by Lia Davis
Horrified, I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. "Are you serious?"
"I mean, you're a hybrid. We don't even know if it would work."
"Who do we know that can delve well enough to tell for sure?" I asked, glancing to Phenex siting on the sofa with Ami cuddled into him.
He lifted his gaze to mine. "I don’t sense a pregnancy."
"My mom says she can tell at conception." Sterling gave me a half smile. "I'll text her." He grabbed his phone and sent off a message, and it rang less than two seconds later. Damn.
"Yeah, mom." He rolled his eyes. "No, I swear it's not Meda. I said that in the message. I don't want to tell you who."
He looked at my stomach. "Yeah, okay." Nodding his head, he indicated I should come close. He held out a hand and I walked close enough for him to touch my stomach. "Okay, now what?"
Focusing, he stared at my stomach, one hand on it, the other holding a phone to his ear. I looked around as everyone in the room stood and came close to watch. My mates, my sisters, their mates, and my sentries. Good grief. We were a damn zoo.
"Yeah, I feel it."
Kevin gave me an alarmed look. "Feel what?" he mouthed.
I shrugged.
"Okay. Yeah, that's there, too. Liver? Oh, okay cool." He was seeking out my internal organs. Not weird at all. Embrace the weird. Embrace the weird. I continued chanting that as he spoke to his mother.
"No, I don't feel anything like that." He nodded. "Thanks mom. I appreciate it."
I could've strained and heard what she'd said, but honestly, I didn't really want to hear what he was doing to my internal organs.
Randell had, apparently. "Your internal organs are in the right places and you're not pregnant," he said dryly.
Sterling removed his hand. "That was really cool, but I already don't remember where everything was." He looked at Meda. "I'll practice on you next time we're with mom. Knowing where everything inside is would be very handy."
It would be nice to have a healer in the family. It would be very nice for his interest to grow.
"No baby?" I asked.
"No baby."
"Okay, then," I said, my emotions not so volatile this time. "What the fuck is wrong with me?" Throwing up my hands, I stalked across the room and plopped down on the floor. My mates joined me, each of them sitting as close as they could.
"Maybe we should call it a night," Ami said. "It's starting to get late, and we're all tired. Tomorrow we'll tell the parents what's going on. A trip to the shaman isn't such a bad idea, Tala."
When Meda got up and headed to her room, I stopped her. "I’ve been meaning to talk to you about Kinsley. Do you think she’d be happy moving into our spare room?"
Meda shook her head. "I asked her when I returned to classes from taking Calista’s power and Kins said she loves us and is thrilled we’d offer, but she declined. She said she’s not living on campus anymore. Her parents actually moved close to the University so she can drive in for classes and be at home with her family at night. Honestly I think she’s struggling too much to be around our chaos right now."
"Yeah, you’re right. I was trying to help because I know she really wants to be here." I started to drift to my room.
Meda stopped me with a hand on my arm. "Thank you for thinking of her. Kins will be okay."
Nodding, I stepped away from Meta and looked at my mates. "Any of you are welcome to join me."
I wasn't feeling particularly sexy, and none of the guys had been naked around each other yet. I didn't expect much to happen but sleep.
"Think we'd all fit in your bed?" Kevin asked.
"Probably not," Randell replied for me, making it clear that he'd been there many times.
"I'm actually going to head back and sleep in my own bed." Fenton leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. "I'm across campus if you need me. But, I've got an early class to teach."
I nodded and leaned my forehead against his, butterflies flying around my stomach. Maybe a little pre-bed sex wouldn't have been so bad.
Fenton walked out, followed by our non-mated sentries. The rest of us muttered good night and drifted off to our bedrooms.
I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, all thoughts of sex flown from my head. We'd taken turns in the bathroom, and I went first. Neither Randell or Kevin had slipped into bed before I was out like a light, listening to them speak stiffly to each other, still not totally comfortable with one another.
