Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ama
As I walked into the dimly lit restaurant, my eyes zeroed in on the back corner, which had a large, circular booth holding all of my mates. There were some packs at the edge of the booth on the floor that must have been the supplies Jace said he was going to get for us.
All their gazes swiveled to me at the same moment as I approached, instantly staining my cheeks with a blush. At this rate, I'd never have to include blush in my make-up routine again because I was blushing like a damned school girl all the time now. I was ridiculous.
Zurie would absolutely make fun of me for being this way. Good-naturedly, of course, but I had always been the girl who acted like love and affection were overrated after having my heart crushed by Drayven. If only she knew how the tables had turned….
"Ama, sit here," Finias called out from the edge of the booth as he stood and gestured for me to take the last spot on the cushioned seat.
As I took his seat, which was next to Drayven, he pulled an empty chair up to the edge of the table and took my hand in his, placing a kiss on it and sitting down. I smiled coyly up at him and asked, "Oh, are you playing the gentleman tonight?"
Drayven draped his arm across my shoulder and grumbled, "We'll see if he can avoid knocking me out tonight, and maybe then we'll call him a gentleman."
A giggle erupted from me, and my empty hand flew up to cover my mouth.
Me, Amare...giggling. I needed to get myself under control.
As I met the eyes of my other mates, I saw they were all smiling warmly at me, which caused my brows to furrow. Colt, who had slut-shamed me only an hour ago, had the audacity to look like I hung the moon in his eyes.
"Did someone drug you?" slipped out of my mouth before I could shove the words back in.
Everyone at the table erupted in varying degrees of laughter and snorts—except Colt and Jace. The latter, probably because he had no idea what Colt was typically like.
Maybe I shouldn't have asked that, but damn was his change in mood giving me whiplash.
He muttered under his breath with his eyes turned down to stare a hole into the table. I couldn't hear anything he was saying, but I did focus in on him and noticed he had a freshly split lip and a few specks of blood on his shirt.
"What the hell happened?" I demanded fiercely, effectively ending the rowdy laughter.
Jace opened his mouth to answer, but Colt held a hand up to cut him off as his eyes bore into mine.
"I got a taste of what you've been dealing with your whole life.
I went to a pub to get rooms, as Jace instructed me to do," my eyes cut to Jace and narrowed into slits, "and they treated me like shit because I'm a pure-blood. "
In an instant, I had shot onto the table, forgetting all I had on was a robe, and had my hand wrapped around Jace's throat as I seethed down at him, "Did you set him up to get jumped?"
The noise of the restaurant died down to complete silence as my movement drew all eyes to us, but I didn't care. I felt his throat bob beneath my hand, and I tightened my grip on him, seeing his eyes flash with regret as he croaked out, "Yes."
"Do not ever send any of my mates into danger knowingly, or you will be on the receiving end of my scythe. The universe saying you're my mate doesn't mean shit to me until you prove you're worthy of it," I ground out and shoved him into the back of the booth seat firmly.
I honestly hadn’t realized I felt that way about mating until that moment.
It was true, though. I had dealt with enough bullshit in my life.
If I really did have mates, not only did I not want them to feel trapped, but I also wasn’t going to take just anyone into my life simply because fate had deemed it so.
I might have been lonely, but I knew my worth.
Colt's large hand gently pried my hand off of Jace's throat, squeezing it gently and pulling my attention to him. His shock at my aggression was clear on his face, and I couldn't blame him. I was shocked, too. I hadn’t realized how protective I had become over these men.
Jace's dark eyes dropped down as he took in a deep breath and pushed himself out of the booth to stand. He turned and addressed us, "I have food on the way for you all. Enjoy, and I'll see you in the morning to bring you to the king and queen."
He didn't wait for a response, instead turning on his heel and striding towards the door. I watched him pull a bag out of his pocket and hand over what looked like coins to a server before pointing at us.
"Come down here," Colt murmured and gently pulled me off of our table and onto the other edge of the booth, putting me between him and Finias, who was looking at me like he wanted to fuck me here in front of everyone.
Might have been because I flashed him a bit, but it also might have been because of my aggression.
