King Hall (Forever Evermore, #1)(14)

Jack asked into the quiet, sounding curious, “Lily, can I ask you a personal question?”

“Depends on how personal.” Truth.

“About being mated?”

I shrugged. “Sure.”

He turned as much as he could on the seat, gazing around Ezra, and stared at my profile. “Is it true you aren’t sexually interested in anyone else?” He shuddered, his blue eyebrows together. “I can’t imagine how that would feel. One person. Forever.”

My chuckle was soft. “Yeah. It’s true. No one does it for me but Dominic.”

His gaze was perplexed. “No one even looks good?”

I laughed outright. “I’m not blind. I know when men are hot.” A simple shrug. “But, there’s just no real interest in,” I pointed at my head, and then my chest, “here.”

“They say being mated you can’t even get turned on by someone else.” Jack blinked extremely slowly, his tone morbidly serious. “Honestly, that freaks me out.”

For a man, I imagined it would. A woman’s bodily reaction wasn’t so obvious. “I can honestly say I’ve never been turned on by anyone else since Dominic and I mated.”

“Huh.” He stared.

“What?”

His lips twitched. “Mind if I test that theory?”

Silence.

This time I was left blinking and, eventually, I sputtered, “What?” I ignored the fact it came out a little high pitched. “Jack, when I offered you a ride, I didn’t mean a ride.”

He shrugged. “I won’t have to touch-you, touch you. Ezra and I both have the power to seduce with a single touch. All higher powers do.”

I stared out the windshield.

Jack clarified, “Call it a scientific experiment if you wish. I just can’t believe what everyone else says. It’s too much.”

“It’s the mate magic,” I explained slowly. “It won’t let me be turned on by anyone else.”

“It won’t hurt then,” Jack coaxed, wiggling restlessly on the seat. “I wouldn’t be so freaked if it proved the Elders, and the Kings, had been lying,” a jerking hand wave, “about not being able to get it up with someone else.”

I choked, trying not to laugh, my cheeks puffing with it. He was a “to be” King, but he was still just a man. I bit my lip, eventually shrugging. “It won’t work.” I glanced at him, my eyes narrowing. “You won’t do anything adulterous, will you?”

He shook his head, held up his index finger. “Just touch your hand with my finger.”

I stared at his seemingly innocent finger before sliding my attention back to the dark road. “Whatever, but you won’t like the results. It’ll probably give you an even larger complex than you already have.”

“Or, it’ll cure me,” he muttered quietly. In the dimness of my truck’s cab, his eyes glowed softly and his power flared just as gently. “Here’s to hoping.” Reaching across Ezra, Jack touched the back of my hand with the tip of his index finger.

An immediate wave of warm, sensual, dizzying water stroked over me leisurely, eliciting a gasp from my parted lips; the truck jerked to the right before I righted it back onto the blacktop. The surge continued, caressing me from head to toe. Everywhere between. It was stunning.

Astonishing.

Unbelievable.

Spectacular.

But, no, it didn’t turn me on, the sensation diminishing as he withdrew his finger.

I cleared my throat hard, glancing to him. “That’s cool, but no go.”

Blue eyebrows slammed together, his brown eyes swinging to Ezra.

Ezra sighed. “I’ve known people who were mated before, and I agree with her.”

“Humor me.” Jack was glaring, but his fingers were tapping on his leg.

Ezra chuckled, and his nostrils flared. Inhaling deeply, he held the breath in, testing the air, scenting for emotions. He shook his head, exhaling. “Surprised, yes, but not stimulated.”

Jack cursed, turning on the bench seat to face the front. “God, I pray my mate’s not a spirit.” The mysterious, white-haired spirit Elementals were the rarest breed of Elementals, to the point that I hadn’t even seen one in my life.

Flexing my fingers on the steering wheel, I sucked in an immense breath of the night air rushing in through the open window as the remnants of Jack’s magic dissipated from the cab. As I watched the trees go by, I wondered if Dominic had been as troubled as Jack before mating me. He didn’t act it now — not at all — but in the few short months we had been together I had never asked him that question, never even pondered the thought before now.

Unexpectedly, an impression interrupted my musings.

My eyebrows furrowed as I felt…extreme worry.

Not my own emotion, either.

Jack murmured, “Ezra, maybe you…” He was still chatting, but I didn’t listen.

Dominic? I asked privately, speculating that the little experiment had gone through to him. He probably wouldn’t be thrilled about it, but he wouldn’t be too upset, either, his emotion not entirely reasonable. Plus, he had never done that whole finger-touch-thing to me before and I was planning to ask him to. I would have to tell him how I knew in the first place. But, right now, I had to figure out what was wrong with him. What’s going on?