Page 12 of Tell Them That I’m Coming

He’s not speaking Sombran. That much is obvious. I’d know those harsh grating syllables anywhere, and the clipped words that are Mom’s human language are nowhere as beautiful as the lyrical-sounding sentences he’s been uttering. Still, I can understand him, and he can understand me, and as long as he keeps that sword hidden, that’s the last thing I need to worry about until I can open the portal, grab Binx, and come up with a plan B to save Rafe.

And maybe I was letting my guard down too quickly because, out of nowhere, Binx lunges up and hurries forward, heading toward the male. Shadows ripple over the ungez’s sleek form, his white eyes glowing softly in the dim light. He pauses near the fae’s boots, fluffy tail flicking once as his ears twitch.

The fae’s attention snaps downward.

“Well,” he murmurs, crouching slightly, fascination cutting through his amusement. “You’re new.”

Binx stares at him, unblinking.

“Careful,” I say, staying back though everything in me wants to surge forward and swoop Binx up in my arms. There’s no need. I know that. Binx can take care of himself, and remembering how my soul-pet has shown his annoyance with Rafe more than once, I tack on helpfully, “He bites.”

That earns me a laugh. A real one this time as, for the first time, his eyes lock on mine.

Oh, he was looking me over before, but almost as though he was avoiding direct eye contact, our gazes never met—until now.

If I thought looking at him was a gut punch before, that’s nothing compared to the tremor that runs through me when I look directly into his eyes. My fingers flex again, of their own accord this go-round, and my tongue suddenly feels too big to be in my mouth. I tremble, my claws growing, my belly twisting.

My heart skips a beat. I swear, for a moment there, it nearly stops, and I suddenly—suddenly—understand what Stevie meant when she told me that she just knew that Corbin was her fated mate.

Why? Because I’m looking at mine.

This fae male, whoever he is, in my one true mate—and the way his expression doesn’t change at all, his long, slender, golden fingers hovering outstretched toward Binx as he glances at me before looking down at my soul-pet… he has no idea that I recognize him as mine.

If he’s mine, that means I’m his. That’s how mate bonds work. Though not every fated pair has the ability to recognize each other. Humans can’t sense a bond until their demon mate gives them their essence. Is it the same for fae?

I don’t know, and I realize that that’s one detail that the fae book forgot to mention. Probably because it doesn’t seem often that fae and demons mate, but if he’s mine, then the gods have a wicked sense of humor considering how my supposed mate greeted me with a sword to my neck.

Should I tell him? I open my mouth to say something, anything, when Binx jumps up, sinking his fangs into the fae’s finger.

For a second, I stare, watching the shock flicker across the fae’s sculpted features as Binx hangs on tight. The fae rises up to his full height. Binx still hasn’t let go. This time, I do hurry forward. Mate or not, I don’t know this male. I don’t trust him. If he tries to hurt Binx, I’ll have to stop him.

Instead of shaking his hand to get the ungez to release him, he just arches his eyebrows and waits for Binx to let go. Once I bury my fingers through the edges of Binx’s shadows, my soul-pet recognizes me. He relaxes his tiny jaw so that I can lift him up and off of the fae.

Two puncture wounds cover the top of his finger. Glittery golden blood seeps from the holes, and since he seems more surprised by them than angry, I can’t help but say, “Told you so.”

He cocks his head. “So you did.”

CHAPTER 5

TRAPPED

Iwatch as he lifts his finger to his mouth, tongue dabbing at the blood. By the time he’s done, the wounds are already healing, and I’ve gotten a good peek at the tiny canine fangs barely peeking past his bottom lip as he gives Binx a curious once-over now.

“I thought the beast was made of shadow. His bite was nothing less than solid.”

“That’s because he’s a Sombra beast,” I find myself compelled to explain. “He’s part shadow, part living creature. If you touch past the edge of his shadows, he’s as firm as you and me.”

I tested that, too. While I can turn to mist in Mom’s human world, just like in Sombra, I’m trapped in a solid shape with the extent of my shadows curling up around my boots until I gather them together so that I can create a portal and walk through it.

While we watch each other, silence stretches between us, thick with unspoken things. Like, oh, how he’s my mate, and how he must be wondering who I am and how I’ve come to Noctavara.

That’s why I linger. Not because I’m finding it difficult to resist our fledgling bond, but because I need some kind of sign that he feels it… or that he doesn’t.

His eyes dart over my face, taking in my own golden peepers and how—thanks to my Dad’s demon side—they glow as notably as the fae’s skin. His eyes are dim, and if I choose to, I can dampen the glow of mine until they’re as dead as Mom’s blue eyes, but while my eyes don’t seem to interest him, it’s the inch-long black horns sticking from my mess of yellow hair and my colorless skin that has him frowning for a moment.

I don’t like the way he’s scrutinizing me. Shifting Binx so that the ungez is resting on my shoulder, his fluffy tail wrapped around the back of my neck, I beat a quick retreat in case he remembers he has a sword and uses it on Binx.

It’s not Binx he’s paying close attention to at the moment. Instead, his gaze follows me before he gestures near my hairline. “From the look of those, I’m thinking you don’t have any coin I can convince you to part with.”