Page 78 of The Vicious Fae's Love

Aev gave an unhappy rumble, and Dakota scratched his ears a little more enthusiastically. He leaned into her touch.

I tried not to eye them suspiciously.

I really, really did.

But definitely failed.

She noticed, and laughed. “Don’t panic, we’re just friends. Neither of us is planning on taking a mate after the Naomi thing blows over. Too much stress.”

I wasn’t convinced, but wasn’t about to say that aloud. Luckily, Dakota changed the subject, asking me how Remmo was training me. I explained the method to her—how we’d started, and how the shitty panic attacks had gone, but how I’d moved past them thanks to Remmo.

“Damn. That sounds awful,” she admitted.

I laughed. “It was. But I feel better, having all that shit off my shoulders.”

“I get that.”

Remmo took that moment to step out of the trees—and I grinned at him until he lifted his hands in surrender. “Don’t be mad,” he said.

I was ninety-nine percent sure that every time someone said that, it meant they were about to say something that would definitely make you mad.

“What am I not supposed to be mad about?”

“The person you’re going to throw a punch at is Teris.”

“Teris?! I’m going to kill you,” I muttered to Remmo, as he stepped up to me and buried his nose in one of my puffs for a minute. “If you mess up my hair, I will double-kill you.”

He chuckled. “Hear me out, Iloli.”

I shot him an extremely un-thrilled look, but waited.

“Teris is the safest person for you to try throwing a punch at, other than me,” he explained. “With me, you feel safe enough to do it. With him, you’re still angry. Punching him will feel like self-defense.”

“I’mnotangry with him anymore, but that would actually trigger memore,” I argued. “Do you know how many times I would’ve defended myself, if I knew how to fight? How different my life would’ve been?”

“No.” Remmo’s voice was steady, and his expression soft. “I don’t. But I do know that we’ve worked through those triggers, and will continue to do so until they no longer exist.”

“That’s never going to happen.”

He flashed me a wicked smile. “Then I suppose you’ll have to snuggle naked with me every day for the rest of our extremely long lives while you calm down from the panic. What ahardship.”

I snorted, even though I was trying to be angry.

Dakota laughed. “Hedoeshave your same sense of humor.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’re perfect together and whatnot,” I grumbled, stepping away from him and looking at Teris. “Alright, where are we doing this?”

“Not in front of me,” Dakota said helpfully.

“No. I have an audience of unseelie gathering. The other generals will be there in case I lose control,” Remmo said.

I flashed him a frown. “Why would you lose control?”

“Because you’re going to be throwing punches atTeris,” Dakota pointed out. “His protective instincts will be hard to ignore.”

Oh.

Right.