Chapter 11 – Farrah
I’m more than pissed.
What does he mean we’re bonded?
Fated mates?
With a gargoyle?
Like Xander and Evangeline?
Growing up I…
I let the thought die out because Locheran clearly spoke in my mind earlier. Does that mean I can project my thoughts to him as well?
He can’t know—
“Know what?” he asks, picking himself up from the destruction in my living room.
“Get out of my fucking head!” I scream and clutch my temples.
Evangeline joins me on the couch and wraps her arm around my shoulders. “We’ll figure this out, okay?”
Her embrace helps calm me, and I’m thankful for the magical ability in this moment.
“My mom’s coming over. There has to be an explanation. Locheran would never intentionally initiate the mating bond without your consent. You know that, right?”
I nod and sniffle, not even realizing I started crying. Then I grimace because I can’t imagine how Loch must feel. He’s slowly cleaning up the destroyed coffee table, his eyes down.
I want to tell him that I’m scared. Because of who I am. I’m worried that my family will…
Fuck! I can’t even think this out without the possibility of him being in my head.
“I can leave,” he whispers, which only makes me cry harder.
Locheran is always so outgoing and confident, yet after one night with me, he looks like I’ve taken his heart and kicked it to the moon.
He snorts, clearly hearing the silent words.
Not. Funny. I think back at him and drop my head into my hands and groan.
“It’ll take some time to learn how to block him out. Believe me,” Evangeline says, tapping her temple. “I know how annoying it can be to hear someone else’s voice in your head.”
Right. She went through this. She can be here for me.
Locheran is creeping toward the door, as if waiting for me to stop him. I desperately want him to leave so I can think in peace, yet my chest tightens at the idea of him being gone.
That’s the bond too. It’ll get better.
I jump at his voice again. I don’t know how I’ll ever get used to it being inside my head.
You can stay, but I will punch you again if you don’t stop listening to my thoughts. I don’t want to hear yours either!
“Yes, ma’am,” he says out loud, his face lighting up with that charming smile I’m used to seeing.
My stomach flips because this handsome gargoyle is mine?
My mate.
I have a ton of questions about how this will work if I’m human. I’ll grow old and die while he’ll live on as a modelesque monster.
Before Locheran can jump in to answer, because I know he’s still listening despite saying he won’t, there’s a knock at the door.
Xander crosses my small dining and kitchen area to let in Evangeline’s mother, Mira. She’s a woman of few words, and I’m pretty sure she hates me. She barely said two words to me at Evangeline’s wedding and gave me the side eye a few times. Like she was trying to figure me out.
Now my face heats because she’s here to figure out the accidental mating bond, which means she’ll know what Locheran and I did. She’ll know that we bit each other during… sex. I’m already embarrassed.
But the embarrassment helps lower the adrenaline coursing through my body… only to be replaced by aches—between my legs, my thighs, my neck.
My hand rises to where Locheran bit me. It’s covered with a bandage and doesn’t hurt as bad as I expected. When my fingers press down on the mark, mild pleasure shoots through me. I take my bottom lip between my teeth to stop my moan.
What the fuck? That was weird.
Xander and Evangeline are busy greeting her mother and didn’t notice, but Locheran did. He stares at me, eyes hooded.
Did he feel that too?
Yes.
I’m about to tell him to stop looking at me like he’s seconds from devouring me—because I might just let him—but Evangeline leads her mom into the living room.
Mira stops in front of me with a frown.
“You’ve been freed.”
My lips part in surprise, my eyes darting between Evangeline who stands to her right and Xander who’s on her left before returning to the older woman.
“There’s still a great deal of magic surrounding you.”
“Me?”
My heart thuds frantically. Does she know?
Know what?
Once again, I nearly jump out of my skin at Locheran’s voice in my head.
None of your business.
You’re my mate! I deserve to know.
Mate by accident!
The words are harsh, but maybe if I can get Locheran to hate me, he won’t want to be tethered to me. It’s not like it’s forever. Just until I grow old and die. He won’t want to be with me when my skin starts sagging and my hair turns gray.
As my mate, my immortality has been shared with you.
What?
Mira interrupts our silent exchange.
“Can I have a moment alone with Farrah?” she asks the room.
“Of course,” Evangeline says, grabbing Locheran by the arm to drag him out of the apartment. Xander quietly follows.
“Won’t they be able to hear us?” I ask. “Supernatural hearing and all?”
Mira smiles. It’s forced. Concerned. But she shakes her head and lifts a hand to twirl her finger. Static energy fills the room, causing the hairs on my arms to stand, but it’s gone within seconds.