The next morning, I stretched, expecting to feel warm bodies on either side of me, but the bed was empty.
Shuffling out toward the kitchen, I realized the whole place was empty. I peeked into my sisters' rooms, and found someone in Ami's. Phenex. "Hey," he said, looking up from a book. "How are you?"
"Groggy. Where is everyone?"
"Class. They all ate, and a couple of the girls went for a run, and then they left. Oh, and I fed your vampire." He put a piece of string in the book to mark his spot and closed it.
I raised my eyebrows. "You let Kevin drink from you?"
"Yes, he was in a bit of a conundrum, you see. He said you had expressed your displeasure with him drinking from anyone else, but he needed to feed."
He was absolutely right. Kevin was my mate, no way he was going to give anyone else an orgasm. "I'm really surprised you were okay with it, or that he was."
"He was certainly reluctant at first," Phenex said, standing. I studied his features. He had a strong jaw and delicate nose. It mixed well, giving him an exotic look that was absolutely sexy. Yet, I had no feelings of desire for him. Just affection.
"What changed his mind?"
"I explained to him that the blood of my people is particularly energizing, and instead of feeling an arousal, we feel peace and comfort."
"Wow. So in a pinch, you could sustain our vampire mates?"
"That I could. And I enjoy the experience."
Nice.
"So, why did everyone let me sleep?"
He stood, placing the volume back on Ami's overly full bookshelf. "Because you appear to be under the weather. I studied you for several hours while you slept last night, and I can't put my finger on what's wrong with you. It’s familiar, though."
I walked out of Ami's room and he followed. "I need coffee," I mumbled.
"Did I hear right that you didn't care for coffee before?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's a recent craving."
I found half a pot still warm and poured a large cup.
"Interesting."
"Do you have any theories?" I asked as I opened the fridge to look for food. I was hungry again, which only freaked me out more.
"Not really. It's like there's a word on the tip of my tongue that won't emerge into knowledge."
"Yeah, that's a frustrating feeling." I opened a bowl of leftovers and sniffed them. Smelled good. Leftover enchiladas for breakfast sounded great.
I popped the bowl in the microwave and sucked down more of the coffee.
After filling my belly, I sat down beside Phenex, who had perched on the couch and opened his book again. "I wonder if I should go to class," I mused, turning on the TV with zero intention of going to class.
"Probably," he said in a faint voice, eyes on the book.
I pushed at the side of it, enough to read the title. "A romance novel?"
"They're fascinating."
Whatever floated his boat. I leaned against him and he adjusted so we were both comfortable. Me for my binge watching the human show about vampires, him with his romance story.
By the time everyone was back from class, I'd watched half a season of the show and Phenex had burned through three books.
"Okay," Meda said after eating lunch. "Let's work on our homework."
"Where should we do it?" Ami asked. She hadn't eaten.
I'd eaten. Again.
"Here. I don't want anyone knowing what we're doing. We'll have to clean up any mess we make."
"We could take over the gym. There's enough of us to mak
e sure nobody comes in," Randell suggested. "How much room do you need?"
"It's more a fear that a fire will erupt," I said wryly.
"I can take care of it." Phenex looked around. "Is everyone here?"
Looking at the sea of faces crammed into the room, I nodded. "Man, we really will need that house," I said to Kevin.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that," Randell said. "What house?"
"Kevin bought us a house."
He shrugged. "I have a lot of money. Why not spend it on my new family?"
Randell looked impressed. I was happy to see no jealousy. Fenton probably had his fair share of money as a member of the Hightower syndicate, and even though we had plenty, we weren't raised to care about it. Randell, however, came from a low-income background.
Jealousy would already be a problem without money factoring in.
"That's cool of you," he said, giving Kevin an appraising look.
"We'll probably have to live at the compound," Meda said.
"Eventually, yeah, but aren't you getting tired of not living together?" Kevin asked.
Sterling snorted. "Very."
