of jasmine tea and something spicy filled my nostrils as I stepped around the corner.
Nathalie looked up from whatever she was frying on the stove. “Clothes are on the bed.” She thrust her head toward where I’d woken up, and I wordlessly returned to the room. Undergarments, a pair of black jeans with ribbed thighs, and a hunter green long-sleeved shirt were laid out for me. I dressed quickly, the cool air nipping at my skin. The jeans were a little tight, but workable. I shifted around, trying to loosen the material, and then pulled at the neckline of the shirt. It wasn’t as high as I usually liked. The brand around my throat would be visible in it. I supposed all things considered, I couldn’t complain.
Nathalie was plating food when I stepped back into the living room. She put both plates on the high bar, and then pulled out two glasses, filling them with what I could only guess was orange juice. I hadn’t had it in years. It was too expensive for the budget of a bounty hunter.
“Breakfast is ready.”
“I see that. . .”
I shuffled over to the counter in my too-tight jeans and peered down at the plate: real scrambled eggs, hash browns that came from an actual potato covered in spices with chunks of pepper and onion, and two slices of fresh tomato. No wonder she picked at the food from the diner when she normally got to eat this way. I took a seat at the high bar and dug in. My stomach rumbled in approval.
“So,” Nathalie mused a few minutes later. “I was wondering . . .” She started. I rolled my eyes.
“Spit it out.”
“What’s an atma?”
I choked on the hash browns. The spicy pepper went down the wrong pipe, and only half a glass of the best orange juice I’d ever tasted could soothe the burn and swallow it down. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Nathalie wrinkled her nose.
“I have napkins, you know.”
“Why do you want to know what an atma is?” I asked, ignoring her comment.
She gave me a look as if to say are you shitting me? I supposed that was fair.
“Two demons seem to think you’re theirs, and I’m one of the only things standing between them and you—”
“I never asked you to—”
“I’m not trying to guilt you,” she said sharply. “I just need the truth. You’re a demon. They’re demons. From context I’m assuming it’s some type of weird mate bond shit. I’m asking you to help me understand.”
I took a bite of tomato and chewed slowly, then swallowed.
“Mate bonds, psychic bonds, vampire brides—they are all versions of the atma bond. Trickle down from having a demon’s magic,” I said slowly.
She nodded. “So it’s a mate bond on crack. Okay. If the other types of supernatural bonds stem from it, then I’m assuming that without completing it, both parties slowly turn feral, or in your case, all three?”
I pressed my lips together, staring hard at my plate.
“I can only assume so . . .”
She hummed under her breath. “We’ll have to figure that out, then.”
My chin snapped up. “You’re not going to push me to go to them?”
“Not my bond, not my call—but I can’t have you going feral and demoning out on me.”
I narrowed my eyes at her and she chuckled. “Too soon?”
“Yes,” I said stiffly. She laughed again.
We finished our breakfast, and she did the dishes before grabbing a set of keys that were hanging off a coat hook by her front door.
“All right, so here’s the deal. While we’re being honest with each other. I’m not staying in the cabin and neither are you.” I opened my mouth to object, and she held up a hand. “Just hear me out. If we’re going to find a solution to waking your sister up, we won’t find it in the woods. Coming in and out of the city is risky, and there’s no food out there. I’m not eating sandwiches for weeks on end.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What do you propose, then?”
She grinned. “We stay here. My apartment is warded, and I have a spare bedroom you can stay in, so you have more privacy. There’s a food market right around the corner, and a greenhouse on the roof. We could do well here. Fix your sister. Figure out your demon problem,” she mused. That was definitely one way to put it.
I mulled over her offer, taking a sweeping look