Page 95 of Shifter Situations

“Like a tugging feeling, or like you’ve been punched?” Stone inquired. “Use your words.”

“Why do you ask?” Dolyn narrowed his eyes at my demon.

I swatted at his hand, knocking it away from his chest. “That's what a mate bond feels like.”

“Are you fucking with me right now?” Ozlo stared at me for about three seconds in stunned silence before turning back to Ripley.

“Lo, what do you mean?”

“Honestly, I cannot believe I'm saying this.” I rubbed at my temples. “But if your chest started hurting when you got near Ripley, then she’s most likely your mate.”

Dolyn stared at me like I had lost my mind—which wasn’t anything unusual—but I had never seen the incubus so unsure about talking to a female before. It was halfway between comical and pathetic.

“Uhm… Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I can give you a memory of what it felt like for me. That might help you understand a little better.”

I held my hand up, stopping him from replying. “But listen to me when I say this, she has been through hell, and you are not to touch her, either of you, until she is ready and more than willing. I will remove parts of your body if you make that girl uncomfortable.”

“Lo. I think you know me better than that.” Dolyn retorted.

“I do. But I wanted to give a formal warning. I will also be letting Hyde know. So if either of you does anything stupid, she has my full permission to harm you.”

“Do not tell her that,” Dolyn pleaded. “She will look for any little opening to bring me some pain right now. She is very mad at me.”

Ozlo kicked at the ground as he bit his lips together, and Arwen chuckled.

“What did you do to piss Hyde off?” the necromancer asked.

“That’s not important, and she’s temperamental. She gets it from Sloane.”

I scoffed. “If she’s mad at you, it’s because you’ve done something dumb. Did you take her staff away, or did you run off a new boyfriend?”

Dolyn mumbled, “I may have done both.”

“Why does that not surprise me?”

“Are you going to introduce us to her? I don’t even know her name.”

“Her name is Ripley.”

Dolyn swaggered off without another word. Ozlo walked a little slower behind the incubus, his steps full of trepidation. He clearly wasn’t enthusiastic about meeting his mate. I thought she might feel the same way, though.

I leaned against Stone, watching the spectacle in front of us unfold when the door to Jack’s cabin swung open forcefully. Blaire stomped out, cussing someone rather creatively.

She made it down the stairs and a few feet away before she turned on the man behind her.

“You can’t just fucking blink into existence in someone’s bedroom, Tiago.”

“I had no way of knowing what was going on. But I found out some new information, and I came to tell you.”

“Buy a fucking cell phone,” she yelled at him.

He gave her a brilliant smile, and if she had something to throw at him, she would have. “Okay. I will buy a cell phone if that will make you happy.”

“It would make me very godsdamn happy if you would call before you showed up,” she growled at him.

When she didn’t stop glaring at him, he changed the subject.