Bonds of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 2)

I’m sleeping peacefully when a sudden knock jars me awake. I jump to my feet and stagger to the door, throwing it open with bleary eyes and a barely-aware brain.

In front of me is one of Princess Soora’s personal guards. I can tell, because he’s wearing her house colors that reminds me of a peacock and has a sigil of a violet on his breastplate.

He’s not high fae—that much is obvious. High fae are sinewy in their lean gracefulness. This man is not lean. Or graceful. He’s built like a bear, and although they look nothing alike, his massive size makes me think of Ronak with a pang of longing.

But while Ronak is big with perfectly chiseled muscles, this fae is bulkier and wider, with equally impressive muscles. He has a thick, longhaired mohawk down the center of his scalp, and his hair is as bright-red as a stop sign.

He also has a golden ring pierced through his septum. “Gods, that had to have hurt,” I say, pointing to his nose piercing. “Did it hurt? Never mind, you don’t even have to answer that. I would cry if I got a piercing like that. This one time, I was watching this tattoo parlor all day, because I kind of have a thing for guys with tattoos, so it was like, the perfect place to watch, you know?”

He doesn’t say he knows, so I just shrug and keep going. “Well, anyway, then this girl got her nipples pierced. Her nipples! And as if that wasn’t bad enough, then she got a piercing down there,” I say in a mock-whisper as I point to my crotch. “I didn’t even know they did that at the time. Now that’s gotta be worse than the nose, don’t you think?”

He still doesn’t answer me, so I soldier on. “She didn’t cry, but I’m pretty sure she was high on something. She kept giggling and talking about boiled eggs. That can’t be normal. But if I ever get a piercing, I’ll just be sure to get hooked up with some drugs first. Did you take drugs when you got pierced? Wait…what kind of drugs do fae have? I bet fae drugs are awesome.”

I look up at him expectantly, but I can see from his expression that I’ve rendered him speechless.

When I finally drag my eyes away from his nose piercing, I notice that his face is rather handsome, and that he has a circle of red around his irises that matches his hair. I also notice that those eyes are locked onto my chest.

I look down and notice that my gaping nightdress with the rip in the back has slid down at some point, and the top half of my boobs are out for display. I quickly pull up my shirt, but his eyes just flick to the red wings behind me instead. I cringe.

Crap. I really should think before opening the door to strangers.

“I’m hoping the princess sent you?” I ask. When he nods, I breathe out a sigh of relief. “Good. Come in, then.”

I turn so that he can pass by me. The second he takes a step inside my room and gets closer to me, he freezes. His entire bulky body tenses, and he snaps his head in my direction.

Without preamble, he brings his nose to the crook of my neck and sniffs me.

Yeah. Sniffs.

I freeze in place at the hot air of his breath that travels down my skin.

“Umm, what’s happening right now?”

As covertly as I can, I bring my nose to my armpit and take a whiff, just in case. Hmm, I’m not picking up anything stinky. After another sniff from him, he pulls back with great reluctance and I notice that the red circles around his irises are much larger and they’re sort of…pulsing.

“Your eyes are doing some weird shit. Are you, like, losing it? Are you gonna have a psychotic episode? Do I smell bad to you? Because seriously, I bathed. Stop making this weird.”

His nostrils flare and he closes his eyes as he breathes in again. When he opens them and looks at me, the red in his eyes seem to have calmed down. In a super low, gravelly voice he says, “You do not smell bad. Your smell is…” he trails off, unable to find the right words. “You are my mate.”

My eyebrows shoot up, and I open my mouth in surprise, but before I can say anything, his hand has snaked around the back of my neck, and he’s crashing his lips against mine.

Whoa.

The kiss isn’t soft or polite or even tenacious. His kiss is meant to make me feel one thing—claimed.

And yeah, I let him claim the hell out of me, because he’s a super good kisser. Face-turning, hair-yanking, tongue-sucking kind of a good kisser.

Plus, every time he inhales, it’s like he’s trying to drink me in through his sense of smell.

