“Bullshit. Don’t even try to tell me you believe that.”

I looked up. “Why not?”

“I thought he told you about the dream.”

“You knew?”

“Yes, I knew. The guy was a mess after it. First he was dying to find you then he was dying to forget you. That’s when I taught him the art of picking up older girls.”

“Ugh. Why older though? Why not girls your age?”

“I’m not that much of an ass**le, Allie. Fifteen-year-old girls shouldn’t be having sex, let alone having meaningless hook-up sex.”

“As compared to fifteen-year-old boys?”

“We weren’t boys.”

“Fifteen-year-old Pteron boys.”

“That doesn’t matter anyway. What I’m saying is that he was inconsolable. He pretended to be over it, but I knew he wasn’t. And then he met you. I figured it out before he did.”

“What? How?”

“At first I thought he just liked the chase, but then I saw the way he got pissed at Owen for even looking at you. He was already possessive like you were his mate.”

“You actually think he dreamed the future?”

“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen him myself.”

I closed my eyes. “But that doesn’t change that his attraction came from this enchantress thing.”

“Come on, don’t even try to argue that. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You’re wearing sweats and still look f**kable right now.”

“Fuckable?” I laughed.

“Finally a laugh.”

“I want him to love me for me.” I put a hand over my chest. I was seriously losing it.

“He does.”

“I can’t lose him.”

“You’ve come a long way in a few months, Princess.”

“I know.”

“Are you done getting my shirt wet?”

“I think I’m done crying.” I didn’t make any effort to move. I was too spent, and my head pounded. I let sleep take me.

***

“What the hell are you doing?”

I woke up with a start as I was pushed aside. Levi had Jared by his collar.

“Hey, calm down. It’s just me.”

“Just you? You think being my friend means you can move in on my mate when I’m not around?” Through my half asleep haze, I saw Levi’s eyes turn black.

“Calm down, man. Nothing’s going on. I came here like you asked me to.”

“I asked you to bring her to dinner. You never showed up.”

“We fell asleep.” Jared spoke quietly. He was usually pretty good at defusing Levi.

“Get the hell out of my house.”

“Calm down.”

Levi tightened his grip on Jared’s collar. “Get out of this house before I kick the shit out of you.”

“Levi!” I grabbed his arm. At first it looked like he was going to shrug me off but he calmed down. “Stay out of this.”

“Levi, it’s just Jared. He’d never try anything.”

Levi’s shoulders relaxed, and I kept my eyes glued to him.

Jared gave Levi a funny look. “What was that about?”

“I don’t know… I just…”

“Why did you transform so quickly? You are usually the most in control.” Jared still looked shaken up.

“He’s been doing it more other times too…” Then something hit me. He’d been transforming, I was insanely emotional, having bad headaches, and more attached. What if this was all part of our messed up bond? “It’s because we’re not bound right.”

“What?” Levi turned to me. “We are bound just fine.” He picked up my left hand and gently ran a finger over my ring. “You’re my mate. Don’t ever doubt that.” I could feel anger roll off him at the thought of anything else being true.

“Tell him, Allie.” Jared sounded more serious than I’d ever heard him.

“Tell me what?”

“Your dad didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what? We were discussing political strategies. He wants to take control over the Hawaiian islands again. Right now, they’re independent but… And you really don’t care.”

I tied my hair up with an elastic I had around my wrist. “Normally I would at least pretend, but this is pretty huge.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t want you to hate me.”

“He’s not going to hate you. I already told you that.” Jared shook his head. “Do you want me to stay or go?”

“Stay. That way if Levi decides he wants nothing to do with me, you can at least drive me back to my dorm.” Would he be disgusted that the feelings he felt for me weren’t even his own? Would he blame me?

Levi put a hand on both of my shoulders and looked me right in the eye. “What’s going on? There’s nothing in the world that could do that.”

I sat back down on the couch. Levi sat down right next to me. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Let me do this.” Jared crossed his arms. “Both Allie and your grandma think she’s an enchantress—which does not mean she’s a spell caster. She supposedly has the power to pick the next king, and every Pteron heir who gets near her wants to jump her.”

Levi put an arm around me protectively as soon as Jared said the last part.

Jared groaned. “I’m not an heir, idiot.”

“My grandmother believes this?” Levi ran a hand through his hair. He only did that when he was upset or nervous.

I struggled to swallow. “Yeah…nothing else makes sense.”

“But what does this have to do with our bond? You’re obviously with me, so I’m going to be king anyway.” His eyes locked with mine, like he was searching for words I wasn’t saying.

“It should have broken the attraction of the others…it should be over. Your grandmother and Toby seem to think I can still choose someone else unless we fix this.”

“But I gave you my ring. We consummated it.”

“You didn’t give me a choice. When I accepted the ring, I didn’t know what I was accepting. But the real issue is whether any of your feelings for me are really yours.”

“Of course my feelings are my own, and the bond is there, we’ll figure out how to fix any issues with it.” He was taking the news way better than I expected. I kept waiting for the floor to drop out from under me.