At some point last night, I fell into a fitful sleep that hurt more than it helped. Sun streaming through the grimy window spilled over my eyes and pulled me from one of many disturbing dreams. I laid on the hard mattress—it had grown progressively harder over the course of the night, making me wonder if Tiffany cast some sort of curse in retaliation for last night—and tried to remember the details of the dream.

I'd been running barefoot through a forest garbed in a ballgown of silver silk and threaded with starlight. The neckline dipped into a v between my breasts, stopping just below my navel, and all along the exposed skin someone had mapped constellations in sparkling lavender ink. The ink matched pearls pinned in the dark curls spilling down my back, the satin tendrils caressing more exposed flesh.

Awake, I admired the dress. It was possibly the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, but in the dream, I—or the girl I was in the dream—despised it. It was too flashy in the darkness, and it made me vulnerable as I wove through towering trees, their gray brown trunks glowing in the bright moonlight.

I constantly glanced over my shoulder, but no one followed. Branches snapped beneath my feet. My breath pushed past my lips in ragged bursts of mist, and something sharp pierced the bottom of my foot, drawing a whimper from me but not slowing me down.

When the coppery taste of blood worked its way up my throat, I slowed and leaned against a tree to catch my breath and give my lungs a break. This was too easy. There was no way they would let me go without a chase, but the chilly breeze pushing its way through the woods was salted, meaning I was very close to reaching safety.

Gliding my fingers down the drawings on my stomach, I stilled next to the ones around my belly button and below. Smears ruined the stars, and in some places, the ink was gone entirely, courtesy of his very skilled tongue. Had that really been just an hour ago? So much pleasure—so much hope. And now, I didn't even know if he was still living.

A creature growled, an owl hooted, and a branch snapped. My heart leapt in my chest just as fingers curled around my neck, and—

Tiffany pounded on my door. "Kay is going to throw your breakfast in the trash if you aren't down in one minute."

Because I believed they would, I threw the blankets off, tugged on my gloves, and raced down the hallway. Kay rolled their eyes and pointed at a plate of bacon and eggs on the table. Tiffany pulled a mug out of a cabinet, a smirk twisting her thin lips. Jac was nowhere to be seen.

"Tiffany was exaggerating. I would not have disposed of your meal."

Tiffany shrugged and blew across a steaming mug of coffee. "Okay, so maybe Kay wouldn't have, but I would've. Just because you stayed up past your bedtime doesn't mean the rest of us should be kept waiting."

"Just because you ran out of batteries, it doesn't mean you get to be a bitch to everyone else." I regretted it the instant I said it, but damn, the girl was driving me nuts. And I wasn't exactly the nicest person in the morning.

She slammed her mug on the table, sloshing hot liquid over the sides and forcing me to move my plate. Twisting a chair around, she straddled it and pointed a finger at me. A more rested version of myself would have been sweating profusely to be on the wrong end of a witch finger, but right now, I kind of hoped she'd put me out of my misery. Or at least put me to sleep.

"Let me tell you something."

"Tiffany," Kay warned, their lips pursing. "Don't."

"Keep your psychic nose to yourself."

"Maybe you ought to listen to it," they snapped back.

"Just say what you're going to say so I can go back to enjoying these amaze ball eggs," I said as I shoveled in a bite of the fluffy eggs and fought back a moan. Was I just that hungry or were these the best scrambled eggs I'd ever had. Maybe a bit of both.

"Jac won't ever admit it, but this thing between you is toxic."

"Didn't we cover this last night? You know when I called you out for lying about me being an ordinary human?"

The witch waved her hand in front of her face. "That's not what I'm talking about. You don't even know what you're doing to him, do you? He's bonded to you because he didn't know any better, and now he's magically driven to give you what you need. That fucking session last night—that we all heard, by the way—"

I gritted my teeth, bits of bacon poking through them, and batted my eyelashes. "I wanted you too."

Kay snorted while Tiffany turned green. "It's basically magical rape."

The fork clattered on the plate when I dropped it, but no one jumped. "Excuse me?"

"Oh good, that got your attention. Maybe you're not a complete soulless bitch," Tiffany growled. "When we suspected there was a bond, we asked him questions about your relationship, and we realized real quick that your exchanges of energy happened during sex. You can't sit there and tell me you've never noticed you feel different afterward?"

Breakfast settled like a stone in my stomach, and I wished I could refute what she said. But it was true. Every word, and even though I hadn't known until last night that Jac was an Amouri, I'd still acknowledged there was something off about this thing between us. Still, I wouldn't call it rape. He was always more than willing to take part.

"What's wrong with their being a bond between us? Is there not a bond between most couples? Relationships are built on bonds." Calling what was between us a relationship was a stretch.

Kay nudged Tiffany out of the way and sat down across from me. Their expression was one of pity, and I stared at my plate, unwilling to accept what they offered. Their slim, dark fingers made tiny circles on the scarred wood, tracing the outline of an old water stain while they contemplated how to say what was on their mind. The silence was unnerving, and it was difficult to not make a snarky comment to end it; however, I wanted to hear what Kay had to say. I knew they would speak truthfully and much more objectively than Tiffany.

