Kenya
Dae left Killian’s house walking like his shoes didn’t touch the ground. I watched from the window, elbows propped on the sill, and smiled sadly, wishing I could be happy for him.
I flexed my fingers against the wood as he melted in with the humans heading to Bourbon Street, where the strip club was located.
A genius idea when Killian first opened it, it fed us well for years in more ways than one.
But the money coming into the club decreased with every mating as the guys traded the spotlight on the stage for a more monogamous lifestyle.
And now with Dae probably retiring from the stage, I feared the club was doomed for failure.
Humans just didn't have the same allure.
But that wasn't the reason for the unease in my gut that wouldn't go away.
Alex leaned against the doorframe behind me, arms crossed over his wide chest. The warmth of his gaze prickled against the back of my neck before he even spoke. “He's a big boy, honey. He'll be okay.”
“I’m just thinking.”
“Of course, you are.”
I turned to find him watching me with those golden, too-knowing eyes.
His dark magic hummed against my skin even from across the room, a slow-burning ember I could feel even without touching him.
He’d woken something when he pulled that curse out of me—something old, and hungry, and tied to blood.
But right now, all I cared about was the tight set of his jaw, and the way his fingers tapped an impatient rhythm against his bicep. He knew where this was going.
Talin sat at the dining table, one knee drawn up to her chest, looking down at her cell phone. She'd planted herself there after kissing Elias goodbye when he left to open the club. Her vest was partially unbuttoned, and her dark hair was tied back in a messy knot.
I tore my eyes from my mate. “Talin.”
Her green eyes flicked up to mine.
"Are you ready?" I asked her.
"Whenever you are."
"Wait." Alex took a step into the room, his arms falling to his sides and his eyes going back and forth between the two of us. "What are you doing?"
“I'm going to threadwalk, find Alice and Dae's connection, and see what Kenya's being all twitchy about,” Talin told him matter-of-factly.
Alex gave a humorless laugh. “No.”
“I don't remember asking you.” I kept my voice even.
He took three steps toward me, stopping just inside my space. Close enough I was surrounded by the dark spice of his scent, the quiet rasp of his breathing. “You are asking me. Because if you do this, you’re using my sister like a fucking divining rod without her consent.”
Putting one hand over his heart, I tried to calm him down. “I just want to know if she’s safe.”
“Why wouldn't she be safe? Did Dae-Jung—”
I cut him off before he could even finish that thought. “Don't be ridiculous.”
"Then what's going on?"
I wished I didn't have to tell him until I knew for sure if what I suspected was true. “Dae told me her aura's changing.”
Alex stilled.
Talin picked up her phone again, ignoring us.
“He said her aura has gold threads now,” I told him. “But she didn’t have that before.”
Alex’s jaw worked. “What are you saying?”
My other hand joined my first, both palms pressing over the steady thump of his heart.
His warmth seeped into my skin through his shirt.
“I'm saying I'm worried that Marcus is still inside her.
Dae seems to think it's just her djinn side emerging, but I think he's full of shit.
You've both had djinn blood inside of you your entire lives.
" I paused to make sure he was following.
"Your aura didn't change after you tapped into yours to save me. Why would Alice's?”
For a few heartbeats, he just stared at me. Then his large hand closed over both of mine, rough calluses scraping my knuckles. “If it’s nothing, we don't tell her. It stays in this room and she never knows.”
I nodded. "Exactly. But if it's something, she needs to know. They both do."
His thumb brushed the inside of my wrist once. A concession. Then he stepped back. "All right," he told Talin. "Go ahead."
Talin exhaled loudly and set her phone down. “Fine. But if I see something wrong—if I feel something wrong—I’m pulling out. No arguments. I'm not messing with that thing alone again.”
"Of course not," I told her. "I'd never ask you to do that."
She gave me a look like she didn't quite believe me, but Talin didn't really trust anyone. Except Elias.
We moved to the front room. Talin sat cross-legged on the couch, hands open on her knees, eyes closed. Her breathing evened out, slow and measured, as she did whatever she did to enable her to see the threads that connected us all.
I began to count.
One. Two. Three…
A soft sound of relief escaped her. A small, pleased breath. “There you are,” she said more to herself than to us. "I found her," she said, louder. "And Dae."
Four. Five…
Her lips parted slightly, and her fingers twitched, like she was reaching for something just out of view.
Six. Seven. Eight…
Her breath cut off mid-draw, and her hands curled slowly into fists, knuckles whitening. A single, fractured whisper slipped loose: “The gold’s not hers… it’s wearing—”
A choked sound cut off her words. Her back arched.
I was on my feet before my brain caught up to what I was doing, Alex right behind me. Taking her by the shoulders, I called her name. But her body was rigid, trembling, her face tipped toward the ceiling. Blood beaded at her nose, slow and thick.
Alex moved around me and caught her just as her spine bowed forward sharply, one arm locking around her waist, the other bracing her head before it could crack against the coffee table. Her breath stuttered like something had its fist around her lungs and squeezed.
Her lips moved. “It—it sees me—”
Her eyes flew open but all we could see were the whites.
Cold punched through my ribs like a blade. Shit.
Shit, shit, shit!
Just as quickly as it happened, Talin went limp in Alex’s arms.
I was already yanking my phone out and calling Dae.
It went straight to voicemail.
“Fuck.” I redialed.
One ring. Two—
The line picked up, and I heard the distant creak of a door opening in the background.
"Dae?"