Page 2 of Binding His Fated Mates

“He’s a warlock,” Lacey said. I didn’t miss the way she went tense, as though she might have to spring to my defense at any moment.

I tried not to be annoyed. I loved Lacey, but I didn’t need her to protect me at all times.

Or, correction, I didn’t want to need her to protect me at all times.

“But you work with—” Sally broke off, her gaze sweeping the empty dining room before turning back to us. “Werewolves.”

“Yeah. Sure do.” Heat crept into my cheeks. Being the subject of conversation was never my favorite thing.

“Anyway. A charm to ward away nightmares is simple. I could do it in my sleep.”

“Huh.” Sally looked at me with an unreadable expression. “Well, I’d appreciate that, Daniel.”

“I’ll bring it by later,” I promised. “And if there’s anything else I can do, I’m happy to. We’re happy to. The pack—all of us.”

Lacey pursed her lips, but when Sally glanced over at her for confirmation, she nodded her agreement. “Anything you need. We all understand what it’s like to go through something like this and not be able to tell anyone.”

“What else is out there?” Sally asked abruptly. “I knew about Tam before all this, of course. And I was raised on stories about faeries. But that thing…”

She trailed off, but I heard the note of barely suppressed horror in her voice. Nathaniel Bailey, the vampire king of Seattle himself, had used his hypnotic abilities to take away the worst of the experience after we’d rescued her, but apparently whatever was left was still upsetting. I didn’t blame her a bit.

Lacey arched a brow at me when I shot her a questioning glance but didn’t object.

I considered our options. We could give her the minimum amount of information—which might be better for her emotional stability in the short term. But in the long term, it was definitely better that Sally knew the truth. She needed to be able to trust us. It beat her looking for answers elsewhere.

Besides, it wasn’t like she could go back to not knowing that there were literal monsters in the world.

“The short version? Most legends are real. Werewolves, obviously. Vampires, too. And then there are old souls, which are basically just humans who keep getting reborn with their previous memories intact. And the fae, like Tamrand, but they mostly live in the Otherworld.”

“The faerie world.”

I shrugged. “It’s basically a dimension parallel to ours, where most of the supernatural stuff came from originally.” I paused. “Anyway, there are shapeshifters, who can turn into other types of animals besides wolves. They’re born that way, they’re not bitten or anything, like wolves.” Lacey shot me a narrow look and shook her head. Fair. Mentioning that regular people could become werewolves by being bitten was probably a bridge too far. I faltered, then added, “And there are witches and warlocks—”

“Like you.”

“Yeah, like me. I inherited my gifts, but there are actually a lot of different types of witches out there.” I quickly danced past that, before my own words could conjure up any unpleasant memories of my family. With the one exception of my sister, Rowan, the Henbanes were… not nice people. I finished with, “And then there are other things out there, too. Monsters… like the Algea.”

“It’s what attacked you,” Lacey said. “Harris and Reed didn’t talk to you about it? They’ve checked on you.”

“That they have,” Sally replied. “But they haven’t said much about what happened. I think they were afraid I’d go off my trolley if they gave me too many details.”

“Well, that’s what it’s called,” Lacey replied. “It’s a legend from Greek mythology, but it’s obviously real.”

“You know, it’s strange, but having a name for it is better, I think.”

“You’re taking this really well,” Lacey observed.

“I think I’m past the point of being shocked by anything,” Sally said, a little wryly. “And if this is the world I live in, I want to know the rules. I’m not keen on being blindsided again. And I refuse to be a victim. That starts with knowing what’s out there.”

There was a whole lot of steel in that statement. I decided right then that maybe Sally was a lot tougher than any of us had given her credit for.

Tamrand appeared in the kitchen doorway behind Sally, his arms crossed over his chest. He was lean and auburn-haired, with vivid blue eyes that were just slightly too bright to pass for entirely human. Which was no surprise, given that he wasn’t human at all. He didn’t look especially happy with us. Which probably meant he’d heard everything, despite us keeping our voices low.

Aside from the basics—they couldn’t break their word, they mostly lived in the Otherworld, and they were damn good at illusion magic—I knew virtually nothing about the fae. Their hearing could’ve been sharper than a vampire’s, for all I knew. Or maybe they could read minds. Tamrand hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with details. Or with words in general, apart from showing up on our doorstep and insisting we rescue Sally immediately after the Algea had taken her.

“Please inform your alpha that the pack’s assistance was appreciated. Naturally, if you need my aid in return, I am happy to give it,” Tamrand told us, not sounding happy in the slightest. I also didn’t miss the way his statement excluded Sally. “I am in your debt.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Lacey replied, shooting me a baffled what the hell just happened? sort of look.