Chapter Seventeen
Evie didn’t have to wait long. About fifteen minutes after she ordered, the guys walked through the door into the coffee shop. They spotted Evie in the corner and made their way over.
“Hey, sweetie. Did you miss us?” Max’s grin lit up his face, making him appear years younger.
Caleb shook his head. “I’m going to grab a cup. Want anything?”
Max waved him away, but turned in his chair to watch his mate walk away. “Damn! That man has one fine ass. I could stare at it all day.”
Evie choked, spitting out the last sip of her coffee. “Max!” She grabbed napkins to clean up the mess sprayed all over the table.
Max turned back around and grinned, waggling his eyebrows. “You’re just jealous. You can only look, but I get to touch.”
By the twinkle in his eyes, it was clear he teased her. Evie pictured a few bottoms she wouldn’t mind touching. Her hands actually ached, wanting to experience how it would feel. Evie blushed at her imagination. She really needed to move past these silly crushes. Nothing could come from them.
She sighed deeply. Her first real crushes, and they were off limits to her.
“Did you not find a costume?” Evie asked, trying to trick her brain into focusing on something else.
“Naw. I guess we’ll have to make a trip into the city soon. There are a ton of costume shops there. I’m sure we’ll have better luck.” His look turned hard, and he asked bluntly, “Do you know what those guys wanted? And why the hell didn’t you defend yourself, Evie. You are trained for situations like this.”
Evie stared her friend in the eye as she answered honestly, “I don’t know. My training has always been in controlled conditions. Handling myself against one of my father’s soldiers is second nature to me. But, being attacked by a stranger with no apparent motive was a first for me. I guess I froze. I’m sorry, Max. I will do better next time.”
“Damn right, you will. I’m gonna talk to Xander about running you through some more advanced techniques. Working with you until they become second nature. I’ll talk to him this weekend about it, and we will set up a schedule. Did they say anything to you?”
“No, he didn’t have time really. He grabbed me right before you and Caleb showed up. Did the other team find anything?”
“They are checking out a few leads and will get back to us. Dashiel has ordered us away from the investigation since we were directly involved. He will let us know if the other Kaveri finds anything.”
Evie nodded, her early misgivings leaving her now she knew Dashiel was handling the matter.
Max’s eyes drifted back to Caleb, watching him talk with the blond barista. When he turned back to her, Max’s gaze had lost some of the light, replaced by sadness.
Reaching out, Evie grabbed his hands placed on the table. “What’s wrong, Max? Why the long face?”
In the past, when Max thought no one watched, he would lose his happy persona, and his shoulders would slump, like the weight of the world rested solely on his shoulders, dragging him down. Evie never questioned him about it, not sure if it overstepped boundaries in their timid friendship. Their friendship had grown in leaps and bounds over the years, though. Even more in the last two days. Evie felt comfortable taking the plunge.
“It’s nothing, sweetheart.” Max tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Max!” She put a sharper edge to his name, letting him know she wasn’t buying his bullshit. “Talk to me, please. You help me all the time. Let me return the favor.”
Max huffed out a breath as he contemplated Evie’s request. Coming to a rapid decision, he squeezed her hands tightly, like a lifeline. “I wasn’t completely honest with you before. When I said Caleb and I are mates. That’s not exactly true.”
Sorrowful, sky-blue eyes met hers, full of apology, and she returned his squeeze. “It’s fine, Max. You don’t have anything to apologize for.”
The man in front of her shrugged sadly. “Caleb and I share the same Merkki markings, making us Kaveri. You remember when I said the markings would branch out for each male in your destined Kaveri?” Evie nodded, remembering. “Our marks aren’t separate, they are intertwined. This makes us different from other teams. Intertwined marks mean we are mates as well as Kaveri. Hence, the sexual relationship between us. Before we joined together when we came of age, both of us were exclusively into girls. Caleb is the only male I’ve ever slept with, and the same goes for him. I’m his only male lover.”
The explanation made sense, but Evie still couldn’t figure out the reason for Max’s sadness. She hazarded a guess. “Do you miss it? Sleeping with females?”
Max let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Not in the way you’re thinking, sweetheart. A fully bonded Kaveri always has a female. No exceptions. Caleb and I met our Toinen Puoli over three years ago.”
