he acted so guilty and distressed over trying to make me understand. I spent the entire morning and afternoon trying to come to terms with it, to convince myself it wouldn’t be so bad. People end up in arranged marriages all the time, right? I told myself it would be like that.
I even put a fucking crown on my head to be cute and show that I’m trying to embrace my new life. If I don’t have a choice in the matter, and the guys don’t either, I figured I can be a good sport and try to do my best to get to know them. When I was with Bryson, I was an amazing girlfriend—even if the douchebag did take me for granted. I’m sure I can be a good mate to these guys too.
I’m honestly feeling pretty stupid about the crown now.
I know I should be more pissed at Reule. Either he exaggerated by making it seem like this mating thing was going to happen no matter what, or he’s just nowhere near as determined as Maalik to keep it from happening. Plus, they asked about Alistair and Bryson. So that might mean they’re still going to try and help me get back home, right?
Every time I look over at Reule, I feel butterflies in my stomach and a weird ache in my chest. I can’t stop thinking about our almost-moment in bed this morning and every sweet little thing he’s done for me since I ended up here. Would it be so bad to be his mate? He’d probably treat me like a queen. His friends are cute too, and I certainly wouldn’t oppose to being the center of attention of four strong, sexy shifter men. Especially if they treat me as well as Reule has. Of all the things that could have happened to me after Thaddeus tried to have me killed, and then sold on the supernatural black market, getting stuck here with these guys isn’t so bad at all.
God, what the fuck is wrong with me? I should be focused on getting back home. Not jumping into bed with four strangers, no matter how hot they are. I totally blame this Stockholm Syndrome thing. Or maybe these crazy moons are messing with my head.
As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I realize I might be onto something. If these moons are powerful enough to force these guys into choosing a mate like that book suggests, it’s pretty reasonable to think it might be affecting my judgment. Maybe it’s affecting Reule’s too, and that’s why he was arguing in favor of mating with me instead of helping me get home.
My eyes move to the other side of the room where Maalik is standing beside the front door. He’s hammering something into the wall on each side of it, and nervous butterflies writhe in my stomach as I watch him. I don’t have a clue what he’s doing, but his roommates are ignoring him. It’s clear they’re not very happy with him, but I think I may have judged him too harshly before. He’s obviously in charge, and I’m sure there’s a good reason for that.
“Isla,” Caelan growls my name. It’s a cute growl, and I turn around to face him with a smile.
“Caelan?” I sing his name back to him playfully and flutter my eyelashes. I probably shouldn’t flirt with these guys until I know what’s happening with this full moon stuff, but I can’t help it. Caelan is ridiculously hot. He’s tall and broad-shouldered, and he has this perfectly-tousled dirty blonde hair, very pretty hazel eyes, and a smirk that makes me want to do some extra naughty things with him. He has a beard too, like every male I’ve come across in this world, but it’s short enough that it’s more stubble than anything.
He looks exactly like the kind of guy I’d go for back home, which should probably be a red flag, but he’s been so friendly to me since the moment he walked through the door. I’m pretty sure he was teasing Reule about his cooking earlier, and I’m excited to see what he’s cooking for me now.
“Ochetnuj,” he says, holding a spoon up to my mouth. He’s asked me to taste every single thing he’s made so far, and everything has been freaking delicious. There’s some kind of meat dish cooling on top of the stove, along with some vegetables I’ve never seen before. I think there are still