Anger surges in Vudu’s face. “Fuck that. You are not meant to be here, and I swear on my life I will get you out.”
Vudu’s unending loyalty breaks my heart a little. But Toreon just shakes his head and then slips his hand into his pocket. By the soft firelight coming from the torches above, I can see the glint of the obsidian tool that I gave him back earlier. When Toreon starts to hand it to Vudu, the giant demon immediately starts shaking his head and gets ready to shove the tool back through the bars. Hell, I want to shove it right along with him, because if he doesn’t want it, I do.
But Toreon shakes his head. “Relax, V. I’m not giving it back. Just look.”
Vudu pauses, and his red eyes glance down. His thick brows pull together as Toreon holds it up for him. “Is that...blood?” When Toreon nods, I think the big guy might have a conniption fit as assumptions are made, but once again, Toreon cuts him off. “It’s not mine.”
“Whose is it?”
Crap. I clamp my eyes closed, just as Toreon answers, “It’s hers. Sable’s.”
I can feel a pair of gazes land on me, and I hold perfectly still, forcing my breath to go in and out evenly, doing my best to feign sleep.
“So?” Vudu asks, clearly not understanding what he’s getting at.
“So...when her blood touched me, I soaked it up.”
Shock makes my eyes fly open, but luckily, Toreon and Vudu are looking at each other again instead of me. Based on the way Vudu’s mouth has dropped open, I’d say he might be just as surprised as I am.
Medley’s blood soaked into me earlier, but I thought that was a sister thing, or maybe an Annulus thing? So why…?
“It made me stronger, V. Just a tiny bit of blood, but it was a hell of a surge.”
Toreon’s words make Vudu hiss in a breath through his teeth, while my eyes bounce back and forth between them, trying to keep up.
“You’re sure?” he asks, his voice pitching even lower than before.
Toreon gives a nod. “I’m sure.”
“So that means…” Vudu’s gravelly voice trails off.
“She’d be my perfect mate.”
“Wait what?” The exclamation falls out of my lips before I can stop it, and I shoot up into a sitting position as though the words made me pop up like a jack-in-the-box.
Vudu and Toreon freeze, their eyes wide as their heads snap over to me, my own just as wide as I look back at them. “Did you just say I’m your perfect mate?”
13
I wince as my loud voice bounces off the walls back to me. I quickly check over my shoulder, but Medley is still out, despite my loud voice. I think she might even be drooling a little. I sure hope that’s not a family trait.
Turning back around, I walk over to the corner of my cage, trying to get as close to where Toreon and Vudu are sitting as I can before dropping down so I can join in on the conversation.
Vudu is staring at me like he’s just now noticing me for the first time, still in only my plain bra and underwear—not in any way cute, since they’re from the asylum—and yeah, I’m filthy.
I’ve gotten used to being in nothing but my underwear and looking like a hobo, but I was too worried about life or death scenarios to really care. Now, I suddenly feel vulnerable. As if my wings can sense this, they bend around me, trying to tuck against my body like a blanket.
“You weren’t supposed to hear that,” Toreon mutters as he slips the tool back into his pocket.
“Well, I did, and considering you’re talking about me, I think we can skip the clandestine efforts,” I tell him. “Now go on,” I encourage, gesturing for them to keep going as if I’m not here. They of course just stare at me. “Don’t mind me, you two keep talking away so I can figure out what this means.”
Vudu shoots Toreon a look, but the green-skinned demon just shrugs. “It means exactly what I said. Your blood soaked into me and made me stronger.”
“But Medley’s blood soaked into me…” I say, not understanding how it’s the equivalent of me getting down on one knee with a ring in my hand.
“Yes, because you and Medley share an Annuli bond. But this is different.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m a—” He stops himself and then restarts. “The kind of