‘I shouldn’t have bitten her so roughly,’the voice mused as fingers pressed to the sore spot on my neck.‘Nico’ll kill me when he sees it.’
That made me smile.
Maybe this was all some kind of weird dream brought on by really good sex and this was what my mind imagined Elio’s voice would sound like. It was low and deeper than I thought it would be. Like warm syrup on pancakes.
‘Nico won’t do anything to you,’I replied, though my mouth wasn’t moving.
The hand at my neck froze and I frowned, wishing it would continue to stroke me like a contented cat.
‘Luscinia.’
It was nice to hear my name in his dream-voice and my lips curled up as I stretched against a warm body.
‘That’s nice,’I purred, happy that I could continue such an intimate moment even in my dreams.
‘Luscinia, open your eyes,’Elio’s voice demanded with a roughness that was definitely not characteristic of one of my dreams.
My eyes flew open and I found Elio hovering over me with a shocked expression.
The room was still dark, so I must not have been asleep for very long and moving made me realize just how sore I was.
Elio cupped my face on either side, his lips moving soundlessly.
‘I can’t hear you,’I signed, wondering if I was still somehow dreaming and it was now turning into a nightmare.
Elio’s lips snapped shut as his dark brows drew together.‘What about now?’
I blinked with surprise because Icouldhear his voice again.
Focusing on the words I wanted to say, I spoke in my mind again.‘Yes… I can hear you now. But… how in the world is this possible?’
Elio’s jaw tightened as he shook his head.‘I don’t know.’
Then he was turning to shout something over his shoulder, his arms wrapping protectively around me as the bite on my neck continued to throb.
Thirteen
“How is something like this even possible?” Ranieri asked Dr. Stedmeyer as we all crowded into his little office.
The morning had been spent with him running tests on Cini who looked pale and confused as she stared at Elio who just shook his head.
They were communicating with their minds. Which sounded like something straight out of a comic book.
The panic I had felt when he’d shouted for us still thrummed through my body, my inner-alpha pacing inside of my mind as if danger was hiding just under the too-fancy oak desk that the doctor kept in his office.
“It’s not possible,” Dr. Stedmeyer said with a sigh as he scrubbed a tired hand over his face. The man seriously lookedlike he needed to go to bed. “But then again, hybrid designations like Luscinia’s shouldn’t be possible either.”
We all stared at him in silence, waiting for him to continue.
Dr. Stedmeyer sighed again before leaning forward. “Have you ever heard the myth that humans only use ten percent of their brains?”
We all looked at Ranieri who tended to pay more attention in school than we ever did growing up.
The alpha nodded, his arms still crossed over his chest. “Yeah, but that’s been disproven.”
“True—humans utilize all parts of their brain but sometimes certain parts of a brain are more active than others.” Dr. Stedmeyer turned to put some scans on the lightbox behind him, turning it on. “Our emotions are hormonal—the very act of a designation is a collection of hormones in the brain and usually the brain can only handle one portion of something as vital as a designation at a time.”
“But Cini has parts of all three,” Nico supplied from where he was leaning up against the wall next to the door. He’d been in a foul mood ever since the wedding when we had convinced him that it would be better for Cini to sleep with Elio first so as not to overwhelm her.
