Possession (The Mate Games 3)

“Uh, Maleficent, what pentacle? Is it invisible or something?” Kingston asked, looking at the floor with confusion etched on his face.

Natalie sighed. “No, wolf. I still need to paint it.”

We stood aside, watching her as she poured a small amount of blood from each bowl onto a plate, then blended them together before using her fingers to draw the pentacle on the floor in the center of the library.

“Nothing like a good bloodstain to really up the value of the house,” Kingston muttered.

I shook my head, sighing. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”

“I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking, baby.”

“You’re really not,” Noah said, moving into place as Natalie directed each of the men to one of the pentacle’s points.

“Sunday, take your place. Moira, Ash, I’ll need to borrow some of your power for this.”

Moira looked about ready to fall over with fangirl euphoria. “Of course. Ohmigod. What do you need?”

Natalie smiled sweetly. “Your hands. Join me outside the pentacle. We’ll speak the words together five times. Noah, once we start, you begin by letting one drop fall at your feet since you were her first bonded mate.”

Kingston grumbled. “Only because we got off on the wrong foot.”

“Doesn’t matter, wolf. I claimed her first.”

“First’s the worst. Second’s the best.”

“Jesus, what are they, seven?” Moira asked. “Next one of them is going to call dibs.”

“If you’re ready to continue...” Natalie said.

I gave them each a meaningful look. “We are ready.”

“We will go in order of mate bonds, meaning Noah, Kingston, then Alek. Caleb, you will be fourth, and finally, Sunday. The blood you sacrifice will be drawn to the child’s father, and just like that, we will have our answer.”

“Please say it’s a wolf.” Kingston’s words were so earnest my heart hurt a bit.

I honestly didn’t want to know the truth. Something about it made me worry for the baby’s future relationship with my mates. Would they love her less when they knew for certain she didn’t belong to them?

“What are we going to do if Noah or Caleb is the dad?” Ash asked. “That will just confirm what the Council suspected.”

“Pray,” Caleb said.

“Thatwouldbe your solution,” Cashel replied.

“Do you have a better one?”

“We run,” I said, resolved. “We run and go into hiding somewhere else.”

“Or we fight. I’ll stand ready at your side. No questions asked.” The determination in Kingston’s eyes eased my worries a little.

Alek shifted his stance. “If you truly want to run, we could go back to Novasgard. Your Vampire Council has no standing there. And you’ve seen firsthand how my people deal with outsiders who cross into our realm uninvited.”

“They already kicked us out, remember?” I said, touched that he would make the offer. “That one lady, Cora, said fate required us to be here.”

“Whatever we do, we do it together. All of us. Nothing changes how we all feel, dove. We belong together.”

I took a steadying breath and held the chalice in my hands, staring at Natalie. “Do it.”

She gave me an encouraging nod as the three witches linked hands and began reciting the words that would initiate the spell. Noah dipped his finger in the bowl and allowed the blood to drip onto the floor. Once the lyrical phrase was repeated, Kingston did the same. Then the others.