Crimes of Cupidity (Heart Hassle Book 3)

Inside, there’s a fire pit at the center and a few curved desks around it. Aside from that warm glow, there’s a circular skylight at the tip of the ceiling, letting in lots of natural light. A few male genfins look up from their desks as we walk in, and one of them gets up and starts walking over.

I recognize him immediately as the elder that brought Ronak the mating chalice for our ritual. He advised my guys not to mate with me since I’m not a genfin female. The elder takes me in as he approaches, with extra attention on my wings and hair.

“Back so soon?” he asks Sylred, to which he receives a nod. “Well, I see the resemblance,” he states, tilting his head at Sylred’s pink hair.

Evert tugs me closer to his side. “Yep. This is our mate.”

“A cupid,” the elder states doubtfully.

I liked it better when I was being called the cupid, but it doesn’t feel like the right time to make that known.

“We’re here to see Ronak.”

The elder nods. “I assumed as much.” He digs in the pocket of his robe and pulls out a key.

Sylred takes it with a respectful nod. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry about the vote,” the elder says. “As much as I still believe your covey would’ve been admirable elders, I’m not surprised you were voted out.”

Sylred gives him a tight smile. “We were expecting it, Elder.”

“Yes, well. A non-genfin mate and a volatile alpha are not the stability that an elder council needs.”

Evert’s tail tightens around my waist, but I’m too focused on the echo of the elder’s words to feel it.

“Volatile?” I ask.

The elder glances at me and then some sort of realization dawns on him. “You haven’t told her?” he says incredulously at the guys.

“Thank you, Elder. We’ll just go inside now, if that’s alright,” Sylred says in a strained voice.

Realizing his faux pas, the elder nods. “Good luck. I hope you can pull him out of it.” He turns and strides away without another word.

I reach down and pinch Evert’s black tail hard. He makes a surprised rumble. “What was that for?” he asks testily, rubbing the spot as they lead me toward the back of the room. There’s a genfin guard there who tips his head respectfully at the guys before opening the door for us to let us pass through.

“Why the hell are we here? And why did the elder just call Ronak ‘volatile?’ I’m done being left in the dark.”

Of course, this is when the door closes behind us and we’re literally left in the dark. It’s like the universe is laughing at me.

I blink rapidly, trying to let my eyes adjust to the sudden lack of light in the room. I stop dead in my tracks, refusing to take another step forward. I am officially freaked out. Is this some sort of trick? Are my guys…going to turn on me like Okot did? Was this all some elaborate scheme to trap me here?

I feel Sylred come up beside me and see their shadows shift in the dark. When someone’s hand moves to touch me, I slap it away. “Easy, there,” Sylred croons. “Your heart is nearly beating out of your chest.”

“What the everloving arrow is going on?” I ask, my chest heaving as I start backing away.

I hear Evert growl, and my panic spikes.

“She’s panicking,” Sylred says.

“I fucking know she’s panicking!” Evert snaps. “The question is why is she panicking with us?”

My back hits the door and my hand scrambles to find the handle, only to realize there isn’t one. I’m about to start banging on the thing when a flame appears as Sylred lights a lantern.

“Sorry, I forget you can’t see in the dark like us. We have to keep it dim in here,” he explains as he holds up the lantern. “You’re safe with us.”

Sylred and Evert regard me curiously, and embarrassment floods into me. “I know,” I say, dropping my arms from the door as I try to play it cool. “I’m just…afraid of the dark.”

Evert snorts, clearly not believing me.

“Why do you have to keep it dim in here? I don’t understand,” I say on a sigh as I try to look around the wooden room.

In answer, Sylred takes my hand and pulls me forward until we get to a detached wooden room. No, not a room, I realize as I see the fortified iron bars behind the decorative curtains. A cell.

Granted, it’s the nicest cell I’ve ever seen. It’s clean, large, and has a nice bed and toilet inside. There’s even a soft looking rug on the floor. But a cell is a cell. And as I stop in front of it, I understand why they didn’t want to tell me about Ronak.

My mouth drops open in shock as I stare inside at my mate. He’s kneeling in the corner of the room, his genfin animal completely taken over. There is no Ronak at the form I’m seeing. He is completely animal. The way he’s hunched and eyeing me with predatory eyes sets me immediately at edge. His canines are elongated and biting into his bottom lip, drawing blood that goes trickling down unchecked. His eyes are purely golden, flashing with animalistic intent. His claws are out, longer than I’ve ever seen them and curving down into wickedly sharp tips. His brown hair and beard is longer than I last saw him, both of which are unkempt and wild around his already wild face. He’s completely nude, and his brown, lion-like tail is twitching back and forth behind him in irritation and his wings tucked tightly at his back.

When I take a step toward the iron bars, he releases a terrifying growl, his lips pulling back into a sneer, his teeth flashing in the shadowed light.

Fear stops me and I swallow, not missing how Ronak’s eyes track the movement of my throat. “What happened to him?” I breathe.

“Sometimes, when an alpha feels his mate’s bond vanish, he goes feral,” Sylred explains gently, his voice just a soft murmur. “When you left, we felt the bond disappear almost immediately. But when it didn’t come back, we thought…” Sylred cuts off, and pain cuts into me.

“You thought I’d died,” I whisper with dawning realization.

Sylred nods, and I feel Evert’s tail snake around my waist again, as if his animal needs the reassurance that I’m here. “We hoped that you were just invisible, but we had no way of knowing for sure, and every day that you didn’t return, each day that we couldn’t sense you…Ronak fell further into his animal. It’s rare for the mate-feralness to occur, but once it began, we couldn’t stop it.”

“So you locked him up?” I don’t say it with accusation, but Sylred still winces.

“He locked himself up,” Evert corrects, drawing my gaze. “He could feel his control slipping. After the seventh day that you were missing, he came to the elders and asked to be locked up. This is the only place that can hold him,” he explains. “His strength power would’ve ripped apart anything else. Apart from the bars, the wooden walls are fortified with iron, as well as the floor. They even have to keep an extra supplement of iron in his food to keep him inside.”

“What would’ve happened if you hadn’t locked him up?” I ask.

“He would’ve gone on a killing rampage,” Sylred explains. “We would’ve had to put him down. The only reason we didn’t, was because we were weren’t convinced you were really…dead,” he says, struggling with the word. “We were searching all other avenues for you. I come here as often as I can and use my Sound Soothe power to try to keep him calm, but as you know, because of our covey link, it doesn’t have much effect on him. I can’t negatively affect him at all, and even when I simply try to soothe him, it barely does anything. I’ve gotten a few swipes for my efforts, though.”

Surprised, I look at him. “You mean he’d even attack you?”

Sylred nods. “He has. Many times. Evert, too.”

I shake my head in despair. Ronak’s animal is incredibly protective of his covey. The fact that he’s so far gone that he’s even attacked them is not comforting.

Intense guilt cripples me, and I feel a tear fall down my cheek. “I’m here now, so he’ll snap out of it, right?”

“We don’t know. Alphas that go mate-feral have never been known to return to their senses.”