Page 4 of Bonding Beasts (Bonding: The Ultimate Guide #3)

Mal

The smoke creature somehow carries her inside and slams the door behind it. I hear the distinct click of not one but three locks.

The ward over his home is formidable, keeping out even his faery allies as they line up in front of the fence and regard us with distrust. Mitri ignores their glares to pace the fence line and test the ward for weaknesses.

“The Hag’s work,” he says and turns away to go back to his car. I’m not sure if he’s leaving or has another secret plan up his sleeve.

I’m staying here.

Kimi throws himself onto the ground and begins playing with a ball of duct tape with his back feet, utterly oblivious to the bombshells that just got dropped onto our heads.

It’s as if a binding cloth has been removed from my senses, returning me to a state that is familiar and foreign at the same time. I understand this is my usual reaction to stimulus. Still, it’s been so long that I no longer recognize myself.

I don’t bother wondering how long this spell or manipulation has lasted. It doesn’t matter. What matters is how I go on from here.

The vehicle starts, and Mitri drives away as I stand watching Kimi.

I got used to his lack of conversation over the years we’ve worked together.

I accept and trust that he knows what he is doing and his methods in getting it done.

This is not a realm for weakness, and Mitri has none.

It is also not a realm for menders, and I feel a vague unease about it.

Our team of agents is made up of individuals who slipped into service to look out for corrupt Delegates and found each other by chance. We’re the perfect people in place to keep her safe from their machinations.

If we can get it together, that is.

Now that I’m fully aware I can see the correlation between King’s experiences with the corrupt and Beatrice’s. I need him back with me to express my concerns.

If he even wants to come back to me anymore.

This attack on us. Have they figured out that none of us are as we seem?

The only way to know is to keep steady on my course.

My senses are sharp enough to make out a faint conversation between the two inside the house before they go to bed. The words are unintelligible but the sound of her, more relaxed and comfortable, soothes me.

The scent of her lingers in the air. I inhale deeply. Sharp citrus with hints of the thing’s vetiver, and light caramel cream notes blended together to make one person.

Beatrice. A female who healed me without hesitation, even though I attacked her not long ago. The fact shames and humbles me in equal measure.

I’m no longer surprised that she hid herself. I also know why she was in that lab.

Always with the damned labs .

Menders are supposed to be extinct. She would be a rare find. No creature with so little regard for their own life could be expected to last long.

I also realize that whatever fascination she holds for Mitri has been solidified. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants. And he wants her .

I suppose I should be upset that he admitted killing four Delegates to her, but I’m finding it difficult to care. I doubt they were innocent.

I leave Kimi to his play and make a circuit of the property, spreading my scent over top of the monster’s as an added precaution. There are a lot of Others who would never willingly cross the path of a dragon.

She might be able to free me of my curse. She’s selfless enough that I could ask it of her. Can I, though?

With my head clear of cobwebs, the longing to return to my old form has returned with a vengeance. I can only marvel at the fact that I left that laboratory before I could completely change.

My mate was the only thing I could think about at that final deciding moment. A demon who wants nothing to do with me.

Mitri said that we were all affected by this new curse. Could it have affected our bond?

I pause my steps to sense the tie that connects us and feel it falter before it reaches his side. I take a sharp breath at the pain of disconnection. He has wholly closed it off, leaving me with very little hope.

The only thing I can do now is ask Beatrice to help me reach my mate. I can offer her as much gold as I can carry for it. What is my hoard without my mate to guard it with me? If healing his mind doesn’t, I will ask her to return me to my original state.

I pace the perimeter as the faeries watch for several hours, allowing my scent to saturate the land here. Kimi is in a new position at every pass, playing with his toy without tiring.

On the seventieth circle, Mitri returns. He stops the vehicle but does not exit.

I open the passenger side and slide in.

“Is it safe to return to the den?” I ask him as he lights another cigarette. The overwhelming scent of clove permeates the car and causes my nose to twitch.

“I do not believe so,” he replies, reclining his seat.

I find myself nodding, “King is there.”

“Yes. You will have to ask her to help.”

“Just me, huh?” I scoff.

He turns to look me in the eyes, “Your use as an ally is no longer a priority.”

I want to be pissed that he’s casually telling me he wouldn’t care if I died right now, but I can’t.

This is Mitri. I was lucky that he decided to help me in the first place. He doesn’t feel pity or remorse, so I wonder what motivated him to do it. Maybe that curse made him more sympathetic, which sounds absolutely insane. Instead of complaining, I nod again.

“And him?” I point at Kimi as he plays golf with no club, shading his eyes to see into the distance despite it being fully dark outside.

“A problem,” his accent gets thicker, and he inhales his smoke deeply.

“You can’t kill him.”

“I will find a way.”

“How long will that take?”

He rolls a single shoulder and inhales again.

“How many times has he killed her already?”

The empty stare I get for the question would have rippled my scales a few hours ago. Now, I’m unconcerned .

I can’t remember the last time I felt so nonchalant about my death, and it makes my lips curve at his challenge.

“I’m asking for a reason, not to aggravate you. I can’t believe that’s even possible.”

He looks away towards the house again, and silence descends between us.

“What are we doing?”

Kimi’s voice from the back seat startles me. How did he -

“Would you like your ring, Kimi?” Mitri asks without inflection.

He gasps and extends his left hand, all his fingers curled under except for the ring finger.

Mitri reaches into his pocket, and I halt him by saying, “In the car?”

“ Mne vse ravno, ” he replies and slides the ring on.

