Page 33 of Tempting Fate

“You look like you haven’t slept. You look a bit like I did when Vince left.”

I shake my head, fear flooding my mouth with saliva. Not a chance of that. Em would let me know before he went anywhere, I think. Now, Jamie—

Jamie isn’t mine. I’m not his.

“Em’s my mate,” I say.

We’re all silent for a moment. All I hear is the movement of Drew’s whisk.

“You’re sure?” Dax asks.

I jerk my head up, not quite sure when I started staring down at the carpet, or why. “Yes, I’m sure! Weren’t you sure after you first met Vince?”

“After the first night, yeah,” Dax says, not rising to my temper. “That’s not why I’m asking.”

“Why are you asking, then?”

“Because you’ve come here to tell me you’ve found your mate and had a great first date with him, but you don’t seem happy about it.”

“I am!”

“What’s making you sad, then?” Dax narrows his eyes. “You didn’t come here to lie to me.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“What is it, then?”

“I can’t stop thinking about Jamie.”

Dax falls silent again. Drew opens and closes the oven door, presumably putting the cake inside, and then gets to washing up. The back of my neck burns. I don’t think he’s watching us, and he’s putting on an admirable show of not listening, but he’s a wolf, and even if he weren’t, we’re in one small room. He can hear every word.

“What are you thinking about, with him?” Dax asks. “Is it because he and Em are attracted to each other?”

I’ve spent the last couple of days wondering about that. But it’s like at the pub, when Jamie and I both caught each other checking Em out. I don’t mind that they like each other.

I think I might like it.

“No, it’s not that. I don’t know what it is. I just need to get it together and I thought you might be able to tell me how.”

“Spend more time with Em,” Dax says with a shrug. “You and Jamie have spent a fair bit of time together over the past few months. Maybe you just need to get him out of your system.”

Get him out of my system. Not see him anymore. Not think about him. Not—

Drew clears his throat. When I look up, he’s standing on the other side of the kitchen counter, Marigold-covered hands pressing against the countertop. “Sorry,” he says, blushing a little when we both look at him. “Obviously, I can hear you.”

“Obviously,” I drawl.

“Have you considered…” He trails off, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip. Whatever it is, he doesn’t want to say it.

“Considered what?” Dax asks.

“Two mates. That you have two mates?”

I almost leap to my feet in surprise and a shock of anger that is unexpected, even to me. “Two? Two mates? Impossible!”

“Is it?” Drew’s tone is still light, but now there’s an edge of steel to it. If Dax has been affected by his mating with Vince, then that’s nothing on Drew—he’s a big, soft wolf, but Sam is a dangerous mage, and some of that has rubbed off on Drew, too.

Not to mention Adam. The vampire might seem easy-going, but I’ve seen him at Vince’s classes. He’s not all he first appears, either.