The younger females watched Jocelyn with a curiosity that bordered on jealousy, which I could understand given the seating arrangements. A witch had never been invited to dine at the Domum, and we were only a few seats down from Alek and Lyric. The older females bore narrowed gazes as they whispered, no doubt pondering what exactly Jocelyn’s place was. But the males…
One blatantly ran his gaze down her profile, her neck, her frame, in open admiration. The neckline of her black shirt dipped just enough to bare a hint of cleavage, and my fangs extended as he noticed.
“Hey there, Benny,” she whispered, but my attention was locked on the soon-to-be-dead aristocrat who obviously thought Jocelyn was fair game—witch or not. Thanks to the magic in her blood, there wasn’t even the slightest mark on her neck from when I’d fed at her throat, which would have at least warned the male that she wasn’t on the market. “As pretty as those fangs are, you might want to put them away.”
My gaze whipped toward hers and found a smirk playing on her lips. I fought back the urge to kiss the expression off her face and forced my fangs to recede.
“Good boy,” she teased with a wink.
I rolled my eyes, keeping every dirty response silent in my brain. Even if I whispered the things that this “good boy” was going to do, the other vampires would hear. Super-hearing was a bitch.
“You’re causing a stir,” Valor said from my left. “I mean, it was one shock to find humans up here one day, but a witch?” She tsked her tongue. “Scandalous. Plus, you’re hot, so you know the tongues are wagging.”
“Well, it’s awkward as hell,” Jocelyn responded, tugging on the sleeves of her shirt for the hundredth time since we’d sat, making sure her mark—my mark—stayed hidden.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
Yeah, yeah. I know. But the rest of the world didn’t, which meant I’d put myself in the very dangerous position of being mated without publicly claiming my female.
“You guys headed off to fun and exciting places tonight?” Valor asked.
“No coven meetings today.” Jocelyn shrugged. “So I’ll probably be out in the courtyard, putting on another show for the fifteen prissy little debutantes that are just there hoping to get in Benedict's pants.”
I nearly spit out my coffee.
Valor laughed. “Oh honey, fifteen is a slow day around here. Once Benedict went to the matchmaker the females started crawling out of the woodwork. You planning on putting them out of their misery soon?” She aimed that last question at me, arching her eyebrow as if to remind me that she’d heard the fight Jocelyn and I had on the stairs last night.
“Yeah, Benny, are you just going to keep leading the ladies on a merry little chase?” Jocelyn asked, her tone sweet as the sugar she’d put in her tea. “Because I’ve noticed Isabel over there at her table, and I’ve never seen a more lovestruck kitten.” She gave me a smile that made me want to strip her bare on the table. “She looks like you’re the bowl of cream she can’t quite reach.” The teasing glint in those violet eyes was nearly my undoing.
“I’m most definitely out of reach,” I replied, glancing toward Isabel’s table and seeing the same hopeful, yet forlorn look on the female’s face. I was going to have to call Gloria tonight and tell her the search was off, but someone else had to be told, first.
And after that, you might not need to call because you’ll be dead.
My stomach twisted, not at the thought of losing my own head, but at what might be done to Jocelyn. None of this was her fault. It was my need for her that had brought us here, and my biology that had marked her. I’d be damned if I would let her suffer for what I’d done to her.
“It’s okay,” she whispered and her hand sought mine under the table. I laced our fingers, holding her tight.
“I know,” I replied back with a reassuring smile. I had to be more careful with my emotions. The bond between us was strong enough for her to sense my worry, and that shit had to stop. We ate the rest of our meal with our opposite hands, touching the only way we could until we’d sorted this out.
And we had to sort it out. There was no breaking a mating bond once it had been accepted, and we’d accepted it more than once yesterday. We’d accepted it all day.
Repast ended, and after Alek had made the rounds, promising an audience to every aristocrat who needed one for later that night, we all headed across the courtyard toward the residence, leaving the politics of the aristocracy behind. I kept a good foot between Jocelyn and I, shoving my hands into my pockets to keep them off her.