Page 108 of Tempting Fate

“A bond?”

“Magic,” I whisper. “Literal magic.”

“But I don’t…” Em shakes his head. “I’m not a wolf.”

“You don’t need to be,” Patch replies. “It all comes from me. And I thought—I thought I felt it for Jamie, from time to time, but it never stuck, it never was quite right, so then I figured I was just searching for something I couldn’t have, and I realised I wanted it, so I didn’t think it was fair…”

My heart squeezes. Fool fucking way to go about it, but I think I’m destined to find all his annoying qualities kind of adorable for the foreseeable future.

Or maybe just until tomorrow, when the adrenaline’s worn off.

“You were protecting me from an inevitable breakup?” I ask.

He nods. “I know I made it sound like you wanted something serious when you said you didn’t, but I knew what I would want. With you.”

Em’s faintly smiling when I glance at him. He doesn’t seem annoyed or hurt or anything like that. Just… curious.

“What about when you saw Em?” I ask.

“You felt it too, didn’t you?” Patch replies. He looks at Em. “I knew it was you. I’m not sure—the two of you walked in together. Maybe it would have been the same as I’d been feeling with Jamie if you’d walked in alone, but maybe I’d have worked it out faster. I don’t know…”

He drops his head into his hands. Em reaches out and squeezes his knee. “Hey. Tell me the rest?”

“I… was resistant to the idea of having two mates as well,” Patch says to the floor. “I didn’t know what that would mean, and then when we… I’m a wolf. I’m supposed to be the protector. The provider.”

I snort. Patch looks up at me, hurt flashing across his face, and I sigh.

“I don’t mean it like that. I mean…” I can’t find the words, except I never asked that of him, did I? Did we?

“And what are we supposed to be?” Em asks. He doesn’t move his hand from Patch’s knee. “If you’re protecting us and providing for us, then we, what, exactly?”

His voice isn’t sharp, but there is a cool edge to it that wasn’t there a moment ago. Patch winces.

“My mates,” he says, and for a moment, his eyes flood with silver. “Mine.”

Em doesn’t seem to know what to do with that. I squeeze his hand again and then let go. When I get to my feet, they both watch me warily, and Patch starts when I kneel between his legs.

“Jamie…”

“I don’t need you to protect me,” I say, and Patch flinches, but I grab his chin and make him look at me. “If you want to, that’s fine. But it’s not a requirement. I’ve got a pack practically raring to go if someone looks at me sideways, you know. You don’t have to carry that alone.”

“I—”

“Providing, though…” I manage a smile. “Pretty sure I’m unemployed, so if you happen to have a stack of cash lying around, that’d be handy.”

Patch laughs. His eyes are wet. “I’m so sorry,” he whispers. “If I could do it all again… I was scared I’d fall in love with you. And then, what if I found my mate? I thought that was it, that I didn’t want to hurt you, but—”

I nod. “You didn’t want to get hurt either. I get it.”

He shakes his head. Em’s eyes are shining and when I let go of Patch and reach a hand out, he catches it between his own. “I am sorry,” Patch says again. “I didn’t—I know I can’t ever—”

“We all fucked up,” I say because yeah, it still hurts a little, but I think he knows that. I think he’s starting to feel it, and that’s exciting even as it makes the hurt a little worse. “We’ll all fuck up again. We need to just not fuck up in the same ways every time, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” Em says.

I lean up onto my knees and kiss Patch softly, heart skipping a beat when he lets out a shaky sigh and kisses me back. I taste salt and when I pull back and press our foreheads together, I wipe a stray tear from his cheek.