Page 124 of Shifter Situations

“I bite,” she warned him.

“I’m kind of into that.” The incubus gave her a brilliant smile, causing her to roll her green eyes.

Sloane shot me a happy smile from where she was lounging against Palmer. She was relieved to see the panther interacting with everyone. And if she were honest, she'd say she was pleased that Dolyn was relaxing around his mate.

Ripley dragged her finger carefully over the blade of Grim’s scythe and then touched the knuckles of his bony fingers. She nodded her head thoughtfully as she turned wide eyes to Dolyn.

“This is normal for you guys? I’ve never been around so many different supernaturals.”

“This is normal for us,” he assured her. “Sloane, Jack, and I have been friends since we were children. They’re family.”

The incubus glanced around the dome, turning back to his mate as he said, “They’re all family.”

“And is anyone in this family worried about smoke inhalation?”

He chuckled at the snark in her voice. “That’s hellfire in its purest form.”

“How does that change anything? Where there’s fire, there’s smoke.”

“That hellfire is straight from the Devil’s hand. Was there smoke when Hyde held the flame in her hand?”

She shook her head.

“A few of us have been marked by the Devil,” he explained, calling a small flame into his palm. “This isn’t part of my inherited powers. It was gifted to me and would burn without her mark, same for anyone here.”

Sloane waggled her brows at the panther. “You wanna touch it.”

“I don’t want to be burned, but thanks.”

“Let me see your hand.”

Ripley tentatively placed her hand in Sloane’s, watching as my mate’s finger traced across her palm. The circle appeared first, then the pentagram, followed by the goat’s head, and the roman numeral for three.

As the hellish seal disappeared into the panther’s skin, Lo placed a tiny flame in the center of Ripley’s hand.

“Now, close your fist,” Sloane instructed. “You can use that flame to call anyone with the Devil’s mark. Almost everyone inside this dome has one, and I’ll make sure the others have one before I leave. Hyde can give you a crash-course on how to call people.”

Hyland stopped whispering to Arwen, chiming in from across the fire, “I’ll show you when we get back to Stars. You’ll pick it up quickly.”

“O-okay,” the panther stammered, her gaze bouncing over all of us before she focused on her hand again.

I observed as she opened and closed her fist, frowning as nothing happened the first two attempts. A spark lit her palm briefly on the third try, and after a few more, she was able to recall the flame Sloane had given her.

Dolyn tore his gaze from his mate, raising a brow. “What did you need to ask me earlier, Lo?”

“Oh. Were you able to find anything on those bullets or the gun that Franklin brought you?”

“Yeah. The bullets were coated with different potions, but that’s probably not surprising. Hyde was able to trace the gun back to Louisiana. It was registered to Hildi E. Commons.”

Sloane shook her head. “I don’t know who that is.”

“Of course you don’t,” Hyde remarked, grinning ear-to-ear. “That’s not a real person. I looked everywhere for dear Hildi, and she doesn’t exist.”

“Then why are you smiling at me like that.”

“Because Dolyn owes me a new pair of shoes.”

The incubus gripped the back of his neck. “There’s no way you’ve figured out—Fuck. You figured it out. Who is it?”