The phrase rang a bell, but Evie couldn’t place it. “Toinen Puoli?”
“It’s Surmata for soul mate. Anyway, we met her, but she was still under age. A Surmata doesn’t reach maturity until their fiftieth year. She was a few months shy of her birthing day. She wouldn’t recognize the mate bond with us until she came of age. We kept our distance and watched over her, making sure nothing happened to her. Her parents planned a huge celebration for her, but a week before the event, she was called away to help on an investigation. Caleb wanted to accompany her, but we had an important mission ourselves, one we couldn’t pass up. We were gone for two weeks. Her mission ran a little longer. The day she was due back, Caleb and I could hardly contain ourselves, we were excited.
“But when she saw us, instead of recognizing who we were, her eyes filled with hate. She denied us, denied the bond. It’s not supposed to be possible, but somehow she didn’t feel the pull towards Caleb and me. We thought there was something wrong with her, believed she was sick, but she passed her examination. The Mestari Kuuri checked her over himself and couldn’t find anything wrong. He believed we were mistaken, somehow misconstruing the signs of the bond. The fluctuations in power levels, the need to be around the person, the urge to want to pull them close, to bury yourself within them. He thought at first, since we hadn’t been with a female for quite a while, we mistook simple attraction for a bond. He called in a witch who could sense bonds. She confirmed that we were right, a bond did exist, but Cammie wouldn’t be swayed. She told us to stay the hell away from her.”
Shocked, Evie remembered the model perfect redhead who had clung to Dashiel the other day while looking at Caleb and Max with contempt.
Max’s voice went soft, and Evie strained to hear his next words. “The first year was hard. Anytime we tried to get close to her, to talk with her, she would become enraged. One time, she even attacked Caleb with his own Takari blade. After that, we were ordered to maintain our distance. I couldn’t handle it. I volunteered for the mission to come protect you. I left Caleb on his own to deal with the situation, and I ran like a fucking coward.
“Two years ago,” Max’s voice caught, the emotion of the memory almost strangling him, “she started pursuing Dashiel, insisting they were mates. She follows him around relentlessly, throwing herself at him.”
A single tear coursed down his cheek as he spoke, and Evie couldn’t take it anymore. She crawled into his lap, hugging him close. He crushed her to him, and she laid her head on his shoulder as his tears turned into silent sobs.
Caleb walked up, blowing into his steaming cup of coffee to cool it off. His gaze met Evie’s, the question clear.
“Cammie,” she mouthed to him.
His face shut down, his features going pale. Caleb sat his coffee on the table, knelt beside them, and wrapped his arms around both of them. They stayed huddled together until Max’s shoulders stopped shaking. When he raised his head, his eyes were still sad, but the earlier torment Evie witnessed in them was gone. Max released his tight grip on Evie and scrubbed away the evidence of his tears with his palms.
“Hop up, sweetheart. I’m gonna wash my face before the guys arrive.” Max shared a quick kiss with Caleb before making his way towards the bathrooms. Caleb sat down in the seat Max vacated, and Evie resumed hers.
Caleb’s eyes remained on the cup of coffee he once again held in his hands. His thumbs scratched at the cardboard sleeve. “Thanks, Evie. For talking with Max. He won’t even discuss Cammie with me anymore. It hurts him too bad. He’s been struggling, especially the last two years. If I push him, he walks away, not talking to me. Thank you for being such a good friend to him. You’ve given him something I haven’t been able to give him in a long time. For that, I will always be grateful.
“But do me a favor, please. Surmata are possessive of their mates. We get jealous over the stupidest of things.” He let out a small laugh. “It hurts like hell to see how relaxed Max is with you. How casually he touches you.”
The pain in Caleb’s eyes made Evie’s heart hurt in sympathy.
“It burns, Evie. But that’s my problem. Max needs you right now. And, I don’t want you to feel like you can’t interact with him like you did today. But, if you see me walk away, stay with Max, please. I need to know someone is with him, but at the same time, I need time to deal with my anger.” Caleb let out a frustrated huff. “What I’m trying to say is no matter how upset I get seeing the two of you together, please continue to take care of Max. I trust you with him.”
Evie didn’t hesitate before agreeing. “I will, Caleb. He’s my best friend.”