We ignore Kimi as his body begins spasming in the backseat. The silence between us lasts about ten minutes before Kimi sits up and wipes his bloody nose.

“Why is marriage so hard, you guys?”

“Tell us your Goddess story again,” I suggest with a vicious smile.

“Why? You guys never believe me ,” he whines directly into my ear, making me grit my teeth to keep from snapping at him.

“Now,” Mitri turns to give him a blank stare.

“Okay, then,” Kimi exclaims excitedly and leans between our seats to begin, holding his palms out, “Once upon a time…”

I never noticed that what I once considered embellishments to the faery’s tale have never changed. It’s a script he’s acting out in the backseat for our entertainment .

The Goddess was killing the land and enslaving the people, beginning some sort of cult that followed her obsessively. Her ultimate goal was to destroy their planet.

I raise an eyebrow at Mitri at this part, which he ignores.

When the female reached the forest where Kimi’s people lived, she wanted the kings of his people for her own.

After some questioning, Kimi admits he has four fathers and six older siblings that could have taken his place as a sacrifice. When he’s asked why they didn’t he only says, “That wasn’t their role in this.”

His people weren’t the type to lie down and obey, so they planned to meet her with a show of force.

An inevitable war began between the two factions.

The armies that were defeated were kept as her pets to be trained.

She would only cease the war if his fathers agreed to abandon their mate and marry her instead.

Kimi decided enough was enough. He sent his own message to the Goddess, claiming to not be content at home as the seventh son of royalty with no prospects and willing to marry her, no ceasefire necessary. He went to her without an escort.

Bold and idiotic. Perfectly Kimi.

The Goddess was apparently not very intelligent, or she believed herself untouchable. Either way, they married in some grand ceremony, and she bound his spirit to follow hers wherever she ended up.

The following diatribe about how Gods shouldn’t be worshiped because they’re idiots, and if you want something done, you should just get off your ass and do it yourself instead of wasting time praying lasts for a little over an hour.

We let him vent, knowing he’ll return to the main story eventually.

When he does, he adds some new facts. Things we haven’t heard before because we either stopped listening or he just gave up on us paying attention and shut up.

Seeing that we’re still a captive audience, he tells us how she reincarnated over several different realms, taking longer and longer each time to be reborn. He doesn’t know how long between because he gets trapped in some realm filled with gray mists with no way to tell time talking to himself.

Mitri tilts his head at this information, and I don’t know if he’s taking mental notes or if something has triggered him. He’s been motionless throughout the entire retelling.

Every time she is reborn, he gets pulled back to her. She’s always an adult and firmly in grasp of her powers by that point and aware of who he is to her.

He’s killed four reincarnations so far, and each time he loses something. He can’t tell us what, but I suspect it’s pieces of his mind. She’s destroying him one bit at a time, and he doesn’t even realize it.

“This one is totally different,” he finishes with a rocking motion that makes the entire car shift back and forth.

“How is that?” Mitri asks in a deadened tone.

“Well, usually I feel her here,” he taps his temple.

“It’s this cold, slimy slug crawling around my brain that makes me wanna puke.

I feel her here this time,” he taps his chest directly over his heart.

“And it’s all hugs and kisses and happy shit.

And I found her young. They’ve never been that little before.

She isn’t reborn yet. That’s a lot of firsts. ”

He gets quiet as my mouth falls open, and I turn to face Mitri in slow motion. He’s still ignoring everyone present, focused on the house.

“Is this feeling like a tunnel leading to her?” I ask in surprise. If this is what I think it is, I believe Mitri might actually lose his shit.

“Oh, yeah!” Kimi snaps his fingers and leans closer to me.

Mitri’s head slowly turns to look at Kimi. His eyes spell out a cold death for the oblivious male.

“Like I can feel her from the inside, but not in a sexy way. Something is all messed up, and I can’t figure out why. I never felt her like this before.”

Mitri’s eyes meet mine and narrow. I can feel him willing me to continue my questions.

“Do your people have mates, Kimi?” I ask cautiously.

“Well, yeah,” he nods and shrugs. “A female can mate up to twenty males.”

“ Twenty? ” I choke out with wide eyes.

“Yeah, that’s a lot of D flopping around,” he agrees. “I could handle it, but I don’t think anyone else could.”

“And males? How many times can they mate?” I cringe as I ask. The slow lowering of Mitri’s brow makes me suddenly highly grateful that I can only bond once, and it’s been done already.

“Once, I guess. Male/male pairings can happen when you bond a group, but the focal bond goes to females only. Are you writing a book, Cuddle Bear? Can I be in that one too?”

“Have you bonded with a female?” Mitri’s accent is thick as syrup, and I’m hoping Kimi says yes so I don’t have to clean brain matter off my face.

Kimi is oblivious to the danger he’s wading into. Or maybe he isn’t. He does delight in aggravating people.

“Nah. I can’t keep this all to one person,” he gestures down his front to display his magnificence. “I’m not that selfish.”

Mitri’s eyes snap to mine, and I can smell the rage building in him. Serves him right.

I know that Immortals don’t have mates. No one knows why they’re exempt from it. It just is what it is.

I also can’t picture Mitri having that kind of attachment to anyone. He can obsess over things, but he can’t feel love. Who in their right mind would want a male like that?

Then again, when Beatrice finds out she has a permanent attachment to the male whose sole intention is to eat her heart it probably won’t go well either.

“I have questions,” Mitri grits from between his teeth to me.

“Of course you do,” I sigh in resignation.