Page 13 of Twisted Bonds

“I found the Second Shard.”

My mouth gapes, eyes wide. Sunder is on his feet, eyes darting wildly around the room, searching for our discarded clothes.

“Really? How?”

“Take me to him,” Sunder commands, doing up the last of his buttons on his pants and hastily stuffing the long tunic-like shirt in. Sunder heaps my clothes on the end of the bed with an unspoken command that I will dutifully ignore until I’m damn well ready.

“You don’t understand. He’s not… something is off. He doesn’t smell right.”

Sunder stills, staring at Bobble with that intensity he gets when he’s protecting me. I flop out a dismissive hand with the flick of my wrist. “I’m sure he just needs a shower. We were pretty stinky yesterday, if I remember correctly.”

Another mate. I glance out the window at the first rays of sunlight turning the sky from gray to orange and red. Fine. I’m too excited to push Sunder’s buttons this morning. I let my body stretch for one long moment before putting my clothes on.

“Explain.”

“I went out for a walk…”

“In the middle of the night? Alone? Are you an idiot?” Sunder is grumpy from being woken up, but that’s no reason to snap at Bobble. My eyes dart to Sunder with a raised brow, rife with warning, as I slide my pants over my thighs with a wiggle.

“I am a cat. I always come out of situations just fine.”

“Bobble, you once tried to catch dust motes for a solid two hours.” He shoots me a look that’s so catlike, I can’t help but grin. He may as well pin his ears back in annoyance.

He hands Sunder his shirt. “We need to get out of here. He smelled like Yurghen.”

“Impossible.” Sunder voices my own thoughts, but I can’t help the chill that worms its way down my spine. His eyes meet mine, his usual seriousness replaced by a flicker of worry.

“I caught his scent on a breeze and followed it,” Bobble says quietly. “There’s a warehouse on the edge of town. At first, I thought it was abandoned. When I went inside…”

My jaw drops. I want to shake him. “You followed Yurghen’s scent inside? By yourself?”

“Proceed, Third.”

Bobble shoots me an apologetic glance, then turns back to Sunder. My eyebrows shoot up in shock a little. Nice to see you two getting along.

“He used the scent to lure me in. He had some books from his library, I think. Then he caught me and… we have to go. He smelled like… us. But different. And somehow, he has Chroma without the mate bond. Purple.”

He says the color as if it’s significant, but I take a moment to consider this. Is it even possible for a Shard to channel without the bond? I don’t have enough knowledge about Chroma or this world to determine if this news is positive or negative.

Sunder’s eyes grow wide, almost appearing shocked. Okay, so maybe it’s bad.

He moves.

Tossing my shirt to me, Sunder barks orders at Bobble and me to pack our meager belongings into our knapsack. “I want to be miles away from here by the time the sun fully rises.”

I blindly follow their lead as I race to dress. We bound down the steps two at a time, thundering like a herd of elephants and uncaring whether the innkeeper spots us. Once on the street, our heads are on swivels, checking all directions for life. It’s still early enough that most of the people in the town would just be starting their day.

I don’t see anyone on the streets as we run through the open gate; the guards shout after us as we pass, clearly unsure if we just stole something or skipped out on paying for our room. Sunder’s arm is around my waist, urging me faster. My sides sting with effort as I pant, barely able to breathe.

Once we’re past the tree line and no one appears to be following us, I practically collapse against a tree, trying to catch my breath. Not even winded, Sunder and Bobble glance around nervously, as if he’ll simply materialize around us.

Finally able to speak, I have to ask.

“Isn’t the point to find the other Shards? Shouldn’t we at least talk to him?”

“I did, Mira.”

“Yeah, but… you’re a Shard too. It’s not like you two got along right away. Remember?” They share a look, something unreadable passing between them before Sunder quickly averts his gaze. “I should talk to him myself.”

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