Chapter 29 #2
He’s an enclave heir. I’m a mythical beast and . . . what? His boyfriend? I don’t own slacks or reading glasses. I’m a bartender. I’m not the guy you bring home to meet your parents. I know my basilisk should be kept secret. He doesn’t have to keep rubbing it in.
“Your face is loud.” Alistair nudges me with his shoulder.
Ciprian narrows his eyes at me. “Why do you look like that?”
I grit my teeth. “What do I look like?”
“Like you’re mad at me. Like I did something wrong,” he scoffs. “I’ve seen that expression on a hundred different faces, Luca; but I didn’t expect to see it on yours.”
What is he talking about? I’m terrified for Celine and worried about Malach. He is, too. This is no time to pick a fight, but for once, I can’t smooth things over. I’m too raw, and his attitude is pissing me off.
The best I can do is keep my mouth shut.
But my silence makes things worse.
Ciprian storms ahead, pushing inside the enclave’s administrative wing and leading us to a conference room with a scarred wooden table and smooth leather seats.
“I think you’re in trouble,” Ali mutters to me.
“What the fuck did I do?” I shake my head as I stare at Ciprian’s stiff back.
Alistair shrugs. “I think the time has come for all of us to stop assuming the worst. It’s a trait that served us in the Fringes, but now—this future we’re building won’t be real if we tear it down before it’s had time to grow.”
“You’re mixing your metaphors,” I grumble. “Are we a building or a bush?”
“Who cares?” Alistair says. “I’ll be a building, a bush, or a godsdamn blimp if it means I’m not alone again.” He sits down and opens his laptop, focusing his attention on the screen before I can think of a comeback.
Ciprian slides into a chair on the opposite side of the round table, his eyes landing briefly on the seat to his left.
It’s the same size as the others, but the creases are deeper.
His father’s chair? I want to ask. To check in and see if he’s okay, but there’s too much tension hanging between us.
Before I decide what to do, Gideon and Sheena join us.
“I can’t wait to hear about your bond!” Gideon’s voice is loud and friendly, his gaze flickering to golden as he settles in his chair. “Did Ciprian tell you that he’s the one who spilled the beans about our bond to Sheena?”
He nudges her, but she’s focused on Ciprian, and her forehead is creased. “He was looking out for me,” she says. “After someone decided to keep secrets from the clueless djinn.”
Gods, they’re sharing private information like it’s nothing. I force a smile, but it’s tight on my face. “Thank you for agreeing to talk about this.” I scrub a hand through my hair. “I know it’s a sensitive topic.”
“We’re happy to help,” Sheena says. They’re being kind, but I’m struggling to remain polite. My bartender charm is buried beneath mountains of worry, a thin ribbon of light, and a basilisk who’s threatened by the massive shifter across from us.
He’s not a threat, I tell him, wincing as my fangs poke through my gums.
“Can you tell me about your bond?” Sheena asks.
I exhale, and the sound is too loud in the open room. “Yeah, sure. Celine and I bonded because the portal wouldn’t let me off the realm otherwise.”
Sheena frowns.
Gideon leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. His golden eyes dig a hole in my face. “You didn’t want it?” Each word is dripping with judgment. Shit, he thinks I’m an asshole, and maybe I am, but I don’t want him questioning me. He doesn’t have a clue what we’ve been through.
“I wanted it,” I hiss. “But I didn’t want it badly enough to kill my girlfriend for it.” My hands are trembling. I drag them under the table and hide them in my lap. Get it together.
Sheena and Gideon exchange a glance. “Why would it have killed her, Luca?” Sheena’s voice is soothing. She’s trying to turn the temperature down. Normally, I would be first in line to help her, but my basilisk doesn’t want me talking about the bond.
I glance at Ciprian, but he won’t make eye contact.
My stomach twists. “I’m dangerous, okay?” I bite down on my lip ring as cold creeps behind my eyes. “Ciprian doesn’t want you to know that, but I’m not the same kind of shifter as you, Therion. Even if we both lived on the home realm, we’d be worlds apart.”
Gideon meets my gaze without fear. “You’re a monster,” he says quietly.
“Don’t call him that,” Ciprian snaps.
“Chill out, squirt.” Gideon punches his arm playfully. “I’m not talking shit about your boyfriend. I think he’s cool—whatever he is.”
I freeze, Ciprian shifts in his seat, and Alistair chuckles, exchanging a conspiratorial glance with Sheena.
It’s annoying, but I can’t focus on it because I’m too surprised by Gideon’s easy acceptance.
He was born at the top of the heap, and he’ll likely die there, too.
We may have the same realm of origin, but his kind are always taught to hate and fear mine.
There’s no way he accepts me as a permanent part of Ciprian’s life. I’m going to prove it.
“I’m a basilisk,” I say, laying the deadly truth out there.
Alistair pins me beneath a narrow-eyed stare, and I look away.
Gideon shoots from his chair, and it wobbles wildly before Sheena grabs the arm and steadies it.
“That. Is. Awesome.” He claps Ciprian on the back.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” Turning back to me, his grin widens.
“I’ve been trying to get Idris to take me to see some of the monsters in the fae realm, but he won’t do it. ”
Sheena groans. “Don’t even think about asking Luca to—”
“Can I watch you shift? I’ve never seen a basilisk—fuck, no one has.
This is amazing.” He ruffles Ciprian’s hair.
“You’re a good liar, you know that? All ‘Luca has a lip ring. Luca makes the best drinks. Luca is so hot.’ I assumed he was some boring coyote shifter, and you were hiding the cool shit all along. ”
Wait, what? My fangs retreat, and I swallow the bitter venom coating my tongue.
I’ve got a bad feeling I just fucked up.
“See?” Ciprian glares at me and shakes his head. “I told you not to say anything, and now you’ve opened a can of worms. Gideon is almost impossible to say no to.”
“I-I thought,” I sputter. “I thought you were ashamed of me.”
Gideon sits back down, but the smile never drops from his face. “Ashamed of you?” He chuckles. “Bro, Ciprian is obsessed with you.”
“Thanks, Gideon,” Ciprian says drily. “You’re helping a lot.”
“You’re welcome.” Gideon kisses Sheena’s cheek, ignoring the elbow she jams into his ribs.
“Have you practiced using the bond to locate Celine?” Sheena asks.
I pull my focus away from Ciprian and Gideon and shake my head. “Is it possible?”
She rubs the heel of her hand over her heart and twists her lips into a half smile.
“Yeah, it is. Gideon is better at it than me, though. We think it’s because he’s a shifter and I’m not.
He experienced a directional tug, even before we bonded.
” A vivid blush spreads across her cheeks.
“It got a lot stronger after we made things official.”
“Focus on the bond now.” Gideon braces his elbows on the table. “What do you feel?”
I close my eyes, checking in on the ribbon of light in my chest. “I feel her. She’s stressed and . . . bloodthirsty.”
Ali snorts. “Sounds about right.”
“What else?” Sheena asks. “You already know where she’s going, but if you didn’t, what would the bond tell you?”
I focus harder. At first, there’s nothing but her emotions, which are fainter than they would be if we were in the same room. Underneath them, though, there’s a distant tugging sensation. “I found it,” I whisper. “It’s weak, but if I needed to follow it, I think I could.”
A large piece of my stress falls away. I’m still scared, but this is a solid failsafe. If Celine doesn’t come back through the gateway soon, we’ll figure out a way to follow her—and our bond may be the key.
I put Celine’s life at risk for this connection. The least I can do is use it to save her if the time comes.