I squinted, trying to see the energy ties that Jonathon had talked of to recognize mates, but I saw nothing.
I caught my sister’s eye. She had been quiet for most of the meal, eyes downcast as she finished eating her ridiculously small amount of food. I seriously had to get some cake into her, she was becoming uncomfortably thin – fading away even, which was never a good sign for a shifter.
Melancholy seemed to have settled over her and I wasn’t liking it.
She caught my eye. “I’m sorry about your partial bond … maybe you got my share of matehood as well.” She attempted a grin, it was a ghost of true happiness.
I realized she must have been pondering my half bond, and behind her pitiful smile I could see the layers of pain radiating from her. Something was wrong with my sister; heartache bled from her. Could this just be about Maximus, or was there more? I needed to take the time and figure out what it was.
“You have a mate out there, Misch, and hopefully it’s a little less complicated than my … thing,” I said.
Tyson snorted then. “She called you a thing, Brax. God, I love Jess, but she’s going to destroy you, man. Run now, run while you can.”
I leaned across and punched the wizard on the arm. He ruffled my hair like I hadn’t just whacked him. Ass.
Pulling back, I met Braxton’s blue eyes. The dragon shifter didn’t reply to Tyson’s assness, but I could see the anticipation of a challenge in his gaze. I knew he wasn’t worried about us. We totally had this.
I was just reaching out to link my hand with his, when a thin, cold voice trailed over us. “Mischa, it’s time to introduce us to your sister.”
Swiveling around, I focused on the two females about ten feet from us. Judging by the Compass’ expressions, they were not friends. Both were blond, a smooth creamy yellow, unnatural, with large eyes that were dark and empty, and stick-thin figures. They looked to be about the same height as me.
Even without the energy of old magic coating them, I knew who they were. The identical expressions, the cold stares. They were the twins who had been breaking out dragon marked from prisons around the world. And corrupting my sister.
Chapter 12
I stood wordlessly, my eyes locked on them. My instincts were screaming that they were the enemy. They looked nothing like the females in my demented little dragon dream, but I knew it was them. I could feel their energy.
Mischa jumped to her feet, and before I could reach out and stop her she had dashed to the females, embracing the closest as if they were the best of friends; then she turned and hugged the other. Neither of them lifted their eyes from me, even over my own sister’s shoulder. It was as if they were taunting me, showing me how much they’d infiltrated into Mischa’s life, how close they were to her. Something cold was in my hand. I looked down and realized I’d reached out and snatched up one of the knives. It was pretty blunt, but it would work as a weapon.
Mischa had turned now and she waved at me. “Jess, come and meet the girls. They’ve been waiting for you to return.”
I’ll bet they had.
When I didn’t move, her green eyes darkened, and she did that nibble-on-the-corner-of-her-lip thing. “They’ve been helping me look for you. I don’t know what I would have done without their support.”
Both of the twins turned from me then, bestowing my clueless twin with smiles that gave me the creeps, but at least they had lost the dominance contest. They weren’t shifters like Mischa and I, though. I couldn’t tell which race they were from. I turned to my pack.
“What the hell happened with you all and Mischa while I was gone?” I was mainly directing my soft, but bluntly spoken question at Maximus.
His features hardened, although it looked a little like guilt and a lot like worry flashing across his eyes. “Let’s just say she didn’t react in a positive manner when I found Cardia.”
I had figured that was the issue. But why was she taking it so hard?
Lienda clued me in. “She thinks like a human, not a supernatural. Especially when it comes to love.”
On occasion I forgot that Mischa hadn’t been raised in the supernatural world, so things like true mates didn’t mean anything to her. I had explained to her before that most supernaturals mated within their race, but there was so much more to it.
Supes had three types of relationships: a chosen mateship, which was not a destined match but still committed; a true mateship, which was forever and determined by the fates; and casual relationships.