Page 167 of Bitten By the Fae
“Again, that’s not for you to decide,” she bit back.
I grabbed the back of her neck and tugged her to me. “You’re upset. I get it. You don’t trust us. Fine. But those are not reasons to break a blood vow. Relationships require work. And I’ll be damned if I let you just Quandary-magic your way out of this, pixie flower.”
She pressed her palms against my chest and tried to shove me away. “Don’t touch me.”
“Too late.” I clamped my opposite arm around her lower back. “You’re angry. You think we betrayed you, but everything we’ve done is to protect you.”
She huffed a laugh, her nails digging into my button-down shirt. “Right.”
“Do you think I liked seeing them take you away?” I asked her. “It wasn’t my recording that landed you behind bars, Aflora. I did what I could to protect you.”
“You mean you did what you could to protect you and Kols,” she corrected. “Without the collar, the Council would havesensed our connection. So don’t lie to me and pretend it had anything to do with me, because I know it didn’t. You will always look out for Kols first and foremost. Now I’m suggesting we find a way to free you both so you can go back to guarding him without me being in the way.”
“The collar protected you as well,” I pointed out.
“But it wasn’t me you meant to protect,” she tossed back. “Stop toying with me, Zeph. This whole thing is a big mistake. I’ll figure out how to undo it, and we’ll go our separate ways.”
“What about your balance?” Kols asked, confirming my earlier assessment. He wanted to test her resolve and see if she’d truly thought this through. “Our biting you is what helped you stop imploding the other night. If you remove the bonds, you risk imploding again.”
“Exactly,” I agreed.
“So put me out in the middle of the LethaForest and let me explode,” she retorted. “I mean, really, it’s not like you care, right?” She tried to extract herself from my hold again, but I didn’t budge.
“Stop telling us how we feel, Aflora,” I chastised her, annoyed by her inaccurate assessments.
Her blue eyes rolled in response, causing me to tighten my grip on her neck. “Let. Go.” She uttered the words through her clenched jaw.
So I uttered one back at her. “No.”
Power flickered through her, and I welcomed the fight, but Kols chose that moment to speak again. “I would care.” The soft words had me glancing at him. “I would care a great deal, actually.”
Aflora snorted. “Sure. Is that why you spent the last few days humping your way around the Human Realm?”
Ah. There it is—the real reason she’s suggesting this.
She was hurt, not just by our perceived betrayal but also by Kols’s notorious behavior. He realized it at the same moment, his nostrils flaring as his golden irises pulsated.
I released her, knowing he would grab her in turn, and he did, his palms going to her hips as he walked her into the wall.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, her hands flying up to his shoulders as if to force him back.
“There’s a problem with your theory,mate,” he said, his thigh sliding between her legs as his palms slipped up her sides to slowly memorize her curves.
Her scent began to change as interest darkened her blue eyes. “What problem?”
“Midnight Fae bonds occur when a male bites another Midnight Fae.” One of his hands shifted back down to her hip while the other lifted to cup her neck, his thumb brushing the underside of her jaw to ensure she held his gaze.
“I’m aware,” she replied.
“Yes, and it’s a permanent claim that your Quandary abilities might be able to unravel,” he conceded. “But you can’t unweave our Elemental Fae mating, princess. We’re already mated on the third level, which required agreement from both of our souls. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“You don’t think my magic can dismantle Elemental Fae bonds.”
“No, sweetheart,” he murmured. “I’m saying I know it can’t.”
She shook her head, the movement stilted thanks to his grip on her neck. “I haven’t even tried yet, so you can’t know that.”
“But I do, Aflora.” He pressed his nose to her cheekbone and drew his lips across her cheek to her ear. “You would need my cooperation to even attempt it, and you don’t have it. Because my soul wanted yours, just as yours desired mine. Our spirits won’t allow us to break the vow now. It’s too late. Which makes you mine,mate.”
