Chapter 17 #3
“We’re okay,” Audrey gasped, my mind whirling from the events that took place. Drustan’s scent was still lingering in my nose, and the sudden loss of his warmth made my stomach churn in a way I couldn’t comprehend.
Liam growled—literally growled—when he dropped to Audrey’s side, checking her for more injuries. Meanwhile, Ada gave me her hand and helped me up.
“Those bastards,” Ada cursed, brushing dirt off the knees of my jeans.
“What happened out here?” Liam demanded with rage at Audrey’s wince.
I was shaking; my body trembling. Ada noticed and wrapped me in her arms.
“It was Drustan,” I muttered, making Ada and Liam freeze, “Drustan and Leon and Sergei and—” I shook my head, stopping myself from revealing Hush’s involvement.
“What?” Liam asked, turning to Audrey for confirmation. She nodded.
“They were a distraction,” Ada whispered as her pale blue eyes locked on the ground. “They sent siren adolescents to try to steal from our vaults, knowing they’d fail.”
I forced my words out through my shock, “They said they got what they came for. That’s—that’s why we’re—” alive. Liam growled again, wrapping Audrey up in his arms, inhaling the crown of her head. Much like Drustan just did to me.
“That means they weren’t after your money,” Audrey muttered, leaning into Liam’s embrace without hesitation. He kept petting her hair, inhaling her, his eyes closed as he focused on nothing but Audrey.
“Check the cameras!” Ada shouted at a nearby guard who approached our group.
“Search every vault, every archive.” She sounded so authoritative, so powerful, and I realized she was no longer considering herself off the clock.
“Search every drawer and shelf inside, find out what was just stolen from us.”
The guard nodded and marched off inside, shouting orders to his unit members in the fae language. Ada followed him inside.
“Are you okay?” Audrey asked, gently nudging Liam off her. His hands balled into fists, but then she reached back and clasped her hand with his, so he pulled her closer again. She seemed surprised by his actions but accepted his embrace again.
I waved her off. “I’m fine, just console your grumpy ma—” I stopped myself, snapping my mouth closed. Audrey stiffened, her eyes widening.
“My what?” Audrey asked.
I locked eyes with Liam, who was glaring at me, but his expression was melting in real time. As if his initial reaction was anger, that was now simmering into something more resigned. He still maintained his hold on Audrey, though.
“Nothing, we should go.”
“Were you about to refer to Liam as my mate?” Audrey’s nostrils flared with indignation, shoving herself out of Liam’s arms as she spat. “Because you should not make fun of something like that, Van. Mating bonds are sacred here, you can’t just—"
“Audrey.” Liam pulled on her arm, drawing her attention toward him.
Audrey’s mouth dropped open, disbelief coloring her face.
Liam’s gaze was hooded, his jaw flexed as he ground his teeth together.
His shoulders were hunched with stress, and he kept staring at the little space that separated the two of them.
“Liam? What are you…?” Audrey whispered.
Liam gave me one last look, as if to accept his fate, before turning to Audrey. “I’m sorry I haven’t told you earlier.”
Audrey’s mouth snapped closed, and she ripped her hand from his. “Explain to me exactly what you’re implying.”
“Let me take you both home first.”
“Good idea.” I nodded.
Even I was able to see that accidentally announcing that Liam and Audrey were mates was a real dick move on my part.
I wanted to apologize to Audrey about it, but I hadn’t had the time to, yet.
The two of them were currently in her room, murmuring in low voices.
Eventually, her bedroom door flew open, and their voices grew louder.
I was sitting at my desk, layering a soft violin over my track, when I paused what I was doing and stood to investigate.
“Aud, please—” Liam’s voice sounded desperate. I quietly opened my door and tiptoed down the hallway to see Audrey pacing back and forth in our living room.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Audrey grumbled. She was in her angry phase of this revelation, which I fully understood.
“What was I supposed to say?” Liam threw his hands up in the air. “Hi, I’m fae, and half of your lineage is from my realm—none of which you’ve ever heard of before—and also, you’re my mate, so every facet of your life is over.”
I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, still ignored by the two of them.
Audrey grumbled before stomping toward him and jabbing a finger in his chest. “You could have said anything over the last two years, you asshole! Were you ever going to tell me?” He snatched her hand and wrapped an arm around her waist. I pulled away from the wall, standing tall and ready in case she needed me to intervene.
The men in Hyvenmere were entirely too comfortable putting their hands on women, as Drustan proved earlier tonight. I could still feel his fingers trailing against my lower stomach, his huge body pressed against mine.
