Page 54 of Marked By Night

The wordnoand I don’t exactly get along. It only makes me want to do it harder to spite people. Apparently, spite is not the correct answer to what motivates me. Ask my high school life coach. Poor guy.

Not satisfied with Kaos’ earlier answer, I speak my mind, “Shouldn’t it be my decision, though? I’ve never felt anything off about her. She’s been my neighbor since Ash and I moved into the duplex. She’s kind of strange, but she’s never done anything malicious. I don’t get those vibes from her.”

The first waves of dawn floating through the trees highlight the lighter tones in Kaos’s irises. “I’m not comfortable with it, my Little Flame. None of us are. You’re my mate. Our Link, and we can’t needlessly put you in harm’s way on someone else’s whim.”

“Yeah, but being my mate doesn’t give you a free pass to make decisions for me. That is not how this relationship is going to go down and if you think it is, we need to reevaluate.”

His hand crosses the center console to hold my mine, caressing me with those calloused fingers. There’s something so calming about his skin on mine and it makes my anger dissolve a tiny bit. “When it comes to your safety, we will do anything we can to protect you.”

Well dang, he had to go and be all sweet about it. How do I freaking argue with that?

“Fine. I get it, but I don’t think it’s going to fly with her. Something tells me Bedi is not someone we want on our bad side.”

I settle back into the comfy seat, listening to the soft music with a sigh until an unknown voice startles me. “She’s right, you know.”

I bolt straight up. “What the fuck?”

The brakes squeal and we roll to a dead stop. Again. He’s going to need new brakes at this point. Kaos whips out his crotch knife and the sight distracts me for a moment because I still haven’t been able to work out the logistics of where it comes from. Maybe he has a secret crotch pocket.

His attention turns to the backseat like someone could be hiding back there in plain sight. Now that I think about it, maybe there could be. Who knows? I know next to nothing about this world of Weavers they have dropped me into. Maybe they have invisibility powers. It would be cool as shit if they do. Spy on chats, scare the fuck out of your friends. Quite the power.

“Who said that?” Kaos demands, searching the air.

Okay, he’s as clueless as I am.

The gift from Bedi is staring at us with a smile. Well, as much of a smile as a dog can give, anyway. It’s kind of cute honestly. “I did,” the dog quips. “There’s no one else in here.”

I scoff. “Yeah, right. Dogs can’t talk,” I say, which makes Kaos give me a strained look. My head whips back and forth between him and said dog.

“Of course, we can. Or I can anyway,” the dog says, sounding somewhat offended.

My mouth pops open in shock. “Kaos! Did you see that? His lips just moved.”

Kaos gives me another small strained head nod. Gods, this day keeps getting better and better. Or stranger and stranger, depending on how you look at it, I guess.

“Is nothing sacred? Even dogs can talk now?” I demand.

Although, in my defense, it’s been one hell of a day. Not to mention revelation after revelation about things I’ve only ever read about in books beingreal.One hundred percent legit. Not make-believe. Magic exists, and apparently, I have it, and now dogs can talk? I’ve stumbled down the fucking rabbit hole. Damn those chili cheese fries from the festival. Cheese always gives me gas, maybe that gas is turning into hallucinations.

“How?” Kaos inquires, lowering his knife a fraction. “I thought…”

“That I was a mere dog?” he scoffs. “No. I’m a familiar. Sadie’s to be exact.” The dog shakes his little butt like he’s trying to prove a point, and I suppress a smile.

“Now, you need to turn this fancy-schmancy contraption around and head to Bedi’s or she’s going to be furious, and that never ends well. Believe me.” He shakes his head, eyes wide like he’s reliving an experience.

As if to stress his point, little scraps of paper start to fall from the sky all around us, littering the ground. A few more seconds and there’s so many, it looks like it’s snowing. With paper. Ah, hell. What now?

One of the pieces of parchment lands on the windshield with an audible smack. I squint, realizing they’re all guides to wherever Bedi wants us to go.

There’s a knock on my window and Dante’s concerned face moves into my line of sight. I guess Elian stopped the Jeep when he realized we weren’t following him anymore.

The sheets of paper float all around him and he has to wave his arms to keep from getting hit with them. “What is going on?” he asks, but I have no earthly idea either.

Dante snatches a piece out of the air and crumples it in his fist. Then chucks it off the side of the road with a smug expression. Until it springs back to life and flies toward him with vengeance, smacking him in the face. The force knocks him backward as he struggles trying to pry it off. Rabbit. Hole.

“Moons above! We don’t have the time for this,” Elian snaps as he slams the door to the Jeep and storms over with his pocket watch in hand. He flicks it closed and watches the scene unravel with narrowed eyes.

“As you’ve already said,” I call back.

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