Page 59 of Hellish Fae
In his fist, silky purple material is wrinkled between his fingers. He doesn’t hand them over. He waits with hard features for me to answer what I am sure is one of many questions.
“I mean, he’s my mate. I care about him. Of course, I do . . .” A long pent-up breath pushes from my lungs.
“And those other fucks? You love them?” His harshness isn’t something that can be smoothed out with a right answer.
“If I love all four of them, then that’s none of your business. I’m not going to play your games just to cover my ass with one of your shirts for a few hours.”
Rhys’s eyes narrow on me, and the space in the room seems to be dissolving the longer I stand here with him.
“Are you mated with all four of them or just Krave?” He asks like I’m wasting his time, but I’m so thrown off by his question that genuine confusion slips into my tone.
“All four of them?”
Four is a lot! A whole lot of exhausting testosterone. A lot of bickering. A lot of . . .
A lot of sex, I bet. That’s not super terrible, I suppose . . .
“You’re friends with an incubus, an iron blood, a half-demon, and some kind of fucking cupid boy, and you haven’t paused to wonder why all four of these men are mysteriously in your life?”
“You’re overthinking things. I’m not blessed with too many absurdly attractive men. I just have really bad luck. Bad things like these men just happen to me for no reason.”
His eyebrow arches so hard, I can almost hear it sayingrighhhttall by its pretentious self.
A heavy sigh exhales from his lips, and he slowly hands over the soft purple material. When I reach for it, he doesn’t release it, and we’re connected by the thin fabric while he glares down on me so hard, I can feel the hellishness within him radiating into me with each passing second.
“Krave is loyal to those he loves,” he says.
That’s a joke.
I bite my tongue instead of telling him who Krave’s handler is and who the incubus is truly loyal to.
“He’ll do anything for you. He’ll get himself imprisoned for you. He’lldiefor you.” The weight of his words hits my chest, and it’s hard for me to think of a response to that. Luckily, he doesn’t wait for me to. “Don’t let him. Take care of him the way I know he’d take care of you. And don’t let your other mates lead him into danger, either.” He lets go of the clothing and strides out of the room.
“They’re not my mates,” I call after him.
He doesn’t respond.
He just leaves me there alone to change.
And to question all the things in my life that might be fate . . .
Or might just be coincidental bad luck.
19
Catherine the Queen
Aries
The clothes Rhys gave me turned out to be a casual silk dress. It flows flirty around my thighs and dips down at the top to tease the curve of my breasts. I have absolutely no idea what three demon men are doing with a cute dress like this, but I’m not complaining either.
I took the time to wash my face in a small bathroom across from the bedroom he left me in. When I start to climb down the dark stairwell, the laughter booming in the kitchen is still going strong.
“Of course, Clara hated you back then. You fucked her brother and never told her until after you’d fucked her!” Nix accuses, pointing a long finger in Krave’s face, which he ignores with a shake of his head.
“It was just a misunderstanding,” Krave defends with an airy wave of his hand. But damn, his defense could use a little work. He’s still smiling wide as he takes a long drink out of a clay cup.
His head is still tipped back, and his sharp Adam’s apple is still working as he catches sight of me. His tongue slides across his damp lips, his gaze slipping down my body with so much slowness I can feel his attention heating across my skin.
