Page 12

twelve

MOLLY

The shower was glorious.

By the time I finally emerged, I felt like a whole new person. My skin and hair were clean for the first time in a month. I’d found a toothbrush in there, so my teeth were too.

I hadn’t found a change of clothes, and wasn’t about to put that damn green bikini back on, so I just held my towel around my body as I padded to the bed.

Cam was still leaning against the wall near the window, keeping his sand away from the bed, which I appreciated tremendously.

And felt a little guilty about making him wait so long.

“All yours,” I said, tucking my legs beneath the blankets.

His eyes lingered on me.

It was a solid two minutes before he finally disappeared into the bathroom.

Five minutes after that, he came out wrapped in a towel too.

I forced myself to turn on my side and stare out the windows, instead of at Cam.

He was going to want to talk about deep, important shit.

And we had never done that before. We’d never had a real, genuine conversation without sarcasm or teasing, unless you counted the one when I gave back his care package.

I wasn’t ready for that.

It sounded… intense.

The bed dipped a little behind me. I assumed he made himself comfortable on the mattress beside me.

“Molly,” he said.

The fact that he used my real name, and the serious tone of his voice, told me that honest conversation was coming in hot.

So, I changed the subject.

“You didn’t warn me about the pheromones.”

There was a moment’s pause before he answered. I’d caught him off guard. “I was distracted watching you get off. It didn’t occur to me until we were back at camp, and all the other guys were watching you.”

“You looked proud of that.”

He snorted. “Of course I was proud. The woman I’d wanted for years wanted me so much that her scent declared it loudly. It drove me fucking insane knowing that all of the other men were wondering if that scent was for them.”

I rolled my eyes.

“You didn’t let any of the others touch you, right?”

“What if I did?” I tossed back.

His chest rumbled with a quiet growl. “I’ll fucking kill them.”

“Guess I know why you were never on Bachelorette .”

“It would’ve been my nightmare. Who touched you?”

“It’s really not your business, Cam.”

“Like hell it isn’t.” His hand landed on my hip, over the blanket, and he rolled me to my back. He was propped up on his side, tilted toward me, and his hot gaze met mine. “Who? It was Chris, wasn’t it?”

I scowled. “I’m allowed to have secrets just as much as you are.”

“All of my secrets are yours now,” he growled back.

“Yeah, right.”

“I told you, I’ll answer all of your questions.”

“I don’t even know what questions to ask, Cam. You didn’t tell me anything about fae, no one’s explained the way a mate bond is formed, and I have no idea who you are outside of my sarcastic guard.”

“Yet your scent is still singing for me.”

“Fuck off.”

His eyes flashed. “Roll over.”

“Why would I—oof.”

He rolled me onto my stomach and tugged the pillow out from under my face, so my cheek hit the mattress. “What the hell?” I grumbled into the sheets.

“You’re tense,” he said. “I can fix that.”

“I didn’t give you permission to—ohh.” My groan was loud.

His hands had landed on my shoulders, his thumbs finding the knots in my muscles with ease.

“Good?” he asked.

“Very. Don’t stop,” I mumbled.

He made a noise of agreement, and continued rubbing my shoulders. “My parents lead the Society. They were elected nearly a millennium ago, and continue to be reelected every time another vote comes around.”

My forehead creased, but smoothed when his thumbs dug into my muscles right where I needed them.

Another groan escaped me.

“I know you hate the Society. I can agree that the way they’re doing things with compatible mates right now is screwed up, as well, but all of the Society’s leaders have been in place for a very long time. They’re not sure how to deal with all of the recent changes. They want to get out of their roles, but there aren’t any other fae who are known and liked as widely as they are. They’re trapped,” Cameron said.

The idea of ancient fae leaders being trapped was ridiculous to me, but I was too busy enjoying the massage to say as much.

“I’ve been urged for centuries to find a mate and take their place, by them, and many other powerful fae. I told you I had connections. That’s why. I’m liked and respected across the Society, but mortal fae can’t rule.”

“Holy shit,” I swore. My voice was still muffled by the bed.

Cam was going to be their next king . Or Society leader, I supposed, but it sounded similar to me.

“How did you end up guarding me, then? Aren’t you close to dying?”

He made a noise of agreement. “I’ve been fading for a while. If you and I don’t seal a bond, I’ll only make it a few more weeks.”

My stomach tensed.

He worked my knots harder.

“My parents sat me down four years ago and told me in no uncertain terms that they were tired of waiting for me to choose a mate myself. They would use their power in the Society to force me into every game show there was until I secured a match. They knew very well that I was never going to mate with a female I didn’t know and care for before a game, so when I offered an alternative, they accepted. I proposed choosing a compatible female to guard until her game show arose, and winning her heart on the Bachelorette .”

“This is no fucking Bachelorette ,” I said.

He chuckled. “Their left-hand fae realized my plan a few weeks ago, and claimed it was stacking the odds in my favor too obviously. There would be bloodshed. This was their answer. Being your guard and having the connections I do turned me from a shoo-in on Bachelorette to Survival’s biggest target. When I win, everyone will know damn well that I did because I outsmarted them. With the help of my mate, of course.”

I scowled into the bed, but the scowl faded as he continued working my muscles. “Why didn’t your parents just assign you a mate or something if they were that concerned?”

