Page 36 of Crave Me

“If you reject a mating bond, you can sometimes find a second-chance mate. But it’s not common or guaranteed.” As for having multiple mates, it wasn’t something I’d ever heard of, but with the way magic shifted in this realm, anything was possible.

“So if we reject each other, you may find a second mate?”

I shrugged. “Possibly. But it took me over fifteen hundred years to find you, so I doubt it would happen anytime soon.”

“Would you want to find a second mate?” Her tone suggested genuine curiosity rather than any potential for jealousy.

And a glance in her direction showed that her expression matched her voice. “As in a second mate with you still being my first? Or is this a hypothetical question that assumes we mutually rejected each other?”

She shifted her focus away from the window and toward me. “Would we need to mutually reject each other?”

“Yes.” Otherwise, it could cause pain in the rejected mate.

“Oh.” Her nose crinkled, the movement one I caught in my periphery.

“Some Houses have archaic rules that force a rejected pairing to fight to the death. Gold and Garnet has no such practice in place, but a non-mutual rejection can create a distraction. And my mercenaries don’t tolerate distractions in the field.”

“I see. So anyone who has been rejected without accepting it… is removed?”

“Removed from duty,” I clarified. “Not killed.” We weren’t heartless, just practical. “And I can’t afford to beremovedfrom my position.”

She considered that for a moment. “So we would need to mutually reject each other.”

“Yes.” I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, not liking the idea of rejecting this potential connection. So I focused on her original question. “And no, I would not pursue a second mate. Especially if we were still mated.”

I wasn’t even sure the scenario was possible, but it didn’t matter.

“I prefer monogamous arrangements,” I told her.

“Monogamous,” she repeated as though tasting the word.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “I don’t share.” And I would expect my mate to feel the same about me.

She stayed quiet for another few seconds, her hands still in her lap as she continued to study my side profile. “Gods and goddesses in my world often share freely.”

My jaw clenched. “This isn’t your world.”

“No, it’s not,” she agreed quietly. “Which I suppose explains why I dislike the notion of you taking a second mate. It… it makes me feel angry.” She sounded a little confused by her possessive instinct.

I understood her feelings to an extent. While I’d always chosen monogamy over casual experiences, I’d never felt the urge to mark one of those lovers as mine. Nor had any of them ever made me react possessively or protectively in front of others.

Which I’d done today with Nyx.

“The idea of you taking another mate angers me, too,” I confided, enjoying this conversation. There were no games. No lies. No placative statements. Just blunt honesty.

It was… refreshing.

“This magic is intense,” she mused, her palm coming up to rest over her heart. “I like it.”

“Does that mean you don’t want to reject it?”

“Hmm,” she hummed, her gaze returning to the window. “No, not yet. It’s new and different. A rarity for my existence.”

“So this is more of an experiment for you?” I translated, uncertain of how I felt about that. Partly amused, but also irritated?

“Not an experiment,” she murmured. “Anexperience. A magical one filled with foreign enchantment.” She looked at me once more. “I’ve been traversing realms to find a new home, a new purpose. This is the first reality to offer me anything of intrigue.”

My lips threatened to curl. “So I intrigue you?”