Page 35 of Magic and Mayhem

Sliding out of the bed, I cast warm air in the room to make sure she stays comfortable while I’m away. Lilu’s tent is only two down from my own, and I know she isn’t putting on a show this evening.

Kieres and Zavian are performing tonight, and I can already hear the chaos of the crowds coming this way.

Hurrying over to Lilu’s tent, I let myself in to find her lounging on large pillows with all four of her mates around her. Rogue places a protective arm over her before he realizes it’s me, the strip of red in his hair letting me know it’s him and not his twin.

“Where’s your plaything?” Rogue asks with a smirk.

Without a second thought, I dive on top of him and my fist collides with his chin, making him cackle like a madman.

“I was iffy on you having a human mate, my friend.”

He tries to flip us over so he can have the advantage, but I move to my feet quickly. When we are eye-to-eye, he sticks out his hand.

“But now I can see just how serious this is.”

I shake it, then pull him in for a brief hug. Not only is my sister his mate, but so is Onyx, who has no issue with stabbing my arm if I hug his mate too long.

Since the day I received that knowledge, I have done my best to keep it brief out of respect, but Rogue loves to test the limit and grins like a maniac when Onyx stabs anyone.

“Do you need to speak with Lilu?” Ruhn asks from her feet as he lays in the lap of his other mate, Chaos. He’s the calm one of them all and one of the largest of us in his true shifted form, earning his nickname as the quiet beast.

“I do. Could we be alone?”

Chaos grins down at Ruhn. “We can go play.”

“Don’t have too much fun without me, boys,” my sister says as the four of them get up from their nest on the floor.

They move to a black curtain set up in the back of the tent. I wish I didn’t know that it led to a sex dungeon, but Rogue likes to talk about it too much for it to be a secret.

I’m just thankful that the wards and spells around it prevent noises from escaping. Lilu sits up, adjusting herself while I take a seat across from her.

“I assume you know about the mark?” I question.

Her smile is warm and approving. “I knew she was made for you the moment you didn’t turn her to ash, Big Brother. The mark was just the confirmation of what I suspected.”

“Right,” I nod. “Then you know she isn’t fully human? You spent time with her. You must know something.”

Lilu purses her lips in a way that tells me she doesn’t want to share this information.

“You will not keep this from me, Little Sister,” I growl. “She ismymate. Mine. You know how this feels.”

Lilu can see into the eyes of anyone’s past with a simple touch, one of her greatest gifts.

She locks her jaw before letting out a long breath. “She’s a witch from the Coven of Flames. When she was a child, she was kidnapped and held by the man who murdered her coven, though she does not know what he did.”

If I didn’t want to rip the man’s throat out and strangle him with it already, I sure as fuck do now.

“Who is he?”

She waves her hand, white ether forming into fog in front of me, taking the shape of a face. She molds it into the man that my mate fears, and I see his death in my eyesa thousand times over.

“Why did he take her and kill the others?”

Lilu shrugs. “I have scouts looking into it, but you know how Hellhounds can be. The shifters get distracted by the moon pretty easily.”

An awful feeling builds within my chest, that suspicion I’ve felt before warning me he’s still alive.

“Is he still alive then?”

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