“Fae don’t work that way. Mental magic abounds—everyone would know the truth, and all three of us would’ve been killed. There are rules to follow, and the rulers must follow them more exactly than everyone else.”

“So what happens if we do seal the bond?”

“Whatever we want to happen.”

“Cameron,” I argued, knowing that wasn’t the full truth.

He chuckled. “I’m serious, Lolli. We can do whatever we want.”

“But?”

“But there is some expectation that we would go to my parents’ side and work with them until the next election, when we would most-likely take over running the Society.”

“That’s insane.”

“I’m aware. It’s just an option, though.”

“Could you turn it down if they elected you even though you didn’t want it?”

“Not quite. We would be magically bound to the role if the majority voted us into it. That aspect of fae democracy was sealed with magic from the beginning of time.”

“So if we seal the bond, we’re going to end up ruling the Society.”

“It’s not certain, but it is likely,” he admitted.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “You should’ve told me that before I started working with you. You know how I feel about the Society, Cam.”

“I know how you feel about how the Society has treated you,” he agreed. “And if we were to rule, we could change everything about the way the compatible mates are treated before the game shows.”

“Could we get rid of the game shows altogether?” I asked.

“It’s unlikely. There aren’t enough compatible mates to keep all of us alive, so this is the fair way to do it,” he admitted. “It also helps human perception of us, which is important. It would be easy for them to start seeing us as monsters. The shows humanize us to them.”

He wasn’t wrong about that.

All of the humans I knew adored fae. Some of them would even bring Cam coffee or croissants at my last job, without bringing anything for me.

They had saved our world, and given us something fun to focus on through the Bachelorette . That alone was enough to win most of us over.

“They’re not going to keep going with Survival though, are they?” I asked. “Bachelorette is much fairer for the women involved.”

“I’m not sure. If it’s highly regarded, I would imagine they’re going to keep it going.”

“Could we change that if we mated?”

I didn’t want any other women to get trapped on the island like I had. Not when the alternative was getting to choose their own mate on the other show.

“I don’t know. The Society’s rulers are not all-powerful. They work with two other couples, their right and left hands, to keep each other in check. If we could convince the right and left hands to change it, then yes. Undoubtedly. But we would still have the problem of dying male fae who are unwilling to play Bachelorette .”

“Like you.”

“Like me,” he agreed.

“Are any of the other guys as close to dying as you are?”

“No. Rhett’s the closest, but he has no desire to take a mate. He’s a few months younger than me, and plans to let himself fade.”

I sighed. “I like him, even though he threw me out of a plane.”

Cam chuckled. “You like me more.”

“Do I?” I drawled, using his go-to avoidance technique.

“You do.” He dug his thumbs into my shoulders again, and I bit back another groan.

“You’re too good at this. How many other women have you massaged?”

He snorted. “None. I watched instruction videos a few times. Promised myself I’d be able to use them one day. It about killed me not to be able to hold you or touch you every time they looked you over for a promotion because of me.”

“Not because of you .”

“You were always mine, so yeah, because of me.”

“You’re giving yourself too much credit.”

He chuckled. “And I don’t usually?”

My lips curved upward. “How did you realize the puzzle was a statue of me?”

“I’ve spent four years staring at you, Lollipop. I’ve memorized as much of you as you’ve let me.”

My face warmed at the words.

He was slyly mentioning that he’d never seen me naked.

“If you hadn’t been assigned to protect me, I’d have to call you my stalker,” I said into the sheets.

He laughed. “I’d wear the title with honor.”

“I’m sure you would.” A moment passed, and my amusement faded as I remembered him voting Chris off just because I didn’t hate the guy.

While I did understand his perspective of being unwilling to risk losing, it had been dangerous to remove the only guy other than him that I sort of jived with.

“Your pheromones are fading while I’m touching you, Lolli. Where’s your head?”

“My head? Right here.”

“You know I mean your thoughts.”

I sighed. “It feels like an attack to vote out Chris just because he made me laugh once. It’s not like we were close. He just made a decent argument.”

“My jealousy aside,” Cam said, and my eyebrows lifted. “I don’t trust Chris.”

Jealousy?

He was admitting to jealousy?

He added, “As much as you dislike Kyle, Reid, and Travis, and as difficult as they are, I’d much sooner put my life and yours in their hands. I would trust them to keep you safe.”

“Kyle doesn’t even plan on letting his mate work,” I argued.

“Kyle wants to stay alive, and knows as well as any fae male that if his mate says run, he’ll ask her how far.”

“So I should choose him?” I drawled.

Cam laughed humorlessly. “If you want me to kill him.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve never seen you violent before. Every other guy on this island is more aggressive than you.”

“Every other guy on this island has the freedom to play the game however he wants. For me, there was only one path to victory. I played the role I had to play to get here, first as your guard, and then as a man you despised.”

“Are you telling me that I don’t know you? Because that doesn’t exactly make me want to choose you, Cam.”

His thumbs grew rougher against my back, and the feeling was incredible. “In a choice between me, Travis, and Kyle, we both know I’m your only logical option.”

He was right.

It pissed me off that he was, but that didn’t change the truth.

“So?” I finally asked.

“So, we’re going to be mates. There’s no point in hoping for another outcome anymore.”

I’d never hoped for another outcome.

I just hadn’t wrapped my mind around the one I now had to deal with.

Cameron Cassette was going to be my mate, for better or worse.

And I knew even less about him than I’d thought.