Page 3 of Claiming the Dhampir

“You could probably project with most humans,” Kenrid replied, turning to face me. “They don’t know how to protect their minds or even that they should. Unlike humans, magical beings are taught to protect themselves from someone intruding into their thoughts.”

Kenrid pulled my free hand into his and entwined our fingers. My heart swelled with the gesture. With Damon on one side and Kenrid on the other, it felt like everything was suddenly right in my world, despite all the challenges. Then Kenrid smiled, and my life was complete.

I had no idea how I’d fallen so damned hard for them, but I had. Which was ironic since I’d spent a lifetime avoiding personal contact with nearly everyone.

“I suspect you’ve spent most of your life projecting your personas onto those around you,” Damon said, drawing my gaze from Kenrid. “Did anyone ever suspect you were not Mallory?”

I frowned and shook my head. “I was really good at my job,” I replied. “Are you saying it was because of my magic?”

Damon didn’t reply, but he didn’t have to. That’s exactly what he’d said. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Was it a bad thing that my magic gave me an edge no one else had? I’d always assumed it was because men didn’t see a pretty face as a threat. Had I manipulated their brains into believing I was safe? Did the method matter? In the end, the results were the same.

“There is nothing wrong with using the talents you’re given,” Kenrid said, gently squeezing my hand.

Sometimes I hated that they read me so easily. Or was I projecting my thoughts on them? What did projecting my magic have to do with how I’d killed?

“Do I have to tell you to trust your magic?” Damon asked, tugging on my other hand.

A short laugh escaped me. “No, you don’t. It’s just hard to trust something that scrambles someone’s brains.” I squeezed both of their hands, then slipped free of their grasp. “Projecting is nothing like what I did to that guy at Maxwell’s.”

I couldn’t voice the rest, and luckily I didn’t need to. They’d both been there. They’d seen it.

“There’s no need to test that part of your magic, now,” Kenrid said.

I sighed with relief, but Damon crushed it a second later.

“We don’t need to test it now, but we do need to understand it,” Damon said.

I jerked my head up to argue with him, but he pressed a finger against my lips. “You’re right. We need to know if it’s connected to your ability to project or if it’s something else entirely.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, and he dropped his hand.

I stomped back to the little clearing where I’d been sitting earlier and plopped down on the old stump. I didn’t want to think about what I’d done, but I was smart enough to know that we did need to understand it. I couldn’t learn about my magic if I ignored one of the first abilities I’d developed as a child.

“What do you want to know?” I asked.

The guys joined me in the small clearing. Kenrid reclined in the grass, resting on his elbows with his legs stretched out and crossed at his ankles. Damon sat cross-legged, still in his human form.

“Can you explain what happened when the human attacked you in the parking lot?” Damon asked. “I’d like to know what you experienced. I witnessed what you did to him, but I have no idea what you felt.”

I swallowed hard and drew in a deep breath. God, I did not want to talk about this.

Damon wouldn’t ask unless it was important, Mir said.

I know.

Chapter 2

Damon

Iwaited patiently while Lorna took deep breaths. She picked at a loose thread on her blue jeans, almost absentmindedly. I suspected she was having a conversation with her dhampir.

It would be difficult for her to talk about what happened when she escaped the first attempt to kidnap her, but I needed to know what she’d done to the pathetic human she’d killed. At the time, I assumed it was her fae magic. Now I wasn’t so sure. Knowing that she could have DNA from multiple supernatural creatures changed everything.

Several classes of demon could destroy a human’s mind. While most demons were made from pure magic, a couple of the lower classes were closer to physical than magical. Their DNA could theoretically be extracted and used. But even a low-class demon was more powerful than any of the other supernatural races. It would be extremely difficult to take the DNA without the demon’s consent. The demon could have been persuaded to make a deal, though.

If the fae convinced a demon to give up its DNA, and used it in their dhampir experiments, it would explain why fate had mated me with Lorna. Demons didn’t mate with any other species. Mostly because mating for a demon wasn’t about procreating. It was about finding an eternal partner who could endure the Underworld.

I doubted that Lorna would survive in my home world, but if she was part demon, she’d last longer than any other supernatural creature and certainly longer than a human. There was nothing normal about my mate, and I wasn’t returning to the Underworld anytime soon. Not on a permanent basis. I’d still use it as a threat against my enemies.

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