Under a Blood Moon (Beaux Rêve Coven 2)

Miren paused at her sister’s show of fire. Bryn was always so even-tempered, the peacekeeper in the coven.

Bryn’s shoulders dropped and she reached out her hands to hold Miren’s shoulders as the two locked gazes. “Love, which one makes your blood sing?”

Miren didn’t want to say it out loud. Didn’t want to admit that she’d already made her choice, because she knew there was energy in the spoken words that she wouldn’t be able to take back, and she wasn’t ready for things between her and Renner to move at a faster pace. So she shrugged. “Mikkel makes my pulse quicken. And Elias and I had a moment there when he helped me down off that ladder in the garden.”

Bryn’s gaze bored into hers. “Have either of them kissed you?”

“No,” Miren said with a pout.

“But you kissed Renner—no, you begged him to kiss you.”

Miren wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t beg him. It was just a polite please. I was curious…”

Bryn arched one dark brow. “Really?”

Miren’s gaze dropped. Her sister saw too much. “Look, I’m going stir-crazy.”

Bryn released her shoulders and drew her closer to embrace her. “I know,” she said, murmuring against her hair. “Ethan and I had a long talk about that problem.”

“After you rattled the dishes off the shelves?” Miren said, giggling, relieved the tenor of this conversation had lightened again.

“Did not.”

“Almost.”

They drew back and shared smiles.

Then Bryn’s expression turned winsome. “I just want you to allow yourself to fall in love like I have.”

“I want that too.”

Both their glances fell to Bryn’s round belly.

“I’m all shades of green,” Miren whispered.

Bryn brought Miren’s hand to her stomach and hugged it against her. “You shouldn’t be. You’ll get your turn. Choose.”

Miren nodded. “I know I have to. I just don’t want any one of them to think I’m going to be an easy conquest. I’m not giving up my independence without making a really big fuss.”

“As you should.” Bryn’s gaze went to the door leading to the dining room. “But in the meantime, Ethan is going to make an announcement. We’d better get out there before everyone gets restless and someone starts a fight.”

Not an exaggeration. More than one night, meals had been interrupted by fights that spilled onto the porch and front lawn.

Bryn picked up a basket filled to the brim with bread rolls and put it into Miren’s arms. “We’ll talk later.”

No, they wouldn’t. Miren knew better, and she smiled. Once one appetite was filled, Ethan would hustle Bryn up the stairs to fill another. But Miren didn’t bother mentioning that fact.

Already, she was bracing herself to see Renner again. After their kiss, he’d been called away, and Mikkel and Elias had hovered over her with their disapproving glowers while she’d raided the garden for salad ingredients for dinner.

She braced herself for the scene that would play out the moment she stepped through the door, the jostling that would happen as the men tried to cordon her off to sit beside her at the large table. At first, their competition had excited her. The women had been alone so long—five years—isolated in their tiny bayou haven without any possibility of finding their true mates. Otherkin loved only once and could never truly give their hearts to a human.

The sudden arrival of twenty demons in their midst had opened their minds and hearts to all sorts of wonderful possibilities—if they remained steadfast in their determination to seek a mate willing to share their power rather than control and consume it.

Thoughts of the demon she’d been previously promised to by the counsel were enough to send a shiver down her spine. Mathias was a dragon. Ruled by fire. As incompatible with her true nature as any demon could be, but an acceptable political alliance because of his higher status in the hierarchy of demons. Mathias had thought a lap pool and long baths would suffice to connect her with her elemental spirit guide. He’d been raised in privilege, expecting to rule over his mate, to use her as he saw fit without any consideration of just how miserable she might be confined to the land—and to his bed.

She would choose a more compatible mate. She had to. For her sake. The thought of never roaming the sea again was too terrible. But which of the three would best suit her needs? Pragmatism said she should

choose the mermen. They weren’t quite as smart as Renner. She could appeal to their free-spirited natures, manipulate them to form a union that allowed her the most freedom.