Page 171 of Infernal Secrets
The question remained: why would something that only harmed wish to protect?
My gaze shifted from Rae to Ezra.
Many feared Ezra’s powers, and he’d built a resistance to judgment, but whether he’d admit it or not, he cared about Rae’s opinion.
His handling of her shifted from outright dismissal to something I couldn’t yet name. I saw his alarm when Rae’s panicked voice came over the speakerphone the other day.
The oppressive weight in the air eased as the last of Ezra’s power dissipated.
Zeke let go of Rae’s arms. “What now?”
Rae approached the spot where her boss once stood, staring down at the floor. “Is he dead?”
“Yes,” Ezra said, drawing her attention to him.
Licking her lips, she approached him, tilting her head to hold his stare. “Thank you for saving me.”
I didn’t know if Ezra intended to react. The raw panic in Zeke’s voice when he cried out Rae’s name triggered Ezra’s transformation before he even saw the threat; his shadows moved on instinct.
Ezra lifted a hand but stopped before he touched her face. “He won’t be a problem anymore,” he said, tone terse. He pulled off the tattered remains of his shirt, tossing them on the sofa. “Can someone get me a shirt?”
Rae retreated to stand near the entertainment center when Zeke rushed up the stairs. No one spoke until he returned with Ezra’s shirt.
Zeke sat on a stool next to the counter, watching Rae. “I can’t believe she’s our Nyrith. This is… wow.” A wide smile followed his laughter. “I didn’t want a mate before now, but if it’s…”
Cyn yelled, “She’s not our mate!”
Zeke flinched, his smile fading.
Ezra finished buttoning his shirt, never taking his eyes off Rae.
I ached to hold her, to tell her everything would be fine, but the uncertainty of that promise kept me frozen.
I wanted this. As my Nyrith, it’d mean we could be together, right?
But it’d mean either staying on Earth—abandoning my duty and people—or forcing her to leave everything she knew for Elyrdin, a place that might not sustain human life.
Only Zeke tried to address the situation, but he wouldn’t provoke Cyn now, and everyone else seemed too shaken by the news. I expected Zeke to withdraw after Cyn’s outburst. Cyn had never yelled at him before.
Needing to say something, I cleared my throat. “It makes sense, but I don’t see how it’s possible. Everything I’ve read about Nyriths never mentioned humans.”
“I don’t understand any of it,” Rae said, watching Cyn as he paced, back in his common form now that her boss was dead. “You guys are saying I’m your mate? Like… animals?”
I chuckled, loving the way her nose wrinkled. “Like a permanent partner. A soulmate, humans call it. But with magic behind it.”
“Okay, so let’s say Shane wasn’t full of shit—because let’s face it, he wasn’t exactly known for being trustworthy.” She rubbed her arms. “From what I know about mates on Earth, animal or human, there’s only one partner. Unless it’s polyamory, but that’s not exactly common here.”
Ezra tore his focus from her and sat on the sofa. “I’ve never heard of a Shyrlivi having more than two Nyrith mates. Two is rare. But Elyrdin doesn’t view multiple partners as taboo the way humans do.”
“With mates,” I added, “once the bond forms, they don’t add others.”
Rae frowned. “But you’re saying someone could already be happy with someone else, and then magic throws another person into it? What happens to the other person?”
“It’s happened,” Zeke said. “Everyone involved decides how to handle it.”
“The two-mate thing… How does that work if you don’t ‘add’ people?”
“The magic settles once all mates are joined,” I said. “That’s how you know whether there’s another out there, or if you’ve found all you’re meant to have.”
