Chapter 8

**Eli**


A deep rumbling has been churning in my chest all night. My mate is tucked tightly against me and my dragon could not be any happier. We have lived a long life with no real purpose other than protecting our people, but it was never enough.

Now I feel as if my life will be complete. Her warm citrus scent is the first thing I sense when I start to wake. My arms tighten around her small body and she makes a content sound.

"That's a fucking sweet sound." I hear the incubus say and I let out an annoyed sigh.

I'm not happy about this sharing business but as long as my mate is well cared for and happy that is all that matters to me.

"Little mate, are you awake?" I ask Nova softly against her ear.

Her body shutters and a smile grows on my face.

"Five more minutes." She grumbles and rolls over so that she can bury her face against my chest.

I chuckle at how cute she is and glance over her head at her other mate. He has an easy smile on his face and is playing with a strand of her hair.

A loud knock comes from the door before it's thrown open and the wolf walks in.

"Wake up assholes we have shit to do today." He grumbles.

He's standing with his legs apart and arms crossed over his chest. The scowl that seems to be his natural look is firmly in place as well.

"I don't want to," Nova says but her voice is muffled by the fabric of my shirt.

The wolf finally cracks a semblance of a smile but it drops away just as fast as it appeared.

"Alright, I'm starving anyway. I can run down the street and pick us up some beignets and coffee." The incubus says.

She stretches his arms over his head before sitting up and climbing out of the bed.

"I can prepare us a meal." I offer but small hands tighten in my shirt.

"No." My mate says.

The incubus chuckles. "No way man. Our mate wants to cuddle. That's your only job right now. I'll take the wizard with me."

He rummages through the dresser of clothes and pulls on a shirt and jeans. Once he leaves the wolf climbs on the bed and takes his place.

"Fucking mage made me sleep on the floor last night. He said he needed to be well-rested to perform his duties. Bullshit." The wolf growls.

Our mate shakes with laughter and the wolf lets out an exasperated sound.

"Yeah laugh it up." He grumbles.

Nova shifts in my arms and I reluctantly release her. She rolls over to look at the wolf and he turns his head to catch her eye.

"I'm sorry." She says reaching out to touch him but he grabs her wrist before she can.

My body tenses at the harsh action but I wait to see what he plans to do. To my surprise, he gently turns her hand over and leaves a kiss on the soft skin of her wrist.

Nova sighs and turns her head to bury her face in the pillow.

"This is too weird." She says when she stops hiding a few seconds later.

"What is?" The wolf asks.

"This. Sleeping with strange men. You all...kissing and touching me. I don't know how to accept that it's real. Maybe I really am dead." She rolls flat on her back between us and covers her face with her hands.

I do not know what to say to her and from the confused look on the wolf's face, he doesn't either. This has taken us by surprise as well but she has never had to consider having a mate. Then there is the matter of her having mixed DNA which must be confusing her mind as well.

"There is time to figure everything out. It's only been one day." The wolf, I suppose I should call the others by their name if we will be stuck together.

"Another thing...do you guys even want to be a part of this? I mean I don't know how mates work, but it seems harsh to be stuck with someone you don't know. not only that but I'm some sort of freak. I don't know what will happen to me or what I am. I don't want you guys stuck on the ride of figuring that all out. I may be dangerous to you guys as well." Her words come tumbling out almost too fast to catch but the worry in her voice is clear.

"We want you. Biologically we are drawn to you no matter how it came about. It's fate." Asher says before tugging her closer to him.

She hesitates only for a moment before resting her head on his shoulder.

"Sorry I feel like my brain is ready to explode with all the worries and questions. I'm also seriously pissed! I mean what the heck? Those assholes buried me in the desert!" She pulls away from Asher and sits up.

Her face has changed from one of worry to one of severe concentration.

"What is it, my mate?" I ask sitting up as well.

"Something is off. It's like there are holes in my memory. When I try to remember what happened right before I blacked out I don't get a clear image. I remember pain. A lot of pain but after that there's nothing. I figured it was because whatever they did had killed us almost instantly but why? This wasn't the first time our group had been put through that test. So what changed? And if I survived why didn't the others?" She rubs her fingers on her temples like all of those questions are too much for her to think about.

"Do you remember anything about where you were? Did they ever let you guys near a window or anything?" Asher asks moving to mirror our position.

Nova shakes her head. "No. all of the rooms were closed off from the outside."

The three of us fall silent until the door to the room opens.

"I bring sustinance!" Chase says shaking a bag in his hand.

His cheerful look falls when he takes in our serious expressions. "What did you assholes do to my girl?"

"Our girl." Asher snaps at him. "And we didn't do anything. We've been talking."

"I was trying to figure out what happened before I dug myself out of a grave. It's a blur right now." She shakes her head again and forces a smile on her face. "That smells amazing!"

Chase eyes her a moment more before holding a hand out to her and tugging her off the bed. He leads her out of the room and I follow them. Charles is sitting in the same chair he was sitting in yesterday with that odd far off look in his eyes.

It makes me uneasy.

"What's he doing now?" Nova whispers to Chase.

He has several things set on the table sitting in front of the couch.

"Hell if I know," Chase says with a shrug and starts to pull things out of the bags.

He takes out something that reminds me of a donut but it's... square-shaped. He hands one to Nova and she groans at the first bite. Charles jolts and his eyes blink a few times before they settle on her. All of us are watching her now. It doesn't take long for her to notice. Her hand freezes only a few inches from her mouth where a soft dusting of sugar is covering her lips.

She glances at each of us and then lowers her hand. "What?"

"Those sounds you make are hot as fuck. Please continue." Chase says resting his elbow on his knee and his chin on his hand to watch her.

She laughs and the sound is so bright and soft that I can't help but smile.

"Shut up." She says bumping his shoulder and taking another bite of her food.

"Here's your coffee." Chase set a cup in front of her and she picks it up slowly.

She holds the cup close to her face and breaths in deeply. "It has an interesting smell."

"You've never had coffee before?" Chase asks.

She shakes her head. "This is a first for me. Well I mean almost everything is going to be new for me."

"Do you need to eat regular food or can you survive on only blood?" Asher asks.

Nova takes another bite of her breakfast and considers the question. "The simple answer is no I don't need to eat regular food. The long answer is that when we are children we can't feed from anyone so we are given regular meals and small amounts of blood throughout the day. It helps us control our urge to feed and keeps us from becoming out of control. When we are older and can have a feeding partner eating regular food isn't necessary. We can feed whenever needed and since we can heal our partners can provide enough blood to sustain us without food."

"And you need to sleep?" Charles asks next.

"Not necessarily. We can go a long time without sleep but that depends on blood feedings as well. We are weaker when we don't regularly feed so it can make us tired." She explains further before taking another bite of the sugary treat from Chase.

"Well, feel free to bite me any time." He says and Asher scoffs putting an end to that conversation.

My mind starts to work through everything. There is so much we don't know to care for our mate, and that is unacceptable.