Page 67 of Lust & Lollipops

He chuckled. “I’ve waited four years for this, Lolli. I can wait four more days for the release I want.”

“I thought wants were just as important as needs.”

“Yours are.” He nipped at my bottom lip. “Mine are better suited for waiting until after the cameras are gone.”

“If you’re not getting off, then I’m not either,” I warned.

“Stubborn woman.” He kissed me lightly.

“If we’re not fucking tonight,” I said, “Then you’d better give me more details about the Society. Where they’re located. Where we’d be expected to live if we seal the bond.”

“After we’ve sealed the bond.” He didn’t like hearing me talk like it was still just a possibility.

“After,” I corrected myself.

There was no point in playing games anymore.

He’d won, and we both knew it.

fourteen

MOLLY

I settled against Cameron’s bare chest, and he slid his fingers back through my hair. “The Society isn’t stationed in just one location. They own three homes in every place they rotate between, and there’s no required order that they have to visit. They go where they feel they can be the most effective.”

“Three homes?” I asked.

“The leading couple works as one with their right and left hands, remember?”

“The right and left hands are the other two couples?”

“Mmhm.”

“Are they also elected?” I asked.

“They are. The current right hands have no children, and keep to themselves for the most part. The lefts are loosely related to Chris. They aren’t much liked, but the last couple in their position was Rhett’s family. They lost their lives in the human war, and the current pair were the runners-up in the last election.”

“Shit,” I murmured. “No wonder you and Rhett are close, if you grew up together while both of your parents led the Society.”

Cameron nodded. “In an ideal world, Rhett and his mate would take his parents’ place when we take mine. That would require him winning a mate, though, and he’s grown even more volatile in his age than I have. On top of that, he has no desire to compete.”

“He didn’t seem volatile to me. You don’t either.”

“Not dangerous, volatile. Possessive, volatile. Fae grow more beastly as we age alone. It’s the instinct to survive pushing us to find and claim a partner before it’s too late. We have little control over it, but it affects some more than others.”

“And Rhett is one of them?”

“Yes.”

“And even if he wants to, he can’t go on Bachelorette if he’s that possessive,” I said.

“Nope.”

“Were his parents as involved as yours? If they were still here, would they make him take a mate somehow?”

“They were worse than mine.” He flashed me a small grin. “My parents have decided he’s their second son since his parents passed. I’d put a lot of money on them somehow forcing him to play Survival in the next season or two.”

Which meant at least one more woman was going to be trapped in my position.

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