Page 178 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

“I don’t have a bond with Mama either,” he said proudly. “One day, I’ll steal all my mate’s bonds away for myself too.”

I didn’t reply.

I couldn’t reply.

The bond I’d shared with my twin was withered and dead. The tether to her died the day my family was murdered by the demon king.

Except, according to this boy—my fucking nephew—the king never killed my sister. He may have intended to, but instead he’d discovered his mate that day. And when that process began, then what? He’d stolen the bond between twins for himself and made me believe she was dead.

My heart pounded against my ribs.

That day in the car… the magic that claimed Syera was black. Black power had burst into the car and filled it. Black magic had blotted out the sunshine.

I’d fought the demon king, and his power was red. The black had belonged to my Syera.

Wild, is she alive? I tried to calm my breaths, seeing that the toddler was growing frightened by my response.

My love… it sounds like it.

I clutched my chest and a sob left me. “Syera.”

The boy patted me. “It’s okay, Aunty Tempest.”

I had a nephew. I had a sister. My twin was alive? And mated to the demon I’d nearly killed. He’d told me I knew nothing. I’d seen the mating bond extending from him off into the demon realm.

I nearly killed my sister. Only the demon king calling for aide and being dragged away had saved her from me.

I covered my mouth, sobbing again.

My demon unfurled within me and opened a locked facet of her knowledge to me.

You knew Syera was there, I thought at her.

I felt her yes.

Her knowledge downloaded into me, and I sucked in a sharp breath. Syera was the one to free her from the cage in the demon realm. My twin had demanded my demon’s secrecy in return for her freedom. Syera was the reason my demon knew why our dark and light magic collided to create black scales and smoke. My demon had known the entire time that my mystery tether connected me and Adeuto.

My twin had saved me and Wild with her actions in a different world.

Wild was reeling almost as hard as me.

The boy hugged me around the neck, bringing me back to the present, and I wrapped my arms around him tightly. My nephew.

My family just grew. I had a twin again.

And she was in danger.

I untangled myself. “We have to find her.”

I stood and pulled the boy up with me. Turning to Wild, I repeated, “We have to find her.”

The toddler nuzzled close, and I got the sense that although he’d smiled and charmed us from the outset, walking into this realm to approach us had taken much bravery. “She said you’d say that.”

I stilled. “Your mama said that?”

“Yes. She said that you can’t come. Not yet.”

“Not yet,” I echoed.

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