of that,” I whispered, hugging myself as I looked away. “Why are you here, Doc? What’s going on? And how were you able to break the lock on the portal? Can others do that?”
He didn’t reply right away. “No, only because I can work with your magic.”
Ray sucked in a harsh breath from across the kitchen. “So she’s probably your mate too. You can build off her magic or piggyback off of it?”
“I don’t know. I only learned it when we I needed space and played with her crystals.”
I threw back my head and laughed. “You don’t want me back. You want my magic, just like everyone else. You want to do more research and projects. That’s why you’re trying for me again, saying anything you can and—”
“He’s not,” Zack and Ray said together, Zack continuing. “He fucked up, but the amount of pain that idea gives you is crushing. So I’m not defending him, but giving you the truth because we’re friends, and I can’t stand you hurting that much. He is not shitting you about his love for you, how much he wants you back, or that he would give up his magic to have you back. This is not about your magic, but you.”
I nodded I heard him, but couldn’t process any of this. “Please release them and tell me why you’re here.”
“Of course.” Craftsman cleared his throat and did it while Ray called Mel to join us, getting something was up.
“Don’t do that again,” Lucca bit out.
I sighed and hopped off the counter, ducking into the half bath just off the kitchen to clean up. I couldn’t just sit there smelling like sex—dripping from it—and pretend we could ignore it. I also grabbed one of the boxes of treats from the table and plopped down on a chair to get filled in.
My mood improved when I found an array of large cream puffs, which I adored, and began stuffing my face, ignoring I was getting powdered sugar everywhere.
“What’s up?” Mel asked as she came into the kitchen, doing a double take when she saw Craftsman. She sighed and then smirked when she saw all the boxes. “So you got my text I see.”
“Huh?” I glanced between her and Lucca.
He sighed. “This is why I was saying you were oblivious and wonderfully loyal.
“Wait, before we get into teasing her on what she missed—why is he here?” Mel jabbed her thumb towards Craftsman.
“I would guess partially for what she missed,” he answered, his tone hesitant. “I received word that my council is in a tizzy that the meeting with the wolf elders not only went well, but she also didn’t turn down their proposed mating candidates, and they’re bragging she invited them to a private, personal dinner at her resort with their mates.”
I wasn’t the only one who needed time to digest that, Mel announcing she was stealing some of my apology gift and opening another box.
“They’re not peeing on you,” Zack surmised. “They found the intel you gave valid and verified something big. They’re doing you a solid back and making people jump around. That’s how they operate.”
“Is it a solid if they’re…” I trailed off and glanced at Lucca. “That’s what I missed? There were mating candidates there?”
“Yes, that you were treating as guards,” Mel purred, looking about ready to burst out laughing. “You assumed they were part of their posse, or details, and lumped them all together. The amusement coming from them was… Amusing, mostly that you would treat the guards so well, but, well, hi, you love me, so it should make sense.”
I bobbed my head as I stuffed my face, rolling my eyes as I put it together. “And you being you, you texted Lucca to throw fuel on the fire of our fight and say something about how hot some of them were and he should get his ass in gear and make up with me because you’d jump some of them in a hot minute.”
“That’s almost exactly what she said,” Lucca drawled. “You two know each other so well, it’s scary sometimes. Add in a bit of making sure it’s a bigger apology gift as they were all drooling over you and would give you anything you could want, and you pretty much nailed exactly what she was sending me.”
“Really?” I asked her.
“Um, yeah, several made comments that even the photo shoots didn’t do you justice, and you were the hottest women they’d ever seen in real life,” she answered, smirking