Neve (Silver Skates #3) - Helen Scott Page 0,33

intended recipients. I couldn’t bring myself to look at any of them, so I glued my eyes to the game and pretended that I was the biggest hockey fan in the world and that the Silver Springs Blades were my favorite team.

For a moment, it seemed like nothing had happened, like the spell had been a dud, which happened more often than not with my magic. When I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned and found the three of them looking at me with panicked eyes. Their mouths opened like they were talking, but no sound came out.

Fear coiled in my stomach. I had only wanted to nudge the magic in the other direction. I didn’t want to stop them from talking completely!

As though things couldn’t get any worse, I discovered that Niklaus was a shifter. Specifically, a reindeer shifter.

How did I discover that?

Because he shifted in the damn penalty box. It wasn’t anywhere close to big enough to contain him in his animal form though, so he was stuck awkwardly standing on the seat that was in there while his antlers smacked against the side of the box.

A gasp went up from the crowd, and I wondered how the hell the supes of Silver Springs were going to explain this away to the humans.

13

Rory

Neve’s magic was more than a little wonky, it was downright dangerous. When I’d started blabbing all kinds of stuff that afternoon, I wasn’t sure what was going on. Then seeing Seren and Colden do the same and start talking about how she was their mate, it all started to make sense. Silver Springs wasn’t exactly a normal supernatural town, it seemed to be the center for some kind of polyamory as well.

Personally, I had no problem with it. I found it fascinating, especially because the relationships were mostly multiple men with one woman, and rarely, if ever, the other way around. I knew that this must have something to do with why three men, myself included, were claiming her as their mate.

I’d been pondering what could have caused us all to feel the mate bond at the same time since Niklaus shifted in the penalty box and had to be escorted to the locker rooms, but I couldn’t figure it out. I mean, it had to be something, right? All three of us finding our mate at the same time was too unlikely, especially when I was just visiting Silver Springs, or at least that had been the plan. Now? I wasn’t sure what my plan was.

For some reason, Neve had wanted to wait for Niklaus after the game, which I wasn’t sure any of us had actually watched. We had all been too distracted by our babbling mouths and Neve. As soon as Niklaus had left the locker room and seen us, I realized what was going on. Whatever spell Neve had done had affected the four of us, not just the three like I originally thought. Did that mean that the reindeer was her mate too?

As he strode toward us with purpose, I knew that I was right. When his hand reached out and pulled Neve to him, crushing her body against his as his lips descended on hers, I expected to feel jealous, but I didn’t. Instead, I felt this weird pleasure—if that’s what it could be called—at seeing my mate being pleased. I wanted her to be happy, that much was expected, but what I didn’t expect was this weird almost secondary bond that made me want to see Seren, Colden, and Niklaus happy as well.

When they parted, I could practically feel how turned on Neve was, and I was a tiny bit envious that it wasn’t me doing it. Although she had already taken me to bed, so I couldn’t complain that much. Just that thought had all my blood rushing south. I needed to have her and taste her again soon, or I might lose my mind.

She was panting, her eyes dilated as she stared up at the reindeer. I could see the moment that she remembered the rest of us were there, standing like silent sentinels around them. Neve turned and looked at the three of us, her cheeks pink.

“Don’t tell me I’m your mate too?” she asked when she looked back at Niklaus.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he nodded, then looked over her shoulder—well, head really, since he was quite a bit taller than Neve—and realized that we must be her other mates.