"Well, when the construction is done, the house is only a ten minute drive away, it’s big enough for all of us plus some, and it's paid for."
Fenton clapped Kevin on the back. "Good going."
I preened, thrilled to see everyone getting along so well.
"Shall we?" Phenex asked.
"Let's go," Meda said.
Phenex waved his arms in a large circle, and a portal appeared. "Oh, cool," I whispered. Looking through the huge hole, I raised an eyebrow. "Where is that?"
"The top of a bluff in Tennessee. It's land that is owned by your parents."
"Oh, we've camped there," Meda said excitedly. "Been there many times."
I didn't recognize the specific clearing, but the general view was indeed familiar. We stepped through and Phenex waved his arm to cut off the portal. "You're proving to be very handy to have around," Dorian said.
We all chuckled.
"Okay," Meda said, taking charge. "Everyone but Phenex please spread out and keep a lookout. She paused. "Oh, but Sterling and Fenton. Will you stay with us? You guys grew up with magic. You might be able to give advice."
We stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing Phenex. He snapped his fingers and two demons appeared, like before. "Find that center again."
These two charged without warning, where as the others in the spirit world had hung back and waited for us to attack first. I barely had time to find my center and draw energy from the Earth and throw a ball. It hit the demon square in the chest, mere feet from me. Unfortunately, it hadn't been strong enough to take him down, just stun him.
Ami froze him, and as I drew more energy to make a more powerful ball, I looked over to see Meda's demon had gotten even closer to her. His claws were inches from her face. They unfroze as I threw my more powerful ball. Meda took hers and smashed her demon in the face. I laughed as mine disappeared in a cloud of ash and a spray of inky darkness.
"That was good," Phenex said. "But you didn't work together."
"We didn't have time," I protested. "Besides, Ami froze them to give us time to do what we needed to."
"That's not the sort of work you need to do." He sighed. "Okay. Try this. Can you three connect to each other?"
I raised an eyebrow, looking at Meda. She was the one that had all the psychic juju. "Can you?"
"Yeah, but I think you both need to figure out how to do it as well."
Phenex took my hand. "Let me see if I can lead you to her."
With one hand on my forehead, he gently entered my mind. Hello.
I smiled up at him.
"I'm speaking aloud for Ami's benefit, since I'll be showing her next. I'm drifting around in Tala's consciousness now. Who taught you to block me from seeing memories?" he asked, giving me an impressed look.
"Poppy."
"He taught you well."
He'd wanted to make sure that we had whatever resources we needed to keep anyone from getting valuable information from our minds. Too bad he hadn't thought about making sure we could do the most with our magical powers.
To be fair, I hadn't even known until a few days ago that I could draw from nature. So, there was that.
"Okay, so, try to say something to your sisters in your mind."
I poked at the thread of conscious that was Meda and Ami. We'd talked to each other as long as we could remember, probably before we even spoke out loud. That part was easy.
Hello, sisters.
They both said hello back. Phenex continued speaking out loud. "Right now, you're in Meda's head. Do you all consciously realize that?"
Nope.
Meda and Ami shook their heads. Not even Meda had known. At least I wasn't alone in my ignorance. "Okay, now that you know you're there, see if you can branch out. Can you find her magic? Her center?"
I stretched my conscious thoughts out, feeling around for Meda and Ami’s streams of thought and self.
I ran into Meda's fire, a core of lava. Holy shit. It was impressive. And it didn't burn me. I'm going to try something.
I ran my imaginary hands all over the core, like holding a ball in my hands. As if wrapping a rope around it, I harnessed a piece of it, drawing it toward me, then pulling it back into myself. My water greeted it happily, splashing all over and sending shots of endorphins through my body.
Moving my physical body, I called her fire to the surface of my skin, and flames danced along my hand alongside my water, playing together like a puppy and a kitten.
"Oh, this is too fucking cool."
"Now add Ami," Phenex said.