Shaking my head once, I focused back on the drama in front of me.
“I was waiting for you to recognize it. To feel the bond yourself,” Liam murmured in her face, holding direct eye contact.
“Do you have any idea what it’s been like for me, Audrey?
” His voice was shifting, and I could see Audrey’s cheeks blush as she held her glare on him.
“I’ve been so close to my mate for years.
” Liam pressed his forehead to hers. “Able to touch her. Hear her voice. Smell her. Discover everything about her…why would I risk such a gift by scaring you off with the permeance of a mating bond you just learned about?”
Audrey didn’t say anything. They just stood there. Wrapped up with each other. I thought maybe they’d kiss or something, like in the movies. But Audrey grumbled and pushed herself out of his arms.
I cleared my throat and strode through the space. They both glared at me. Flustered. Clearly horny.
“I’m just getting some tea,” I murmured. “Then you two can go back to whatever the hell you’re doing.”
Liam cleared his throat, and Audrey crossed her arms over her chest. I whistled my new favorite tune I picked up on during our last dangerous visit to Hyvenmere while I microwaved my water and grabbed a tea bag.
After what must have been an uncomfortable amount of time for the two of them, I turned around and studied them, my mug in hand.
“Look,” I sighed toward Audrey. “I’m so sorry I just blurted it out. Liam only told me about it yesterday. And regardless of my promising not to say anything, as your friend, I should have just told you. That being said…maybe you should cut Liam a little bit of slack.”
Liam’s blue eyes shot to mine, surprise evident in his expression. I rarely sided with him. But I was trying.
Audrey raised a brow at me. “What?”
“And,” I continued, addressing Liam. “I think you should cut her some slack.” I sipped my tea, desperate to cut through the mess of emotions filling the space and get on with things.
“She’s been popping bean to the thought of you for two years and is just now realizing how much she’s been missing out on the real thing. Sexual frustration is real, my guy.”
Audrey’s mouth dropped as her face turned red with humiliation.
“Oh my god, Van, what the hell?” Audrey gasped. She kept glancing at Liam, though. Embarrassment and arousal flushed her face and neck.
Liam choked as he studied her flustered behavior. “That so?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s none of my business, but it’s a small apartment.
You’re both very, um, heightened right now.
” They didn’t say anything, but based on their expressions, they agreed with me.
“What if you two just need to bang one out? Then you can have a rational conversation about, you know…” I waved my hand between the two of them.
Audrey’s eyes were wide, and she opened her mouth to say something to me. However, her attention was diverted to Liam, because something feral and hungry coated his face as he stared at her. Whatever protest Audrey was about to give me quickly died as her gaze became hooded.
Oh god, they were really about to just go for it.
“But it’s none of my business.” I lifted my hand and mug up in the air as a surrender, “I’ll just go to my room.
Goodnight.” I smiled at a conflicted Audrey before strolling past the two of them toward the hallway.
“I’ll wear earplugs,” I called over my shoulder before I closed my bedroom door.
I lingered by the wood, listening to see what would happen.
There was uncomfortable silence for a while, until Liam finally broke it.
“Should…I mean…”
“Not here,” Audrey snapped. “I’m not—with you—with her just down the hall—”
Her voice got cut off, and I would bet all the money in my account that he had interrupted her with a kiss. I found myself pressing my fingertips to my own lips, a pang of longing cutting through my chest at the thought.
When was the last time a man interrupted my rambling with a kiss? When was the last time a man kissed me in a way that made my toes curl? The last time a man’s lips came close to mine was when I bit Drustan’s lip.
Drew still hadn’t even really kissed me yet.
“Not here—” Audrey panted again, confirming that her lips were otherwise occupied before. “The—the boat—” The front door creaked open before slamming shut, and silence filled the apartment. I stepped out of my room to lock the front door before returning, locking my bedroom door behind me, too.
I was used to spending nights alone in the apartment after years of Audrey ghosting me every other day.
But now, I didn’t quite feel lonely. If anything, I felt a bit of relief that this all finally came to a head. Audrey and Liam both knew they were mates. The awkward tension between them might not be as unbearable. I knew Audrey would come back.
Sure, Liam would be right on her heels, but she’d come back.
We’d talk about their first kiss, their first hookup, everything we usually did whenever one of us was dating someone new. This felt more permanent, though, which I guess made sense if they were mated magically.
While I sent a silent prayer up to any higher power that Liam knew what he was doing and that their first time wouldn’t be a bust, I donned my headphones and focused back on my composition.
Adding the sounds from the Hyvenmerian string instrument I had recorded earlier.