Page 33 of Crave Me

Happy.

Revived.

Like I suddenly had a new purpose in life—to be mated to Vesperus.

Is this all part of the spell? Or a side effect of it?

I could reject it to find out, but I wasn’t quite ready for that. I wanted to experience some of it first, see what kind of enchantments our bodies could weave together.

Except he’d implied that fucking would cement our bond.

I’m a goddess. Nothing is ever finite.

But as his friend had said, there was a first time for everything.

Decisions, decisions, I mused, my skin humming with moon magic.

The two males continued their conversation, shifting their discussion to the bar explosion and my perceived innocence. From there, they went into a strategic discussion on how to determine the culprit. Apparently, the magic had knocked out all the cameras and security feeds in the area, leaving them without a trace. And Trixie, their healing witch, had said she didn’t recognize the magic.

However, the Gold and Garnet raven shifter—Slater, as I’d later learned—had seemed somewhat familiar with it.

“It wasn’t her, Your Majesty,” he’d said to Vesperus before we’d left the restaurant.

Vesperus had left me near the door before stepping back to have a private word with his raven shifter.

Which I’d naturally listened to. I hadn’t survived this long by ignoring private conversations, especially ones that were clearly related to me.

“Elaborate,” Vesperus had said.

“I can sense the explosive energy,” the raven shifter had murmured, his gray eyes flashing with power. “And it doesn’t match the goddess’s essence.”

Vesperus had nodded, the two of them discussing the signature source for a few more minutes. It seemed the raven shifter had quite a talent for tracking. Hence, he had remained behind to see what he could find in Dublin. And the archangel had stayed with him.

The show of camaraderie was appealing and clearly a Gold and Garnet trait. It seemed the mercenaries weren’t all lone wolves, that many of them worked well as a unit, too.

I suspected their leader was responsible for some of that, as he appeared to work closely with Kaspian. The two of them began strategizing for how Vesperus would respond to the other House leaders regarding my temporary asylum.

“Will you tell them about the fated-mate bond?” Kaspian asked.

“Not yet.”

Kaspian considered him for a moment. “What about our House members? I noticed you failed to mention it to Slater and Nolan, but I think they suspected it. Just like Kieran, and likely the phantoms.”

“Is that your way of saying I didn’t hide it well?”

“You protected her against me, and again against Kieran. And you were…touchy. You don’t usually dotouchy.”

Vesperus ran his fingers through his thick, dark hair, causing my gaze to drift away from the stars to admire his fingers in my peripheral vision.Strong. Masculine. Perfect hands.

“She’s mine,” he answered simply. “And she wasn’t exactly keeping her hands to herself either.”

“Which you normally wouldn’t allow,” Kaspian pointed out, his words intriguing me. Because it sounded like Vesperus didn’t often take his lovers public, which made me unique to him.

I rather liked that.

Of course, it was probably related to this fated-mate nonsense, but a foreign part of me enjoyed knowing that this was a first for him.

“I won’t go public with the information yet, but I won’t explain it yet either,” Vesperus told his friend. “Not until I figure out the best way to proceed.”