Page 62 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

Especially since Gareth was hunting me. If he found out I was the shape-thief, he’d kill me.

Gareth pressed into my space, looming over me. His dark green eyes narrowed on me, and when his lip curled back from his teeth, he’d grown fangs. A chill went through me.

“Eavesdropping, were you?” he demanded.

“No. You were just throwing money around. I wanted to be around in case you started to do it again,” I protested. “The last thing I want is to get on your radar by eavesdropping!”

He stepped closer, pressing one hand against the tree next to me. “No.”

“No?” My mouth was dry.

“No, you weren’t hoping I’d start throwing money around again. I saw your face when I asked for volunteers. You rolled your eyes.”

“That was because you offered to pay the volunteer’s families’ rents. I don’t have a family, so it was a useless offer for me,” I said weakly.

He leaned closer. “Fine. You don’t have family to benefit from that offer. But you weren’t just hanging around hoping that I’d give you money. You have far too much pride for that. So what are you doing here, Miss Azriel?” His voice deepened, the threat intensifying. The smell of alcohol wafted strongly off him.

I blew out my breath, then smiled. I put all my effort into a confident front and slipped away from him. “You’re right. I actually wanted to talk to Jasper about something and was waiting for you to leave so I’d get the chance.”

“And you were hiding because?” Gareth asked.

“Because I didn’t want to make a big scene about it. I’m still the half-fae outcast, after all. I was hoping to spare him the scrutiny of being seen in my company,” I answered, mixing sarcasm and sweetness in my voice.

At this, Jasper tapped Gareth’s shoulder. “Let her go. We had a … moment the other day in the forest.”

Gareth stepped back, giving him a surprised look. “Her? Really?”

“What can I say?” Jasper lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “There is something fascinating about her, don’t you think?”

Gareth looked me up and down. Then he snorted and left us, heading for the nearest table. I moved closer to Jasper, fighting to keep my nerves from my face. My mind raced to think of an excuse for why I wanted to be closer to him.

“Stalking me again, are you?” Jasper asked in his usual cold voice.

“What can I say, you’re fascinating,” I said, mirroring his words back to him.

Jasper’s icy gaze stayed on me. He kept staring, making everything in my body prickly under the attention. The intensity made me shift uncomfortably. Did he suspect something?

“How much did you overhear?” he asked.

I hesitated. If I told him the truth, how would he react? I was too close; he wouldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard anything, just like Gareth didn’t believe it. Gareth kept shooting us glances, even now. So what should I say?

“Nothing I didn’t already know,” I finally said, settling on a half-truth. “High fae are assholes. You’re disowned…”

Seb came out of the forest then, with his three volunteers trailing behind. When he saw Gareth, his face fell into a scowl. Then he saw Jasper and I standing close together, and his eyes narrowed even further. He left the three volunteers and stalked over to us.

“What is going on here?” he demanded, glancing over me.

I opened my mouth, but Jasper answered first, “None of your concern.”

“None of my concern? You’re standing here with her, and it’s none of my concern?” Seb repeated.

“Why would you care?” I demanded.

Seb turned on me. His jaw worked, but before he could speak, a scream ripped through the air.

Chapter 28 - Jasper

I turned toward the scream, annoyed. Hilda was on her knees in the middle of the clearing. Her hands were clenched around her head, her face twisted with pain. Azriel stepped closer, looking concerned, and I grabbed her arm to pull her back.