Mistral huffed. "How am I supposed to know? You figure it out, since you're fated and all!"
Why did he keep saying that? Mentioningfated mateshad sent Mistral into a fucking tizzy.
Mistral must've seen the scowl on my face because he sighed sharply. "You don't even know, do you? Fated mates have magic. When they're... er, intimate... and have babies, it causes a spike of mystical energy."
My blood heated up at the mention of intimacy and babies. What the fuck was he talking about?
"You can use that energy to make me stronger or maybe—ooh, you could put a big barrier around my house that Animus can't get inside! That would be really convenient."
"Hang on, can you slow down for a sec?" Quinn said, holding up his non-injured hand. "I'm not following. You want us to dowhatnow?"
Flustered, Mistral threw his wings up in the air. "Protect me! From Animus! How can I make it any clearer? Do you have fur in your brain?"
"Hey, watch it," I growled. I didn't care if I was being rude to Mistral if he was going to insult my mate like that.
My mind screeched to a halt.
My mate?I thought, my heart fluttering. That was the first time I'd called Quinn that, even in my head.
"I don't care what it takes," Mistral went on, pacing around. "The last time it happened, those two mortals Zak and Kamari or whatever their names were had sex and—"
Quinn slapped a hand over his ear. "Okay, really don't need to hear about my cousin's personal life."
Mistral muttered something about mortal prudishness, then pointed at Quinn. "You, omega." Then he pointed at me. "Do stuff with him, alpha. It's not rocket science."
Quinn managed a straight face for two seconds before bursting out into laughter.
"What's funny?" Mistral squawked.
"I'm not an omega," Quinn said, chuckling. "I'm an alpha. Farley's the omega."
Mistral's feathers bristled in embarrassment. "Whatever. Just get it done, okay?"
And then he retreated into his house and slammed the door.
12
Quinn
Our meeting with Mistral was...interesting.
Was he what I expected? No. But that was okay. As long as we completed Mistral's demands, he would give me wings and that was all I wanted.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. After meeting Farley, therewassomething I wanted as badly—if not more—than my wings.
Him.
"Where'd you say this Animus guy went again?" I asked as we picked our way down the mountain path.
"He went to the Society," Farley said solemnly.
I nearly tripped on a rock in surprise. "Wait, wasn't that the place you just escaped from?"
Watching me almost fall flat on my face, Farley extended a hand to help me down the ledge.
"Yes," he said, sounding serious. "To be honest, we had a strange conversation."
"How so?"
