“Really?” He appears fascinated with a large cuff bracelet, symbols almost dancing around its edges, and my breath catches. The way the runes are etched looks very similar to the ones on the cuff around the beast’s ankle. “Does she take commissions?”
“I don’t think so.” Olya’s face clouds over for a couple of brief seconds. “She doesn’t like to deal with people very much—especially strangers. She’s been very sad since losing her husband, and we’re all just a bit protective of her.” “Are you sure?” Hudson asks, and he’s doing an incredible job of pretending to be fascinated with that bracelet. “Because this is—” He stops as I grab his hand and press gently in an effort to get him to back off a little. Olya has started to look uncomfortable, and we don’t want to raise any red flags that will get people to clam up or, worse, tell Erym’s parents about our agenda, which is growing more obvious by the second. Hudson must get the message, because he stops pushing at her about the jewelry maker and instead comments on the ring I’d been admiring near the front of the shop. Olya’s smile comes back right away as she regales him with the names of all the different runes etched into the silver. Satisfied that Hudson isn’t going to push too hard, I start to pull my hand from his, but instead he threads our fingers more tightly together, and that stolen moment above the treetops a few hours ago comes rushing back, his arms wrapped around me, his face inches from mine, his voice dark and a little flirtatious as he whispered, “Gotcha.” A thousand butterflies take flight in my stomach, and I pretend to focus on the ring and not our joined hands, oohing and aahing over it, though only vaguely paying attention to the explanation about the various runes and what they mean. “Would you like to try it on?” she eventually asks. “Oh, I would love to,” I tell her honestly. “But I don’t have any money.” It’s not strictly true—I have a couple hundred dollars in my backpack, but that’s American money. I have no idea what giants use. “I do,” Hudson says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a gold coin with a tree stamped on it. Olya’s smile beams at the potential sale. “I’ve never met a vampire or a gargoyle before.” She turns back to the ring. “Besides, I can already tell, the ring has chosen you.” My eyebrows shoot up, and I turn to ask Hudson what she means, but he is full-on grinning at me. The little dimple in his cheek I so rarely see melts my heart, and I am powerless to resist him. I place the hand not caught in his death grip onto his chest, and my whole body melts into his with a sigh. I study his eyes, fascinated as his pupils grow so large that they swallow almost his entire iris, so that I can only see a rim of stormy blue along the edges. His lips are moving, but the words sound like I’m underwater. And that’s when I realize I must have drowned in the endless depths of his oceanic eyes. It seems like a fitting way to die. Olya pulls the case out of the display, but Hudson beats her to the punch, lifting our joined hands and slipping the ring gently on my finger as he murmurs something on a soft breath. His fingers brush against mine, sending shivers through my whole body as my breath catches in my throat. Even Olya must sense what’s passing between us because she sniffles and says, “That was beautiful.” It’s just the mating bond, I tell myself as I clear my throat and try to find the breath I somehow lost. That’s what’s making me feel all these weird things toward Hudson. Just the mating bond. My finger starts to itch, and I glance down as the tiny runes burn a bright orange for a second before fading back to their previous silver etchings. My gaze searches out Hudson’s again, and he says simply, “My gift to you, Grace.” Hudson bought me a ring? Why? What does this mean? My heart starts to pound in my chest as I become aware of where we are again, like waking up from a cozy nap. Oh my God. I let Hudson buy me a ring. He narrows his eyes on me and sighs. “You’re about to make a thing about this, aren’t you?” I sputter. “Well, o-of course. You can’t just go around buying people magical rings!” “Well, she found her voice again.” He winks at Olya. “I know, honey, what you really wanted was one of those cuffs over there.” He dips his head toward the thick bracelets at the back of the store he’d been looking at before. I want to argue, but he’s staring at me hard, and realization dawns on me. “Yes, honey, you know I wanted a cuff today.” I effect my best imitation of a spoiled girl pouting. “Pleeease?” Like he’s used to my tantrums, he turns pleading eyes on Olya. “If you care about my happiness at all, you will let my mate try on one of those amazing cuffs.” Olya just shakes her head, murmuring something about mates as she walks over to the display case holding the cuff at the back of the store. “What are you doing?” I whisper. He raises one brow. “Trust me?” I don’t even hesitate. “Yes.” His dimple appears again, and he squeezes my hand and says in an intentionally loud voice, “Anything for you, honey.” As we walk over to Olya, I can’t help but feel like I’ve been getting hit by a Mack truck with Hudson’s name stamped all over it from the second we walked into this store. I just hope I don’t end up with tire tracks on my heart. 58