33. Bellamy
Chapter 33
Bellamy
I watch Ever testing out her game system with Arson, heart in my throat. She’s so damn beautiful, throwing herself into it with unabashed enthusiasm. Not to mention the patience of a saint, because the demon is embarrassingly hopeless at video games.
But it doesn’t even matter that he sucks so much, because he’s just so damn happy to spend time with her that it makes my chest ache.
Thank the Fates my team listened and stood down. Sure, the guys were freaking out when they realized it was me texting them after I disappeared on everyone, but after a picture for proof of life and confirmations that I was okay, they were willing to accept that my retrieval request was a false alarm, buying the excuse that I was on a top secret recon mission and thought I found a mimic, but was wrong, so don’t blow my cover and I’d return as soon as I could.
“When you reach a pause point, can I talk to you?”
Ever glances up, brow furrowing in concern at whatever she sees on my face. “Sure, you caught us before the boss battle, so I can save real quick. Everything okay?”
I suck in a shuddering breath and admit, “Not really, no.”
Ledger chooses that moment to stride into the room, drying his hands on a grease-stained rag. “Alright, your oil’s changed.”
Ever frowns harder. “You didn’t have to do that.”
He pins her with a droll look. “ Someone had to if you weren’t going to worry about it. It’s a miracle that hunk of junk is even still running with the way you abuse it.”
“In my defense, it runs just fine,” she counters. “If the check engine light ever came on, I’d take it in.”
“It’s been on,” he argues.
Ever blinks. “Is that what that light means? Huh. You learn something new everyday.”
Before Ledger’s head explodes, I get us back on track. “Can someone get Myles? I’d rather only say this once.”
Concern slashes through Ledger’s annoyance as he texts his roommate, and five minutes later the four of them are situated on the couch staring at me while I wring my sweaty hands.
“What’s going on?” Myles asks, breaking the tense silence.
“I… have something I need to confess.”
The others exchange worried glances, so I suck in a breath and blurt, “I’m a mimic. And Ever is too.”
Stunned silence surrounds me, my anxiety ratcheting up higher with every passing moment that no one says anything.
Arson grabs Ever’s hand, setting it back on his head until she absentmindedly goes back to running her fingers through his hair and he closes his eyes, completely uninterested in the bombshell I just dropped.
Ledger, on the other hand, looks like he’s about to pop a blood vessel. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” As I tentatively shake my head, that throbbing vein at his temple threatens to burst. “You mean to tell me that I’ve spent weeks scouring for information to help her, and you’ve been, what? Laughing at us behind our backs? Planning to run off with her when you realized we’d already figured out what she was?”
Before I can get a word in edgewise, something dawns on him, and he gapes at me. “ That’s why you were acting weird the day we went to the electronics store and didn’t want Ever to come with us, isn’t it? You saw what I was reading and wanted to get me out of the house so you could try to deal with me ?”
Myles blanches. “Shit, guys. Don’t say anything else.” While he bolts from the room, I endure Ledger’s murderous glare, Ever’s hurt confusion, and Arson’s… complete disregard as he soaks up Ever’s attention like a needy lap dog.
Myles quickly returns with a device and switches it on. “Okay, no worries about anyone eavesdropping now.” As soon as his hands are free, he whirls around and shoves me. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
I raise my hands in surrender. “I wasn’t planning to attack Ledger, per say. Just… cut his brake lines a little and bail out.”
I probably should have assumed that wouldn’t be a point in my favor.
Shouting to be heard over all of the chaos, I snap, “Look, you’ve got to understand. Everything I did was to protect Ever. You don’t have the first Fates-damned clue what supernaturals do to mimics!”
Hesitantly, Ever asks, “Force-bond them?”
“Worse.” My knees ache as I drop to them in front of her, clasping her hand in mine. “You have no idea what a bloodbath our history is, beautiful. It’s a miracle you’re even alive out here, and unbonded at that. Most mimics that don’t make it home are either hunted down because mysts ignorantly think we’re some kind of monsters trying to steal their powers and make them permanently human, or hunters that treat us like unicorns. Hunt us down, force-bond us, then lock us away so we can’t borrow their powers, but they get to keep the power boost they gain from cementing the bonds.”
Myles rubs the back of his neck, avoiding everyone’s eyes. “It really was far beyond the surge I imagined. It’s like I snorted cocaine and am still riding the high a week later.”
My heart plummets to my stomach like a lead balloon. “You completed the bond?”
Ever sits up straighter, fire flashing in her violet eyes. “Yes, but I chose to cross that line. He never once pressured me.”
Can’t kill the mage, can’t kill the mage.
Running a shaky hand through my snowy hair, I blow out a heavy breath. “Okay. That’s good. The stronger your mates are, the better they’ll be able to protect you.”
Ledger narrows his judgemental eyes. “Don’t pressure her into rushing things out of fear. We can protect her just fine without a power boost.”
“Fuck, no I didn’t mean…” I scrub my hands down my face in frustration.
Myles takes a seat on the arm of the couch beside Ever. “So that’s why you hate mysts? Because you’re a mimic?” At my tentative nod, he adds in confusion, “But you’re already marked. You’re safe from being forcibly bonded, right?”
