by M F Adele
Sloane cut her gaze to Hyde and Arwen, calling out to the necromancer.
“Arwen? Could I borrow your mind for a moment?”
“That’s a frightening question. The answer depends on what you need it for.”
“Necromancers are hybrids, yes? Demons and dark mages?”
He stood, trudging closer to us as he considered her questions.
“I’m only asking because I’d like to show them the differences between our mental essences. I’m not exactly a true hybrid; I’m more like a cocktail, but the small amount of angelic blood that runs in my veins doesn’t mix with the rest of my genetic makeup.
“You don’t have that issue, and I’d like to show them. Or, uhm, pull them into your mind to let them see and feel the difference. I won’t go far enough to hear your thoughts, though.”
“How far do you need to go?” the necromancer hesitantly questioned.
“Just below the surface of your mental presence. If we were talking about it in the context of a cake, then just beneath the icing.”
Briggs snorted. “Do you want some cake, Barbie? Or do you always refer to sweet treats when you talk about layers?”
“I’ll have to answer that when I don’t have so many people in my mind,” she smarted, turning her attention back to Arwen.
She waited expectantly, smiling when he lowered himself to sit with us. Hyde squeezed in between Sloane and Jack, laying her head on the hellsteed’s shoulder.
“It’s about the black stuff, huh? I’ve always thought it was neat, but she says my mind doesn’t look like that. It’s buttercup yellow,” Hyde mocked, rolling her amber eyes.
“Okay,” Arwen agreed, closing his eyes. “I’m ready.”
Sloane pulled the three of us into the necromancer’s mind, continuing her explanation.
“Every species, except angels and humans, blend perfectly together, creating signature colors for the individual. Arwen’s color may be similar to other necromancers, but it’s highly unlikely that we’ll see another with this exact deep golden shading.”
She took us out of Arwen’s mind carefully and popped us into Hyland’s mind.
“Hyde’s essence is a buttery yellow color, but she also has an iridescent purple film over it. I’m not positive, but I think it has something to do with her basilisk half.”
She removed Jack, Vaughn, and me from Hyde’s mind and then her own. Reaching over, she surprised Arwen when she grabbed his hand.
I chuckled at his shock, and the tiny succubus giggled as Sloane began drawing the Third Devil’s seal on his palm.
The necromancer regarded Sloane as he weighed her words.
“There’s quite a bit of mystery surrounding the hybrid children of angels and demons.”
“I’ve heard. The more questions that get asked about them, the more likely it is that the ones who exist will stay quiet. Some people tend to be too nosey when it comes to their own suspicions.
“There are a few instances where curiosity isn’t a bad thing, but when you take it overboard, as many of them do, it becomes a conspiracy instead of a learning experience.
“Now... I’ve marked you as my property,” she teased. “Give me your foot. You’re not leaving with Hyde if you have no way to find me.”
I gazed at my mate as I watched her leave a skull imprint on Arwen’s foot.
She moved to Blaire and Baylor, laughing as they tried to drag her into their debate. She left the Third Devil’s seal and her personal tracker on Jack and Grim’s mate and co-mate before rounding the fire.
Ripley watched as Sloane traded trackers with Dolyn and then offered her own foot. Once they were done, she added both magical marks to Ozlo and Tiago, explaining to them how to summon her.
I pondered over everything that had been said and done in the past couple of hours. Two things stuck out starkly in my mind.
If her only tie to angels was through one hybrid parent, then why was the darkness so prominent in Sloane’s mind? It made more sense for it to come from her demon trait, but when I stepped back and thought of Sam... He was no more demon than he was angel.
And at the rate Sloane was going... Her feet were going to be covered in tracking marks. She could say that she didn’t care about many people, but I knew that to be a lie. She kept the proof hidden under her feet where no one would think to look.
Her best-kept secret.
Even from herself.
