Chapter 17
The morning after the party should have been game day.
Usually, on Saturday mornings, Scotty would come to the compound to hang with Mace, Blade, and Crux—sometimes Sabre, and even more rarely, Rade—while they played old-school console games or modern virtual or mixed reality battles in their gymnasium-sized gaming room.
But Scotty had messaged saying she was working with Aleka to find Harvester’s blood. She’d turned down Blade’s offer of help, which meant he was home when Sabre called a last-minute house meeting. Which also meant he had to face Mace after all that fucking awkwardness last night.
Mace said he was okay with what had happened between Blade and Scotty.
Said he understood. But when he thought no one was looking, Mace’s expression had been one of sheer devastation.
Then he’d paint on that big, happy grin and rejoin the party with ribald jokes, wild antics, and entertaining tales from their missions.
People who didn’t know him like Blade and Scotty did would have seen the usual Mace.
But no, that wasn’t the usual Mace. It was the Mace who shoved everything deep inside and hid behind a devil-may-care mask.
Blade was wary of that Mace, because eventually, the mask would crack, and the poisonous lava that seeped out would burn everyone it touched.
Blade’s gut churned as he took the stairs down to the living room, where Rade, Mace, and Sabre were already seated. He greeted each with a nod, although he wasn’t sure Mace saw. He’d averted his gaze so fast it probably put a crick in his neck.
Blade took the closest seat on the couch next to Rade, who was still in his sleep shorts and a tee.
“Cool, everyone’s here,” Sabre said. “I called this meeting because we need to decide who will take Masumi’s bond.”
Ah. Well, that explained why Crux wasn’t here. As a pre-transitioned Sem, he wasn’t capable of bonding with a mate or holding Masumi’s bond.
“Give us time to figure it out.” Mace stretched his long legs out in front of him and slumped back in his chair. “It’s a big decision.”
“We’ve had over a month to decide, and Stryke chewed me out about it for ten minutes this morning,” Sabre said. “Now that he and Cyan are mated, his bond with Masumi is weirding them out.”
Blade hated agreeing with Stryke about anything, but he’d be weirded out too. Every time Stryke or Cyan was aroused, Masumi would sense it through the bond, and she’d always know when they had sex. Not cool.
Sabre continued. “Stryke said that if we don’t pick someone within the next twenty-four hours, he’ll give the bond to Talon.”
Talon? Interesting choice.
“He doesn’t even live with us,” Blade pointed out.
Mace dismissed Blade with a shrug. “It’s no different than Stryke having her bond. One of her vases will always stay with us. Unless Talon decides to dick me over.”
No way would Talon do that, but Blade still didn’t like it. “Talon shouldn’t be anywhere near Masumi’s bond,” he said. “Not while he’s hooking up with Scorn. She’s obsessed with Talon and sketchy as fuck. Who knows what she’ll do to Masumi if she gets jealous?”
“Good call,” Mace said, and everyone nodded in agreement. No one liked Talon’s girlfriend…who he insisted wasn’t his girlfriend.
Sabre gestured to Masumi’s vase, where it sat on a corner table. “Why don’t we ask her what she wants?”
There was a murmur of consensus, and Sabre summoned Masumi. She materialized from her little home immediately, her curvy body covered by a sheer pink robe that offered tantalizing glimpses of plump flesh and deeply shadowed places they all knew well.
A week ago, Blade would have been hard by now.
But his mind kept flashing back to those precious hours with Scotty, and suddenly, Masumi didn’t compare.
The female who had literally been created to be every Sem’s dream no longer appealed to him.
Maybe it was because Scotty was forbidden fruit—now more forbidden than ever.
Maybe it was because while sex with Masumi was always great, his time with Scotty had been the best ever, satiating not only his body but also his heart.
Now, being with Masumi felt empty. Worse, it felt like a betrayal. He’d been using his injections to avoid sex, jamming himself full of shit until his body felt like it was dying. Which was hilarious, given how he’d criticized Stryke for doing the same thing.
“What is it, my masters?” She slid her seductive gaze between all four of them. “Are we finally going to be together all at once? Perhaps we could invite Talon?”
Sabre coughed. “Ah, no. We’re discussing your bond. Do you have any preferences on who should take it?”
“Why would you ask me that?” She tugged her robe’s sash a little tighter, going from seductive to uncomfortable in a heartbeat. “It’s not for me to decide.”
