Page 103 of Demons In My Head: Exposing the Exiled

After showering, I dried off quickly, my skin already starting to crawl from the water droplets sliding down my neck. I was so overstimulated by everything right now. The shower had helped clear my head, but now my thoughts were racing in a different direction. One we needed to address.

Pulling on clean, black joggers and my well-worn Misfits t-shirt, I headed back toward the kitchen, where I could hear my brothers still talking. They fell silent when I entered, and I noticed fresh coffee had been made.

"You look less like death warmed over," Talon said cheerfully.

I ignored him, grabbing a mug and filling it. "We need to talk about the nest."

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly. Misha straightened in his chair while Rhodes set down the tablet he'd been studying. Ash's eyes locked onto mine, and I could feel the weight of his attention.

"What about it?" Ash asked carefully.

I took a slow sip of coffee, gathering my thoughts. "She's our mate. All of ours. You all know it. Our demons need her."

"It's not that simple," Rhodes started, but I cut him off with a warning look. “There’re so many variables to consider here.”

"When is anything ever simple with us?" I set my mug down harder than necessary. "But we can't ignore this. Her power levels are insane right now. You said it yourself, she'll need help controlling it."

Talon leaned forward. "And you think mating would help?"

"I think it would help stabilize her. Not diminish her power, but make it more... manageable." I ran a hand through my damp hair. "The mate bond would create a natural circuit, letting her energy flow between all of us instead of just building up inside her."

"Like a pressure release valve," Misha mused, and I nodded.

"Exactly. Plus, it would strengthen our ability to protect her. We'd be able to sense when she's in danger, and feel if she needs us."

Ash stood up and started pacing, his typical response when processing something important. "Have you considered that she might not want that? She just got free of Asrael's control. The last thing she needs is to feel trapped again."

"It's not about control," I argued. "She knows that. It's about support. Connection. Family." I studied Ash, wondering if he was projecting his own feelings. If there was any of us who hated feeling trapped, it washim. I had to know. “Ash, if you’re unsure—”

He snarled and was in my face instantly. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

"Okay, Ashy boy. Settle down. I think we are all in agreement that Felix is right," Rhodes said. "We’ve seen how it works with her and Jasper. It's not about dominance, it's about balance."

"And the fact that we all want to fuck her senseless has nothing to do with this discussion?" Talon asked with a smirk.

I threw a napkin at his head. "Can you be serious for five fucking minutes?"

"I am being serious! We're all thinking it. Might as well say it out loud."

"The physical attraction is... relevant," Misha admitted. "But it's more than that. We all feel it."

He was right. What I felt for Palmer went way beyond simple lust. The need to protect her, to see her smile, to watch her grow into her power—it was all-consuming.

"So what do we do?" Ash blurted out, finally stopping his pacing. He was uncharacteristically out of sorts about this. It was actually kind of comical. "Just walk up to her when she wakes up and say,'Hey, by the way, you're our mate and we should all bond to help manage your newfound godlike powers. Oh, and that includes you getting absolutely destroyed by all of our knots'?"

I winced as Talon laughed like a maniac. "Maybe with a bit more finesse than that."

"We let her wake up first," Rhodes said firmly. "Let her process everything that happened. Then we talk to her about it. Together."

"And Jasper?" Talon asked. "He's part of this too."

"Jasper's always been part of this," I said softly. "Trust me, he already knows."

Ash nodded slowly. "Alright. We wait. We watch. And when the time is right, we have this conversation with Palmer."

"And hope she doesn't use her new powers to send us all through the veil," Talon added cheerfully.

I grabbed my coffee and headed back toward Palmer's room, but Ash's voice stopped me.