told him?”
Drawing a deep breath, I scent the air to confirm that the naga had indeed left. Once the strongest markers of his scent begin to fade with distance, I drop back into my fae form and purse my lips as I stare off in the direction in which the male departed.
“There is no knowing. Whatever it was, it was intended to drag me back to the nest and eliminate your presence one way or another. Sending a male after us would have been the most convenient way for her to dispose of you.”
“Yeah, no,” she mutters. “There’s no way in hell I would ever fuck that. He was huge! Just looking at him makes all my girl parts scream in terror.”
“You do not need to think about it because you are mine and are never fucking a naga or anyone else,” I snarl back, making my mate raise a dark eyebrow coolly in my direction.
Swallowing my anger, I stomp away, investigating from what direction the naga came at us unaware. A soft sound of dismay reaches my ears when I near the edge of the forest, and I turn to see Steph pull Grimsal into her arms. I feel a jealous rage churn within me, but it is quieted by the guilt that floods through me for not seeing to the goblin’s wellbeing. No doubt the naga had struck swift and hard to get around the male’s defenses.
Backtracking, I arrive at her side just as she presses her hands to his throat.
“I can’t tell if his heart is beating. I keep missing the pulse point. For all I know, it’s not even in the same spot,” she grumbles, tears of frustration and grief welling in her eyes. I can feel it beating at me even in my fae form and so I rush to her side to help her.
Just as I brace his weight within my own arms, a tear that clings to her lashes, a single drop still glittering with unicorn magic, falls and splatters onto the seam of the goblin’s mouth. I bite back a groan of dismay.
That can have unforeseen consequences. I should have warned her to be careful with blood, tears, and any bodily fluids. I just hadn’t imagined such a thing happening.
The goblin jerks in my arms from the full force of the potent magic and gasps, his eyes snapping right to my face.
“Oh, fuck me,” he rasps. “Why can I sense you?”
My lips thin, and I drop him to the ground, not caring just how much of an up-close and personal look he has of my nude body. Dread filling me as to what this could mean, I reach for my fetch form and shift and give him a gentle mental nudge. My stomach bottoms out instantly when I hear his surprised bellow in my mind.
Gods damn this entire mess.
Returning to my fae form, I cross my arms over my chest and glare down at the goblin.
“It seems that, thanks to my mate’s empathy and mercy toward your near-dead carcass, she gifted you with a tiny pearl of unicorn magic. Enough to bring you back and much to my eternal dismay… link us,” I mutter unhappily.
Steph stares at me in surprise.
“I did all that? And now he can hear you?”
“Unfortunately,” I grit out. “The last thing I want is to be mind-bonded to a goblin. But since he’s bound to you that means he’s now bound to me as well.”
The goblin swipes a nervous hand through his hair and gives me a cryptic look. Then a smile blooms across his face, and he slaps his leg with devilish glee.
“You might not enjoy it, but thank the gods because I was getting tired of missing half the conversation. Don’t worry… You’ll get accustomed to me in your head soon enough. I can be rather entertaining for those long hours you are in your fetch form.”
I bare my teeth only to close my mouth when my mate elbows me in the stomach.
“Be nice,” she whispers. “He nearly died. Besides, it’s not like he hasn’t done plenty to help us,” she reminds me. “What’s a bit more chatter. It’s not like you don’t hear him anyway. And he cooks for us… Speaking of which, I hope the fish survived the attack. Ah, good, it’s still over the fire,” she exclaims happily.
I watch her walk away with a pained grimace.
She doesn’t get it. It will be worse—infinitely worse. And the goblin knows this too, because his sudden