She plucks the metal dish out of the air with a chuckle, never missing a beat of her rendition of Rihanna’s song.
And that’s when it hits me.
Mate.
My jangling emotion pennies really get going in the jar as realization dawns on me. Toreon is not the first person to say that. There was a lot going on when it happened, which is probably why I’m just now connecting the dots. But...
“What happened?” Medley asks, her smile melting off her face faster than an ice cream cone on the sidewalk in the middle of a heat wave.
“The demon in my head,” I answer, just above a whisper. “He said I was his mate too.”
14
“What demon in your head?” Medley and Toreon both demand at the same time.
Medley’s question is filled with concern, whereas Toreon’s question is filled with a note of accusation, like I’ve been doing something wrong or hiding something.
I try not to wince at their demand for information. I feel stupid and awkward as I try to figure out how to explain this to them. Will they believe me? Will they think that maybe I’m crazy after all?
Insecurity bubbles up in my stomach like frothy milk, and I try to swallow down the doubt and worry that courses through me.
“I don’t know who he is exactly, or at least, I didn’t until my dream earlier,” I start.
Dammit, that’s not helping me sound less delusional.
I take a deep breath and ready myself for the onslaught of judgment I’m sure will be coming my way after I confess what’s been going on in my mind. I’m used to that.
“It’s this voice that pops up in my head when I’m feeling emotional. I’ve never heard him before. It started not long after I’d been brought here. I sort of just blew it off at first, you know, because I thought I was crazy. It didn’t seem out of the realm of possibility that I went from seeing things to hearing things,” I explain, trying not to fidget or think too hard about how vulnerable I’m making myself by telling them this.
“I guess by the time I realized that I wasn’t crazy, I was sort of used to him popping in and out, so I didn’t think too much of it, but then earlier, I was having a bad dream, and when it stopped he was just...there.”
“How?” Vudu asks, hopping on the curious train too.
I shrug, because how the hell would I know? “He just was. He keeps saying that I call to him. My anger maybe? Like when I’m upset, it pulls him to me somehow. I don’t know. But he’s a bit of a prick and has a cosmic-sized ego. I think he finally figured out in the dream that I’m not playing some game with him, though, that I’m actually in trouble. He said his Matron would help me, but I don’t know what any of that means.”
“What does he look like?” Toreon presses, his entire countenance very intense.
“He has reddish-orange wings, dark brown hair, but it’s streaked with a similar color as his wings. Blue eyes, small spiky horns just outside his hairline.”
“You beaconed a mate,” Toreon states, his voice filled with surprise and a good dose of irritation. He runs his fingers through his hair, and his chains clink in protest of the movement.
“How did I do that?” I demand, feeling a little defensive and realizing that Ire used the word beacon as well.
“Could it have been a Nihil?” Vudu asks with concern.
“That’s what I was thinking,” Toreon confirms.
“But which one?”
Toreon shakes his head, his eyes fixed on his protector. I don’t know what they silently say to each other, but I don’t miss the exchange of something between them.
“Gear down there, big shifter,” Medley calls out from her cell. “Mind fillin’ the rest of us in on what y’all are talkin’ about?”
Vudu turns to her. “Sable’s emotions initiated a call to a mate. It’s how some of the Abdicated find a true match,” he explains.
“Not just any Abdicated,” Toreon interjects. “It’s how the Seven Deadly Sins and their progeny find a match. It’s how Lucifer’s inner circle claim their mates.”
“Well, damn,” Medley states simply, but the words represent my reaction perfectly.
“His name was Ire,” I confess, letting the last of what I know out into the room like I’m releasing a wounded animal to the wild. I don’t know if it will run, stay, or turn around and bite me.