Page 29

Ever

" S o what shall it be today? More job hunting, or oncoming traffic?"

“I’m leaning towards the latter,” Kiara huffs. “Ever since I shook the guy’s hand at the end of an interview and that fucking psycho broke it, nobody will even call me back.”

I take a bite of my crepes, offering a sympathetic grimace. “No luck getting Vic to call off his sentinel?”

I’d never admit it to her, but I sleep better at night knowing she has someone watching over her whenever we aren’t around.

I just wish that Vic would get his head out of his ass and apologize for whatever the hell happened between them.

But Kiara’s been tight-lipped when it comes to her elusive fated mate.

She slams back the rest of her mimosa, flagging down the waiter at the outdoor bistro for another. “Nope. Won’t man up and talk about our situation, yet heaven forbid anyone else touch me.” She rolls her eyes.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I perk up seeing Dane’s name on the screen, quickly unlocking it. Only for my hopes to shrivel up and die when I see he’s denied my request again.

Me: Can we do a 15 min meeting when Sophia’s feeling up to it? We can come to her. But it would REALLY help if we could get a better understanding of how intertwined her magical problem is with her system.

Dane: She’s been having more bad days than good lately. I can’t risk getting her hopes up only to dash them again until you have a feasible prototype in hand. She’s suffered enough already.

I stifle a frustrated scream. He’s trapped us between a rock and a hard place. Can’t see his mate until we think we can actually cure her, can’t help her until we actually talk to her. It’s infuriating.

I’ve been reluctant to ask Kiara for help, because Dane made it clear he wouldn’t allow another doctor to poke and prod at his mate after the last several bad experiences, not to mention that it hurts her every time she uses her abilities.

But I’m getting desperate, and brainstorming with one doesn’t really count, right?

Especially since she’s not technically a doctor.

“You’re a healer,” I slowly say, searching for the right words to broach a sensitive subject.

She snorts. “Not a very good one, but better than dying of dysentery. What do you need?”

“Tell me to fuck off if you don’t want to talk about it, but,” I suck in a deep breath and go for broke. “I noticed it hurts you when you use your abilities. Is it always painful, or just when you use your powers?”

She grimaces, taking a drink. “Only when I’m actively using my powers. But between you and me, it’s gotten worse over the years. Why?”

Over the next several minutes, I bring her up to speed on Sophia’s condition without sharing any personal, identifiable information.

Raking a hand through my hair, I lament, “We’ve tried running off of that sliver of knowledge and are supposed to magically come up with a perfect solution, which has got me banging my head against the wall. ”

Tucking an errant lock of purple hair behind her ear, Kiara leans forward with a frown. “Walk me through how this device is supposed to work?”

“His mate is weak because her powers work against her. It's not like she gets a backlash when she uses them like you, it’s constant, and she’s always miserable, noticeably weakening over the past few years .

So we’re trying to make her system stronger to withstand the strain because strengthening her wouldn't increase the blowback.

The problem is not knowing what exactly in her system needs to be enhanced.

Her nervous system? Organs? When I spoke to the guys, all of their magic appears unique where they feel it housed in their bodies, and without a magical CT scan, I can't really tell how it's incorporated throughout her system.

“So we're going to have to wing it and hope we don’t do more damage throwing her already precariously balanced system out of whack.

And without meeting her first, it's a bigger chance of getting her hopes up only to crush them when we have to take the new data and rework the machine to fit her problem specifically.

You know, like I've been trying to get through Dane’s head, but as frustrating as it is, I do see where he's coming from, wanting to protect her from more disappointment.”

Staring down at her hands, she frowns. “What if you didn't try to make her stronger... but took the thing weakening her away?”

Fuck, that’s it.

Sophia suffers from different symptoms, so I thought they were different issues and moved on, caught up on thinking outside of the box instead of the easy answer that was right in front of my face the whole time, thinking it was too obvious.

But it’s not like Dane knew I was a mimic when he hired me, and even then, the effects are only temporary.

“Can I try something?”

“If you’re going to kiss me, be warned, I don’t know if my resident chastity belt is into that or would attack to defend my nonexistent innocence,” she teases.

I bark out a laugh. “Sorry, but no.”

Checking to see if anyone is paying attention, I steal her healing ability. “Try using your ‘shall not be mentioned in public’ ability discreetly on someone.”

Her eyes widen, staring down at her hands in awe. “It doesn’t hurt.”

“That’s it,” I breathe.

To cure Sophia, we just need to find a way to strip away one of her abilities permanently .

Without, you know, somehow revealing my secret in the process.

Fuck.