Chapter 10
ten
MERRILY
There was a text waiting for me when I slipped back out of the bedroom an hour later.
Rae
It's on
I’ll be back with clothes for you in about two hours
My lips curved upward.
Me
Thank you
Rae
We should be the ones thanking you
Me
For fighting for my fated mate?
I don't think so
Rae
You didn't even want him
Me
I wanted him, I was just scared
Still am, I guess
My family and I even discussed abducting him before he could abduct me
Rae
Damn
You guys really are crazy
Me
We prefer the term unhinged these days
Rae
Lol
I worked for a little while, but was interrupted shortly before Rae was supposed to get there, when Darius came walking into the house right on time.
While I hadn't admitted it to Liv, I'd already planned on getting him more time with Rae. His interest in her was unusual for him, and if there was a way to convince her to make a bargain with him, I wanted him to have that. Even if it was just so he was sure she didn't belong to him.
"I need to drop some of these bargains. My skin itches so fucking badly," Darius grumbled, shuffling into the kitchen with what had to be the world's largest cup of iced coffee in his hand. "I'm exhausted. Being a barista is no joke."
"How many new bargains did you make?"
"I don't know. At least a couple hundred. People will do anything for a free cup of coffee. I should've been hanging out there instead of at the nightclubs for the last fucking century." Darius plopped down in the chair beside me, letting out a long breath. "We need food. Do you have food?"
My phone lit up, and I looked down at a message from Callum.
Callum
Let me know when you're heading out so we can make sure someone's with him
Me
Thanks
Callum
What are you doing about the demon?
Me
Maybe if you weren't known for meddling, I would've told you already
Callum
My meddling got Liv back together with her soulmate
Me
One right doesn't fix a wrong
Callum
I gave you plenty of time
I'll figure out your plan, too
I sent him an eye-rolling emoji.
"Callum's warning you not to leave my side again, right?" Darius asked.
"He's actually threatening to figure out my plan and meddle again if he doesn't approve of it."
"There's a plan now?" Dare checked, glancing over me. I lifted an eyebrow at him. "Right. Of course there's a plan now. What is it?"
"You'll find out pretty soon."
"I really fucking hope it involves food."
"It doesn't. I think you'll like it more, though."
"More than food? Not likely."
Shadows gathered in the kitchen, and Rae appeared in the center of them.
Darius blinked. "I stand corrected."
Rae straight-up ignored him, striding over and setting a small bundle of shiny, black clothes beside me on the counter. "Mia and Charity would like their help to be considered part of an alliance."
"We've been allied with the demons since I made that bargain with Grayson," I pointed out.
"We've had your backs repeatedly with the Cabinet even when your people are full of shit," Darius added.
The fact that he was aware of it said just how often it happened, because Dare had been checked out from the Cabinet since before the first meeting took place.
Rae shot us a deadpanned look. "I brought the message because they promised me free food. I'm not a fucking politician." She lifted herself smoothly up onto the countertop, across the kitchen from us. There was a solid six feet between us, but I could still feel Dare's magic warming up.
Whether or not he was doing it on purpose, I didn't know. I doubted it, though. He rarely did.
"What kind of food are you getting? We can share," Dare said.
"I don't share." Rae's response was immediate.
"Sharing is caring."
"Fuck off with that shit."
Darius snorted. "Has anyone ever told you you're prickly?"
"If they did, they would be dead."
"If you kill me, the wards fall. You're out of luck on that one, porcupine."
"No. Call me that again, and I'm leaving."
"I could go with cactus."
"Easy. Your magic is firing," I murmured, slipping off my chair, slowly. "I'm going to change."
"Sorry." He glanced my way.
"It's fine." I headed toward the spare room, taking tiny steps so the overstimulation wouldn't send me spiraling into a panic attack.
"What does your magic do?" Rae asked Dare.
"It's hard to say."
"Fine, don't tell me." Rae rolled her eyes.
Darius snorted. "You really are prickly. Who knew shadows could be sharp."
"Anyone who knows a damn thing about demons."
"My magic is complicated. It makes people feel good, like they’re getting off.
It feels like pleasure, but the intensity is different for different people.
All of them are drawn toward me, but not in the way they’re drawn to a siren.
They don't want me. They just want whatever feelings my magic gives them. "
"That sounds awful," Rae said bluntly, as I walked slowly toward the spare bedroom.
"People usually ask if they can feel it." Darius sounded amused. He agreed that it was awful—he just wouldn't admit it. Not to someone he barely knew. He'd only confessed it to me once, a few decades earlier, when he was in a particularly low place.
