Page 7 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

In the ten years we’d been training with Lothaire, he’d only found four male devils living in other realms, and none of them were our mates.

Our mating song hadn’t reacted to them.

When Scorpius, Orion, and I had first met, our fires had sung to one another.

It was a low, heady beat: it resembled the pounding of a drum, the crunch of knuckles against flesh, and the thrumming of a violent heart. Whenever I was around either of them, the song got louder.

Our mate song was fierce like us.

Now Arabella’s worthless life was tied to my precious mates.

It was nauseating.

In exchange for tying our lives to his daughter, Lothaire had agreed to use his network and let us stay at the academy until we found our missing mate. The one who would make our fire sing.

I never would have agreed if I’d known who it was.

Releasing my deep breath, I took another step closer.

“Stop crowding my space. Go away,” Arabella huffed as she slumped low and blew a cloud of smoke out her lips. The whistling noise was unnaturally loud in the quiet classroom.

I opened my mouth to retort, and stopped.

Froze.

I gasped as I realized what was setting my teeth on edge.

No.

Everything had happened so quickly. We’d been so distracted by Arabella’s revelations and getting tattooed that we’d somehow missed the obvious.

Our mating song didn’t sing like it usually did.

It was gone.

The classroom was unnaturally quiet. The only sound was Lothaire mumbling under his breath and shuffling papers.

What the fuck.

Terror rose thick in my throat, and I tried to calm my racing heart. Had the slave tattoo fucked up our mating bond? Had we damned ourselves? Would we never know peace?

Lothaire had assured us there were no side effects other than combining our life forces. He’d lied. Was she in on it? Had it been her plan all along?

I listened desperately, but the quiet was loud.

Stifling.

My knees wobbled, and I barely caught myself. The mate bond was more than just a song. I knew this.

It reflected our souls.

I closed my eyes and channeled inward.

I concentrated on the fire that burned in the main hearth of the House of Malum’s estate. It was symbolic of the strength of our mate bond. No matter where I was, I could commune with the hearth.

Our mating flame burned brightly.

Relief rushed through me.

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