Chapter 11

“Find him.”

“Sylvie?”

Drenched in sweat and screaming, Sylvie awoke in Kian’s arms, Elias’s hand on her cheek burning her flesh.

“Put me down!” she gasped, pulling away from their touch. The moment her feet hit the ground, the discomfort eased, and she covered her face with her hand. Shivering but sweltering hot under her clothes, her mind processed the sounds around her: cars, chatter, birds and the wailing of a newborn.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. What was happening to her?

“Are we here?” she whispered. “Did anyone see?” Still crouched in a ball, she was too embarrassed to reveal her face.

“Nobody saw,” Elias muttered somewhere to her left. “Do you want to look around, or shall I take you both home?”

“No!” Sylvie answered, straightening and rubbing her arms comfortingly. “No, let’s look around.”

She stood, keeping a distance from her mates, taking in the scenery, surprised to see that Elias was telling the truth. Everyone held their gazes averted, even the dogs being walked.

The town layout was quaint, a central road linked with a web of sidestreets looping around a mixture of old buildings, not rundown per se, but on the way to it. The people walked briskly in and out, the soft ring of the doorbells creating a symphony down the street.

The nearest shop was a bustling cafe, the workers flitting around the tables lightly on their feet. Almost too lightly. Their perfect symmetrical smiles lit up the restaurant as they chatted and whisked empty dishes away. Sylvie turned to peer at Kian with a raised brow.

“Yes,” he said, answering her silent question. “There are a few half-fae here. At least a quarter of the town.”

“Really? And everyone knows?”

“Yes,” Elias replied, moving beneath a nearby veranda as the morning sun blared down on his dark sunglasses covering his icy blues. “Some dryad live here too. A lot less after the shifter attacks, but a few remain.”

Sylvie’s mouth dropped open, and she turned back to Kian. “You said they didn’t kill people.”

“This was thirty years ago.”

Sylvie grunted at Kian’s response, but she was relieved Rowan couldn’t have anything to do with the deaths- “Wait a second. How long do shifters live? Did he-”

“Hex’s a young Alpha, from what I’ve found out. He was only a child when the attacks on the dryads started, so he wasn’t responsible. Shifters age until thirty; if they don’t die in combat, they can live for a few hundred years. The oldest shifter alive is one-hundred and thirty-six; she’s Hex’s pack healer.”

Sylvie nodded, turning back to the town. Well, that was something, at least. Her stomach grumbled as her attention drifted back to the cafe. “Coffee, anyone?”

After a triple-shot expresso and blueberry muffin, Sylvie thanked the beautiful servers. Then, she headed to the small mall complex at the very end of the town, just beside a similarly sized church and graveyard.

A surprising amount of gravestones littered the land beside the chapel. How many of those belonging to the people the shifters murdered? Elias and Kian followed behind silently as she smiled and waved at the people crossing the footpath to get away from her.

“Why is everyone acting scared?′

“Us,” Elias replied.

“Just because they know what we are doesn’t mean they trust us,” Kian added. “Human fiction has much to blame for their fear of our kind.

Sylvie blushed, remembering her favourite fantasy books. It wasn’t all inaccurate. Especially the sexy parts. “Oh.”

As they reached the automatic doors to the mall, Elias grabbed her wrist. “Do you need my credit card?”

She shook off his stinging touch and shook her head. “No, I just want to see if there are any job vacancies.” She strolled through the doors before pausing and turning back to look at her beautiful fiancee. “Are you saying I can do some shopping here?”

With a half-smile, he nodded, holding his platinum card between his two fingers.

“Budget?”

“Don’t ask.”

Biting back a squeal, she took the card and dashed to the nearest store. Shoes. She could always do with new shoes. The clothes he had bought her for work ages ago were still gorgeous, but she was in the mood for some items a bit less formal—a few sundresses, perhaps, and activewear. As soon as her fatigue lifted, she would focus on training again. She refused to be a damsel any longer, especially after the taste of fighting she got from Rowan.

A few hours passed, and arms filled to the brim with bags, Sylvie stopped in front of a large bulletin board. Community notices, lost pets, and job requests. Scanning the jobs, she honed in on a family needing a nanny ten minutes from the town centre. She pulled a tab off the bottom of the sheet with the family’s email address and held it up to Kian and Elias.

“What do you think? I could be a good nanny, right?”

Kian’s eyes lit up while Elias’s twinkled, laughter playing across his lips. “What do you know about children?”

She shrugged. “I just want to be doing something productive with my time, and I don’t want to be handed everything because I’m married to two wealthy, sexy magical men.”

Elias eyed the bags and pressed his lips, hiding a smile.

“I think I’m ready to go home now, though.” The paper bags stuffed with new clothes cut into her arms painfully, and she twisted them to alleviate some pressure. “I’m tired, and these are heavy. Can I drive-” Before she could finish the sentence, the weight of the shopping bags lifted, and so did the touch of her feet on the earth.

“Kian!”

Her chuckling mate carried her back along the footpath to the Lexus, sliding her inside the backseat and following behind after pinching her ass lightly. “Hey! You’re supposed to be the sweet one.”

