Touch (Touched by the Fae 3)

“Okay. Well... listen, ‘touch’ has a very different meaning to the fae. With permission, even the simplest contact, skin to skin, has power. Between mates… it can be magical and I’m fully human. I can see through glamour, but magic? It never affected me until I let Ash touch me the first time.”

She sounds so wistful, like she’s drawing on a treasured memory. Her lips quirk slightly.

That’s not helping me, either.

“Callie. Is there a reason why you chased after me? Because, honestly, I’d rather be alone right now.”

With a sideways look at the building, I know I’m right when I guessed that Nine sent her after me. It’s daylight. Sun streaming everywhere. Even if he wanted to follow after me, he couldn’t, and I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t thought of that when I sprinted for the elevator.

“Sweetie, you spent so long trying to bring him back to you, to break the nasty queen’s spell on him… give him time. You remember what it was like for Ash. The fae don’t like to let anyone see them weak. He’ll get over it. You just need to be there for him.”

She makes a ton of valid points. The Ash who came out of the stasis spell was argumentative and overcompensated by making all his crazy decrees. He calmed down after a couple of days had passed, so that within a week or so, he was the protective, kind, thoughtful fae male that I’ve come to know.

But Nine...

The part that kills me is that his reaction is spot-on. Maybe not for the Dark Fae I’ve known as an adult, but the Shadow Man who had begrudgingly watched me for years?

That wasn’t my mate I walked out on. That was a relic from my past.

And maybe I’m the idiot for believing that he could ever want me the way I want him.

I want to cry. I hurt so bad, I want to cry. But I don’t, because tears have never solved anything for me before and, when I feel this way, I’ve always just lashed out.

So I do.

“He wants to leave me,” I snap. “Didn’t he tell you that?”

Callie winces, but she doesn’t back off.

“Bonded fae… soul mates. They can’t leave their mates one the bond is finalized. He’s worried for you, Riley. Like your father, he wants to get rid of every single danger out there before he can be sure you’re safe. He’s just processing this badly. He needs to be with you more than ever.”

I snort. “You don’t know Nine. If he thinks it’s for my own good, he’ll go.”

That falls in line with the new and improved Nine, too. Especially if he thinks he’s helping me, I’d never be able to stop him.

“He won’t be able to be separated from you for long. Even if he goes back, he’ll return for you. He’ll have to. He’s your ffrindau.”

“Tell that to him,” I huff. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already gone.”

“You’re serious.” Callie looks confused. “When a fae fully bonds with his chosen soul mate, nothing can stop them from protecting them. Don’t you have faith in him?”

I thought I did, but that’s not the point. On a rough exhale, the truth slips out. “Honestly, I don’t even know if he still wants to be mine.”

“Well, it’s not like he can take it back or anything.”

I shrug.

Who the hell knows?

“But didn’t you already...”

“Didn’t we what?”

“You know.” And then Callie does something that I would never have imagined her doing in a hundred years. Curling her fingers toward her thumb, she forms a circle with one hand. The other? She folds her fingers into a fist, save for the pointer finger. Then, with an impish expression, she pokes her pointer finger through the open hole a few times, raising her eyebrows at me as she does it.

I blink.

No. Way.