Page 52 of Claim Me

I was worried!I snap at her.

I know,she repeats.Now tell me about this treatment.

What?

The treatment you were thinking about so loudly that you woke me up from my spell-induced nap.

Spell-induced nap?I repeat.

Nope. You share your story, then I’ll share mine.

I roll my eyes. Issy is just as stubborn as I am, which means she won’t bend until I explain myself first.

Fucking mating spell,I grumble to myself.

Fortunately, Issy doesn’t hear that part. Mostly because I didn’t leave our telepathic link wide open this time. Before, I was waiting for her to reply and essentially thinking aloud. Except I wasn’t using my physical voice so much as my mental one, and talking openly to my sister.

Sometimes our connection is complicated.

But we have over two decades of experience perfecting it, which made mytreatmentslipup a rare instance.

I’m waiting,she singsongs.

Yeah, yeah,I mutter at her.

Then I tell her everything that happened, starting with Klas’s execution, my visit to the death plane, my inability to carry out the resurrection spell, and my new bespelled bonds, and ending with the reactions from my new phantom “mates.”

Huh.

Huh?I repeat.That’s all you’ve got?

Well, yeah. It’s interesting.

Interesting.I’m starting to feel like an echo chamber.It’s a fucking mess, Issy.

How so?

If she were standing in front of me, I would have gaped at her.Because it’s not real?I suggest.Because it’s that black magic spell from Daithi rebounding? I mean, when Klas died, the magic had to go somewhere, and it latched me to all the other souls in the room.

Issy is silent for a moment.Maybe.

What do you mean by “maybe”?I ask, frowning.What other explanation is there?

Fate?she offers.I mean, you’ve spent the last year with all these guys, and you’ve told me how attractive they are…

I scoff at that.Just because I think they’re hot doesn’t mean they’re destined to be my mates, Issy. And to soul-bond to all four of them? There’s no way I’m that lucky. Not to mention that fated bonds are between two souls, not several.

Typically,she agrees.But not always. There are multi-fated pairings. Maybe fate decided you’d more than earned your own.

A humorless laugh escapes me.Fate’s a bitch who would never deal me this good a hand.

Given all the other hands you’ve been dealt, it only seems fair for fate to give you a bunch of hot males as playing cards,she argues.You deserve to be cherished and loved, Fallon. We all do.

I sigh.I’m not saying I don’t deserve to be loved or cherished, but it seems highly unlikely that this is truly fate. It has to be the spell rebounding.

There’s one way to find out,she says.You could try rejecting one of them.

Yes, and when that doesn’t work, what then?I press.