"No thanks."
Dare chuckled. "Alright. What's Mer planning this time?"
I closed the bedroom door behind me.
It took longer than it should've to change, and I had to breathe through the overwhelm as the unfamiliar, uncomfortable fabric clung to my skin.
My plan was going to be more difficult than I had realized, if my overwhelm continued to ride me this hard.
Shit.
"I kind of wish I could be there to see it," Rae agreed, as I opened the bedroom door and slipped out.
"You could. It’s not like anyone can keep you out, and I doubt Darke is the one hiding you away," Darius said.
"Of course not. I just don't like people, and going to that thing would require being around them. A lot of them."
"My magic catches everyone's attention. Sit with me, and they'll be too busy trying to touch me to bother you," Dare offered.
Rae made a face. "I don't know..."
"If he's offering to help you without a bargain, I'd run with it," I said quietly, my hands tucked in the pockets of the soft, oversized cardigan I'd pulled on over my clothes. "He doesn't really do that."
"He did ask me to bargain with him already." Rae rolled her eyes toward me again like it was an inside joke between us.
"You laughed at me when I offered," Darius pointed out.
"I laughed at the idea that you think fate might have paired us together. I have no intention of ever mating with someone, and I’m not particularly interested in sex. Fate can't possibly hate you that much."
"Have you ever tried sex?" Darius checked.
"Some things don't need to be tried."
"Well if you ever change your mind, you know I'll make a bargain for it." Darius winked at her, putting that asshole mask back on.
He was an asshole. It wasn't all a mask.
But he was a loving asshole. No one cared as fiercely as Darius did, even when he didn't show it.
"I'm sure I'll take you up on that." Rae's voice dripped with sarcasm.
I managed a small smile.
They got along surprisingly well, all things considered.
"So people are going to know she's his mate when they see his shadows stuck to her like that?" Darius asked.
"Yeah. You can't make shadows cling to someone you don't have a mate bond with. Not like that. They're repelled by most people."
"So if you tried to wrap yours around me..." Darius trailed off.
"I wouldn't. But if I did, they'd refuse."
"Try it," he dared her.
I almost thought he might've been trying to see how her magic felt to him.
"No." She glanced at me, her lips curving slightly when she saw me in the outfit. "He's going to lose his shit when he sees you baring so much of your skin and your scars. That's pretty fucking ballsy. I had mine covered with ink."
Dare's attention had never wandered from the Wraith. "You have scars?"
"Yeah. Guess all three of us can bond over our childhood trauma. Woohoo." Her voice was dry again. "I prefer showing off the ink."
"Tattoos and bargain marks don't always mesh well," I explained. "Bargain marks have life of their own."
"And they fucking itch when you have enough of them," Dare said.
"How many do you have?" Rae asked.
"I don't know. At least a million. Don't want to let any of them go, or I'll end up making deals with people I already know aren't mine."
"You'll find a cute little coffee nerd soon," I promised him.
"Coffee nerd?" Rae looked skeptical. "I can't see you with a little werewolf like that blonde Callum is with."
I couldn't, either.
I wasn't going to say that, though.
Dare's stomach growled loudly, and he changed the subject. "Do we have time to stop for food?"
I let out a slow breath, closing my eyes as a wave of overwhelm hit me.
"I'll grab something on the way out," he said instead. "Want to wait in the car?"
"Probably a good call," I murmured, heading slowly in the direction of his sports car. It had a back seat, so I could ride back there when I was overwhelmed. The distance helped a little.
"What do you have to eat?" Rae slid off the countertop and opened Dare's fridge before he got to it. "Oh my god, you have Chinese food? I live on Chinese takeout food."
"I was going to eat that," Dare said pointedly, as Rae carried the glass container of leftovers toward the microwave without asking permission.
"It's mine now. Sorry." She didn't sound sorry.
He didn't sound annoyed when he snorted. "Fine. I think I have corn dogs in the freezer."
"Corn dogs? Gross."
"They're delicious, and someone stole my other food."
"At least I didn't murder you for basically offering to fuck me in exchange for a piece of my soul a few minutes ago."
Darius barked out a laugh. "I'd let go of your soul afterward. I wouldn't accidentally bargain with you twice."
The door into the garage shut behind me, separating me from the pair.
I let out a slow breath as I made my way to the car.
The overwhelm was brutal.
Everything felt big and loud and difficult.