Because they could communicate telepathically now.
Because they were fully mated.
I palmed the back of my neck. Get a grip, I told myself. This isn’t the end of the world. She’s still mine.
But somehow she didn’t feel very connected to me. If anything, I felt… removed. I frowned, not liking this sensation at all. It made me
want to grab her and bite her again, to stake my claim and ensure she still felt me inside her.
Since when did I feel possessive over women?
Since this one stepped into my life, I thought sourly, annoyed.
“You’re right,” Aflora said, breaking the silence.
“I know,” Shade replied.
“So modest.” She rolled her eyes, but I sensed her humor. They were teasing each other, their relationship having moved to a level of intimacy that was much deeper than the one I shared with her.
I glanced at Kols to see if this bothered him as much as it did me, but he seemed more intent on whatever our mate intended to say. Was he not even the slightest bit jealous? Or was he hiding it better?
Oh, but wait, he had his elemental bond to her as well.
Because she’d chosen him as her mate.
Which meant he had nothing to fear, because she wanted him, just like she wanted Shade.
So where did that leave me? And why the hell was I spending all this time pondering such trivial bullshit? Emotions weren’t my thing. I preferred actions.
Except that was precisely the problem—Aflora’s actions proved her desires for Shade and Kols, while I remained third. The male who had bitten and claimed her without her reciprocation, all to save her from imploding.
It’d been a required reaction to her situation.
Perhaps that was all it meant to her.
No.
She at least desired me a little, because our passion was off-the-charts hot. That couldn’t be faked. I read women well. I knew their tells. And everything Aflora’s body said during our sexual interludes confirmed she wanted me.
Maybe her mind just hadn’t realized it yet.
I nodded to myself. All right. A challenge. I liked challenges. If she needed me to prove myself to her, then I would.
Although, I was doing one hell of a job of that right now because she’d been talking for the last few minutes and I didn’t have a fucking clue what she’d just said.
This woman is destroying me, I thought, irritated.
I wasn’t a man who held conversations in my head or thought about how to woo a female. I fucked them. End of discussion.
Yet Aflora was different.
I actually cared about what she thought of me, and I didn’t quite enjoy that revelation. Not giving a damn was far easier.
And utterly impossible where she was concerned.
“Shit,” Kols said, drawing me out of my head.
Because yeah, I’d missed whatever Aflora had just said since I was too lost in my feelings. Who the fuck is this jealous fool in my head, and how the hell do I get rid of him?