"Come on," she said, shooting Elias a look I couldn't interpret. "I'll walk you to your car. We can talk on the way."
I followed her out of the alley as she talked, hyperaware of Elias's heavy gaze on my back. But when we reached the corner, I couldn't help looking back. He stood exactly where I'd left him, a dark silhouette against the darker night, watching me go.
The thread between us pulsed once, twice, then settled into a steady rhythm that matched his heartbeat.
Tomorrow night, I promised myself. Tomorrow night I'd find Alex. I'd keep my distance from Elias. I'd maintain control of my magic.
Even as I thought it, I knew I was lying.
Because the truth was, I'd felt it the moment our power had merged. That impossible, terrifying, exhilarating truth neither of us wanted to acknowledge.
We were mates.
And pretending otherwise was only going to make everything worse.
"So," Kenya said as we reached my beat-up Honda. "Want to tell me what that was about?"
"No."
"How about telling me why my friend back there is looking at you like you're his last meal and your scent is—how do I put this delicately?—stronger than normal?"
I froze with my hand on the door handle. "You can…" My cheeks were suddenly on fire, "sense that?"
"Talin, honey, half the supernatural community can probably sense it after that display." She moved closer, her expression sympathetic. "It's not a bad thing, you know. Having a mate."
"He's not my mate."
She tilted her head to the side and stared me down until I gave up the game and threw up my arms.
"It is when you're..." I gestured vaguely at myself. "When he's him and I'm me."
She frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
I yanked open the car door instead of answering. But Kenya caught it before I could close it, my weak human muscles no match against her vampire strength.
"He's not as put-together as he seems," she said quietly. "None of us are. We're all broken in our own ways, Talin. The lucky ones just find someone whose broken pieces fit with theirs."
"Poetic." I tried for sarcastic, but it came out strained. "Did you get that from a greeting card?"
"I got it from experience." She released the door. "Alex didn't think he deserved me either. The darkness in him, the djinn blood, he was convinced it made him wrong for me. But that darkness saved me. Still, it took him almost dying to realize that the things we think make us unworthy are usually the things that make us perfect for each other."
"This is different."
"Why?"
Because there are parts of me that are just gone, that no amount of fate or magic can bring back. Because when he finds out, when he sees what's under this vest, he'll be disgusted.
"It just is," I said instead.
Kenya studied me. "The vision you had earlier. When you and Elias touched. Did you see where Alex is?"
Grateful for the subject change, I nodded. "Yes. Sort of. Marcus has him bound with silver chains inscribed with symbols I've never seen before. He's... Gods, Kenya, I think he's using Alex as some kind of battery. Feeding off his power to fuel something bigger."
She turned her head away, staring at the few people still on Bourbon street. But I could tell she wasn't really seeing them. "Alex is weakening. I can feel it."
"He's alive, Kenya." I hesitated, then added, "And I think Marcus needs him to stay that way. Whatever he's planning, Alex is a crucial part of it." I rubbed my temples, a headache building behind my eyes. "I need to go. I need to write down everything I saw before the details fade."
"Tomorrow night," Kenya turned back to me. "When you try again with Elias. I want to be there."
