Then I glared at him before turning my irritated eyes to Thana. “Leave,” I demanded through a clenched jaw.
“Watch your tone with my wife, brother,” Kieran snarled from beside me.
Knowing I would have the same reaction if he spoke to Selene in such a manner, I couldn’t fault him for his warning. “Sorry,” I mumbled. I sighed and softened my voice before making a request. “Would you two please wait downstairs while we get some clothes on?”
“Sure thing!” Thana squeaked, still covering her eyes. She turned and walked straight into the nearest wall, making Selene giggle, and Kieran rolled his eyes affectionately. He stalked over to her and pulled her into his arms before they disappeared from the room.
Shortly after that, we met them in the library, and Selene and Thana ran to hug each other. I couldn’t help smiling at the joy it brought to my consort’s face.
After a few minutes of chattering, they began to whisper.
Kieran and I stood a few feet away from them, and I filled him in on what had happened with Selene’s parents.
“Athan.” Selene’s sweet voice drew my attention, and I gazed down at her lovingly.
“Yes, my love?”
“I want to talk to Thana.”
I smiled and nodded, then started to turn back to my brother until she cleared her throat and pinched my forearm. “Alone,” she insisted. She clearly saw my intent to argue because she added, “About girl stuff and um...the…um, claiming.”
A light bulb went on then. Of course, Selene would want to talk to another woman who’d been through the ceremony. “Stay close, love,” I requested before kissing her temple.
She smiled and gestured to the door to the kitchen. “We’re just going to go wander in the gardens.” The kitchen had an exit that led to the back of our property where I’d built a botanical paradise years ago.
With one more chaste kiss on her lips, I let her walk past me, but not without a firm pat on her sweet ass. She threw me an admonishing look, and I just smiled wickedly, a wealth of promise in my expression.
Once the girls were gone, I led Kieran into the kitchen and poured us each a glass of blood. While our consort’s blood would always be the most delicious to us, we’d still need bagged blood so we didn’t drain each other. Not that it would kill either of us, but it would make us weak and vulnerable.
“Have you talked to Stephan lately?” Kieran asked.
I swallowed the liquid in my mouth before answering. “Not really, he’s been working a lot. He was at the party last night, but I took off with Selene.”
Kieran glared at me. “Yes, something that greatly distressed my wife, who’d missed her friend for a very long time. If I didn’t know what you were experiencing, you’d be groveling to her right now.”
I snorted. We were matched pretty evenly in size and had yet to end a tussle in anything other than a draw. Stephan was more toned and had several inches on us, and his strength wasn’t to be underestimated either.
“Thana says he’s been working so much because he’s struggling with how long it took us to find our consorts. It’s a good thing I have a female who sees that kind of shit because I missed it completely.”
Nodding, I drained the rest of my glass and rinsed it in the sink. “I can understand that. He’s young. It’ll probably be even harder now that I’ve found Selene. I wish there were a way we could help him find her.”
Kieran brought his empty cup to the sink, and I washed it out as well before putting both glasses in the dishwasher. “I know. But it’ll happen when the time is right. I think maybe we should try to take his mind off it a little more.”
“Silas is having an anniversary party next month. There are bound to be numerous single women there.” I chuckled as I thought of my friend. “Any excuse to do some matchmaking. I swear he grew a pussy when he mated.”
Kieran laughed, then shrugged. “Maybe, but at least it ups the odds that some of us will find our fated mate.”
“True.” I cocked my head and smiled in the way only a brother can when he’s about to fuck with his sibling. “I’ll call Stephan in the morning before he goes to bed and tell him we’re taking him to the party.” We walked toward the door to the garden, and I added, “Hog-tied if we have to.”
7
Selene
Thana hushed me when I started to talk after we stepped outside. “If we’re going to girl talk, we need to be farther away. Kieran and Athan have great hearing.”
She practically dragged me across the patio and into the garden. I looked around in awe at the flowers surrounding us. “Wow, this is so beautiful.”
“Yeah, Kieran and Athan definitely inherited a green thumb along with their vampirism.” Thana huffed, which I found hilarious.
I bent over at my waist, slapping my thigh as I giggled. “Remember that time in science class when we had to measure plant growth, but you almost failed because you kept killing your sunflower? Even though Mrs. Walters said they almost grow themselves?”
“Don’t remind me.” She planted her hands on her hips and glared at me. “She was so awful about it, acting as though I’d killed the stupid plant on purpose or something.”
I straightened and grinned at my best friend. She looked so grumpy about the memory from almost a decade ago. Moving closer, I gave her a big hug. “At least she didn’t get the chance to fail you.”
“Only because you rescued me by planting three different kinds of plants and bringing me the one that sprouted the quickest.”
