Ravage by Lacey Andersen (ebook reader online txt) 📕

She shifts, as if uncomfortable. “He was a good man.”

“Yes, he was,” I say and wait, sure of what’s to come.

She twists a piece of hair around one finger. “I was thinking, if you wanted me to come over and--”

“That’s okay. Thank you though.”

She looks disappointed, but it was better that I be direct with her than lead her on. Nothing was ever going to happen between us.

“Okay, maybe some other time.”

“Maybe,” I say, but my tone says no.

Then I turn and keep walking, my thoughts turning. Before we’d realized what Esmeray meant to us, my friends and I had our share of women. But from the day we felt that pull to her four years ago, on our last visit home, there had been no other women but her. No matter how often women flirted and offered themselves to us, we were waiting for Esmeray.

But now what do we do?

Something changes in the air, and suddenly I look across the expansive courtyard. A woman walks beside a man, a bag slung over her shoulder. She wears dark jeans and a black tank top. Sunglasses conceal her familiar grey eyes from view, but I don’t need to see them to picture her eyes in perfect clarity.

What the hell is Esmeray doing here?

I’m striding toward her without a thought, emotions warring within me. Her brother just died here. It’s not safe, and yet, I’m glad to see her. At the funeral, I’d wanted to touch her and hold her more than I’d wanted anything in my life, but logic had made me hurry back to the school, trying to find any clues about Rayne’s death before they were gone.

When I’m feet in front of Esmeray, I recognize the man grinning at her as Harold, and I dislike him for the first time in my life. “What’s going on here?”

Harold stops short, and his face pales as he looks up at me. “A—a new student tour.”

“New student?” I repeat in shock, my gaze swinging to Esmeray.

But if I was hoping for an explanation, I’m going to be disappointed, because her sexy mouth simply draws down as if irritated.

Harold clears his throat. “This is Esmeray. She’ll be joining our campus.”

I stand in shock. Even if Esmeray had been the head of her house, I doubt she would’ve been allowed to come to the Royal Fae Academy. The only fae allowed here are light, and rumors suggest that she has both light and dark fae blood running through her veins.

“Bron,” she finally greets, drawing out my name in a cold, formal way.

I have the sudden urge to shake her. “Where’s she staying?” I’m looking at her, but I direct my question to Harold.

“Actually, in her brother’s old room…”

Holy fuck. She’s going to be staying right next to me, surrounded by the three of us. And somehow we’re supposed to keep our hands off her? Somehow we’re supposed to hide our connection to her?

I struggle to choose my words. “I was heading that way. I can show her, if you’d like.”

Harold opens his mouth to respond, but Esmeray cuts him off, setting one soft hand on his arm. “Actually, I’d prefer if my guide did it.”

My gaze snaps from where she touches him to her face. Damn, I wish I could snatch her glasses off, so I could tell if she’s doing this on purpose to piss me off, or if she actually likes Harold in some way.

It’s not just that our bond screams that she belongs to me that I find the idea annoying; it’s that I could never imagine him with her. He’s like most of the light fae here. Their goodness practically shines around them in a halo of light. It’s a sea of blonde-haired, blue-eyed fae in every direction. The women in their skirts and gowns, the men in their formal clothes. And then there’s Esmeray and us.

We belong together, whether she knows it or not.

“I—I’d be glad to take you,” Harold says, stumbling over his words.

I force a smile. “By all means, don’t let me interrupt.”

Esmeray doesn’t seem to give me another glance as she continues down the sidewalk, her black boots soundless against the concrete. But I stand rooted in place, watching her tight ass walk away. And I hate that I see other heads turn in her direction as she passes.

If she was like us, she’d feel the mate bond too. It’d be impossible to ignore. But I’d known from the day I felt our bond and she didn’t that whatever light fae blood was within her diluted it too much.

We could have no other woman but her. But she could choose any man she wanted.

And we couldn’t exactly stake our claim without making it known that she favors the dark, which would mean instant expulsion and would remove her claim to her house. When her parents passed, her lands would be given to an aunt or uncle, and she would be left destitute.

But more than that, we could never claim her as our wife. It would be forbidden. We would be like her parents. Their marriage wasn’t recognized. And if the Bloodmores hadn’t sworn up and down that the children took after their mother, Rayne and Esmeray would’ve never been considered as proper heirs. As it was, Rayne’s happy disposition and natural charm had won over everyone he met.

Esmeray wasn’t as lucky. The whispers were unkind at best.

So we could say nothing about how we felt the mate bond and she didn’t. All we could do was hope we could win her heart the old fashion way, or else we might just have to live our days in heartbreak, without the woman we loved.

Having her here was a blessing and a curse. For the first time, we had a chance with her.

But we weren’t just going to have to compete with other men for her. We also had to keep her safe. Because whoever had killed her brother had wanted