Arson places his palm over the back of Ever’s hand, encouraging her to scratch his head again. “Sure, Snow White’s already been stamped, but people might kill him for being the Boogeyman. He’s just twitchy because he was going to steal our girl for himself, but now that she’s bonded Myles, he’s pivoting to team Ever-marked.”
Ledger snorts. “That has a certain ring to it.”
The demon beams. “Right?”
I scowl. “How could you possibly know that?”
Arson’s soulless gaze stares back at me without an ounce of hesitation. “Because I know what it’s like to be treated like a monster. But Ever changes everything.”
Holding his piercing stare, I reluctantly nod. “You’re right.”
Myles fiddles with his glasses. “When you say home, does that mean you live with a bunch of other mimics?”
I snap my mouth hard so fast, I bite my tongue. The elders would kill me for saying even this much.
But… if I’m asking these men to put their lives on the line to protect me and my mate, trust has to start somewhere.
“Yes,” I whisper, the final nail in my coffin sealing my fate for better or for worse. “I won’t tell you where; that’s not my secret to share and puts everyone in the community at risk, but… yeah. The ones we could find are hidden from supernatural society so nobody will ever use and abuse any of us again.”
Ledger drops into his chair, resting one arm loosely on his knees while the other hand rubs his temple. “I think you need to start at the beginning. You keep talking about being taken advantage of, but I’ve never even heard a rumor that mimics are anything more than a myth.”
Wiping my sweaty palms on my thighs, I burn off some of the nervous energy by wearing a groove into the floor, debating where to start. “People hate feeling powerless, that’s a fact as old as time, and worse where supernaturals are concerned. So it’s no surprise that most mysts hated us from the very beginning out of fear, even if we don’t actually take anyone’s ability away permanently. Probably why nature decided to make mimics naturally beautiful with unusual coloring, we draw people to be attracted to us as a defense mechanism. Unfortunately, in an extra survival adaptation, our mates are granted a notable powerboost that far surpasses typical bondings. But instead of treating us like something special to be protected, it just made the people that hate us covet us like a rare beast to be owned. Tamed.”
Clenching my fist, I exhale slowly. “My great-great grandmother managed to escape her chains and slit the warlord’s throat that ripped her from her family and forcibly bonded her. On her way out of the camp, she saved three others, and they fled the country with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Deep in the wilderness, the four of them created a safe haven, rescuing orphaned supernatural children that were too young to have learned to hate us yet. Those kids grew into the first retrieval team that ventured farther out into the world in search of mimics and other abandoned myst children that needed a home.
“Now though, that’s my job. I research everything from my office and find the targets, plan the extractions down to the letter. We’ve only had one severe injury since I took over, and that was over a decade ago. But day in and day out I see it; what people are capable of. The rapes. Murders. Brutality. Nobody is safe out here, but especially Ever.”
“Fuck, Bell,” Ledger rasps, finally understanding where I’m coming from.
“So you can’t go home now thanks to me?” Ever asks, worrying her bottom lip. “Since the guys are adults, I mean. They already wear my mark, though, so it’s not like they’re a risk of bonding anyone.”
“No, but they could hurt them. Sell them off. People pay out the ass on the black market for an unbonded mimic. You might not have heard of us, but there are plenty of people that grew up with grandparents passing down stories that believe them enough to go looking. And by the time I can track those poor people down… the damage is already done. We might be able to rescue them, but they'll never be the same.”
The frown on Arson’s face raises my hackles. “I know what it sounds like, but we’re not cowards afraid of our own shadows, okay? We’re cautious because the world has proven time and time again that they don’t see us as actual people. We’re fuckable pets to them that come with a power boost, or monsters that need to be put down out of misplaced fear.”
Ever squirms in her seat. “So you want to go home?”
“I thought I did,” I whisper, feeling like a traitor to everyone I love. “But then I heard those strangers worried about these guys holding you hostage, and it was from a genuine place of concern instead of just trying to score a spot in your bond group. I saw Myles lay out your shitty ex in one punch because he insulted you. And… I saw Ledger take the blows that were meant for me when he didn’t have to. You would've been fine, but he jumped in like I mattered too, and,” I swallow, forcing myself to meet each of their faces.
“And I realized it isn’t so bad out here when you have people at your side to face the dangers head on. Back home? It’s safe, but it’s a bubble. A gilded cage. I want more out of life than that. I want to be able to walk down the street like I have just as much right to be there as every other supernatural creature. I want a real life. Now thanks to you, Ever, I actually have a chance. And I don’t want to throw it away out of fear when fear has controlled my entire life up to now.”
Arson snorts, gesturing to his leg. “Quit being so dramatic, you fit in around here just fine.”
Myles rolls his eyes, a half-smile curving his lips. “You’ll have to train her in secret until she’s more equipped to defend herself, but remember; you’re not in this alone, Bellamy.”
“Between the four of us? Nobody’s touching our girl.” Ledger claps me hard on the back, sending me stumbling forward. “So breathe, brother. Maybe you can’t go home, but you'll always have a place with us here.”