I open my eyes quickly on full alert. I don’t spot an immediate threat. Kael is passed out in the bed next to me. Sylara is asleep, slumped over in the chair in the corner of the room like she fought sleep for as long as she could, but finally lost the battle.
I stare down at my hand again, and my eyes widen in shock. Markings are magically being drawn into my hand right in front of me as if someone is drawing them right now. I watch, feeling a mix of confusion and fear, unable to take my eyes off the black-and-silver drawing. I must be delusional or hallucinating from lack of sleep. But every time I blink, I see it.
I have a rune on my stomach. The same as everyone in the Moonlight pack. The rune spread down my arms when I was fucking Nyx to taunt him, but I haven’t seen one just spontaneously appear.
“That can’t be good, right?” Kael says, suddenly looking at my hand.
The design looks to me like an intricate snowflake. But I’m sure it means more. Someone who is familiar with magic would probably know.
“Does it hurt?”
“Not really, more like a sharp prickling sensation.”
“Hmmm, you should ask your witch mate what it means,” he says.
“He’s an alpha. The witch part of him is just one tiny part of who he is.”
“But it’s still a part of him. And the witches are still the enemy,” Kael says.
“What are you saying? That I shouldn’t accept him as my mate? I’m not sure I really have a choice in the matter,” I say.
“I’m just saying, tread carefully when it comes to him. You can accept him as your mate. You don’t have to fall in love with him. And the vampire—”
“I know. I need to let him go, realize he’s a lost cause and going to kill me someday.”
Kael shakes his head softly. “I was going to say don’t give up on him so quickly. We gave up on our pack far too fast. We should have gone back. Fought harder. Maybe we could have saved some of them.”
“We couldn’t have. You know that, Kael. We were two weak humans, unable to shift. We would have just gotten ourselves killed. You shouldn’t carry guilt from that day.”
“And you shouldn’t carry any guilt from loving who you love,” he says as Sylara stirs.
“Fuck, I fell asleep. You still alive, Lumi?”
I chuckle. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“Good, fuck I need a ton of coffee. One of the guys better have one ready for me by the time I get downstairs,” she says loud enough that I’m sure the entire house heard her.
“Well, you’re a delight when you wake up,” Kael says.
“Get out,” Sylara says.
Kael laughs, taking my hand, and he pulls me out of bed with him. “Let’s leave her alone before she kills us.”
“We’ll make sure there’s coffee when you come down,” I say.
She hisses at Kael, but smiles at me.
Before I even make it down the stairs, Brax has a coffee in my hands. He’s holding a second one that I assume he’s giving to Kael. I raise an eyebrow at him when he doesn’t.
“An offering for the grumpy princess upstairs. Talonis is making more coffee in the kitchen,” he explains.
Even though I doubt anyone will notice one more rune amongst the dozens up and down my arms, I hold the coffee with my right hand and hide my left hand in the pocket of my sweatshirt.
In the kitchen, Riven pours out a row of coffees while Talonis is standing over the stove cooking what smells like eggs and bacon.
“Yours is the third coffee. You like yours with just a dash of cream, right?” Riven asks Kael.
“How did you know that?” Kael says, taking the third cup.