Despite the unease of the last few weeks, Kyan was grateful for his friend’s infectious confidence.
‘In that case,’ Callum said, ‘Ireland is calling. And I think it’s finally time you answered.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Inside the Wake
‘YOU WERE RIGHT,’DR WELDEN SAID TO THESILHOUETTEDfigure standing before a painting of blood and destruction. He dropped the papers onto the desk with a small thrill of intrigue. ‘We were able to test a few drops of the bloodwork and confirmed it.
‘Kyan McCarter has met his mate.’
There was a moment of displeased silence.
‘What effects will it have on the oath?’ The voice was smooth, dignified.
The doctor had dealt with all kinds of supernaturals, but none had had the intrinsicfeelthe Wake’s leader did. As they turned their head, the doctor glimpsed their golden hair.
‘I have no idea. None of the other Empyreals have found theirs. There’s still not enough research to know if they find their partners in the same supernatural species, or can find a mate of any—’
‘She’s an Empyreal,’ the figure said with certainty.
The doctor opened his mouth to ask how they knew. It might have consequences for the tests …
‘What’s your recommendation, doctor?’
‘Er – well, the issue with a mate bond is it could override any other impulses. Protecting a mate comes first, in any supernatural or human. So … don’t let them spend too long together. The more they know one another and the stronger they feel, the stronger the bind becomes. It is physical of course, but the fastest way to increase a bind is to either have them in life-and-death situations they get through together,or get them – ahem – physical. They are each other’s perfect match.’ The doctor shrugged.
‘It seems, then, that we will have to hurry this little quest along. I’m sure I don’t need to impress on you the importance of your silence on this matter.’
He nodded after a beat. One of the first things he’d been briefed on when he’d come into the Wake’s medical team was that if any Empyreal showed signs of a mate bond, he had to report it immediately and not tell the Empyreal.
But it had never happened, so the doctor had begun to believe it was more of a myth than a real biological capability. Supernatural society didn’t think Empyrealscouldform these bonds. Thought they were solitary and deadly, that they belonged to the Wake and thought only of the hunt.
If this got out, if more Empyreals found their mates … what havoc would it wreak on the balance of power in this organisation? Was a bond like that powerful enough to fracture oaths?
‘Send him in,’ the Wake’s leader said.
The doctor blinked. ‘A-are you sure? I haven’t finished the latest—’
‘I said, send him in.’
The doctor bowed and hurried out of the room, his eyes on the gleaming wood floor, so polished it reflected the image above them: an epic, mythological battle between unfamiliar supernaturals. It had never filled him with an acute sense of dread before.
But as he closed the doors, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d made a terrible mistake.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Nicole
IT WAS NEAR MIDNIGHT WHEN KYAN RETURNED.
Night sprawled through the city and still drizzled with rain. The candles had pooled low, their flames fluttering drowsily. Nicole’s father had been camped out with her in Kyan’s study until about half an hour ago, his glasses perched low on his nose as he read passages she’d marked.
But Nicole was alone when Kyan shouldered into the study, looking serious and dangerous in all black. When his eyes homed in on her, she felt that connection as a rush of heat and a spike of relief.
He’d only been gone a few hours, but the sight of him soothed her tense shoulders. She allowed her senses to open fully again, hearing Bells stir a sleep-inducing tea in her bedroom; Remi begin the soft strains of a harp song. She knew her father and Dylan were on the roof talking, but they were outside the bounds of the soundproofed house, so she couldn’t hear them.
All was well.
