Page 23 of Unforgivable Fate

He had a feeling if she realized just how much of her emotional response to him that he could feel now it would definitely spook her.

He didn’t have a chance anyway. Almost the moment he stepped back from her, the rest of the world came back into focus and he easily picked up the sound of voices in the backyard. Darius was back from his run and Leo was telling him to hurry up and put on some clothes because they were waiting. He turned as the screen door flew open and Leo rushed inside.

“Is everyone in here…” He stopped, going stock-still and his eyes darted from his sister to Griffin and back again. His eyes went wide and Griffin knew that the Pack Alpha had picked up on the vibes they’d been sending out. The room practically smelled of sweat and mating heat pheromones. Leo cleared his throat, “Well… I was going to ask if everyone was still alive in here but, it’s clear you are so, I guess I’m just going to ask if everyone’s okay?”

Griffin didn’t respond. He only turned his gaze to Nova. He was more than okay but that wasn’t what Leo wanted to know. She still had her hand to her lips and now it was her eyes that darted between the men in the room.

Griffin held his breath as he waited for her response. She could throw him under the bus right here and right now. She could lie and say he’d pressured her, that he’d taken a kiss she wasn’t willing to give. She could turn him into the enemy with one well-place untruth and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop her if that’s what she wanted. But even as he tensed with the worst of possibilities running through his mind, he felt Nova relax back into herself.

“Everyone’s fine.” She dropped her hand from her lips and straightened her spine. She raised an eyebrow, “Where’s Darius?”

“Right here.” The big man came in the door just as she asked and he too paused to take in the inhabitants of his kitchen. His dark brows furrowed but he didn’t say anything about the energy in the room. He had probably overheard his husband’s question and Nova’s response already anyway. Instead he moved past his mate and straight to the kitchen table, focusing his attention on the map. “Leo was telling me you’d been helping him fill in the map this morning.”

“I did. Yeah.” Griffin nodded, “I’ve traveled quite a bit so I’ve run across our kind in one form or another for years. Those are where the packs I visited are, or at least where they were the last time I was in their area.”

“It’s good information to have.” Darius glanced up. “Thank you.”

“I just want to be of assistance.”

“You have been and it’s appreciated. But now it’s Nova’s turn to help so, you can get back to whatever it is that Bear has you working on with him.”

Griffin blinked, taken aback by the quick dismissal. He looked from Darius to Nova, trying to gauge if she’d given him a sign she was no longer comfortable having Griffin here. She pursed her lips and frowned through, as if Darius telling him to leave annoyed her.

“Oh…” He nodded slowly, “Okay then…”

“No. Wait.” Nova surprised him by reaching out and grabbing his arm. She didn’t look at him, only at her brothers. “He already knows I’m a Seer. Clearly one of you told him as much while I was unconscious the other day.”

Leo winced, “Yeah, that might have been my slip up.”

“It’s fine.” Nova rolled her eyes, “Fate says he’s my mate so he would have found out eventually. Since he already knows what I can do, he may as well stay.”

Griffin looked between the DeLuca family members, “Nova’s status as a Seer is a secret?”

“Not within the pack.” Leo explained. “But yes, since most packs don’t have a Seer these days and their abilities are so rare and powerful, we keep Nova’s gift a secret from anyone outside the pack. It’s how we keep her safe.”

Griffin instantly understood and nodded, “I would never put Nova in any danger.”

“Of course not.” Darius agreed.

“I would never.” He turned to Nova, wanting to make certain she heard him. “Never, put you in danger. I told you before, the last thing I ever want is to hurt you.”

“I know.” Nova squeezed his arm before releasing him, “Which is why, if you want, you can stay and see how my gift works.”

Darius raised an eyebrow, his lips quirking slightly, “He can?”

“You hate having people watch you when you scry for a vision.” Leo narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah, well, as you’ve both been telling me, he’s not just anyone is he?” Nova huffed, clearly annoyed by their skepticism. “He may as well be here. After all, we have no idea how my visions are going to affect him with a mate bond growing between us.”

“Wait… what?” Griffin frowned. “Affect me? I’m part of your visions?”

Nova sighed, “We don’t know. That’s the thing. There’s nothing in our histories about a Seer experiencing a mate bond and it’s not like we know any other Seer’s we can ask. I can’t be sure if the visions will travel through the bond, letting you see what I see, or if my gift will draw from your power to amplify them or… any number of things are possible I guess.”

“Wow. I hadn’t thought about that.”

Nova made a face that told him she had. She’d been thinking about it a lot. She had been thinking not just about their mate bond and what it meant for her but also about what it would mean for him and if her gift had the possibility of hurting him. He wanted to move towards her again, to touch her, to prove to her that he wasn’t worried about their bond harming him in any way, but she was scrubbing her hands across her face and shaking her head.

“What else?” he asked, getting the sense there was something more she was holding back.

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