A blinding light pierced my brain, burning through my retinas as excruciating pain stopped me in my tracks. Unable to bear it, I dropped to my knees while covering my face with one arm while the other braced on the floor so I didn't lose my balance. From the sudden hisses followed by silence, I wasn't the only one affected.
Unknown arms covered me, protecting me from whatever the hell was happening.
When my vision finally cleared, every single person in the room who was still conscious stared at a person who hadn't been there before. Ro seemed to be solely focused on the newcomer.
Actually, everyone looking at her displayed a wide variety of emotions, ranging from fear, awe, and anger. When I focused on Trux, anger and frustration rolled off him in smothering waves. His gaze didn't move, but everything cut off. Not a single wisp of the emotions pouring off of him from before were still there through the mate bond.
Who was this woman and why did she have such an effect on my mates?
The woman stepped toward me, forcing me to look her up and down for any hint of threat. She was tall and lean in a deceptively strong kind of way. As she walked, her single braid draped down her shoulder to her waist. While her face was free of wrinkles or signs of aging, a feeling deep in my gut told me she was quite old. And powerful.
When I looked at Trux, who still appeared to be fuming at the woman's arrival, he somehow kept himself in place and didn't say a word. His emotions shut down through the bond, preventing me from feeling anything new. Which meant that this woman was in a position of power… one that would make Trux hold his own temper. Definitely, she was someone who I didn't want the attention of.
My gaze returned to the new woman as she stepped into my personal space. Her hand reached out, pressing her fingers and palm against my sternum. A low growl started. Probably from Trux, if I had to guess. The touch didn't feel threatening. Though I felt immediately connected to her.
For a moment, everything disappeared as her gaze held mine in some kind of standoff I didn't fully understand, other than I couldn't look away. Not yet. My chest tightened, air struggled to get into my lungs as it became harder to breathe. The weight of the world bore down on my shoulders until I was sure my knees would buckle. Then, as if it were never my weight to bear, it all disappeared. She blinked, and her hand no longer touched me.
I glanced at Trux, who looked like he might erupt. Red crept up his neck and into his cheeks. His emotions were still cut off, preventing me from knowing what smaller emotions he felt or even seeking out his thoughts. I tried to convey that everything was alright, but I couldn't tell if he got my meaning.
Until she grasped my chin and guided me to look up at her. While the touch was something I would only expect from one of my mates, I didn't necessarily dislike it either. Like when she touched my sternum, it felt neutral. Then something changed, and ice formed in my veins as my spine straightened.
"Parker Hansley." The woman finally spoke, revealing a slight Russian accent. "If you had better control of your powers, it would be fun to duel. As of right now, it wouldn't be fair to you."
CHAPTER 2
CHECK YOUR ATTITUDE BEFORE I REMOVE YOU FROM THE ROOM
The air crackled with an intensity that preceded a storm. My heart raced, my hiss slicing through the tension before I could swallow it back.
"In this instance," she said, her voice smooth as silk yet edged with steel, "I don't mean anything by it other than exactly what I said." She eyed the tense forms of my mates, ready to leap to my defense. "If your mates weren't so defensive from the number of times you've vanished right before their eyes, I'd have a private conversation with you. But I'm not in the mood to deal with your surly mates."
I stood frozen, caught between wanting to lash out demonically and the need to protect what was mine. To protect them from whoever this powerful woman was. Even though I could sense she'd easily hand my ass to me. If nothing else, seeing Ro behave since she appeared was my first clue I was in over my head. "Who are you and why do you have them so defensive?"
"My name is Zandia."
Trux's growl reverberated deeply, more warning than sound, almost shaking the ground beneath us. He didn't move from where he stood, a sentinel of raw power and barely concealed rage.
Zandia flicked her wrist, dismissing him as if he were nothing more than an annoyance. "Think of me as the big bad wolf. Except I won't just huff and blow your house down. I'll gobble you right up."
"Wolf shifter, got it." What was it with shifters and not being upfront about their animal sides? That label did nothing to still the unease that wormed its way into my gut. "That still doesn't tell me why you have them so on edge."
"Very perceptive, little cambion." The patronizing tone cut through the thick tension.
Trux's response was immediate, another fierce, primal snarl that echoed off the walls. Zandia merely turned, her gaze locking onto him with an intensity that sent a shockwave of power surging through the room. I struggled against the oppressive force, my breath catching in my throat.
"Check your attitude before I remove you from the room," she admonished coolly, eyes glinting with an unspoken threat. It was a warning laced with dominance, one that even Trux seemed to feel the weight of. "While your mate is absolutely delicious, I'm not going to take her from you."
The air eased as she shifted her focus back to me, but the undercurrent of danger remained.
"Hear him? Even though he knows better, his animal instinct is overriding it. Every day that passes without completing the mate bond brings him closer to the Hesolga. Watching a partially bound shifter go insane from an unfulfilled mate bond is not pretty. Though it can be entertaining."
My heart pounded, the revelation sinking like a stone in my stomach. So that was it. That was why Trux had been so surly and irritable lately, why it seemed like we couldn't get along. I glanced at the team, noting the discomfort etched onto every face, and then my eyes found Seph… my first friend in the group and my confidante. She must have been feeling this creeping doom too, the pull of an incomplete bond straining at the edges of her composure. We'd bonded not long after Trux.
Panic clawed at the edges of my thoughts, sending a jolt through my system as I struggled to piece together the timeline. How long had it been since Trux and I had claimed each other the first time?
"Zandia," I said, voice barely above a whisper as the weight of urgency pressed down on me. "What is the mating process for us?" My heart hammered against my ribcage, and I fought to maintain composure. Zandia was not just any shifter. Everyone's reactions made that obvious. Plus, she exuded an aura of ancient knowledge, her eyes holding dark secrets and power.
Her lips curled into a knowing smile. She clicked her tongue, almost in approval. "Finally asking the right question, little cambion."
