Kami’s song intensified, and Anemone and Skye were there, singing as well, hands on Cain’s back as if they were lending him strength. Reno grabbed Kami, and the song swelled to new heights, so Mercury took Kami’s hand with the one Talon wasn’t holding, his breath catching when power thrummed through them all.
“Oh.” Donnal’s head lifted, smoke pouring out of his nose, his eyes blood red. He clutched the big chunk of stone, and pieces fell off.
“He’s faceting the stone!” Boone shouted it, and he was right. The ruby was starting to gleam like a giant jewelry gem, polished and flawless.
And when it looked like the most perfect ruby ever, Donnal’s smoke stopped pouring from him and he passed out cold, holding the stone to his chest.
Mercury started forward, but Talon stopped him. “No. He’s all right. Let the seers and the medical staff see to him.”
“But—”
“Love, just let them help him. I swear, he’s all right.”
Kami squeezed his hand. “He really is. I’ve seen this a few times now. He’s still holding the stone. If he wasn’t bonding with it, if one had rejected the other then he would have tossed it like an oversized cookie.”
He looked back and forth between his mate and his new best friend. “Promise?”
“We do. Right, Cain?”
Cain looked more exhausted than Mercury had ever seen him look, but then, he hadn’t known the guy for long.
“Yes. He’s resting now. All will be well. I promise.”
Mercury chewed his lower lip. “Can I have a milkshake?”
“Of course, hailee.” Talon lifted him, holding him to that wide chest. “What flavor?”
“Caramel.” Caramel always did seem to do the trick.
Chapter
Twenty
Talon watched Mercury clean the kitchen.
He’d asked if he could help, and Mercury had kind of…snarled at him. So he was doing some work for Kami on his laptop, working with topo maps, and watching his hailee get things…just so.
Talon was a bit afraid for Mercury to move on to the living room. He might just stick Talon in that giant trash bag he had almost full.
“Would you like me to carry that trash bag out?”
Mercury glared at him. “Maybe I just want this place cleaned up. It’s a mess.”
He looked around the house, which was whatever the exact polar opposite of a mess was. “Okay, well, if you need me, just let me know.”
Mercury just grumbled at him and continued working.
After about another half an hour, wherein Mercury had managed to move from the kitchen into the entryway which had absolutely nothing in it to clean at all, he asked, “Would you like a milkshake or something? I’m kind of hungry.”
“I’m not hungry,” Mercury growled.
“No? Okay, well, I think I might order myself a milkshake. I have a craving.”
“What, are you pregnant?” Mercury’s eyes filled with tears, and he swallowed his groan.
“No, no, I’m just hungry, and I thought rather than mess up your clean kitchen, I would order food.”And not hurt anybody and not kill you because you’re being weird.He didn’t say that last part out loud, but he really wanted to.
Mercury looked at him, eyes filling with tears. “Are you mad at me?”
