"I know," Stephanie said, some of her humor slipping away. "It was just my situation. Losing my family and all. It reminded you of losing your own, and so you tried to avoid me to avoid thinking of it."
Drina glanced to Mirabeau curiously. "You've lost your family too?"
"It was a long time ago," Mirabeau said quietly, her gaze moving back to Tiny when he stirred restlessly. She reached out and brushed her fingers along his cheek. Her touch seemed to soothe him.
"Dree's parents were killed when Rome invaded Egypt, but she has all her brothers and sisters still," Stephanie announced.
"How do you know that?" Drina asked with surprise.
"You just thought it," Stephanie said with a shrug.
Drina just stared at her. She was pretty sure she hadn't just thought that though she supposed it could have been stirred in her subconscious. Still-recalling the accident, she asked, "You were reading Harper's mind during the accident? It's how you knew there was something wrong with the brakes?"
"I told you, I don't really read you guys. You shout your thoughts at me," she said, looking uncomfortable, and then admitted, "Except Lucian. Him I actually have to concentrate a bit to read."
"Concentrate a bit?" she queried, eyes narrowing.
"Yeah." She shrugged. "With most people, mortals and immortals alike, it's like a freaking radio playing on full volume, and I can't turn it down or shut it out. But with Lucian, I actually have to concentrate to hear what he's thinking. Anders is kind of like that too."
"Anders?" Drina asked sharply, aware that her voice had been sharper than she'd intended. Lucian was still relatively new in the life-mate game, and new life mates were known to be easily read, which could explain away what Stephanie was saying. However, Anders was old and mateless. Even Mirabeau probably couldn't read him. Yet, Stephanie, who had only been an immortal for six months, could.
Drina glanced to Mirabeau and saw the troubled expression on her face and knew without a doubt that it reflected her own expression.
"Well, we already knew you had mad skills when it comes to reading thoughts," Harper said mildly, apparently awoken by their discussion. His hand covered Drina's and squeezed gently in warning.
Getting the message, she tried to blank out the worry from both her mind and expression and noted Mirabeau's suddenly clearing her own expression as well. Harper continued, "You're a whiz at reading minds. Have you noticed any other new skills since your turn?"
"Like what?" Stephanie asked, looking uncomfortable.
"Anything that is different now that you've been turned," Harper said easily. "Some edentates have special talents other immortals don't. Maybe you're one of the gifted ones."
She bit her lip briefly, but then admitted tentatively, "Well, I know when life mates are around, and usually who is whose. Like I knew Dawn and Edward were mated and Alessandro and Leonora were each other's mates before you guys introduced them even though Dawn was helping Leonora in the kitchen while Alessandro and Edward set the table."
"Really?" Drina asked with amazement. "How?"
"There's this kind of electricity between them, and this energy that comes from them," she said, and then frowned and tried to explain, "The closest thing I can compare it to is what comes from cell phones and satellites and stuff. I sense these kind of . . . waves or streams of something coming from cells and satellites. It's the same kind of thing that flows between life mates. Like a million nanos are sending out text messages back and forth between them."
Frustration crossed her face, and she said, "I don't know how to describe it any better than that. But anyway, I knew the minute you got here, Dree, that you were Harper's because both your nanos started buzzing."
"I wonder if that's how Marguerite zeroes in on finding life mates for each other," Mirabeau said thoughtfully. "Maybe she picks up on these waves too."
"But Marguerite can find them without their being in the same room. I was in New York, and Harper was here in Canada when she decided I would suit him. She wouldn't have sensed waves between us," Drina said with a frown.
Stephanie shrugged. "Well, she probably recognized that the sounds are the same from both of you."
"Sounds?" Harper queried gently.
She looked frustrated again. "I don't know what to call it. Frequencies maybe."
"Marguerite can't be finding life mates by zeroing in on these frequencies," Mirabeau realized suddenly. "Tiny is mortal. In fact, most of the life mates she's put with immortals have been mortal. There wouldn't yet be nanos in the mortal to communicate with."
"True," Drina murmured, then glanced to Stephanie and said, "Were you able to tell that Tiny and Mirabeau were life mates?"
She nodded.
"How?" Mirabeau asked.
"The electricity you each give off is the same."