Page 38 of Balance
The last thing Bianca needed was someone else getting into a relationship with her under false pretenses.
“I can’t…” she muttered, still not meeting my eyes.
“I thought you wanted to be her friend,” I said, hoping that we hadn’t misread the signs. Maria had shown an interest in Bianca, and that was rare. She’d even taken her out for drinks and made an effort to have aslumber party. My cousin was not someone who made friends easily, and usually hated anything girly; hence why she made fun of my collections.
But she did like cute people.
Her expression fell and she looked towards me at last. “Ido.”
I didn’t understand the problem—
“But I don’t think she likes me very much,” Maria continued.
I stared at first, unsure how to respond, becausereally?
Bianca almost peed herself the first time Maria sent her a text, she was that excited. Anyone with half a brain could see that the fae was head-over-heels with the lioness. “Why the hell would you think that?”
“She hasn’t reached out to me,” Maria muttered. “Finn said to give her space. She doesn’t get along with girls, or anyone, and—”
“Whyare you listening toFinnwhen it comes to Bianca?” Had she lost her mind? Finn might not be as bad as I thought, but part of the reason we were in this mess was because of his terrible judgement.
As if there wasn’t enough going on, my Er Bashou was losing her mind.
“I was actually talking to him about something else.” Maria pursed her lips, brows wrinkling. “But we’ve run into some roadblocks with the Eric Richards investigation. I thought Finn might have some ideas, but his anger issues don’t help.”
My ears perked at the disdain in her voice, and I leaned forward, my chest stirring. He’d lied to Bianca, so really there’s no question that he should pay—good intentions or no. But for Bianca’s sake, I’d been following her lead on how to deal with him.
She hadn’t asked me to rip out his throat yet, so that meant she was probably fond of him. Bianca might not share Mu’s memories yet, but she definitely had his mannerisms. If she really hated him, he’d be dead already.
But if Finn was on to something that could hurt her, I wouldn’t hesitate to go behind her back. I only needed one word with Julian, and even Damen couldn’t stop what would happen.
“What did he say?” I asked.
Maria’s gaze flew to mine and she frowned. “Nothing, really. He’s just an ass sometimes.” She moved back, crossing her arms. “He’s pissed he’s not more heavily involved in the investigation. Insulted our intelligence, made claims that he could do better on his own.”
“Oh…” So, basically the usual.
“You’re really losing control, aren’t you?” she asked, leaning forward and pressing her hands flat on the desk. “You were about to rip my head off because you thought Biancamightbe in danger.”
No, I wasn’t. “I’m fine.”
“You were.” She frowned, light reflecting from her glasses as tilted her head to the left. “What are you going to do about the mate-bond?”
I rubbed the back of my head in frustration. The truth was, I had no idea what I was going to do, but it was getting harder to stay neutral.
The only thing worse than my rising unease and the sick feeling in my stomach was the possibility that Bianca would reject our bond outright. I could deal with the itchy skin and my cold sweats for as long as necessary.
“She’s not ready for a relationship,” Maria continued. “If she’lleverbe.”
I knew that—although, hopefully, one day it’d happen. Otherwise, starting soon, I would need to go to Damen to help control my dragon—the stirring feelings in my stomach made me feel like I was about to explode. “I’m not stupid.”
“Even if you ignore it, you two still might start showing signs,” Maria said. “Unless she rejects you outright—”
I couldn’t hold back my growl.
“Don’t start that with me,” she snapped. “Someone needs to talk some sense into you, and I know you haven’t gone to your quintet about it. Youneedto talk to her. You’ve never had a mate; you don’t knowwhatyour bond will be like. You both need to be prepared.”
“We’ll bond as quintet members,” I argued, trying to ignore the unease filling me. “It’ll help.”