His tongue wet his lower lip, drawing my attention there, before he leaned in to whisper in my ear, "Have I ever told you how attractive it is when you bring out the bloodthirsty little creature in you?"
A coy smile tugged at my lips, but before I could respond in the cheeky manner I wanted to, a server walked up with a wet towel and silently cleaned off the spot where I had just been crouched, making me flush in embarrassment.
It would probably spread around the city by morning that there was a new crazy hybrid in town, and the king and queen would never take me seriously.
I hit my head against the cushioned backing of the booth and groaned, "I just had to go and be crazy."
Nico's voice had some of his mirth back in it as he jested, "I for one, found it to be extremely hot, so feel free to be crazy whenever."
Finias voiced his agreement, while Colt leaned into my side and lay his hand on my bare knee, brushing his thumb on the skin there.
His breath tickled my ear as he whispered, "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, Ama.
I'm not coping well with losing my parents or learning that I have to share my mate. "
I inhaled sharply at him admitting I was his mate.
He continued, "Not that those are good reasons for what I've said or how I've acted, but I am truly sorry. I will be better for you."
I think I forgot to breathe for a few moments as shock took over my body.
Well smack my ass and call me Sally. Had the big, bad Colt just apologized to me?
Food was placed on the table, but for once, my attention wasn't on that. Instead, I turned my head to press my lips to Colt’s quickly, catching him by surprise. I pulled away before he really had a chance to react.
I wasn’t typically so forward, physically, preferring not to make the first move, but I knew it had taken a lot for him to admit he was wrong and to tell me he would be better for us. I couldn’t resist the urge I had felt to give him a quick kiss.
Offering him a gentle smile, I said, "Thank you for apologizing…” I hesitated for a moment before adding, "Let's start with a clean slate, okay?"
A true smile lit up his face, and it took my breath away.
It was a glimpse of the real Colt who lay hidden beneath the serious facade he always wore like battle armor.
I suppose it came with his upbringing in the house built upon loyalty and honor, but it was nice to know that there was more depth to him than that.
Relief rolled through me in waves. Maybe everything would work out with my guys.
After we stuffed our faces full of food, the server told us Jace had already paid. So, the guys grabbed the supply packs and led us towards the rooms we had secured at the pub. Colt informed me that we had two rooms, and I had to admit I was a bit crestfallen that we had to split up.
How was I supposed to choose who to stay with?
The pub was quiet when we entered, only two patrons at the bar. Their gazes flickered to us and sized up our group. The bartender cleared his throat to take their attention off of us and nodded his greeting.
I had to hold back the greeting I wanted to give, which was the middle finger, for allowing his customers to jump Colt.
We ambled up the flight of stairs to where the rooms were above the pub and quickly found the two rooms whose numbers matched our keys.
They were at complete opposite ends of the narrow hallway.
I furrowed my brows as Adrien announced that one had a king size bed, and Drayven announced that the other had two single beds.
The two men rejoined our group in the middle of the hall.
"Well, there's only one obvious solution to how we're splitting up," I announced, grabbing the key from Drayven, "I'll take a single bed, and you guys share the larger room. That way, I'm not picking favorites or kicking anyone out."
I headed right towards the smaller room, ignoring the chorus of male disagreement behind me. I couldn't please them all, no matter what my decision was, but at least this decision made it fair.
They squabbled behind me, and I chuckled as they argued over who got to take first watch outside my door. We might be a dysfunctional group, but damn was I lucky to have people who genuinely cared for me.
Inside my room, I dropped the supply pack on the ground, strode to the bed nearest the window, and plopped down onto it, utterly exhausted and desperate for a few uninterrupted hours of sleep.
However, that didn't seem to be in the cards for me because I heard a whirl of wind and quickly jumped to my feet, ready to defend myself. A caress to my neck had me shrieking, but the hand that quickly stifled my shriek gave me deja vu before the throaty chuckle came from the intruder.
Finias. The damned assassin was so stealthy.
His fingers brushed over my pulse, and he held them there for a moment, "Your heart is racing..." He trailed off before replacing his fingers with his lips and kissing a trail up to my ear, "I intended to make it race for other reasons, but I can work with this."
Suddenly, the haze of sleepiness was gone, replaced with the need to explore my mate. To push past where we had left off in the bathtub.