Page 21 of Gladiator's Bite
“Too bad,” Teddy smirked, and I shot him a dirty look because Laken’s scent twinged to panic for a second before he realized it was a joke.
“Don’t poke him like that,”I snapped at Teddy over the Moonscale flight link.
“I was poking at Bobby more than him. Shit, Sunny.”
“Don’t ‘shit, Sunny’ me. We’ve given him enough complexes for a while.”
“I’ll try to behave.”
“Okay, you’re more like Fred every day,”I rolled my eyes.
“Should we just go talk to him?” Laken asked Liam, ignoring us.
“I don’t know. I’m not there. I don’t know the guy. All I know is he’s tied to the slab buck ass naked and you three are there,” Liam said.
“Anyone else with?” Laken asked. “Any clue when?”
“No one else is there that I saw and sometime after your claiming vows. The bite marks were on both of you,” Liam said.
“Were we all naked?” Teddy asked.
“No. Just the guy on the slab.”
“Good,” Laken said.
“How?” I asked. “I don’t think Selt is going to want to work with us. Not after---” I stopped short of saying what Teddy did to him.
“He knows,” Teddy said. “I was honest with him. I told your sire and mine too. I know it can cause a conflict, but he was running his mouth and calling Laken names. If he was being a dickhead to my mate, you’d do the same.”
“Your mate might do worse. Has the magic to anyway,” Liam said.
Teddy let out a long, slow breath and I fought off the urge to rub circles on his back. We’d never shied away from touching each other before but I didn’t want Laken to feel uncomfortable. Instead, Laken rubbed circles on his back. The ache wasn’t a new one for me or Teddy. I’d walked around knowing my true-mate was somewhere on one of the Starscale worlds since Elio and his brother explained what the star-shaped scales on our chests meant. Teddy knew his true-mate had a coin flip of being here. He was flight as soon as his sire responded to Elio.
“I’m not being a jackass. Believe me, knowing and not knowing both have their downsides. I knew,” Liam sighed. “I knew for so long and it hurt too. Not knowing means you get that moment of surprise. It means you don’t go trying to call him now and make him either think you’re crazy or make him do something irrational.”
“You don’t do anything irrational either,” Bobby said, narrowing his eyes on Teddy.
“I’m not yet,” Teddy said. “Well, except for planning which ancestor to sacrifice Selt to.”
“Fred,” I said under my breath and Teddy laughed.
That time, Laken laughed too.
“My grandpa,” he offered up as a suggestion.
“Probably a good idea,” Teddy nodded.
“So are you going to tell us more, Liam?” I asked him.
“I don’t think so,” he shook his head. “I think I’m going to lay down and take a nap so this one quits fussing over me. It’s after your claiming vows and you need the blond man. Probably Selt. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not there. I think this is the first time I’ve had an interplanetary vision.”
“Thanks, Liam,” I said. “We appreciate the help.”
“I do what I can. It’s my calling and my burden.”
“Get some rest,” Laken said. “We’ll figure it out and stay in touch.”
Chapter Ten