even, how to interact with the bond. But Jaxon looks so soft and sleepy and unlike himself that I can’t help reaching out. Can’t help closing my eyes and putting a hand across his heart, on this space where it feels like something exists between us, and smiling at him warmly.
Jaxon’s cheeks start to have a little more color in them, and his eyes look more alert, so I pull back even as I squeeze the hand I’m still holding in my own.
His midnight eyes heat up at the connection between us, his brows quirking in a sexy way that has me burrowing even deeper into his side and whispering, “Later,” into his ear.
As I relinquish the last of my hold on the bond, Hudson flops down in an empty spot at the table and snarls, “At least warn me the next time you’re going to do something so completely nauseating,” he orders. “I can go look out a window or something.”
He’s my mate. I’m allowed to fawn all over him if I want to.
Hudson’s only response is a narrowing of his eyes and a growl so intense that it actually sends a shiver down my spine.
“You’re really going to spend the afternoon jumping off the castle?” Macy is asking the vamp contingent at the table.
Jumping off the castle? I mouth to Jaxon, who just inclines his head in a “what can we do?” way.
“Got to start practicing for Ludares, don’t we?” Mekhi answers her. “It’ll be here before we know it.”
“So you guys are really going to compete?” I ask, looking at Jaxon. “I heard it was dangerous.”
The entire table turns to stare at me, eyebrows raised.
“So what if it’s dangerous?” Rafael answers. “It’s our last year at Katmere—been waiting for the chance to dominate the tourney forever. Damn straight we’re going to compete.”
“Besides, there’s danger, Grace, and then there’s danger.” Mekhi grins at me. “No one’s actually died from competing in the Ludares.”
“Nobody’s died? Are you kidding me with this? How is the fact that nobody’s died yet a ringing endorsement for this game?” I look to my cousin for a little solidarity, but she’s right there with the others, a patronizing look on her face, like I’m the one who doesn’t understand.
And that’s when it dawns on me. “Wait a minute, Macy. You’re not actually going to compete in a game where danger is the first adjective that comes to everyone’s mind, too, are you?”
“‘Danger’ is the second adjective,” Luca tells me with a grin. “‘Fun’ is the first.”
“Oh, well, in that case, of course we should all compete,” I tell him. “Wouldn’t want to miss out on a good time.”
“Exactly!” Rafael says with a wink. “Plus, you know, if any of us ever hopes to end up on the Circle, well…training starts now!”
“You mean that’s still a thing?” I ask. I vaguely remember Amka mentioning something about how Ludares originally wasn’t a game but a trial to end up on the Circle, but to be honest, I haven’t thought much about it. “You play a game to become a Circle member? What if you suck at sports?”
Jaxon chuckles. “Ludares started out as a competition for the strongest mated pairs. If you survived the test, you earned a seat on the Circle.”
Mekhi smiles. “Can you imagine how brutal it was? One mated pair against eight kick-ass opponents? I would have loved to have seen Jaxon’s or Flint’s parents compete to be on the Circle. It must have been wild.”
Umm, yeah, so not my idea of a good time. At all. “So only mated pairs can sit on the Circle, then?” I didn’t expect that, but I probably should have, considering both of Jaxon’s and Flint’s parents are on it.
Jaxon nods. “Pretty much—it takes at least two people to survive the Trial, or so they say.” He squeezes my hand, his gaze holding mine. “I keep thinking we should do it one day. The Circle needs someone to lead it who won’t let that happen.”
“Us? Why? I thought you hated all the prince stuff?” I mean, being queen certainly isn’t on my agenda. I’m more interested in art school, even if I have to do a gap year because of the whole “trapped as a gargoyle for four months” mess that screwed up college apps and everything else in my life, apparently.
“I do,” he assures me. “But there’s been a Third Great War brewing for a long time, and Hudson only exacerbated it with the shit he pulled