24
Sloane
Sunday, June 7th
Mid Morning
By the time everyone had left, I was mentally exhausted.
I’d loved having everyone together, officially meeting their mates, but gods... My mind was goo. It oozed from my ears as I dragged my feet all the way back to my guys.
They were all so relaxed, stretched out like lounging house cats basking in the midmorning sun. And they were gossiping.
Briggs snorted at York as I collapsed onto the blanket. I pillowed my head on Palmer’s thigh, grinning as he gazed down at me.
“I’m telling you,” my druid said, seriousness dripping from his voice. “Being in love with her is the equivalent of being in a brawl. Multiple fistfights at once.”
I rolled my head over to glance at him, fake-shock on my face. “Whyever would you say that?”
He playfully scoffed, ticking his fingers down as he answered me.
“There’s nerves, adrenaline, fury, and then acceptance that you’ve been bested, beaten. You make me feel like I’m floating, as if I’m so light on my feet that I could dodge anything that’s thrown at me.
“And then you flip a switch. You go from being so simple that I think I’ve missed something to so complex that I don’t know what the fuck is happening. That is infuriating and unnerving.”
I scratched at my scalp as I tried to digest his feelings. “Thank you, I think. It’s a bit of a backhanded compliment, but I can see the good in it... Kind of.”
“That reminds me... Did you mention to them what we were talking about the other night?” Briggs asked, turning to me expectantly.
“Be more specific.”
“Right after you fought the tree, Barbie.”
“Ahh, yes. Briggs said if we ran into anyone while we were naked that he was going to tell them that he was performing a demonic ritual and I was his sacrifice.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “Not that part. The part about the bonds and the apartment and all that.”
“Oh. No,” I murmured. “I forgot. How does fighting remind you of that?”
“Not the fighting, the part before you got here.”
“Are you going to share, or should we guess?” Stone inquired.
“Did you know that King Enterprises owns the building across the street from your apartment? Actually, we own the entire block. Until May, I worked there, but I never felt the tug of a nearby mate.”
Briggs motioned for me to continue, prompting, “Keep going.”
“Jack and I ate at The Blue Plate nearly every Saturday for over a year, but Briggs and I never felt each other. I was in CPB dozens of times with the same outcome. I didn’t feel Vaughn either.
“Franklin pointed a few connections out to me, and I’ve tried to dismiss them or not think about them. But it’s been eating at me. I felt the connection between York and me as soon as I entered that camp the first time.
“I knew I had a mate there before I saw him. The tug was too much to ignore. Even when the memories of him being a mate were locked away, I still wanted to be near him when he found me.”
“And you’ve been wondering why you didn’t feel it with us as quickly... especially when you were so close,” Palmer deduced.
Novak’s golden eyes deepened in color as he thought about what I’d just told them. “That’s what you were talking about yesterday? Why you asked what had changed between the beginning of May and the middle?”
“Yeah, in a nutshell.” I shrugged. “I just don’t understand what was happening.”
York twisted
his lips to the right before furrowing his brow. “Their bonds were blocked.”
“I’m sorry,” Vaughn stated. “Come again?”
“I closed the bond between Sloane and me when I was taken. She didn’t feel it while it was blocked off to her. It was painful to do, but it can be done without severing it completely.”
I grimaced, hoping this wasn’t going to be hard for my druid to think about. I wanted to shut down all talks of the camp immediately, maybe even see if he wanted those memories locked away.
But I knew him. He’d say no. He’d had his moment, and he was typically too positive to let that part of his life hold him back.
“But we were so close. There would have been a single wall between her and Briggs at The Blue Plate.” Novak shook his head.
“That wouldn’t matter. If your side of the would-be bonds were closed off, then Sloane wouldn’t have felt them. She could have been standing directly in front of you, talking to you, and never felt a thing. The same would have gone for any of us if her side of the bond had been closed off.”
