Charlie shivers and nods slowly. “Yes. I am yours. Forever. And you are mine.”
Something inside me purrs with satisfaction, some kind of inner beast. I can’t seem to rein in my power. My siren is strong and hungry, and she wants to devour the man in front of me.
“What’s wrong with her?” Rook asks.
“I don’t know,” Terrance replies, “but we need to snap her out of it and get her out of here.”
As Charlie and I stare at one another, a different kind of power that I recognize as fey magic swirls around the two of us, coating my skin like a warm blanket. A shocked gasp sounds behind me. I’m not sure if it’s Rook or Terrance, and I’m too transfixed to care. The magic jumps from me to Charlie, binding us together with a golden cord. It wraps around our wrists and absorbs into our skin. The moment the magic is gone, I feel a swarm of emotions that are not my own. I’m flooded with awe and joy that I know belongs to Charlie. We’re connected somehow, and I have a sinking feeling that the damage is permanent.
“What’s going on?” Rook demands. “What the hell was that?”
Terrance throws me over his shoulder and carts me away from the bar. The move startles me, and I’m snapped out of my trance. My power recedes back into me. The darkness and seduction that was overwhelming me is gone for now, but the connection to Charlie’s emotions is still there. There’s confusion and worry now mixed in with his joy and disbelief.
“Bring him,” Terrance orders. I assume he’s talking to Rook, and he must mean Charlie, but my head is still a little too foggy to worry about what’s going on.
When Terrance starts climbing the stairs in the back of the club, I know where he’s going. He has a private suite that doubles as a panic room. Once we’re inside, he dumps me on a couch and glares down at me. Behind us, Rook leads Charlie into the room and closes the door. He, too, glowers at me.
I shrink under the weight of their stares. “I’m sorry,” I croak. “I don’t know what happened. One minute we were talking, and the next my power just took over. I couldn’t stop myself.”
Terrance relaxes his stance a little, but his eyes are still blazing. I don’t think he’s angry with me personally. It’s more like he’s pissed off at the situation. It was out of his control, and T-man hates not being in control. “You have no idea what you just did,” he growls.
I bristle. “Of course I do. I mesmerized him with my song. I just don’t know why my—”
“You did a hell of a lot more than that!” Terrance snaps.
He turns his glare on Charlie, and this time he’s definitely angry at the person and not just the situation. His pupils swell until his eyes are all black—a sure sign the troll is about to lose his temper. I don’t know why he’s mad at Charlie, though. None of this was his fault. Charlie blanches. Who wouldn’t when a troll is about to rage on him?
I stand up and slowly place myself between Charlie and Terrance. “Hey, T-man. Let’s calm down, huh? We can figure this out.”
The room is silent as we all wait for Terrance to take a breath. Fear pulses from Charlie through our strange bond, but then it’s replaced with shock. “What did he mean, she doesn’t know?” he asks Rook. “Is that even possible?”
The question gets through Terrance’s anger, and he relaxes. That’s all the break in tension Rook needs to stomp between Terrance and me demanding answers. “What the hell are you talking about? What happened?”
Terrance glares at all of us, but when he sees our confusion, his anger deflates and he huffs in exasperation. “The fey have a special kind of magic,” he says, answering Rook but talking to me. “Similar to what happened when Illren swore fealty to you, there is another binding magic that fey can enter into with one another.”
My eyes pop open wide, and the blood drains from my face. Binding magic? I fall back down to the couch, because wherever he’s going with this, it can’t be anywhere good. Terrance sees the panic in my eyes and groans at the ceiling. He rubs a hand over his bald head. It’s something he does whenever he’s frustrated.
“What?” I demand, my heart racing now. “Just tell me!”
Terrance tears his eyes from the ceiling and locks his gaze on mine. “You bonded yourself to him.” He grimaces. “You claimed him as your mate.”
“WHAT?” Rook and I screech together.
Rook’s wolf surfaces, and he lets out a vicious snarl. I’m on my feet again in a flash, jumping between him and Charlie before things get messy. “Easy, Rook. It was an accident. We’ll figure this out.”
“Accident, my ass!” Rook roars. “He tricked you somehow! He had to have! I’ll kill him!”
A white-faced Charlie holds up both hands as if to ward Rook off. “I didn’t trick her. I swear. She reached out to me.”
Terrance folds his arms across his chest and glares at the man. “You didn’t have to accept it.” His voice is steel, and his eyes promise a slow, painful death. “Obviously she wasn’t herself. You took advantage of her.”
My defenses go up, and my protective streak rears its ugly head again. I step in front of Charlie, blocking him from Rook’s and Terrance’s hostility. “He didn’t have a choice. He was blissed out on my siren juju. He would have done anything I wanted. This is my fault. I lost control of my power, and now he’s stuck with me.”
The weight of my actions slams down on me, and my voice gives out. “I assume mate bonds are for life, right?” All three men nod their heads. My eyes well with tears, and I force myself to face Charlie. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to take away your choices.”
Waves of peace and satisfaction wash over me through my mate bond. Charlie surprises me with a rueful look. “Don’t feel guilty. I was practically begging you for this exact thing not ten minutes ago. You and I both know I would have accepted the bond with or without your siren’s song.”
He winks and lifts my hands to his lips, ignoring Rook’s warning growls. On the outside he’s trying to play this off lightly—he doesn’t want to freak me out—but his thoughts are much more serious. They’re full of devotion and hope for our future. I’m more than he’s ever dreamed of, and he’s determined to make sure I never regret bonding myself to him.
I pull my hands from his because I don’t want to hear any more of his thoughts, but he takes it as a sign of my discomfort. “Please don’t be afraid of our connection,” he says. “You may not know much about being fey yet, but this is natural. We fey are often ruled by our instincts. Something in you recognized something in me. If we weren’t compatible, the magic wouldn’t have allowed the bond to be completed.”
Terrance harrumphs. “He’s right.” He sounds so annoyed by that fact that I crack a small smile. When I meet his gaze with a question, he shrugs a shoulder. “When our instincts kick in, there’s not much we can do about it. Remember when we first met and my protective instincts were triggered? I had no choice but to claim you as clan.” He winces and quickly adds, “Not that I don’t like having you.”