Leo huffed out a bitter laugh. “My alpha, in his infinite wisdom, has ordered me to choose a mate.”
And just like that, I had so many more questions. I’d read enough spicy shifter books back home to know what choosing a mate meant, but I didn’t know if the rules were the same.
“What, none of the hotties from the Shere pack are doing it for you?” I teased, trying to lift his sour mood.
He ignored the taunt.
Leo obviously wasn’t happy about the situation. The thing was, I could totally picture him settling down with some raven-haired goddess. He might look the part of a narcissistic god, but he was a good person through and through. One of the best I’d ever met, in fact.
It also didn’t hurt that he was basically built to take care of someone. That much was evident even in our first meeting... if I disregarded the fact that he was working for a soul-stealing demon when he’d chased me into that dark pit.
“Can you say no? I mean, aren’t mates for shifters kind of a fated thing.”
He let out a tired laugh, but there was more than humor tinting his soulful eyes. They were ravaged with a kind of longing that made my heart ache for him. “A fated mate isn’t as common as you might think. If the pack were to rely only on fated unions to continue the bloodline, we would go extinct.”
“Even here?” I motioned with my arm, encompassing the Nassa, a realm packed with more magic and mystery than I ever could have dreamed up. Surely, the odds of finding some mystical soulmate were better in a place like this.
“Especially here.” He shook his head. “I’ve met every member of every pack on the island, and I already know none of them are my fated mate.”
“How will you know when you’ve met your one?”
Leo eyed me up and down. “You just do. At least accordingto the couples in the pack who were lucky enough to find their true mates. It’s an instant connection that grabs hold of you and never lets you go.”
“How can you tell the difference between that and lust? Humans are pretty good at fucking that one up.”
“I wish I knew. But you didn’t drop in to talk about my non-existent love life, did you?”
“No,” I admitted, which made me feel like a jerk. When was the last time I just came by to hang out with him? It’d been weeks. Maybe a month. “I’m sorry I haven’t come by more often.”
He waved me off and got to his feet. “It’s fine. You and Atlas are, well, you and Atlas.”
I knew what he meant, but whatever we were wasn’t any excuse for abandoning a friend. Especially not one who’d risked life and limb to save us both.
“He wants to talk to you, but he doesn’t want to piss off Luther by showing up here.”
He nodded. “I figured as much.” He ducked inside and reemerged wearing a pair of old running shoes and a t-shirt that was more faded than his board shorts. “We should get going then.”
I held out my hand. He eyed it warily. “We’re not taking a boat, are we?”
“You don’t have to sound so scared about it.”
“I know how you drive,” he shot back.
“This is flashing. It’s different.” For one thing, there wasn’t a big metal cage to keep us safe if I veered off course and slammed us into something.
He must have sensed my hesitation because he backed up a step. “You’re not instilling much confidence in me over here.”
Instead of giving either of us too much time to overthink it, I caught him by the wrist and flashed. The effort of just flashingmyself was a drain on my energy. Granted, it replenished quickly, but after a game like the one Hook and I had been playing earlier, I usually slept like the dead.
Moving Leo was exponentially harder. While I did manage to get us to the other island in one piece, we skidded into the sand rather than landing on it, and I stumbled forward, tightening my grip on Leo’s wrist to keep my balance.
He let out a growl that raised my hackles. “Easy.”
“Did I hurt you?” I let go, yanking my hand back.
He held up his wrist to examine it, and I could already see bruises forming where my fingers had dug into his skin. “Not bad, but damn, you’ve gotten strong.”
Had I? Hook and I had been so focused on improving my flashing that I hadn’t even thought about the strength aspect of it.