“What was that?”
“You felt that?” Mira asks, raising a brow. She sits down next to me on the couch. “I implemented a shield so we can speak freely.”
I inhale sharply, then slowly let out the breath.
Mira turns to me, and I do the same, allowing her to take my hands into hers. The creases around her eyes grow the longer she peers into my soul—at least, that’s what it feels like.
I shift in my seat.
What can she see?
When her concern morphs into compassion, she releases my hands.
“You’re a hunter,” she says.
Panic whirls within me, nearly making it difficult to breathe.
“I’m not, I swear. Not like them…”
“I know dear.”
Tears begin trickling down my cheeks.
“But how did you know?”
She wraps her arm around my shoulders, her nearness immediately comforting me.
Like Evangeline. She must have the same calming gift.
“You felt me casting the spell for the privacy shield. Humans can’t do that.
I also tried to get a read on you when we first met.
Human minds are easier to read. Not yours.
The blocks protecting your thoughts and memories are ones I haven’t encountered in decades.
I knew of only one like it: a hunter. Mally O’Hern. ”
My bottom lip shakes. “My father.”
Mira nods. “I met him the day your family moved to town. He’d been out in the woods where I often found solace.
I hid from him because he gave off an aura of malice.
I needed to know why he was near my home, so I followed him.
A quarter of a mile later, I watched him walk into the home next door where your family was moving in boxes and furniture.
“I observed for hours, thankfully no one spotted me—my cloaking abilities are incredibly strong. I watched as weapons were hauled in. Specialized weapons. Ones used to kill monsters. That’s when I realized a hunter family was moving in.”
She pauses with a frown, remembering that time in her life.
“This isn’t something I’ve shared with Evangeline, but I will after tonight.
Your father is one of the reasons I was ripped from her life.
When I realized monster hunters were moving into town, I tried to warn the local coven.
But the witches didn’t care. Witches are notoriously cocky when it comes to their magic.
Many consider themselves invincible. Still, I didn’t want to stay if monster hunters were moving in.
I went to Evangeline’s father and tried to explain that we were in danger, and he needed to move us away.
He was already fed up with me trying to convince him evil was targeting our daughter.
He refused to do anything, calling me insane and paranoid.
“Still, I never gave up hope to convince Evangeline’s father to leave.
Word eventually got around to the coven that I was ‘blabbing my mouth.’ I was given a spell suppressant and the witches who claimed to be my friends helped Evangeline’s father send me to the psychiatric hospital.
Thankfully, I had already placed protection spells on Evangeline, so the hunters next door wouldn’t be able to discover what she was, even if her powers were dormant.
I didn’t take the chance, especially after learning they were O’Hern hunters, incredibly strong and dangerous. ”
My heart hurts for the woman. She was forced to give up her life, her daughter, all because she tried to protect her.
Mira clears her throat and takes a drink from the water bottle she brought with her.
“I’d heard Mally had sons. I didn’t know about a daughter.
At least, I never saw you around the O’Hern property before I was sent away.
Evangeline had said she invited you to our home when you were kids, but my memory isn’t what it used to be.
I don’t remember much from that time and that includes you.
“That’s why I never questioned you about the shield.
I could have been wrong. I’ve been out of practice all those years in the hospital.
While the spell suppressant faded over time, I was rusty when it came to using my magic.
And tapping into my powers to help save Evangeline’s life when she was almost killed by her ex nearly took it all out of me.
Plus, I didn’t sense any malice from you. ”
“You said humans are easier to read. You don’t think I’m human?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I’ve long believed monster hunters are cursed beings. They skirt a line between supernatural and mortal worlds.”
I never truly considered hunters to be supernatural, but I suppose we kinda are. I also believe that we are cursed, just like gargoyles and vampires. We were given strength. We were given the ability to decipher monsters disguised as humans. But we were also plagued with hate and greed.
We can still die and be injured, but our injuries heal slightly faster. We also age slower. My father is sixty-five but aside from his white streaked hair, he resembles a forty-year-old man in age.
But we also don’t live for hundreds of years. Or a thousand like Xander and Locheran.
As for Mira not knowing about an O’Hern daughter, I’m not surprised. I doubt anyone did. Especially after I refused to take part in the family business.
“You need to tell them,” Mira says, her voice full of understanding. No judgment. No fear of what I’m capable of.
A sense of relief washes over me at the idea of finally letting this secret go.
It’s why I have no hesitation, and say, “Okay. I’ll tell them.”
“They’ll understand.” She stands and walks to the door. “Now, let’s bring them back in and try to figure out this fated mate bond between you and the gargoyle soldier.”