Poor Masumi. She’d been born to be enslaved, had spent centuries with evil Sems before Stryke found her.
It had taken years for her to learn to trust them, and she’d gone from a timid waif who was eager to please to a confident, bold seductress.
But every once in a while, something triggered her old insecurities and fears.
Blade hated every time he raised his hand too quickly, and she flinched.
Or when she rejected the independence they’d given her, as she was doing now.
Gently, Blade caught her hand. “You should have a choice, Masumi.”
“Choices are for free people.”
Yep, that hit him right in the heart. Probably did the same to everyone gathered here.
They all cared deeply for the female who had probably, at one time or another, saved each of their lives.
She’d be saving Crux, too, when she guided him through his transition, which was a dangerous time for Seminus demons.
But there was no one Blade trusted more to help his brother than Masumi.
“Masumi, you are free,” Mace said. “As free as someone who requires a bond to survive is, anyway.”
She gave them each a fond smile as she shook her head.
“I cannot choose. I love you all, and I will be honored to accept any of you as my new master.” She folded her arms across her chest and gave them all a questioning look.
“Now, if none of you is going to use my services, I’m in the middle of a movie. ”
When no one took her up on her offer, she waved and dematerialized back into the vase.
Well, that hadn’t been helpful at all.
“Why don’t we draw straws?” Mace suggested. “Short straw is the winner.”
“That’s stupid.” Rade idly spun the ring on his finger with his thumb. “We need to first rule out if anyone is unsuited to take her bond.”
“You mean you,” Mace said.
Rade’s head swiveled around to Mace, his gaze unreadable and cold. Rade had always had dead eyes. “She would be miserable with me. Better to find someone else. Someone who won’t be mated anytime soon.”
“Then it should be Sabre,” Mace said, his mouth quirked in a mischievous smile. “Since he’s not in any danger of mating Aleka now.”
Sabre shot Mace the finger.
“Mace,” Blade piped up, “you could take her. You’re probably the least likely person to ever get mated.”
Mace was always saying he wouldn’t mate until he was near s’genesis, when all Sems turned into evil, shape-shifting monsters with an insatiable drive to impregnate the females of any appropriate species by any means necessary. So, he’d be a great choice to take Masumi’s bond.
Bullshit. You want Mace involved with a female so he’ll take his focus off Scotty.
“Maybe you should be the one to bond with her,” Mace shot back. “That way, if you ever lose your injector and get in trouble again, she’ll sense it and can alert us.”
You son of a bitch.
Heat rose in Blade’s cheeks as Rade’s and Sabre’s heads jerked around to stare at him, clearly wondering what Mace was talking about.
The tension in the room thickened into a cloud that Blade could practically see as they glared at each other. Gold flecks began populating the dark irises in Mace’s eyes, and Blade figured his peepers looked the same.
Even through his anger, he realized this was bizarre.
When was the last time they’d been angry at each other?
Hell, they rarely even got mildly irritated.
Now, Blade was bracing for a physical confrontation and wondering if Mace would go for a head or body shot right off the fly.
The chances of either were about fifty-fifty, but if he went for the head, he always followed with a sharp uppercut.
If he went for the body, the next blow would be to the temple.
That was how well Blade knew Mace. He knew how he thought, how he fought, and how he liked his females. They were best friends, basically brothers, and now, they were facing off like the captains of rival teams.
Over Scotty.
Which was why they’d sworn the pact in the first place.
“Dammit, Mace,” he growled. “You said everything was cool. If this is going to be an issue, let’s deal with it now.”
“Hey, boys,” Sabre said, sounding so much like his father that Blade glanced over to see if Eidolon had snuck into the room. “Let’s step off for a second. What’s going on?”
Mace’s nostrils flared as he clamped his jaw tight, never taking his smoldering gaze off Blade. “Nothing,” he gritted. “It’s fine.” He shoved to his feet. “But I’m not taking Masumi’s bond. I’m out.” He made a curt washing-my-hands-of-it gesture and bounded up the stairs to his chambers.
Typical. Mace loved a good confrontation, but not if he was a main character. He liked to stir pots, but once the heat splashed onto him, he was out the door.
Rade leaned back on the sofa, watching Blade the way he watched the people he interrogated.
With his ability to delve into people’s minds, he was the most sought-after interrogator in the world, loaned out by DART on a case-by-case basis.
But even without his specialized Seminus skill, his ability to read body language and situations meant he was always a couple of steps ahead of everyone else.
“What’s his deal?”