Chapter 27 – Wave
Wave was curled up on a couch, her hair still wet from the shower she had taken alone. She had needed a moment to sort out her thoughts. Hellion and Marc had been digging up things about her. Somehow, she hadn’t been expecting that.
Everyone else, sure. But not them.
Anger tried to worm its way up, but she kept pushing it aside. They didn’t owe her anything, not even being discreet. But if their actions forced her to run, especially now, she would haunt their ghosts forever.
The smells drifting from the kitchen pulled her focus out of the doom and gloom, and she tapped her toes, impatiently waiting for her mate to finish cooking.
Yeah. Not only did she have a Claimed with a solidified bond, but she also had a mate. A mate whose clothes she was currently wearing. What the hell had happened to her life?
And on top of everything, it seemed that her mate liked to cook.
He hadn’t been lying about the burgers, except that the stuff he was making was closer to gourmet than a greasy burger.
When Wave’s stomach growled for the hundredth time, Irishen’s head moved in her direction and he looked like he wanted to say something but then focused back onto slicing tomatoes.
He had already made her a cheese plate to snack on.
She had devoured the thing in minutes. If nothing else, her maybe-mate had good taste in cheese.
He had presented Wave with five different cheeses to choose from to go with her burger.
He had also almost lost his head when he had capped Wave’s choices down to three. Hence the cheese plate.
Sadly, that plate was gone, and Wave was hungry. She was preparing to riot when Risha finally hummed, satisfied.
“Ready, get your ass to the table, princess.”
“I’m not a princess.” Wave automatically denied the truth. Her mother was the crown princess and technically that made her a princess too, but that was neither here nor there.
“Lady Stormwell, please get your grumpy ass moving so I can feed my mate,” Risha replied, equally snappish.
“Come, love. You are hangry. You’ll feel better once you have some food in you,” Jarred coaxed her.
“I know that.” She stomped to the table. The burger Risha placed in front of her made her mouth water. Not caring about the mess, she picked it up, attacked it with gusto, and almost orgasmed at the taste.
The men stood by the table, staring at her and occasionally sharing glances. When Wave was through the first burger, Risha cleared his throat and nudged the plate he had clearly made for himself in front of her. Jarred gave a forlorn glance at his burger before moving it in front of Wave too.
“You got anything else in this place?” he asked Risha pleadingly.
Wave stared at the two plates in front of her and tried to refuse, but both men growled at her in equal measures.
“You need to eat.”
“Fucking eat, morsel. I’ll make some mac and cheese for us.”
“I like mac and cheese,” she tried to say but gave up when the growling intensified and instead attacked Risha’s burger. She couldn’t quite bite back the moan at the crisp, fresh taste mixed with juicy patty. Who knew veggies could taste so good?
At least Risha was now smiling when he watched her eat. Wave tried to pace herself, but she was done with the second burger before Risha was finished with the mac and cheese.
“Are you sure—”
“Just eat it, love,” Jarred huffed. “You’ve been burning a lot of energy lately and you are still recovering.”
“Fucking hell,” Risha muttered.
That pulled Jarred’s brows together into a frown. “Speaking of Hell,” he started and placed his hand on Wave’s thigh and squeezed her reassuringly. “You need to tell her.”
Risha’s shoulders slumped, and he gnashed his teeth before groaning. “I know.”
“Tell me what?”
“Him and Hellion,” Jarred said.
“You going to tell it for me?” Risha harrumphed. Really, none of them seemed to be able to talk without snapping and growling tonight at all.
Wave stuffed her face with Jarred’s burger. She had a feeling she would need the energy soon.
“Just thought to lay it out there, to make it simpler,” Jarred said easily.
Risha started grating one of his fancy cheeses into the pot and Wave wondered how much of it she could still fit in before exploding. Probably not much, but damn, the male could cook. Then her brain finally kicked in and she set the burger down.
“Prince Marchellion Burningstar,” she murmured and looked at Risha, “and Prince Irishen Sleethill.” When Risha didn’t say anything and Jarred studiously avoided her gaze, she sighed.
