Page 73 of The Maestro's Mates
“This will take a few minutes.” Pavel’s voice was lower now, gruffer, stone against stone. Justin tightened his arms around both of his mate’s waists. Underneath the protection of the gargoyle’s wings, he felt almost like a child, playing fort with the couch cushions.
“Then why don’t I do this?” Sebastian said, spitting into his palm and then rubbing two tiny drops of blood into it, harvesting one from Justin’s almost-healed wrist and one from the nearly scarred-over bite mark on Pavel’s neck.
He cupped his hands together and whispered into them. Justin raised an eyebrow, wondering what would happen.
When Sebastian opened his hands, a strange symbol floated above them, made of light, if light were an ink that could draw in the air. It was almost runic, although more complex than a typical Nordic rune. Justin had no idea what the slashes and swoops meant, but a sense of peace settled over him at the sight.
After a moment, the symbol split into three smaller copies of itself and, after a moment, one flew toward him. It hit his chest, right below the collarbone, and a tiny shower of sparks exploded as it embossed itself into his skin.
It was like a tattoo done in the most resplendent silver-gold ink.
“Do you like it?” Sebastian asked, and it was perhaps the first time Justin had ever heard the witch less than confident.
“It’s beautiful,” he answered, becauseit was. Along with it came another sensation, a river of power rushing through his solar plexus. Was this because of the supposed witch ancestry Linda had mentioned? He didn’t know, but it was as if he’d suddenly switched from gas lamps to electric. What had been a quiet hum was now a bonfire.
As he adjusted to the bond connecting on Sebastian’s end, he realized the wings around them were glowing. Slowly, bit by bit, they were growing in intensity. He looked at Pavel.
“A gargoyle’s mating is a bit more dramatic,” he said, his now-distorted face unrecognizable. “We’ll probably pass out at the end of it.”
The light was blinding now, and ultimately Justin had to squint to ameliorate the pain.
“Oh wow,” Sebastian said, looking around them at the intensifying brightness. Justin could no longer distinguish the form of Pavel’s wings. Instead, the very air around them was giving off light. The only thing he could make out were the handsome faces of his mates.
“What exactly is happening?” Justin asked. He wasn’t worried—Pavel would always take care of them—but itwasoverwhelming.
“It’s… Here it comes!” Pavel barely got the words out before they were sitting at the center of a nuclear reaction.
For a moment, Justin thought his very atoms were coming apart. He opened his mouth to shout—he wasn’t even sure what—but no sound came out.
When all vision, all hearing, every sensation was driven out, when all that was left was the light of a star, then it was snuffed out. And with it, so was Justin’s consciousness.
Chapter 28
Sebastian
It was like an itch in the back of Sebastian’s skull, gentle at first, then growing more and more insistent until it finally roused him from his slumber. He had been absolutely dead to the world, but soon that would no longer be the case, and he was grumpy about it.
Do you think we should get him up?
The voice inside Sebastian’s head was light and gentle, caring even.
Let him sleep. We’ll deal with everything when he’s awake.
His brain stem tingled at the new, rich voice. There was no question. That was Pavel.
Okay, if you think?—
“Are you two talking in my head?” Sebastian sat straight up, surveying the sparsely decorated bedroom to find his mates standing a few feet away, staring out the wall of glass at the Upper West Side view.
Both turned back to him, surprise in their eyes.
“You heard us?” Justin asked.
Sebastian stretched his arms up over his head, encouraginghis muscles to wake up. “Of course I heard you! You were chattering away in my brain.”
Justin locked eyes with Pavel, who was particularly handsome backlit by the morning sun.
“So, we can’t speak mind-to-mind without the third hearing us,” Justin said.