Elias’s genuine laugh filled her ears as he threw her new items in the back and slid into the driver’s seat, reaching back to tap her knee.

“Careful, Kitten. Kian can be rough when he wants to be.”

A thrill shot through her as she eyed both men.

“Is that true?”

Kian’s smile drew out her own, and he shrugged. “I prefer not to. Especially not with you, Princess.”

His hand cupped her cheek as the SUV lurched away from the curb, and she blushed, leaning into it. A familiar and infuriating pain shot to her chest, and she frowned, pulling away.

“Can I use one of your laptops when we get home? I want to email that family.”

“Have you not explored the whole house yet?” Elias asked incredulously. “Your office is opposite mine, next to the laundry. There is a computer with your email set up on it already.”

“Email?” Sylvie groaned. “Don’t tell me I still need to answer your fucking emails. No offence, Elias, but I assumed I was done working for you.” Those damn emails were the bane of her existence.

Kian snorted from her side, and she rolled her eyes. “And you, Kian. I do recall half of the company is yours.”

“Ours,” he scoffed, booping her nose while Elias grumbled.

“You are no longer my assistant, but you have responsibilities to keep our company running, Sylvie.”

“What do you mean, ours?”

“Exactly what I said. Fifty per cent of all my assets are now yours, and you need to be aware of the upkeep. While I’m allowing you to explore other job options, you will need to learn how to keep a multi-million dollar enterprise running.”

“Allowing?” her voice rose a few octaves and decibels. “What the hell, Elias? Why didn’t you talk to me about any of this before now? If you had, you would know I don’t want that. That’s way too much responsibility. No. No, I can’t.”

Kian squeezed her knee as a cold sweat beaded along her back. This was way too much information to process. “I never wanted to work for a large company like yours in the first place!” Her breathing quickened, and the finger hooking into her shirt couldn’t get the fabric far enough from her neck.

She was suffocating.

“You are the mate of two leaders in their respective species. You were made for this.”

“Elias, stop,” Kian warned. “I can’t calm her.”

Sylvie’s head swivelled, her wide eyes taking in too much. Elias’ burning blue eyes in the rearview, Kian’s furrowed brow and pitter-pattering heart in his throat. What the fuck was happening? Everything in her body coiled like a spring, ready to explode outward. Kian’s surges of peace lapped at her side but, for some forsaken reason, would not enter her like they usually did. They couldn’t touch her, and now their abilities wouldn’t work on her?

“What?” she stuttered. “What’s happening to me?”

“I don’t know,” Kian replied. “It’s almost like-”

“A heat,” Elias finished, his voice deepening to a low growl. The sound sent vibrations in her chest, and she curled against the door.

“No, it isn’t. I’m just- I’m just overwhelmed right now.” Tears spilt over her lids she buried her face in her sleeves. It couldn’t be a heat because that required a mixing of blood, and Rowan never bit her nor gave her his. She was just tired. Just tired and stressed from Elias’ bombarding revelations that were most definitely not happening.

She didn’t want the business or the power or anything. For once, she just wanted a normal fucking life. But what did that even look like? She wondered what Fern was doing at that moment. Was she panicking that her roommate just packed up and left without a word? Perpetually high and arrogantly relaxed, she probably hadn’t even noticed Sylvie’s absence yet.

“Princess, you need to breathe-”

“Stop calling me that!” The realisation of his double meaning suddenly hit her in a way it hadn’t before. He was a prince, and she— his bonded— would then be...

“I’m not a princess, Okay? I’m just- I’m just me. Nobody special. Just me.”

Kian’s worries hit her like a truck, and she curled deeper into herself. How he could even hear her muffled speech was beyond her.

“I’m not even full anything!” she shouted. “Half-vampire, half-dryad. What the hell does that even mean? I’m weaker than both species, slower and dumber.”

Her mate’s raised voice didn’t reach her ears before she sobbed and cried out. “I don’t belong in either group. I’m alone, and I hate it. I hate this. I don’t belong anywhere!” Uncurling, she stomped her feet on the floor and clenched her fists. Fury steadily rose in her body until she could taste a fiery metal on her tongue. Kian reached for her, but she ripped away from his scalding touch.

“Just stop! No more talking. No more touching.” Her chest heaved as she sucked in giant gulping breaths. They’d be home soon. She could get away. Go for a run.

Go.

Escape.

Anything. Without realising, her hand curled around the handle and pulled. Unlocked. She shoved open the door with her forearm despite the dizzying speed of the SUV, desperate for air. Fresh air. The forest whipped past, her eyes unable to lock onto any in particular. She should jump.

Jump.

“Stop her!”

A burning grip latched onto her arm and yanked her back, the door slamming and clicking. “Stop, Prin- Sylvie. Stop. We’re nearly home.”

She screamed and slapped her hands on the window, her mind whizzing with messy, angry thoughts.

“I hate this,” she whined through the tears. “I hate-” she gulped, pressing her forehead to the window, unsure if her words were directed at her mates or her reflection. “I hate you,” she whimpered.