“You were together. That makes so much sense now.” So, she had guessed it already, but having it confirmed without a doubt was still a little bit of a shock.
“What does?” Risha snapped.
“Why Hellion got jealous.” Wave shrugged. “It didn’t make sense, but he wasn’t jealous of me. He was jealous about you and that… yeah, okay.”
“Precious,” Jarred said, now turning toward her again, but Wave shook her head.
“No, it’s okay.” She turned to Risha and forced a smile on her lips, despite the pain trying the tear at her. “We can ignore the mate connection. With time, it’ll fade, or you can just outright reject it.”
“What?” Irishen paled.
“Love, I don’t think that’s—”
“I’m not pushing in between them.” She looked pleadingly at Jarred then. “We could just…go.”
Plates clattered and Irishen spun her chair around, eye fuming when they clashed with hers.
“You’re rejecting the mate bond because of who I used to be with?”
Wave shook her head again. She doubted she would be able to reject the bond outright with him and make the magic believe she really meant it. “I’m not going to be the punching bag or buffer between you and Hellion. There are clearly some unresolved feelings between you two.”
“Wayla, we broke up almost a decade ago.” Now he looked tired and Wave couldn’t help but reach out and take his hand in hers.
“And he still has feelings for you. From the looks of it, you have feelings for him. A decade is not really that long in the grand scheme of things.”
“He doesn’t,” Risha argued.
Wave snorted. “He threw me into a fucking wall when he thought we were fucking and that wasn’t on my account.”
“He what?!” The cold rage that blasted out of Irishen coated most of the apartment in a layer of frost. Hadn’t he known already? Wave could have sworn it had come up before.
“It’s fine,” Wave tried to say, but Irishen shook his head.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Of course you’re not.” Now Wave was starting to get pissed off. “I’m fine. It was fine.”
“It wasn’t fine, love,” Jarred said quietly. “Neither of them knew at the time that you could take a hit like that without injury.”
“Who else?” Irishen demanded.
“Marc,” Jarred replied before Wave could cut in. “I’m honestly quite surprised that he lost it like that. It’s not Marc’s style.”
“Marc?” Irishen blinked, baffled. “Why would he care—”
“He thought I was fucking Salis,” Wave muttered.
Irishen shook his head, and a chuckle broke free from him. “Salis? He was jealous of the angel, too?”
Wave shrugged. “Clearly, both of them think that I fuck anything that moves.”
That sobered Irishen up and he glared at Jarred. “And you let them attack her.”
“It. Was. Fine.” Wave snarled. “Drop it.” The last bit escaped from her before she could bite it back. For a second, Risha’s eyes glazed and he dropped Wave’s hand, turning back toward the stove.
“Fine,” he said. In the next moment, all the frost disappeared. “Let me finish up so we can eat.”
“Love,” Jarred said. “That’s not—”
Wave turned to glare at him and he fell silent. Yeah, she knew that was wrong. She hadn’t meant to use her siren command. Well, she had wanted to, but… fuck. She took a deep breath before speaking.
“What I meant to say, Risha, is that you and Hellion… I’m not going to stand in your way and I can’t be with… someone like… Fucking hell,” she mumbled and then tried again, avoiding Irishen’s eyes. “I’m not going to make you choose.”
“And what if I want to choose?” he asked, cold fury still in his white, swirling eyes. How she could read the emotion with such ease was unsettling.
“Like I said, I’m not standing in your way.”
The room stayed silent until Irishen finished the food and carried three plates to the table. The silence held while the men devoured their plates and Wave nibbled on hers. It kept building when Irishen cleared the table and returned to stand in front of Wave.
“Wayla,” he said, voice controlled and even, but his hands shook. “You are my mate. I accept the bond. I want you to be my mate. I will choose you. Every time.” He kneeled on the floor and forced Wave to meet his eyes. “You are my fucking mate, Wayla. Will you accept me as yours?”
“Bold move,” Jarred murmured next to her and leaned over to kiss Wave’s cheek. “You two need to sort this out. I’m going to—”
“No, stay,” Irishen barked but didn’t move his gaze from Wave when he spoke to Jarred. “You are her Claimed. A part of her.”
