Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Connal came back to awareness all at once. The warehouse returned in broken flashes—the trap closing around him, Luke’s weight against his side, and the portal opening beneath his hand.
He sat up with a gasp. “Luke.”
His mate sat beside him, one hand wrapped around Connal’s wrist. “I’m here.”
Relief struck first. Luke was safe.
Then Connal noticed the strain around his eyes.
The chamber was otherwise empty. The healers had gone, along with Cosmo and Garzaxie. None of his brothers remained.
“How long was I unconscious?” Connal asked.
“Not long. The healers finished a few minutes ago. Cosmo and the hobgoblin went to update the King. Two of your brothers stepped outside.” Luke frowned toward the chamber doors. “The one with the long dark hair disappeared before I could ask where he was going.”
“Zer.”
“I’m going to need name tags.”
Connal would introduce them properly later. For now, he reached instinctively for his magic. It answered sluggishly, catching before it moved through him. The foreign bindings were gone, but the strain of fighting them remained.
“I am fine,” he said, already preparing to stand.
Luke did not release him. “You passed out. You don’t get to pretend that didn’t happen.”
Connal pushed himself higher and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
The chamber tilted.
Luke’s grip tightened. “Hey. Stay with me.”
“I am here.”
“Then stop trying to get up before your body catches up.”
Connal stilled. The rebuke should have irritated him.
Instead, the concern beneath it disarmed him.
He had collapsed in front of his mate, and Luke had remained beside him.
Connal had spent every moment since finding Luke determined to protect him.
He had not considered what it would feel like to have Luke remain and care for him in return.
He brushed his fingers over Luke’s wrist, settling into the contact rather than breaking it. Luke didn’t pull away. His grip loosened around Connal’s arm, but his thumb remained pressed over Connal’s pulse as if he still needed to feel its steady beat.
The bond had driven Connal toward Luke from the moment they met. This desire carried something gentler with it—relief, gratitude, and a tenderness he had not expected.
Connal’s gaze fell to Luke’s mouth.
Luke noticed. His breath caught, but he remained close.
Connal leaned toward him, slowly enough to give Luke every opportunity to refuse. “May I?”
Surprise briefly softened Luke’s expression. Then his fingers tightened around Connal’s wrist. “Yeah.”
Connal closed the distance.
The first taste of his mate sent warmth rushing through him. Their connection answered, warm and eager without settling into the completed bond Connal still longed for.
Connal groaned and slid one hand around the back of Luke’s neck. Luke opened for him and returned the kiss with an eagerness that sent satisfaction through Connal’s chest.
When Luke finally pulled away, his breathing had changed. He touched his lips and stared at Connal.
“Okay,” Luke said. “That was definitely magic.”
“Yes.”
“And it has something to do with you calling me your mate.”
“It has everything to do with it.”
Luke studied him. “I knew you meant more than friendship. The feast made that fairly obvious. But I thought ‘mate’ was your word for someone you wanted. A partner, maybe.” His gaze dropped to the hand resting over Connal’s wrist. “I didn’t realize you meant an actual magical bond.”
Connal frowned. To him, the distinction had always been obvious. Luke was human, though. He had no reason to understand what the Goddess had created between them.
“So what does being your mate actually mean?” Luke asked.
“The Goddess has blessed me with the one person who is fated to be mine. My partner, my companion, my everything.” Connal held Luke’s gaze. “That is you, my Luke.”
“That’s a lot to put on someone after one kiss.”
“You believe I expect you to love me already?”
“I’m still figuring out whether I believe fate dropped you into an airport to claim me.”
“The bond brought us together,” Connal said. “It does not create love. That comes through the life mates build together.”
“And you’re certain we’ll get that far?”
Every instinct urged Connal to say yes. The bond had recognized Luke, and Connal could imagine no future that did not place his mate at his side.
But he could not decide that future for both of them.
“I intend to,” Connal said. “What you choose is yours.”
Some of the tension left Luke’s shoulders. “That sounds slightly less terrifying.”
“Slightly?”
“You’re still a giant fae warrior telling me a goddess picked me to be his everything. I’m allowed to be overwhelmed.”
Connal could accept that, especially when Luke had not moved away. “Do you feel the connection between us?”
He turned his hand beneath Luke’s until their palms met.
Luke released a quiet breath. “I feel something.”
Fierce joy surged through Connal. Luke felt the bond and had acknowledged it. Connal wanted to pull him close and demand every detail of what he felt, but the lingering uncertainty in Luke’s expression held him back.
“That is enough.”
“For now,” Luke said.
