Quale rose and the rest of us followed. “The last time it was the twins,” he said, and then he was moving. “They must have returned with the next lot of marked … I have to find the mystics.”

We were totally not missing this. I snatched up my pastry and let my feet hit the pavement.

Braxton grinned at me. “Couldn’t leave your dessert.”

My mouth was too full for speaking, so I just gave him a return smile, one which explained exactly how delicious this chocolate-filled, flaky, buttery … oh, God…

His grin broadened. “Damn, I should have grabbed mine.”

I hesitated just before I was about to shove the last of the morsel into my mouth. Instead I extended it toward him.

His blue eyes heated until they were a melted pool of liquid. Holy eff me. How the hell did he do that and what’s happening to my insides? I was, like, burning up or something.

“Thank you, Jess, but I would never take the food intended for your enjoyment.” He was growly … his tone layered with a heat that completely matched those eyes.

I had to wrench my gaze away. He’d just pulled some more mate shit on me. Male shifters don’t take food intended for their mates, not when they knew she still wanted it. Some sort of macho provide-for-all-their-female’s-needs thing.

It was odd, Braxton had definitely stolen off my plate through the years, but if I thought back, really thought about it, well … he had never taken food until I was done with it. And he always let me have any of his food … pretty much. How had I missed that he’d been acting mate-like for freaking years?

Jacob’s laughter broke through my thoughts and I was relieved to have something else to focus on. “Did Jessa just offer up her dessert? You okay, babe?” The fey reached out and gripped my chin, turning my face toward him. “Did you hit your head or something?”

I whacked his hand away, shaking my head at his stupid antics.

Our pace slowed as we neared the gathered supes. They had congregated at the edge of the town. Clearly not every marked supernatural had dashed over, but there were about two or three hundred hovering around.

Before us was the red sands of the desert, bordered on the right by the endless greenery of the forest, and on the left the blues and greens of the ocean area. The salty air was distinct and actually quite pleasant. I’d never change out my favorite forest scents, but damn, the ocean had it olfactory appeal.

Even though we stood at the back of the group, we still managed to gather a crap-ton of stares. Somehow they all knew we were there.

“What’s with all the gawking?” I asked a nearby female vampire, blunt as always.