"Tiffany is not wrong, but she's not entirely right," Kay said at last. When the other witch spluttered, they held up their hand, and she snapped her mouth shut. "Jac entered a relationship with you without knowing you both possessed magical natures, and because of this, he inadvertently formed an Amouri bond with you. That much is true. It's also true that he's driven to fulfill your needs, but—"

Tiffany huffed and chunked her cup in the sink. The clatter made me jump, but Kay exhaled and rolled her eyes as if this was a normal occurrence. Probably was.

"But?" I prompted them when they didn't pick up where they left off.

"But an Amouri bond is not designed to eliminate free will. Jac would not sleep with Bria if he did not desire her. And every bond is unique and seeks to express itself through the most natural way possible in the relationship. For friends, it can often come through meditation or dreaming, but for a couple in a romantic relationship, it is completely natural for it to happen during sex. In fact, it's fairly common."

Relief beyond measure filtered through me, and I sagged in my seat before flipping Tiffany the bird. "Looks like you're still a lying bitch."

Kay clicked their tongue against their teeth. "Not entirely. What she's trying to say and failing spectacularly at is that it would be wise to cease with your physical relationship unless you wish to cement the bond between you."

"Cement?" The bite I'd just taken stuck in my throat, and I spewed bits of egg on the table as I coughed to dislodge it.

Kay straightened in their seat, their shoulders rolling back. They looked like my eleventh-grade history teacher right before he launched into a lecture. "Every Amouri is different, and there are a few who bounce between partners, sharing and taking without forming a long-term bond. Most eventually settle into a bonded relationship, whether it is by conscious choice or because the attachment between the two is too great to sever. That latter typically only happens among Amouri who are not well-trained."

"Like Jac." I saw where this was going. "And what does that look like? An attachment too great to sever?"

Kay shifted in their chair, the legs scraping on the tile. "A permanent bond is desirable because the give and take is stronger, but it can become dangerous if not managed properly. It requires a lot of vulnerability, and some say it's like losing themselves in the other person. One partner will often become obsessive, and they will resort to unusual behavior like stalking or self-harm. There was a recorded incident when an Amouri unknowingly bonded with a lover, and when things ended, the Amouri murdered her after finding her having coffee with a friend."

"Jac would never—"

Tiffany cut me off. "No, he wouldn't. He would go the other route. He would literally die to protect you. Now, maybe he would do that anyway. Maybe this thing between you is something more than the Amouri bond, but you would never know if he was at your side because he loved you or because something magically drove him to be there."

She was right. Not that those precise words would ever pass my lips. Just thinking about them left a sour taste in my mouth, but it would be selfish of me to continue sleeping with Jac now that I knew this. Even now, I wondered if it might not be too late considering the outbursts he'd been having. They were definitely not typical of his character.

"What do I do?" I asked, my heart cracking. It made little sense. I lost him a year ago when he broke up with me, so it shouldn't feel like I was losing him all over again.

"For now, avoid engaging in physical acts," Kay said, somehow talking about sex and making it sound as appealing as watching paint dry. "Ideally, the bond will dissipate. You won't notice anything, most likely, but Jac will know when it's gone. If his behavior changes, there is a ceremony to sever a bond."

"Fine," I agreed, shoving away the plate and standing.

Already, just knowing last night was the last time he would touch me made me ache all over. I would have done it differently. Maybe let him push me to my back, kiss me while he moved inside me. I might have tightened my legs around him as he came, locking him in place as he marked me the way no other man ever had. But then... my bitter heart pulsed with distaste. I probably would have behaved exactly the way I had, too terrified to welcome that level of intimacy, and that was why I had to do this. Jac deserved to be with someone better than me.

Kay smiled kindly before their mouth went slack and a white light flashed in their brown eyes. Tiffany tensed, spells leaping to her hands while we waited for Kay to come out of their trance.

Finally, the psychic witch shook their head and sucked in a breath. "The wards were tripped, but it's Jay."

"The druid?" I'd never met a druid before. They were fairly reclusive, preferring to live in the wilderness, far from the corrupting influence of modern technology. June would shit a brick—she said the best sex of her life had been with a druid, which considering she was a succubus, that was saying something, but I doubted I would have the opportunity to tell her about the meeting. If all went well, I would go into hiding. No more June.

No more Jac.

"He's at the door," Tiffany said. "I'll let him in."

"Don't worry about it. Jac will let him in," Kay shouted even as the cosmic witch darted out of the room. They looked at me. "There's no need to be worried. Ninety percent of the outcomes from today lead to positive scenarios."

I snatched my hand off the back of the chair as a strange pulse of energy pushed against my gloves. I hadn't noticed any strong echoes earlier. It was almost as if it had travelled from one room to another.

Ignoring it, I said to Kay, "So, what you're saying is there is a ten percent chance this could go wrong?"

The witch shrugged. "I suppose that's one way to look at it."

Pushing a finger against my temple, I followed her and fought back a shiver as the energies in the house curled around me. There was a one hundred percent chance this would not go well.