:Yes, Miss June—
Sage did not know what to think of this thing. Could it see her? Did it know who she was? Nobody called her ‘Miss June’ except maybe someone in a dream once.
“I’m Sage.”
:Yes, Sage. This is the One True Mate Prophecy—
The prophecy reappeared on the screen. Sage ran up the steps to the workstation, grabbing a plant pot label and a pen, then ran back and copied out the entire prophecy.
She read the prophecy from beginning to end, then folded it and stuck it in her pocket, a warm flush filling her from the inside. “Pocket the knowledge to keep it safe,” she whispered. She took the paper right back out again, unfolded it and read the entire thing, top to bottom, her brain sticking on one word.
In twenty-five years, half-angel, half-human mates will be discovered living among you.
“Human!” she shouted, holding the paper up and running back inside. “Human!”
Canyon stood at the stove with two pans going. The food smelled amazing and her mouth watered. She whapped the plantlabel in his direction. “The prophecy says the mates are human! I’mfoxen, not human!”
Canyon nodded. “But you’ve got some human blood in you, right?”
Sage didn’t know what to say. Her mother was mostly foxen, and she’d never known her human father. She didn’t scentfoxenat all because of White-Whittinger disease… but she sure as shit wasn’t telling Canyonanyof that. He could fuck right off.
She pocketed the prophecy, then turned and stormed outside to sit down next to the robot. The words were still up on the screen, and she read through them again.
She shot to her feet and ran back in the house. “You think I’m a One True Mate because my name is like flora?”
“Also because Troy Burbank recently found his One True Mate, and she worked with you. She said you must be one, too. She had a hunch or a dream or something.”
Warmth spread in her chest as her friendship with Reed filled her mind. She and Reed had become close friends the instant they’d met, feeling right at home with each other in a way that Sage had never known before. Sage had watched Reed get together with Troy and had been surprised and interested when Reed said Troy had bitten her, and she’d wondered if that meant Reed was a One True Mate, but Sage hadn’t talked to Reed in over a week and hadn’t heard what had happened.
“Reed,” she whispered, happy tears coming to her eyes.
“She moved out to our Lieutenant’s place, or VF as we call it, with the rest of them.”
Sage didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “VF?”
“Village Fucktastic,” Canyon said, grinning at her, and for just a moment, Sage forgot she hated him. She smothered a laugh, because thefoxencalled the place something similar, but she wasn’t about to tell Canyon that.
She went back outside to sit on the steps near the robot and think, especially about the thing that had called her name from Nana White’s big cavern. What if that had been a pendant? What if that had beenherpendant? Would her Nana really steal a pendant fromher? Sage thought maybe Nana would, if she thought she needed it to protect the family. Sage dropped her face into her hands. It didn’t feel real. Her Nana had stolen the pendant from some One True Mate, but not her.
Maybe.
“Nooooo,” she whispered. She didn’t like not knowing, and she didn’t like thinking these things about her own flesh and blood, especially someone who protected them all so fiercely.
If she could just see the magic again. She looked around, trying to concentrate, and saw nothing, but then she remembered something important. She’d put her number in Canyon’s phone… and she’d texted him, too! There could be proof that they’d met. She could have some proof that he was lying to her!
Sage shot to her feet and ran straight inside. The kitchen smelled heavenly and her mouth watered.
She stopped near the stove, her hand out. “Let me see your phone.”
“Spider ate it,” he said with an easy grin.
Sage shook her head and crossed her arms, her stomach falling at the loss of proof. Canyon placed two eggs and two slices of bacon on a plate and offered it to Sage. She looked at it for a long time, not taking it. He didn’t say anything, he just watched her, while she looked from his face to the plate and back again.
Her stomach growled, betraying her. Canyon grinned.
Sage took the plate, grabbed a fork, and went to the table, muttering, “Thanks.” She was too hungry to stay mad right at that moment.
“Welcome,” he said.”
