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He exhaled dramatically. “And now? You’ve taken to the trees, like some majestic, brooding eagle mourning his unmated status. Don’t try to fight it. I’ve been stuck sleeping below you two all week. I can hear everything that’snothappening.”

“If you have a point, Kato, just make it.”

“Oh, I have many points. But for now let’s start with the twitchiness.” Kato leaned back against the tree trunk, smirking. “You need to get laid, little brother. Don’t even try to deny it. Remember, I’m downwind, and the pheromonal deluge is… Well, it’s nauseating.”

Skye breathed deeply—and refused to engage. Kato was digging for a sore spot. If he so much as flinched, he’d never hear the end of it.

“Seriously,” Kato said. “You spent three days in a lovers’ paradise—”

“You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

“Uh, counter: you were gone for three days!”

“Threehours,” Skye corrected. True to her word, the Queen had sent them back not long after he left off.

“Three days, three hours—it’s the principle of the matter. And it doesn’t change the fact that while I was tied up and lying in horse shit, you were shacked up with the woman of your dreams—yourliteralsoulmate, who coincidentally hasn’t so much asseena man in over a year—and you still couldn’t close the deal.”

Kato threw up his hands. “What was my suffering for, Skye? Mysacrifice? Seriously, it’s like someone wrapped up the horniest dream you’ve ever had, tied a bow on it, and you said,‘Nah, I already ate.’”

Skye didn’t bother responding. Just shoved Kato hard enough to rattle the branch beneath him—though not enough to send him flying.

Yet.

Of course, he was frustrated. His brother had a gift for stating the obvious. Everything he’d ever wanted was already on the table. Laid out like a feast, warm and waiting.

He just wasn’t allowed to have it yet.

Had been making do with scraps—the rare moments when he could slip away into the forest, alone, and imagine what it would be like to finally indulge.

Not that it was any of Kato’s damn business, though it didn’t stop him from picking at it anyway.

“Wait,” Kato said, his eyes wide with fake concern, the smirk at the corner of his mouth ruining the act. “You do still remember how it works, right? I know it’s been a while.”

“I’m going to push you out of this tree if you don’t shut up,” Skye snapped.

“I can draw you a diagram if you’re struggling.”

It wasn’t like Skye hadn’t warned him.

He reached out and snagged Kato’s ankle, but his brother clung to the branch with both arms like a stubborn cat.

“Wait!” Kato yelped, kicking wildly as Skye dragged him an inch closer to falling. “Wait, wait. I’m just trying to help.”

“So am I,” Skye grunted, his grip slipping as Kato twisted out of reach. “I’m helping you out of this tree.”

He reached again, catching the cuff of Kato’s pants, but his brother yanked free with a sharp jerk, throwing Skye off balance.

“Shit,” he muttered, clutching at the branch above him to keep from toppling out of the tree altogether.

“First you leave me tied up in horse shit,” Kato huffed, scrambling back onto the branch.

“Oh, Shards save me.”

“And now you threaten to throw me out of a tree! Just saying, I’m feeling very unappreciated right— Okay, okay, okay. Truce,” Kato conceded, kicking Skye’s hand away when he lunged for him again, fingers just missing. “I’ll be good.”

Skye shot him one last look—not quite a threat, but close. Then he settled back onto the branch.

Kato, for once, took the hint.