Chapter 61
Alaric
“What the actual fuck have you been doing with our mate?” Maverick’s glowing eyes took in the puddles of water everywhere and the jagged wound on Raven’s neck before his eyes widened when he saw me in the tub.
“I’m assuming that’s a rhetorical question.” I rolled my eyes. As a shifter, he’d smell exactly what we’d been doing.
Raven stood, her legs a little wobbly from her orgasms. I tried—and failed—to keep my gaze on her face, but the sight of her peachy ass was enough to have me hard as stone.
Fuck.
Now that the dumbass bear was here, I’d probably lost my chance. He, the vampire, and the incubus had a habit of monopolizing our mate. Fucking assholes.
The fact the incubus hadn’t crashed the party already was a minor miracle.
No doubt the fucker was somewhere close by, sucking up all the lust like the creeper he was.
“Our mate is exhausted! She needs care, not you two pawing her like heathens!”
“Excuse me?!” His accusation pissed me the fuck off. And from the merman’s horrified expression, he didn’t much appreciate it either.
“Maverick! That’s uncalled for!” Raven scrambled out of the tub, her pink skin steaming in the cool air. “Apologize to them both right now!”
To my surprise, the bear shifter looked somewhat chastened when she stabbed a finger against his chest. He also kept his gaze firmly fixed on her face, even though she was naked.
He raked his fingers through his hair and huffed. “I wanted to pamper you, little mate. I had rose petals for your bath.” The big bastard grumbled like we’d pissed in his fucking cereal. I fought not to roll my eyes again at his stupid romantic bullshit.
We’d given our mate exactly what she needed. Well, the merman had. I’d merely facilitated it.
But Raven melted and wrapped her slim arms around his bulk. “That’s so sweet, my grumpy bear. Thank you.” Then she frowned. “Where’s Zane?”
“He left.”
“Left?” The bear looked shifty as fuck, and the little witch glared, sensing he’d done something she wouldn’t like.
“Yeah. He, um, went to…” He slid an annoyed look at me. “Find the storm mage.”
Raven’s glare turned into confusion before she shivered. Maverick immediately grabbed a towel from a stack and wrapped it around her.
“But Alaric’s here.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know he’d found his way back without assistance. I lost my shit at Zane’s bullshit and sent him back out.” He muttered a curse under his breath. “Because I felt bad! Only I needn’t have fucking bothered!”
I shrugged. “Not my fault you didn’t hear me return. I thought shifters were supposed to have better hearing and shit.” Raven’s gaze skittered over my naked body again when I climbed out of the tub, which made me smirk. Kai stayed in the tub, watching this drama play out in silence.
“Oh my goddess, where did he drop you?” she asked me. “Was it far?”
“No idea. But it wasn’t snowy, so I assume it's hundreds of miles from here.”
“But he could be gone for hours! Days!” Seeing her distraught triggered a smidgeon of guilt until I remembered I’d still be stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere without the potion I’d stashed in my pocket. Fucking incubus.
A cold blast of air swept up the stairs, followed by the scent of blood. Maverick sniffed.
“The vamp’s back with our dinner. I’ll go deal with the carcass while you two fuckers help our mate dry off.”
“By the stars, I don’t need babying, Maverick!” Raven huffed crossly before sweeping out of the bathroom in a trail of fragrant steam. Brilliant. Thanks to the stupid incubus and bear, our mate was now pissed off and not in the mood for more sexy time.
Ugh.