Page 47 of Lila

“I don’t think I’ve eaten since breakfast,” I grimace. Now that I’m listening to my body, it won’t stop yelling at me. I depleted my magic making Grayson’s potion and I should have spent the day resting and recuperating. Which includes eating. I’ve been getting by on adrenaline from my excitement and now that that’s wearing off, the lethargy is starting to kick in.

“We can’t have that,” Luca says. “I’ll make dinner. You relax for the rest of the night, bella. You’ve had a very taxing few days. Let us take care of you.” He side eyes each of the guys before saying, “That’s not a euphemism for sex.”

Jett pretend groans as Mateo glares at Luca. “I know how to take care of my mate, siren.”

“Whoa. He didn’t mean to insult you. Right, Luca? Please don’t fight,” I can’t help the whine in my voice. I know everything’s not going to be smooth for the rest of our lives, there’s bound to be disagreements and headbutting when so many people are involved, but I don’t have it in me to deal with it tonight.

“Sorry,mi reina,” he says, properly contrite.

“Thank you. Now, you can help Luca with dinner and make up. You both have bossy personalities so you’re going to have to come to an understanding otherwise you’ll constantly butt heads.”

“Okay,mi reina. But only for you,” he grumbles as he stands and struts to the kitchen, Luca rolling his eyes and following.

“You’re gonna have your hands full with those two,” Jett chuckles.

“Oh, but not with you?” I tease.

“Baby, you can have your hands full of me anytime you want.” He winks at me.

Chapter 33

Lila

Thenextmorning,Luca,Jett, and Harkin wake up at the ass crack of dawn. They each kiss me on the head before sneaking out of the room trying not to wake me. It’s sweet, but a little late for that. Their alarm did a bang-up job of waking me too. But I dutifully pretend to still be sleeping so they don’t feel bad. I’ll fall back asleep soon anyway.

Hours later when I wake on my own, I find myself wrapped around Mateo like a spider monkey. I don’t normally like to cuddle when I sleep so I’m not sure how this happened.

“Buenos dias,mi reina. How did you sleep?” He smiles down at me as he brushes my hair out of my face.

“Good. Sorry about… This,” I look down at my arm thrown over his torso and my leg tangled with his.

“Don’t ever apologize for wanting to be close to me. I would hold you 24/7 if I could.”

I feel the blush spread across my face and climb off him as I stretch. “What time is it?”

“Ten o’clock. You must have truly needed your sleep after this weekend.”

“Meh. If I don’t have work, I normally sleep in.” I shrug. They better not expect me to be an early riser. Morning person, I am not.

“I’ll gladly sleep in with you. Back home, I’d already have done a million things by now. Being a prince doesn’t come with a lot of downtime.”

“I’m sorry. You should call your parents and let them know you’re okay. Warn them about Alejandra. Then we’ll go shopping,” I add as an incentive. He doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to call home. If I was taken from my family with no way to talk to them for months, the first thing I would have done would be to call my mother. Maybe he’s not as close to his mom.

“That call may take a while. I’ll do it later so you don’t have to wait for me.”

“Mateo,” I drag out his name like my mom always does when I’m trying to get out of doing something.

Sighing, he relents. “Fine, I’ll call. But I expect a treat for my troubles.”

I laugh. “Calling your parents is troublesome?”

“Very,” he intones seriously.

“Fine, I’ll give you a treat. But I get to pick what it is.” I grin. “Good luck!” I lean over the bed and kiss him before leaving the room and heading to the bathroom. My bladder is what finally woke me up and if I don’t find a toilet soon, I’m going to make a mess.

When I’m done, I wash my hands and check out the fridge for anything to eat. By the time Mateo comes out an hour later, I’m curled up in my chair, without a mate for the first time, reading a book on my phone.

“Hey,mi reina. Sorry, that took so long. You ready to go?”

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