did you make me do it in the first place?”
Ryder shrugged, completely unaffected as he grabbed his supplies and started giving me French tips I’d only seen in photos. Growing up, I was lucky if I got a haircut and had clothes that fit me, and this was the first time I’d ever had a mani and a pedi I hadn’t given to myself.
“Because” —Ryder smirked, nodding for Killian to take my flute so he could work— “I thought it would be fun to see you try.”
Killian looked like he was one second away from throttling Ryder, who began humming happily as he worked, bent over my fingernails. Unable to reach for Kill, I sent him a grateful smile that seemed to calm the rising ire, and he shook his head with a long, drawn out sigh before kissing my head one more time and slipping from the room to find the others.
“You shouldn’t antagonize him so much, you know,” I scolded Ryder lightly, whose smirk turned into a full-on grin.
“But we have so little entertainment as it is,” he quipped, and I laughed, shaking my head this time. “In all seriousness…” Ryder sobered. “He wanted to do it, even if he has a hard time verbalizing it. He—all of us actually—would do anything to make you happy, Nix.” Ryder’s hazel eyes were serious and intense when he caught me in his gaze. He paused in his work, holding my hand gently in his. “Right now, we can’t give you the life you deserve. We don’t even have a real home at the moment. Even getting to officially claim you as our mate will look different. None of us expected our mating to be in the middle of a rebellion.”
“I don’t want to wait anymore,” I started, but Ryder hushed my softly before I could wage a well-rounded argument.
“Neither do any of us,” he reassured me gently. “Doesn’t change that our wedding is going to take place in the middle of a war. We all hoped to give you better. This is my way of trying to regain a little normalcy. To give you something that would have been part of your mating prep if we were back home.”
Using the heat of my Phoenix, I dried my nails instantly and scooted forward in the chair until I was close enough to kiss Ryder. His lips were soft under my own, and he responded to each sweet press.
“It doesn’t seem possible, but I fall in love with all of you a little more each day,” I whispered when I pulled back. “Thank you for giving me this piece of normality back.”
Ryder kissed me again and went back to work, finishing the last few nails and giving them a once over to make sure they were perfect.
“My turn.” Damien entered the room, smelling faintly of chocolate. A streak of flour was smeared across one cheek, and I brushed it away when he leaned down and captured my lips in a kiss I felt all the way to my toes. Our tongues tangled all too briefly, and I got a light taste of the chocolate I’d scented on him.
“You taste like dessert,” I told him, not bothering to hide the hunger in my voice when he pulled away and took Ryder’s place on the stool, surprising me when he pulled my feet onto his lap.
“You’re welcome to taste me anytime you want, sweetheart.” Damien’s innuendo made me squirm in my seat. “And if you like that little sample, I know you’ll love the full effect of the special treat I’ve made for you.”
“I’ve been trying to get you to make me dessert for years.” Ryder pouted as he came back with a stack of magazines in his hand. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad our girl has helped you get over your aversion to sugar, but all those years full of delicious potential… wasted.” Deep down, I knew Ryder was joking, but his crestfallen expression was so sincere in that moment I wondered if there wasn’t more truth behind his melancholy than he let on. My Ceraptor had the biggest sweet tooth I’d ever seen, a trait that was mirrored in his niece. Maybe it was a unicorn thing?
“All good things in moderation,” Damien chided, and his fingers went to work digging into the soft pads of my feet. I moaned unabashedly. “Unless it has something to do with our mate. Then I give my full permission to enjoy to your heart’s content.”