mystery of the missing Vitals, and Uncle Lucian’s recent recovery and release from the hospital.
I wandered over to the window as the song changed to something a little more upbeat. The room I’d moved into in the Zacarias mansion was a little smaller than the others on this wing, but it faced the backyard and caught the afternoon sun beautifully.
Ethan was standing halfway between the house and the pool, completely in his element, dictating the final preparations. He gestured to someone I couldn’t see around the corner. In the next moment, the string lights came on, and he clapped his big hands together.
People had already started to arrive—some of Ethan’s sports friends and a few other people he and Josh were close with but I didn’t know that well. Getting into deep conversations was hard when you were hiding a big secret about yourself. Thankfully we didn’t have to worry about that anymore. My identity and my Vital status were public knowledge now.
A few more people streamed out of the house, and Ethan welcomed them enthusiastically, wrapping them all in big hugs, high-fiving, and carrying on.
I couldn’t see them from my window, but I knew at least three Melior Group teams were stationed around the perimeter. Every Vital in attendance had their own personal security detail, a very visible team was at the front gates checking vehicles, and another was at the front door, checking each person before they entered the house.
At the first party I’d attended here, security had been nonexistent.
The air was getting brisk as dusk settled in—not that it bothered Ethan. My fire fiend was dressed in his signature jeans and a white T-shirt stretched over his defined, broad chest.
Everyone else, however, would be feeling the cold. Of course, Ethan and Dot had thought of that too.
After saying something to the group that had just arrived, Ethan summoned a ball of blue fire and threw it almost lazily over the still water of the pool. It hit its target—a brazier on the other side—and a bright warm flame rose instantly. He lit two more braziers, then paused and turned to face his audience, a cocky grin on his face. He held his arms out at his sides and lifted them dramatically. The other dozen braziers lining the perimeter of the area, as well as the big firepit opposite the bar, all flared to life.
I couldn’t help smirking. His friends were loving the show, shouting and clapping Ethan on the back. He was reminding me of the confident, full-of-life jock I’d first been warned against by the Reds. But that memory was making me think of Beth—poor Beth—and Zara . . .
I couldn’t go there. Instead, I focused on the small, pulling ache that had appeared in my chest. It had been a while since I’d transferred any Light to Ethan, and he’d just used up every extra bit he had with his little magic trick. He wasn’t depleted to a dangerous level—not by a long shot. I wouldn’t have even registered this mild of a pull a few months ago, but our Bond was deepening by the day, and I could sense their needs more and more effortlessly.
I pressed my palm flat against the windowpane and called up the Light, making my skin glow that ethereal white, and remotely transferred just enough to replace what Ethan had used up.
His chest puffed out on a deep breath, and he paused midsentence and looked straight up at my window. Even from this far up, I could see the dimples from his smile—or maybe I just knew them so well I could picture them without having to see them.
I smiled back, shutting off the flow and snuffing out the weird glow with it.
“That is so fucking creepy,” Dot murmured, staring at me from her spot on the floor, one hand still holding the mascara wand in midair. “But so fucking cool.” She smiled wide, then half turned to Charlie. “Why can’t you glow and transfer Light to me remotely? Underachiever. You know how handy that would be?”
He just flipped her off with a sweet smile on his face.
“It’s not exactly all sunshine and rainbows,” I grumbled. We still didn’t fully understand what it was. Not to mention the fact that dozens, if not hundreds, of Vitals had been kidnapped, experimented on, and tortured by Davis Damari in his demented search for another like my mom. Like me.
“Hey.” Charlie’s gentle voice drew my attention back to him as he scooted to