York eyed my vampire before he continued. “You need to think of it like her door analogy for the mental connections she has. If the door is closed, then you can’t hear or feel anything. You have to open the door to have access to the bond, though naturally, the door is open.”
“What would be able to prevent it in all five of us?” Palmer challenged.
“A number of things,” I confessed. “I don’t really understand the complexity of mate bonds. But I know my mother has been missing for almost twenty-four years, and my parents keep looking for her because they can feel a scrap of their bond with her. They can’t feel enough to find her, though.”
I lost myself in the swaying of the trees as I dug up old memories.
“I remember hearing Papi explain to Jack’s mom, Vixen, that there were ways to close the bond. I don’t recall hearing exactly what he told her, but I know she was worried about Hannibal. She wanted to disappear and had planned to leave Jack with us until she could set up a safe place for them.
“Since she was my mother’s best friend, they did everything they could to protect her, but it didn’t pan out in her favor.” I sighed, blinking out of my thoughts.
I had adored Vixen as a child, and thinking about her made me melancholy. It also made me want to question Papi. He might have some insight into what had happened with our bonds, but he also might be the reason why they were blocked to begin with.
Stone frowned. “I remember my parents talking about Vixen’s death.”
“It was the talk of the Underworld,” I admitted sarcastically.
“Why? What happened?” Novak sat up, giving me his undivided attention.
“Hannibal killed Vixen.” It was as simple as that.
“She knew something was going to happen, so she went to Papi and Lucy, telling them that she was leaving Jack in the custody of the Kings.
“In the Underworld, things like that are legal as long as the Devil has noted it. Earth is different, so she took my parents to have legal paperwork filed. Jack moved in with us five days later. Vixen was found two days after that.”
Palmer studied me closely. “That’s quick.”
I nodded my head. I’d always thought it was too.
“Before that, we were together every day, and we’ve not been more than a few days without seeing each other as adults. Since I was born, Jack has constantly been around, first as my friend and then as my brother.
“We’ve had a mental connection since before I even understood that I could read minds. We were toddlers, playing with blocks in the palace while we shared thoughts.”
I snorted to myself. “Adolescence was interesting.”
After watching them soak up my words, I decided to address what Novak had said to me. They either got it, or they didn’t.
“Sometimes it doesn’t occur to me that you guys can’t just hear what’s going on in my head because the only other person that I’ve ever been this close to has always just... Heard me. I’ve never needed to say everything out loud.
“But we haven’t known each other as long as I’ve known Jack, so it’ll take me a little more time to remember that I need to say the things out loud. It took me a while to remember that with York too. I’m trying to be conscious of it, but I’ve never opened up to anyone as quickly as I have with you guys.”
“It was months,” my druid grumbled. He chortled when I kicked at him.
Stone regarded me, cocking his head as he asked, “How old were you when Amelia went missing?”
“I don’t know for sure.” I pursed my lips, counting backward. “Three or four months old. Maybe... I was born in April, and she went missing in August.”
“Whoa. Wait,” Novak demanded, holding his hand out to stop me. “Your birthday is in April?”
I squinted at him. “Pretty sure that’s what I just said, yeah.”
“April, what?” he pried, grinning at me.
“The seventeenth.”
“The druid’s birthday is in April too,” Stone informed us.
I cackled. “I know, but he’s a Taurus.”
“You believe in astrology?” Palmer glanced down at me, where I still had my head cushioned on his thigh.
“Mmm, only when it fits,” I responded.
My cheeky comment made him roll his eyes at me.
“Palmer loves that shit,” Briggs confided.
“He says I’m a Leo,” Novak whispered. “Can you believe him? I don’t look like a Leo.”
“You act like one,” I told him honestly.
My vampire scoffed, haughty as he replied, “I’ve never met anyone named Leo who looks this handsome.”
“Don’t entertain him,” my mage warned. “He’s being obtuse.”
“So... Birthdays?” I inquired.