It takes several hot and heavy seconds for me to open my eyes and have enough wherewithal to push him away. He doesn’t budge.

He’s way too big for my pathetic little shove to make any impact whatsoever. And let’s face it, I wasn’t really trying.

Of course, that’s when I realize that not only is my right hand still missing, but now the invisibility has spread all the way up to the shoulder. I squeak inside his mouth, and at my sound of distress, he opens his eyes and pulls away.

I stare down at my arm in shock. “Oh no, oh no, oh no.”

He holds my shoulder, seeing the gaping space where my arm should be and frowns. “Princess Soora warned me of this,” he says in that low voice of his. “It was the reason she sent me to you. I am to guard you and watch, in case you leave completely.”

Hearing that I might totally poof-out of the physical world makes me freak, and I feel my eyes fill with tears. He forces me to look at him with a gentle hand that comes up to cup my cheek.

His hand is so big that he basically paws the entire half of my face, making me smile through a sob. “I’m fine,” I say. I wipe my eyes and step back, his hand dropping away.

I can feel that my lips are swollen from his very intimate greeting. “So…you’re not gonna hear me complaining about that kiss because we both know I enjoyed it, but umm, who are you?”

He cringes. “I apologize if I scared you. I am not usually that way. I am an honorable fae, I swear it. The mate scent just took me by surprise,” he says earnestly.

The way his eyes plead with me to forgive his presumptuous greeting makes me melt.

“I am Okot, my beloved.”

My brows hit my hairline.

“Your beloved?”

He nods.

“Yes. I am a lamassu. When we smell our mate, we know it immediately. Your smell. It is intoxicating. I want to kiss you again.”

I grin. “It was that good, huh?”

“Of course,” he says seriously. He flicks his eyes just past my head. “Your wings are red.”

I look over my shoulder. “Yep. Just like your hair. And your eyes. We match.”

Now it’s his turn to grin. “Yes.”

Looking out the gray window, I realize it’s still early. First bell hasn’t even rung yet. My room seems tiny with him in it. His bulk takes up so much space that he looks almost comical.

“So, Okot. What does Princess Soora want us to do? As you can see, I’m getting worse,” I say, lifting my vanishing shoulder.

“I will not let you disappear,’ he declares earnestly.

Aww.

“That’s sweet, but I’m not sure this can be stopped.”

“We will find a way.”

Gods, we just met, and he’s already become my champion.

I knew it. I’m totally loveable. My first impression with the genfins was a one-off. Or a three-off, whatever. Point is, this dude is a fan of me, and I’m pretty psyched about it. Too bad the guys aren’t here to see this.

“I wish I’d met you years ago. Too bad I was in a different realm. And a different physical plane. I would’ve jumped on this whole mate thing before.”

He frowns. “Before?”

“Yeah,” I sigh in disappointment, and I sit back on my bed to undo the messy braid from my hair with one hand.

When my hair gets tangled, and I make a noise of frustration, I feel the bed dip as Okot sits behind me and he takes over. The gentleness with which he slowly loosens my hair is so dissimilar to his lumbering look that it makes me smile.

“Why just before?” he asks quietly, the tension evident in his tone.

I hesitate. “Princess Soora told you what I am?”

“She did. But she swore me to secrecy, so you need not worry. She told me you are a cupid, although I admit I do not know exactly what that is. She also told me that powerful magic from the prince caused you to manifest here, and that your magic is fading because you are being kept away from your anchors. She has only entrusted me with this information. I have served the princess and her family for many years. You can trust me.”

I nod. “Well, aside from the fact that I don’t belong in this realm, and that I’m probably going to fade completely in a few days’ time unless I can get to my anchors…there’s also another thing you should probably know.”

“What’s that?” he asks, his thick fingers kneading at my scalp, giving me delicious chills. I guess I’ll just come clean. I don’t like beating around the bush. What did the bush ever do to be knocked around like that, anyway? Nothing, that’s what.

“Well, see, there’s this covey of genfins…’