Avery’s eyes narrowed as he got closer before he shoved Cosmo, who fell back onto my bed in shock, as he stomped over to me. “I demand that you bite me. Do it.” He tilted his head, tapping his bare neck, and I jerked away like I’d been slapped. My mind was racing from one side to the next, making it hard to even think.
Lifting my hands as I backed away, I said, “Avery, I-I-I don’t kno—”
When his gaze burned into me with anxiety and determination, I had a feeling I would give into him, and my normal resolve seemed like a shit excuse for this type of a situation.
He didn’t give me a moment to talk as he confessed, “My wings are turning, Rayla. They are turning colors. That’s how us faeries know that we have found our mates. It usually takes about a week for them to fully change, which is why I thought I had time...” He scanned the room, mouth pinched. “But now it seems like waiting would be more of a hindrance. So, bite me, because I already know you’re my mate.”
The plea in his voice almost broke me, almost had me lunging forward and pouncing on him, but my mind just couldn’t imagine this was how having mates would work. That I would have five mates, and this was how I would find out. I thought I would feel something more than just this tug toward them. From what I have heard from others, there was a bond made, one that connected your souls, and you would know you were meant to be together. Meant to fight against the world with this person. I rubbed at my chest, knowing that something was missing. I knew they believed I was their mate, but what if... what if they were not mine?
I stared at the floor, backing away. “If you are my mates, shouldn’t I feel something more? Shouldn’t I feel the soul-deep bond?” My eyes snapped up to them, glaring at them all for giving me a slice of hope that I easily tore down. “Do you all feel the bond? Huh?”
They all looked at each other, not saying anything when Lex stepped toward me, and, for once, he frowned, and his dark orbs begged me to believe him. “I feel a bond on my side, but it’s like it stops at me, not connecting with you for some reason.”
My heart dropped. I didn’t know what I was hoping to hear. Maybe that I was defective, maybe that we needed to try something together for it to solidify, but in the depths of my dark and bloody heart, I knew it. I knew I shouldn’t have opened myself up. I should’ve treated them as I would any other man, love ’em and leave ’em. I should’ve stuck with what I knew, then I wouldn’t feel like my feelings were worthless, a waste, only causing more problems than solutions. I was meant to be alone. That was my lot in life. I knew this.
“Then that’s that.” I laughed. It was something cold and cruel, something devoid of feelings. I smiled, even though I was breaking on the inside. “See, Cosmo, there was nothing to worry about. It’s not a mating if there is no bond.”
They all stayed quiet as their faces fell at my flippant words. My eyes started to water, but why would they water? It was fine. I was fine. Everything was fine.
“Rayla.” Cosmo blew out a breath as he stood up, and his perfect violet eyes were glossy as his mouth turned down as he begged me to listen to him. “Rayla, I need you to do something for me.”
I huffed, trying to make myself dead inside as I put my hand to my head in irritation. “Cosmo, I don’t—”
“Rayla! Just listen to me!” The quiver in his voice made me pause. He stepped forward with his hand out like he wanted to touch me before he fisted his fingers and put it back down to his side. “I need you to take off your thumb ring.”
My whole face pinched as I lifted my hand with the thumb ring he gave me ten years ago. “What?”
He closed his eyes and took another deep breath before opening them again, resolve filling his gaze as he tried again. “Take off the ring.”
Something told me not to do it when I looked at it, but Cosmo called out to me again, “You trust me, right? You trust that I would never put your life in danger? I’m just asking you to take it off for a second.”
I did trust Cosmo, even if he had been an asshat lately, I trusted him with my whole being. I shrugged, placing my fingers around the cool smooth metal. Faintwhispers assaulted my ears, telling me to not take it off, to keep it on, but I looked at Cosmo, and he nodded.
I yanked it off before I second-guessed myself again. For the first second, I felt nothing and wanted to shove that in his face, but in the next second, warmth bloomed in my chest, spreading throughout my whole body. Then came the pain. Overwhelming pain surged through my body as every strand of hair and every tiny cell was covered in a fire that burned from the inside out.
The pain made it too hard to stay standing, and I crashed onto the floor. They all called out my name and dashed forward, but I felt their mate bonds rushing toward me like five freight trains coming straight for little old me, and I put my hands out while screaming at them to stay back.
Even if their bodies stopped, those golden lines came for me like a predator to its prey. There was no escaping them or dodging them. I only had the choice to face them dead on, so I braced myself. As soon as they slammed into me, my head jerked up to the ceiling as my back arched so far I thought it would break.
Four solid, golden threads felt like they were punching a hole in my soul, tearing it open to make room for them, while the fifth thread waited on the edge. I was almost thankful to that thread, knowing if I had to handle that one, too, I might break.
Once it was done, it was like someone let go, and then I fell to the floor and gasped for breath since the onslaught was over.
They called my name over and over, but my body was flooded with emotions. Fear, desperation, regret, confusion, each of them belonging to a thread, but one thread felt like it was muted, toned down, controlled. I followed that thread and borrowed its calming nature. Suddenly, I felt like I could breathe, and my lungs filled with air, giving me strength until I opened my eyes.
Five sets of eyes huddled over me, peering down at me like they were trying to figure something out. I closed my eyes, remembering just moments before what was going on. Lex was here, they all thought I was their mate, and Cosmo told me to take off my ring.
Cosmo told me to take off my ring.The one he gave me after I bit him. That night was both the best and worst night of my life. The one where he moaned when we shared blood, and then the next morning, he put distance between us and the ring was on my finger.
I glared at the gorgeous violet eyes that made me want to punch him as much as kiss him. I said in a low, raspy tone as I glared at Cosmo, “What. Did. You. Do?” His breathing leveled out as he ran a hand over his head.
“Ray... I just... I don’t...” He took a deep breath, then a knock came at my door, and before I could answer, Rick busted in.
He paused as he looked at me on the floor and the five of them all around me. He shook his head, and his eyes found mine as they widened. “Ray, we have bad news. Your fathers are missing. All of them.”
Can’t a girl catch a break?
Chapter 23