Wave couldn’t breathe. Irishen’s pupilless white eyes held her captive. The fragile bond between them firmed, reaching for her from his side. Mate bond. She could either reach back and link them—or she could reject him. Say the words. Push that strand of connection away.
Her throat closed up. She couldn’t move.
“Wayla.” Irishen reached up slowly and cupped her cheek. The coldness poured in from the contact and spread down her spine. It caressed her tight throat and coaxed her to breathe.
That was what he had told her over and over and over when the storm broke her apart from the inside. Breathe. He had her. He would never let go. She just needed to breathe.
“Will you accept our bond?” Irishen repeated. Now his voice wavered and the hand on her cheek trembled. “Be my mate?”
Wave inhaled deeply, then did it again until she was certain she could speak.
“Yes,” she choked out one word. She didn’t have time to say more as the bond inside of her unfurled and lashed out with full force.
It didn’t reach out tentatively, like Risha’s had.
It shot out and latched onto him like her life depended on it.
It did.
Risha’s eyes widened when he felt the bond solidify. The link formed in place with force and with it came a barrage of emotions. Wonder, elation, joy, disbelief. And under all of that, Wave felt his drive to prove himself to her. An urge to protect and take care of her.
The bond felt completely different from the claiming bond she shared with Jarred. More direct and more focused on feelings. Even with him straight in front of her, she couldn’t sense where he physically was in the bond. With her bond with Jarred, she knew exactly how far back to lean to reach him.
Wave had no idea what Risha was feeling from her side of the bond, but he stayed kneeling in front of her, waiting for her to make a move.
“You… really want me?” Wave couldn’t help but whisper. “Even when you don’t know me?”
Irishen’s eyes flashed brighter white. “You don’t know me either, Wayla. Not if you think I wouldn’t always put my mate first.”
Wave wanted to argue, but the bond, while still new, came across very clearly. He meant what he said. There was no duplicity or evasion anywhere that she could sense.
“I know you don’t trust me,” Risha said, with a sad tilt to his mouth. “No, don’t argue. I don’t blame you for it. I’m just dying to show you that you can. I will always be here for you.”
“What about—”
“Always, Wayla. I’ve done my share of fucking up and screwed up more shit than I can count. Me and Hellion included. You know what I’m thankful for?”
“What?”
“That I screwed up with him and not you. I can live with those consequences. I couldn’t if I had hurt you.”
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t let you live,” Jarred interjected roughly.
“Good.” Irishen nodded, flicking his gaze to Jarred for a moment. “And I’ll freeze your furry ass off if you ever let any one of them attack her like that again.”
“You’re not worried he’ll hurt me?” Wave huffed, irrationally annoyed.
Risha chuckled softly. “No.”
“Hmpf.”
Jarred leaned closer and kissed the bite mark on her throat. “Love,” he murmured.
Wave blinked and craned her neck to give him better access, then she sprang to her feet and scrambled over Risha. “Love? You called me love?” she shrieked. Somehow, that hadn’t registered to her before.
“Wondered how long that would take,” Jarred muttered and rose to his feet.
Wave backed away and he followed. More like stalked her, a jaguar on a prowl.
They kept going until her back met the wall.
Jarred took one more step and plastered them together.
All Wave could see was his handsome face and the warmth in his eyes as he leaned down and nuzzled their noses together.
“Love.”
“Jarred,” she tried, but he nudged her nose again, almost playfully.
“Yes, love?”
“Baby, you can’t…”
Now he lifted his hand and wrapped his fingers around her throat, covering the mark. “I can’t what, love?”
Wave melted. She couldn’t help the soft moan rising up and escaping. “Fuck.”
Jarred smiled with a little devious glint in his eyes and massaged the side of her throat gently. “Yes, love.”
“Fuck it. Fine.” Wave reached up, grabbed Jarred’s hair with both hands, and yanked him down. She wasn’t ready for the words, but she poured everything into the kiss. Jarred easily let her lead but met her stroke for stroke, bite for bite, and his hold around her neck never relented. Claimed.
“Mine,” Wave snarled.
“Always, love.”