Page 17 of Tethered Magick
He was making an effort to be gentlemanly, and I appreciated the gesture.
When I stepped off the last step, Dason didn’t release my hand, surprising me yet again this evening. Instead, he guided me to my fate, crafting the very portal that led to the center of the Kwoli Pack’s territory where at least a hundred eligible shadow touched men waited to find out if they were my mates.
The bloodletting.
The very last place I wanted to go.
“Couldn’t you whisk me away to some faraway place?” I questioned, as I stopped before the swirling portal. Dason’s stormy magick tinged the edges, marking it as his creation. “This seems like a poor waste of a portal.”
“And where would you want to go?” Dason inquired, shocking me by playing along instead of lecturing me on duty or some shit.
I resisted the urge to feel his forehead or ask if he’d been abducted by aliens. Who knew? If werewolves and vampires were real, why couldn’t there be aliens somewhere in the universe?
“Hmm,” I hummed, thinking about my answer. “I’ve always wanted to go to Alaska.”
“Too fucking cold,” Axel griped. “How about the Caribbean or something? I’d love to get you in a bikini.”
My eyes rolled in my head while Jolon whistled at the mental picture and Chayton chuckled.
“Or we could go somewhere like Montana. The mountains are beautiful,” Chayton suggested.
“I’d be down for that. I’ve been wanting to paint the Rockies,” Kota mused.
“Sy and I have gotten around,” Jolon started, and my brow arched in his direction. “Geographically, babe.” He smirked, and I shook my head. There was no illusion that those two had led an active sex life before we ever met, but luckily they’d had no qualms about giving up their wild ways to settle down with me.
“So where would you go if given the chance?” I pressed, wondering where the duo longed to visit.
“We’re partial to Colorado. Denver has the city life, and yet there’s so much open land in other areas of the state where you can let your animals roam free,” Jolon replied.
“I want to see all of these places.” It was a sweet daydream before it burst like a fragile bubble in the wind, and my heart fell as my dreams faded.
“Someday we’ll take you everywhere you want to go,” Dason promised. “But right now…” He trailed off, and his eyes flicked to the waiting portal. He seemed regretful to have to remind me of what waited for me on the other side.
I didn’t blame him. Dason was trying to turn over a new leaf. I didn’t want him to feel like he was forcing me to participate in the bloodletting. There wasn’t a choice, and so I made it easier on him. On all my mates.
Releasing a pent-up breath, I squared my shoulders and stepped through the portal.
The last thing I heard before the whooping and hollering of the eager men waiting for me in the clearing was Dason’s voice in my mind.
Everything will be okay, Lorn.
Call it intuition or call it dread, but somehow, I wasn’t so sure.
Those sounded like famous last words.
But I hoped like hell he was right.
Seven
Lorn
My nose burned.
I had to work extra hard not to scrunch it as the next man ascended the dais to stand in front of me. Paws shifted where his hands used to be, wicked looking claws sprouting from the tips. Slicing his arm far deeper than was necessary, he drew an exorbitant amount of blood for me to scent.
He shouldn’t have bothered. Sickly sweet maple syrup infiltrated my nose like a bad perfume from the first prick of skin, telling me he wasn’t mine.
My hair swished with the shake of my head, and his eyes flashed yellow in anger.