be. Part of him had hoped Fuery would tell him that Shaia wasn’t affected by the darkness and that he was safe to lower his guard around Mackenzie. He glanced at her, caught the worry in her eyes as she looked at him, and knew she had sensed his unease. The fact that Shaia was helping strengthen Fuery’s control over the darkness was a good thing though and he was eager to see if Mackenzie could do the same for him, helping him claw his way back towards the light.
For now though, he would keep the wall between her and the darkness in place.
“You should go to Shaia.” He squeezed Fuery’s shoulder and smiled for him, wanting to alleviate the worry he could sense in his friend.
Fuery began to nod, but then shook his head, his brow furrowing as his gaze lifted to lock with Hartt’s. “I should be here.”
“It feels as if it is growing late. We should probably all rest anyway.” And hopefully Shaia would come to visit her mate, would sense his need of her and spend the night with him. Hartt sighed. “I’m sorry I worried you.”
Fuery forced a smile. “It was fine. You needed to be with your ki’ara.”
“But the demoness said something to upset you.” He was careful not to mention the demoness by name, was aware of how she was watching them, listening hard to their conversation. If he mentioned her name, Syn would know they were talking about her in a language she didn’t understand.
Fuery’s smile faltered, darkness washing across his features as he glanced towards the demoness.
His words were a black growl as he said, “She does not think you worthy of her friend.”
“She is merely protective and, from my experience, is apparently unable to handle that feeling with decorum and without resorting to violence.” Hartt had been given his own taste of her caustic brand of protectiveness over the last few days and he doubted she was going to change her attitude towards him now that he and Mackenzie were mated.
In fact, he wholeheartedly expected her to get worse.
“She attacked me.” Fuery glared in her direction as he spoke those words in the elven tongue.
“You want a piece of me,” Syn snarled, and Mackenzie muttered something as she moved to her friend, as he sensed her holding the demoness back. “It’s not my bloody fault. They’re talking smack about me. I know it.”
“Yeah, and I know you probably deserve it,” Mackenzie muttered. “Oh, don’t give me that look. I bet you went prodding and poking him the second I went to check on Hartt.”
That was followed by a long sigh that made him want to look at his mate.
“Syn, you’re just going to have to accept that he’s my mate now.”
The demoness exploded. “He’s your what now?”
Hartt did look back at Mackenzie to check on her now. Syn looked more than a little horrified, her mouth agape and eyes wide as she stared at his mate. The demoness’s expression only grew more shocked as Mackenzie brought her hand up and swept her hair back, revealing the left side of her throat.
“You bit her! You son of a bitch.” Syn tried to barge past Mackenzie, but his beautiful female stepped into her path and held her back.
“I… might have… started it.” Mackenzie’s rigid shoulders sagged and he sensed the resolve that flowed through her, heard it in her voice as she said, “I did start it. I bit him. Well, clawed him. I took his blood, Syn. You want to be mad at anyone, be mad at me. It was my choice.”
The demoness changed in the blink of an eye, her expression going from murderous to joyful as her gaze shifted from him to Mackenzie. “Sweetie! Congratulations.”
Syn pulled her into a hug that made Mackenzie grunt and he felt the pain she experienced from the tight embrace on his own body, growled at the demoness in a warning to handle his mate more gently.
In response, she extended her middle finger at him.
He got the impression she still wasn’t going to be nice to him.
Not willing to fight a battle he knew he couldn’t win, he turned his focus to the documents and maps on the table, seeking a way they could draw the witch out. He showed no sign of attacking them, so they were going to have to attack him.
Mackenzie manage to extricate herself from Syn’s embrace and came to stand beside him again. “We could stage a fight. There’s