“For now,” Connal agreed.
Luke’s fingers tightened around his. Then he stepped into the space between Connal’s knees and bent toward him.
Connal needed no further invitation.
Their second kiss began slowly, without the shock of the first. Luke leaned into him, and Connal circled an arm around his waist, drawing him closer. The bond warmed between them, unfinished but no longer discordant.
A loud bellow from beyond the chamber sent Luke jerking out of Connal’s arms.
“Also, if anyone has seen my idiot best friend, I would like him returned immediately!”
Luke spun toward the doorway. “Gomez?”
Connal rose more carefully this time as the door burst open. Zer appeared with a strange human cradled in his arms and a battered bag hanging from one shoulder. Rigid coverings encased both of the man’s legs and held them straight in front of him. Asterius and Keir followed close behind.
“Be careful! I am a delicate hostage. I break easily!”
The human twisted in Zer’s hold and pointed toward the ceiling as if addressing whatever authority might be listening.
“Also, I would like to formally register a complaint. There was no warning, no explanation, and absolutely no regard for my personal schedule—”
“Gomez,” Luke said.
The human froze.
His head snapped toward Luke, and the outrage vanished from his face. “Luke?”
Luke crossed the chamber quickly. “Put him down.”
Zer lowered Gomez onto the bed Connal had vacated and set the bag beside him. The moment he was settled, Gomez caught Luke by both arms and looked him over.
“You vanished,” he said. “You stopped answering, and no one knew where you were. I thought you were dead.”
The last word cracked with fear.
“I’m sorry.” Luke covered one of Gomez’s hands with his own. “I should have found a way to contact you.”
“You should have.” Gomez continued his inspection, his gaze lingering on Luke’s bruises. “And you look like hell.”
“I’ve had better days.”
Gomez released a shaky breath. Relief softened his expression for one brief moment before he looked around the chamber.
“Great. You’re alive. We love that for us.” He gestured broadly at the glowing walls, the enormous bed, and the fae warriors surrounding him. “Now, what the hell is all this?”
Luke glanced toward Connal. “This is Connal.”
Gomez followed his gaze. His attention traveled slowly up Connal’s body before stopping on his face. His eyes widened.
“Wait. Is this the guy from the airport?”
Connal looked at Luke. “You told him about me?”
“No.”
“You didn’t have to,” Gomez said. “You got weird in your texts.” He pointed at Connal. “Tall. Broody. Looks like he could ruin your life. I knew it.”
Luke closed his eyes briefly. “You guessed.”
“Accurately.” Gomez looked between them again. “And now you’re both in a sparkly castle. Did he scoop you? This feels like a scoop situation.”
Connal did not understand most of those words, but he understood the suspicion in Gomez’s expression. The human was injured, stranded in an unfamiliar place, and still prepared to challenge anyone he believed had harmed Luke.
His manner was irritating. His loyalty was not.
“He is here because you required him,” Zer said.
Luke turned toward him. “What?”
“You stated you could not remain without him.”
“That did not mean go kidnap him!”
Zer’s expression remained unchanged. “The problem has been resolved.”
Connal understood his brother’s reasoning. Luke had identified the obstacle preventing him from remaining in the Unseelie, and Zer had removed it. Before meeting Luke, Connal would have considered that efficient.
Now he saw the flaw. Zer had solved the problem without allowing either human a choice.
Gomez raised one hand from the bed. “I would like the official record to show that the alleged problem has two broken legs and was not consulted.”
Luke crouched beside him and checked the supports holding his casts in place. “You could have hurt him.”
“I took care not to worsen his injuries,” Zer said.
“That is not the point,” Connal told him.
Zer looked at him.
Connal glanced at Gomez again. This was the human Luke considered his brother—the family he refused to abandon. Whatever inconvenience his arrival created, Gomez’s safety mattered because he mattered to Luke.
“We will have a healer examine him,” Connal said.
Gomez narrowed his eyes. “What kind of healer?”
Before Connal could answer, Avaneel poked her head out from beneath Zer’s long hair. “I will fetch one.”
Gomez’s mouth fell open. “Oh. My. God. You’re…you’re…tiny. And you have pretty wings! And wow!”
Avaneel flew free and floated in front of Gomez. “I am a pixie.”
“You’re magnificent!”
She preened beneath the praise, then glanced at Zer. “I like this human.”
“Avaneel,” Connal said, “bring a healer and tell Cosmo that Zer has returned with Gomez.”
She spun once around Gomez’s head, drawing a delighted laugh from him, then vanished through the doorway.