Going back to Meda's mind was easier, faster. I'd done it all my life, yet now that I knew I was in her mind it felt different, like it was more difficult. Once there, I wrapped myself around Ami and followed her stream of self to her own mind.
What a breath of fresh air, pun intended, her mind was. I'd been in it plenty, when she and I wanted to talk without Meda. Meda and I had done the same to Ami over the years, and I was sure the two of them had done the same to me. It was the nature of three women, sisters and friends. Fights happened.
I'd always loved Ami's mind. She was inherently happy, and there had been times that I'd been a dark place that I'd escaped into her thoughts.
This felt different. Instead of being on a ride-along, I'd discovered how to be an active participant.
Taking her air with me was easier than Meda's fire. I didn't know if it was because I'd had practice or because it was easier to harness. Either way, in seconds I was back in my own mind and air whipped around my hand, flaming the fire and tickling the water.
"Teach me," Ami said excitedly.
Phenex walked around Meda to Ami and spoke lowly to her. I watched them for a minute, but then went back to playing with our three elements.
"This is really cool, but it's not a weapon," I said. "And we've always been able to use each other's elements to some extent."
"You can weaponize it. You've already done so before, but you need to learn to do it faster. And now that you know what it feels like to go in and pull their elements, I want you to go in and pull their power.
I did as he instructed, this time looking for that core part of them that was their magic. It took me a minute to find it, but once I did, each time I tried I found it faster and faster.
"Excellent," Phenex said with a proud smile as I toasted another demon. "Now the challenge is to get faster, and to pull from them as quickly as you pull from yourself. The only way to do that is practice." He materialized another demon. "Again."
We zapped demons over and over until all three of us were exhausted. Each of our mates and sentries had come and checked in, watching for a while, then drifted off again.
"Had enough?" Phenex smiled at me as I bent over to rest, my hands on my knees.
"Yes, please." Meda and Ami looked at me in concern. They looked fresh as a freaking spring daisy. "Aren't y
ou two tired?" I asked.
Ami shrugged, and Meda shook her head. "Not really. I'm kinda over it, but not that tired."
"Okay, seriously what is wrong with me?"
Chapter Fifteen
"I think Grandma Tina expects us back tonight," I said as I climbed the stairs wearily. If one of my mates offered to carry me, I'd take him up on it. I wasn't sure why Phenex hadn't opened the portal up straight in the dorm, but we'd arrived in the gym downstairs and had a lot of stairs to climb.
"Yeah. But we can go later, after you've slept and rested a while," Ami said, putting her hand on my back as I climbed the last few stairs. She jerked her hand back as soon as she touched me, though. "Ouch," she hissed.
"What?" I looked at her like she was nuts. "Static electricity?"
"I guess. It felt more like a sting, though."
We didn't talk much once we entered our place. Splitting off, we headed to our bedrooms. "I'll come get you guys when Grandma shows up," I called. I wasn't sure that she didn't expect me to do it myself and bring everyone together.
"We gotta do something about the bed situation," I grumbled. As tired as I was, the feel of all my mates near me was comforting. I didn't want any of them to leave.
"Come on," Randell said. "On the floor."
They pulled the blankets off the bed, and I went to the back of my closet, where I kept extra blankets and pillows, pulling out a few to layer on the ground.
When we had a decent pallet made, with supplementing blankets from Randell's bed, we looked at it, deciding where we should lay.
"I don't want to spoon one of these guys I don't really know," Randell said, eyeing Kevin and Fenton suspiciously.
"It's okay," Kevin said. "I'll sleep on the other side of Fenton. We've been hanging around each other a bit. I don't think he'll poke me too hard in his sleep.
Randell looked a little chagrined, but he settled down by himself on my right anyway.
My exhaustion drifted through me, making it difficult to fall asleep. My mind raced with worry. What if Calista came back before we were ready? What if my mates never learned to get along?
Finally, I drifted off, and it felt like the second I did, I opened my eyes in Grandma Tina's world.