Kieran’s mouth opened, closed. Her voice came out as a whisper. “I don’t know. I really don’t know…”
“How had I not expected this?”
“Shit,” Steele grunted in response to her projection, brow furrowing as he leaned forward. “This is going to take some getting used to.”
Bastian's voice echoed through my head, as if he was speaking loudly in the room,“Darling, I’m used to hearing voices, but I have to admit yours is far more appealing than what I normally deal with.”
“So we can hear each other too?” I demanded, the words coming out sharper than intended as my gaze cut to Bastian, then to the others—each of them frozen, the same confusion and disbelief etched across their faces.
Kieran’s eyes darted between us, horrified and fascinated. “I think—” she started, and then her voice swept through all of us at once.“I think this has something to do with the mate bond.”
Every muscle in my back went rigid. Not because of the idea of a mate bond—there was nothing in this world I wanted more—but because I saw Kieran’s reaction, the way her skin paled under the weight of five sets of eyes fixed on her.
If the connection stayed like this, open and raw, we’d need to learn to shield before it drove us all mad.
“It makes sense,” Niz said smoothly, like this was the most natural thing in the world. He was the only one who didn’t look fully surprised, lips curving with quiet amusement. “You didn’t just link to one of us, like in a traditional mate bond in angelic or wyvern culture, you anchored toallof us.”
Bastian looked positively delighted. “So, we’re mates now? Officially? I should’ve made a speech.” He pressed a hand to his chest before projecting,“Creator bless this chaotic union…”
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Kieran said, her voice trembling despite her best effort to steady it.
“No one said you did, Princess,” Steele drew out, his tone thoughtful rather than sharp. His voice echoed through the bond a moment later, dry and pragmatic.“Telepathic connection could be useful in combat—real-time coordination and all.”
“Of course you’d think about strategy,” Bastian mused.
“Some of us like surviving,” Steele shot back, the faint smirk undercutting the words.
Gabe looked far too pleased. “I can’t say I’m upset about this. Getting more of Kieran’s thoughts is?—”
He cut himself off abruptly as Kieranshoveda wave of mortified heat down the link that scorched every one of us.
“There are six of us. Six minds. Six sets of thoughts I don’t want to trip over.” The words came out rougher than I intended.
I wasn’t used to my private thoughts being an open door—and while Kieran was absolutely welcome to wander through myhead, the idea of the others doing so had me on edge. I turned off the stovetop before the vegetables burned.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” she said quickly, her tone soft and guilty. “It just… snapped into place. Like it was waiting.”
“It fits,” Niz said calmly, his tone threaded with quiet reassurance. “You’re the center of all this, My Fire. The bond’s just catching up.”
Kieran’s hand tightened on the counter in front of her, a faint tremor rolling through her fingers.
“That’s one way to put it,” Steele murmured.
Her grip went tighter, knuckles whitening as her scattered, frantic thoughts flooded our minds.
“The bond. It’s how he manipulated her and controlled her constantly. She never had a reprieve from him.”
Kieran froze, eyes darting around the room, and I could feel a wave of grief and anger crash through her—the echo of something old and ugly from her parents’ bond surfacing.
Kieran’s breath hitched, but she didn’t elaborate. Her hand pressed harder to her chest. A short, cynical laugh broke from her, cracking into a sharp inhale like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to laugh or cry. Her eyes unfocused, wide and glassy, and the bond between us shifted from warm to panicked, then cascaded into full-blown horror.
“Beauty.” The edge of urgency slipped into my voice as I turned her gently into my arms. “Look at me.”
Her pulse jumped in her neck, pounding out of rhythm—fear, raw and familiar, written across every trembling breath. The kind that didn’t belong to the moment but to memory. I felt the others close in, instinctively circling her. When her knees gave out, I caught her, lifting her onto the counter as she let out a shaking exhale.
“She thought the bond meant he would love her and protect her.”The words echoed through our heads before she whispered hoarsely, “My father used it to control her, to make her suffer.”
Kieran’s hand came up to her throat, and her breathing fractured into shallow gasps.
