want your pawn positioned correctly, you mean,” Kirin says.

“What part of enough wasn’t clear?” Rafe muses. “Darcy, go up to bed.”

Apparently all of them tell me what to do. Except Kirin. Kirin’s worse than me, and I like that. It’s nice to be with someone who gets me in a way I don’t think anybody else does. Jory used to, but he’s decided to be all responsible now.

“I’ll come with you,” Kirin says, before I can tell Rafe I’m not going to bed. “I’ve had more than enough of this day, and it’s only just started.”