An Immortal's Song (Dante's Circle #6)(5)
And that wasn’t like him.
“Are you going to actually talk to her?” Lily asked. “I mean, it’s good and all that you recognize her as your true half.” She looked over at Seth. “That both of you have seen that. But you haven’t done anything about it. Is it because you’re afraid she doesn’t feel the same?”
The words were like a slash to the heart. Tristan raised his chin. “And you know that, then? That she doesn’t feel that we’re her mates?”
Lily shook her head. “We know nothing for sure.”
“She won’t talk about it with us,” Nadie said softly. “But just because she doesn’t feel it, doesn’t mean it’s not fate. We’re lightning-struck. Since when have we ever done anything normal? Maybe it’s because of what kind of paranormal she is. Maybe it’s because there’s two of you and she’s confused.” She held up her hand. “Each one of us who found our mate or mates has traveled a different path. Who’s to say Amara won’t have a completely different journey of her own?”
“You won’t know anything until you try,” Eliana put in.
“What do you think we should do, then?” Seth asked. “Short of locking her in a room or kidnapping her to one of our realms so we all have to talk it out, I just don’t know.”
Tristan snorted, a smile tugging at his lips. “I might be old and out of touch, but I can safely say kidnapping is not a way to entice a mate to your side.”
“If Malik were to kidnap me, I’d enjoy every minute of it,” Eliana said with a glint in her eye. She’d been dating the lion shifter for a few months, if what Tristan remembered was true. But neither of them had declared their intentions. However, he needed to worry about his mating, not someone else’s at the moment.
“Dirty,” Faith said with a grin and then turned her attention back to Tristan. “Don’t kidnap her, per se. But go outside right now and ask her to go with you. She needs to get out of this realm, Tristan.” Worry passed over her face. “She hasn’t left it in over a year, even though we’ve all invited her to our other homes.”
“She just keeps working for that new boss of hers and burying herself deeper and deeper into her own mind,” Becca added and frowned. “I love her, guys. She’s our sister. And she’s in pain. But we can’t be the ones to fix it. You have to be. So take her to the fae or mer realm and figure out what is going on with you three.”
“Just know if you put our friend in danger, we’ll not only kick you in the nuts, we’ll lop them off when we’re done with them,” Eliana put in and glared.
Tristan did his best to not cross his legs, and Seth pulled in an audible breath. “Are you sure you aren’t a dragon underneath?” he asked the only human left at the table.
She just raised her chin. “Who knows? But what I said wasn’t a threat, it was a promise.”
Tristan nodded. “Hurting Amara is not what I want.”
“And what do you want?” Dante asked. “Make your decision now before you go after her. Don’t break her because you’re in doubt.”
Seth stood then. “She’s ours. I may have let Tristan do the talking just now, but I won’t stand back any longer. She’s in pain...” He nodded at the table. “Thank you for the push.” He met Tristan’s gaze. “Coming?”
Tristan stood and looked into the eyes of the man who would be his mate if fate had anything to say about it.
“Yes. Let’s get our girl.”
Seth grinned, and they turned from the table and made their way to the door Amara had exited the club through earlier. Tristan could feel her; scent her on the other side. They were taking a step that could prove pain-ridden; yet he knew it was the only step he could take.
Without Amara and Seth in his life, he wasn’t sure he would be able to continue on. At least not like he had. He’d fought wars, helped build civilizations, loved and lost. But never mated.
Fate had paved the course in front of him, and now he had to take the next step. For himself, for Seth, for Amara, and for what could be.
Chapter Two
Amara Young ended her call with her employer and shut her eyes as tightly as she could. She hated the man’s voice, his demands, the way he looked right through her as if she didn’t exist beyond what she could do for him. Maybe if she wished hard enough, she’d have a new job and wouldn’t be forced to work with such an *.
Of course, she wasn’t a djinn like Jamie, and wishes didn’t work that way. Instead, she slid her phone back in her purse and opened her eyes, knowing she’d have to go back into Dante’s Circle and face her friends’ pitying stares.
And she’d have to face them.
Tristan and Seth.
The two men her body wanted, but weren’t hers. She didn’t feel the pull like the other women had described when they’d met their true halves. Tristan and Seth weren’t her mates, and lusting after two men without a mating bond wouldn’t get her what she wanted. What she needed.
A home.
A family.
A future.
Call her old-fashioned, but she wanted all of that. She’d never had it before. The environment she’d grown up in couldn’t really be called a family, and thanks to that and the obstacles life kept throwing in her way, she didn’t really have a home or a future like she wanted either.
Carrie Ann Ryan's Books
- Carrie Ann Ryan
- Written in Ink (Montgomery Ink #4)
- Stolen and Forgiven (Branded Packs #1)
- Flame and Ink: An Anthology (Happy Ever After #1)
- Dark Fates (A Paranormal Anthology)
- An Alpha's Choice (Talon Pack #2)
- Abandoned and Unseen (Branded Packs #2)
- Wolf Betrayed (Talon Pack #4)
- Prowled Darkness (Dante's Circle, #7)
- Mated in Mist (Talon Pack #3)