Palmer smirked at me. “I’ll tell you all the dates, but you’ll have to guess whose is who.”
“What happens when I win?”
“You win.”
“I want chocolate-covered popcorn.”
“Okay,” he agreed hesitantly, narrowing his stormy gray eyes. “And if ye lose?”
I gazed up at him, jokingly tossing out, “You can cover me in chocolate.”
“Deal.”
“You do know that I can read your mind, right?” I sat up and turned to face him.
My mage bit his lip. “No reading of the minds.”
I held my hands out, palms up. “The deal has been made. You give me the dates, and I have to guess.”
“I’ll remember that the next time I make a deal with the Devil.”
“I know you will.” I leaned in, whispering in his ear, “I can’t imagine a Gemini being anything other than quick-witted.”
Vaughn chuckled. “She’ll know at least three now. Stop stalling, Mage. Give her the dates.”
“February twenty-fifth, April twenty-first, June eleventh, July twelfth, August eighth, October thirtieth.”
He rattled all the dates off, rolling his wrist for me to begin. I studied my mates, trying to recall how Lil had told me that astrology was important to some mage classes. She drilled the zodiacs into my head, and I just needed to narrow them down to remember the rest.
I started with what I knew, knocking the numbers down slowly. “I know York’s is April twenty-first.”
“Easy,” York called. “Continue.”
“Novak said he’s a Leo, so that makes his birthday August eighth.”
“Two down, four to go,” my vampire announced.
I rolled my eyes left to right as I tracked my thoughts. “Vaughn is definitely a Pisces. His birthday is February twenty-fifth.”
Palmer furrowed his brow, and I winked at him. “I really want that popcorn. I’m taking this seriously.”
Briggs snorted at me. “There’s popcorn in the kitchen. You put it in the cart when we went grocery shopping.”
I pointed at him. “Your sign is Cancer. July twelfth.”
My mage le
aned closer, staring into my eyes. “Whose mind are you reading?”
“I’m just guessing. Stone’s is October thirtieth.”
He nodded as I let my aggravation show on my face.
“And your birthday is at the end of the week. Was anyone going to say anything, or were we just going to gloss right over that?”
Amusement coursed through my bonds as Palmer scratched at his head. I arched a brow, watching him awkwardly rub at his neck.
“Palmer,” I shrilled. “You weren’t going to say anything?”
“No?”
“No?” I repeated. “Just... No?”
“You know what we should do, Kitten?” Stone questioned, a sly smile stretching over his face. “The mage loves Chinese food.”
My guys roared with laughter when Palmer groaned, and I was lost.
“What’s funny?” I asked, shaking my head. “Why are they hyperventilating?”
“Because Stone is a dick,” he muttered, a grin slipping over his lips at my confusion.
As I tried to figure out what I’d missed, I noticed Dad walking up the path from the lodge. He had his hands in the pockets of his cargo shorts as he hummed to himself. His dirty blonde hair was unruly, hanging in his face before he blew it away.
“Mind if I interrupt you kids?”
I pointed to my chest. “Adult.”
He flashed me a bright smile, the tip of his thumb touching his own chest. “Four hundred and sixteen.”
Then he pointed at me. “Twenty-four.”
I bowed my head, conceding to his math. “Point taken.”
“I knew you kids would be leaving soon, so I wanted to go over the last bit of business before you’re gone.”
I grimaced at him, but his smile only grew bigger as he dipped his head.
“I formally submit. My position and title shall now be passed on to Sloane King and Briggs Elliott.”
My heart was beating wildly as I frantically shook my head. “Yes. Okay. Second-in-command. Granted. Done.”
Briggs patted me on the back. “It’s okay, Barbie. I’ve got this.”
He stood, turning to my dad to shake his hand. “I think what Sloane was trying to say was that we hope you’ll stay here, running your pack, and act as our second. We’ve still got a ton of shit going on. It would be a tremendous help if you would stay here.”
