Page 37 of Blood on the Ice

She scoots forward on her chair, heaping food onto her plate as she smiles. “I can protect you more efficiently if I have aclue what’s going on. The excuses I gave today when I moved appointments around were vague, but that won’t always work. Some people will require much more detail and I’d prefer enough information to keep you out of anyone’s cross-hairs.”

“In that case, you should probably know that Morgana and I had a small SNAFU the other night. It’s going to be a thing when it comes out for sure,” Lucas says as he sits up. “And by small, I mean, really fucking big, and it will be a nightmare when it gets out.”

My eyes widen, and I look at him in shock.Is he going to tell all these people we mated accidentally?

Channing purses her lips, looking at the bulky athlete, then at me, and then back to him again. She adjusts her glasses, blinks, and finally sighs. “What, pray tell, was this small SNAFU if not you getting poisoned, Mr. Wolfberg?”

“We’re mates,” he says with a proud, beaming smile that overshadows the pallor of his face. His arm drops over my shoulders and I feel like a deer caught in the headlights of a Mac truck. “Nana’s going to flip her wig and just imagine what a shitstorm the media will stir up. So I figured you might need time.”

When he admits it out loud, Slade and Ignatius stare at him with their mouths hanging open like they’re inviting birds to roost. I squeeze my eyes closed and rub a hand over my face, finally unable to compartmentalize what a circus this news is going to be when it becomes public. People can’t call me anything worse than they already do, but fuck if they won’t try. I’m infamous on my own and Lucas’s family is feared and loved in equal measure. The online trolls will have so many versions of ‘whore’ queued up that it’ll strain the limits of the English language.

“Mated?” Slade finally parrots. “But…”

Lucas winks at him. “Don’t worry, bro. I’m learning to share. Look how good I’ve been so far. Totally chill while you guys hit on my girl, right?”

The horror just won’t stop. I can’t… Why is he still talking?!

“Lucas,” Channing interrupts with a fond smile. “You’re doing well, I’m sure, but perhaps you should give Morgana a few moments to absorb the bombs you dropped? She’s so red faced that I’m worried she might explode.”

He looks over at me as I crack open an eye and his brows shoot up. “Oh, shit, M. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I just thought…”

Lifting my hand off my face, I slowly place it on his cheek. “It’s okay. I’m not used to this kind of shit—mates, friends, sharing emotions, whatever. I was pretty solitary when I lived in Europe and then after the trial, I hid to keep all the nastiness away. Gargoyles typically stay within their clutch and gorgons are very solitary, so it didn’t bother me. I’ll get used to having you all around; I promise.”

“You will?” Ignatius looks at me, his eyes asking a much more serious question than his tone implies.

The corner of my lips lifts as I shrug. “Perhaps. Though I’d prefer not to spill anymore of my secrets this evening if possible. The blood rushing to my head seems to affect my decision making.”

That’s the understatement of the year, for sure.

smile

This bullshit feeling like garbage is pissing me off.

I’ve got Morgana on board with the mating thing—which feels like a major victory given her trust issues—and I can’t do a damned thing about it. My body is too weak to enjoy frisky time even though my spirit is definitely willing. In fact, mybear is growling weakly in my head, angry that he can’t force me to really show our woman what mating with a bear is like.

It’s no fun in my head, trust me.

Morgana looks down at me, her expression a little amused, and I wonder if she feels the battle going on inside of me. The one misbehaving snake pokes its head out of her curls, flicking its tongue at me before disappearing again, and I have my answer. Her inner beasts are frustrated as well, and the gorgon side is the more cantankerous one.

“How did this happen?” Ignatius asks, and I arch a brow at him, smirking a little. He rolls his eyes to the sky and lets out a beleaguered sigh. “I don’t meanthat. I know howthatpart works, thanks. What I’m asking is how the two of you, being from shifter families and old enough to understand how it works, mated without conscious intention.”

Channing grins and raises her hand. “I know!”

We all look at her in surprise and she shrugs. “My sister is a hybrid and a fairly rare blend. Of course, she’s notreallymy sister because she’s much older, but I’ve always called her that. She’s a Guardian, and she was adopted into our family generations ago and always keeps tabs on our line because they took such good care of her. I enjoy hearing about her charges because she’s kind of a trouble shooter? She doesn’t have permanent ones because her team are specialists. Anyway, she told me about something like this that happened recently.”

Holy fuck, that was a lot of words for the diminutive ice-wielder.

I clear my throat, looking at Morgana, then back at her assistant. “Tell us how it happened, Channing. Please.”

“Well, it’s not as uncommon as you’d think, especially in hybrids, because their mix isn’t always copacetic. Sometimes, their sides work together and sometimes not, but the magic or bloodlines that make them who they are have enough sentience to exert their wishes without the permission of the humanoid parts. My sister’s friend has a charge who doesn’t evenknowabout supes—unemerged as an adult—and her sides have mated with several people. The supes know, of course, but she doesn’t because something is keeping her from emerging fully.”

Morgana blinks. “What the actual fuck, Channing. That’s like… a whole romance novel worth of crap happening to one person.”

“I agree,” Slade says. “Growing up in my family wasn’t easy because of certain things, but our younglings always knew what they needed to do so they could survive in this world. That chick has been hamstrung like a motherfucker.”

“Oh, definitely. She has several mates and four Guardians trailing her at the moment because they don’t know what the hell is going to happen. But my point is, when it did, my sister talked to as many retired agents and Guardians as she could to do some research. It turned out that it happens occasionally with single-sided supes, butmuchmore often in hybrids than anyone realized.”

“So it’s my fault… again,” Morgana groans as she puts her face in her hands. “How would I have known? If the Society people didn’t realize it, it didn’t happen with Magnus, and I never felt a single twinge with any other people I’ve been with… It seems like that’s a damn landmine waiting to explode.”

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