Page 43 of Snow's Charming
“I promise we will fix this, Sesi. Everyone deserves to be with their soulmate.”
Her smile wasn’t reaching her eyes this time. I figured it had something to do with her love life, but I didn’t want to press the issue since I’d just met her. “This is fixable. Especially if you’ve created a bond already.”
I frowned.
“We were told not to because of the curse.”
“I wasn’t talking about physically marking each other. I was talking about the mental connection you have with one another. The Moon Goddess added a precaution in the fable to help you and your pack.”
My brows furrowed. This was all news to me, but if anything, it sounded promising. Sylus came over with my drink, and I couldn’t help but pat his forearm as a thank you. Silvery-white sparks emitted from ourphysical contact the minute I touched him. It was the same color we’d seen before when we fended off Jackie and Accius.
“Not again!”
I muttered under my breath as my eyes darted around the coffee shop. “Accius must be close.”
“That?” Raven said as she gestured at the sparkle of light between us.
“No. That has nothing to do with Accius. That’s the emotional connection I’m talking about! You’ve already marked each other on a plane that has nothing to do with physical attraction. Well, according to the Moon Goddess, anyway.”
My brows furrowed again.
“I’m not following. Maybe it’s because this whole shifter thing is new to me, but I thought only a bite mark makes us bound to each other as fated mates.”
“For all shifters that are not the Yin and Yang Fated Mates, yes, you’d need the mark to be bound to each other. But the Moon Goddess has deemed you to have a special bond. The quatrain speaks of your connecting on a mental level first. No bond is everlasting if you aren’t—shall we say—on the same page? From the electric heat that any magical being can see between you, it’s clear you both have marked each other! This connection is like a physical bite in the sense that you can hear each other telepathically now. You don’t need the physical bite to do so. And then after I lift the curse, you can mate physically with a bite mark and you, along with your pack, will be safe!”
My heart squeezed. But I wasn’t sure if I should be happy. We had a long way to go before this nightmare was over. First, there was the looming factor of Accius finding us. There was a strong possibility he’d walk into this very coffee shop any minute and vanquish us on the spot. Second, the spell Raven was going to do to break the bond had to work. My hope was fading with each problem we’d encountered on this trip to the City that Never Sleeps.
I only hoped that Accius wouldn’t try to kill because he couldn’t do magic in front of humans. Of course, he had tried to kill us before in public, so I didn’t want to hold my breath. And now it was getting dark, and we would have to walk through Central Park to get to our cars.
I brought my lemonade to my lips, and as I gazed out onto the sidewalk; I saw Accius. His eyes didn’t meet mine, thankfully, but it was clear by his darting head that he was still looking for us.
“Zhang!” I said, letting out a gasp. “What do we do?”
“We will wait for him to leave, and then we’ll make a run for it to the parking garage for the cars.”
“Why do that, Zhang? Armand and I have rooms at our place for all of you. He plans to pick me up here in five minutes in the stretched limo. We can get in and out unnoticed and retrieve the cars later.”
“You don’t think the limo will attract attention?” I asked.
“It’s New York. Limos and celebrities are plentiful. We’d be hiding in plain sight.”
“I don’t want to impose. Plus? You shouldn’t get any more involved than you already are.” Zhang said as he patted Raven’s hand.
“Zhang, that was a past life. It is not this one. Accius, by magical law, cannot punish me for past-life crimes with Kate. Besides—I’m thinking I’m not much like my past self, anyway.”
Her eyes seemed to darken again as she smiled at Zhang. Yeah, I needed to talk to her. I felt that pull you always do when meeting a potential girlfriend.
“You cannot house us all. Not when Accius is after us!”
I almost blurted it out without really thinking. Sure, we needed a haven, but I didn’t want a potential friend to be in harm’s way for us.
Her eyes darted to mine, and they squinted.
“I most certainly will house you all! Armand is a billionaire. Being a centuries-old vampire makes you rich by default—can you imagine his 401K?”
Raven chuckled.
“His penthouse is in the financial district. It’s far enough away from here. And magically protected. Accius can’t find you—I promise. You all need my help and a safe place to stay. Whether you want to admit it to yourselves—that’s another story.”
