Bonds of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 2)

The ride back to the inn is brutally long.

Once we get back, the guys rent an extra room and sneak Okot up the back stairs. A healer comes and does some tricky glowing magic mumbo jumbo, and now all we can do is wait.

I don’t move from the spot on the bed next to Okot. I’m perched right between his legs, making sure he’s breathing (he is), making sure his color looks better (it does), and wishing he would wake up (he hasn’t).

He somehow seemed to sense that I was there with him in the tunnel, which is infreakingsane. Unless he was just delirious. I’m mostly sure that’s what it was. About ninety percent sure. Like, sure, but with a minus of ‘what-if.’ No one has ever sensed me in the Veil before. That would be awesome if it were true.

The moment he starts to wake up the next day, I’m right there, up close and personal. Still perched between his legs, I lean in, probably looking like a crazy stalker, but I don’t care becuase he can’t see me, anyway.

His eyes peel open like it takes considerable effort on his part, and he looks around, trying to catch his bearings.

“Thank gods,” I breathe.

He tries to sit up, only to fall back on the bed again. “Wait right here.”

I fly straight at the wall separating his room and the genfins’ room. They’re eating lunch, talking about other genfins I’ve never heard of when I come zooming in.

“Hey, genfins! He’s awake. Chop, chop, go tend to my mate.”

They keep on eating. I blast them with Lust-Breath and punch some Flirt-Touches into their bodies just for good measure. “Come on! You can stuff your faces later!”

Three sexually frustrated groans are my reply.

Wait for it…

“Fucking hell, Scratch!”

There it is.

“What the hell was that for?” Ronak demands, cradling his package. And it’s, like, a large package. Like, if he went to a post office on the human realm, he’d have to pay extra to ship that thing. Not that they’d ship a penis. I don’t think.

Right, focus.

Sylred has a grimace on his face and a nice flush to his cheeks. “Maybe she’s trying to tell us something.”

“You think?” Evert snaps, pushing his plate of food away.

“The lamassu is probably awake. Let’s go check.”

“We have to go check on her fucking mate with a trio of hard-ons,” Evert gripes. “That’s not awkward at all.”

“Come on,” Sylred says, opening the door.

They follow him out and knock on Okot’s door before letting themselves in. He’s managed to sit up by now at least. He starts to stand, but Sylred stops him. “Don’t get up on our account.”

Okot nods and looks between the three of them and then frowns. “Is she okay? Where is she? She’s nearby, I can sense her.”

My mouth falls open. So he wasn’t delusional. This mate match must be some strong stuff. We haven’t even confirmed it yet. I don’t know if it’s just a lamassu power, or if it’s just an Okot thing, but it gives me the warm and fuzzies.

I fly over to him and sit down before attempting to put my hand on his thigh. He looks down and frowns.

My eyes widen. “Whoa. You can feel that?”

The guys watch him curiously. “What can you sense?” Sylred asks.

Okot shakes his head as if he’s trying to think of the right words. “I’m not sure, but I feel her near. I feel her…here,” he says, putting his hand over mine.

I smile and lay my head against his shoulder, not caring when some of me goes through him. “We are so confirming our bond,” I tell him. “I’m gonna confirm the hell out of it when I turn solid again.”

The guys stare at his hand on his thigh and they look like…like they wish they could feel me, too.

Okot clears his throat and addresses the genfins again. “I failed her.”

I pick my head up to look at him. “You did not!”

Ronak shakes his head. “No, you were arrested by the prince’s men. There was nothing you could have done.”

Okot clenches his fists and looks down at his lap with a dejected expression.

“Can you tell us everything that happened?” Sylred asks.

Okot answers without looking up. “Something was in my drink. It made me feel strange. The next thing I knew, they were leading me out of the royal box, and then there was a bag over my head. I tried to fight, and I should’ve easily been able to overpower them, but whatever was in that drink incapacitated me. I could not even shift into my lamassu animal form. When I next woke, I was in the place that you found me.”

“Yeah, then that’s not your fault,” Evert says. I look over at him in surprise. He’s the last person I expected to try and make Okot feel better. “Nothing you could’ve done.”

“What did they do to her?”

Ronak clenches his jaw. “We don’t know. But we’re working on meeting with someone to get her back.”

Okot stands and bows his head to them. “You saved my life, and you have looked after my mate when I could not. I am in your debt.”

Evert puts his hands in his pockets and smirks. “Our.”

Okot frowns. “What?”

“She’s our mate. All four of us. You okay with that?” His tone is challenging.

I try to bite my nails in nervousness as I await Okot’s answer. But he just nods. “Like I told her, she has my heart. If you have hers, then I will respect that.”

Evert claps him on the back. “Good. But be warned—she likes to Lust-Breathe the fuck out of us when she wants to talk, or get us to do something, or just because she can. Welcome to the fucking party. Your dick will never get a break.”

Okot just grins. “I can live with that.”

Evert chuckles darkly. “Good. Then let’s get our girl back.”