Page 26 of Wicked Bonds

Loved her.

Worshipped her.

And he told her that with his tongue now, vowing to always be there for her, no matter what the future held in store for them. He’d die for this female. Give her his soul if it meant one more breath.

She responded in kind, the same pledge hummed back at him through the sensual skill of her lips.

He smiled, his grip tightening as she slid onto him, straddling his hips and placing him right where he needed to be.

Until she shivered from some unexpected intrusion.

Her gaze immediately lifted to the ceiling, then went to the door.

He didn’t need to ask to understand that she’d sensed a disturbance, her skin practically vibrating beneath his touch. She frowned.My rune is tingling.

Issac considered her statement, his affinity for visual manipulation triggering to life without a thought. He searched the compound, taking in everyone’s visions at once. It was akin to perusing multiple television channels at the same time, only there were fewer frequencies here because they were in the middle of nowhere.

Which made it easy to find the one he sought. “Vera’s here,” he said, seeing her through Balthazar’s gaze.

Astasiya relaxed.

But Issac didn’t.

Because he saw the way Leela tensed in response to whatever Vera had just told them.

Issac captured Balthazar’s vision, manipulating it to show himself on the edges in a ghostlike form. It was his subtle way of saying,I see you. What’s going on?

The mind reader used to be able to hear those thoughts, making this a little trickier than usual. But the Hydraian Elder didn’t miss a beat, his mind already dipping into his imagination as he pictured angels dressed as warriors swarming in from above.

“Balthazar says we have company,” Issac translated out loud.

That explains the tingling,Aya muttered, her hand going to her lower back to touch the heart-shaped rune near her spine.It doesn’t usually do that around Vera.

Issac didn’t reply, his focus on Balthazar as he continued to draw up fantasy images in his mind. He was picturing a field of ice and snow now.

“I think Vera’s telling him and Leela to travel to Iceland.” It was a guess based on the fact that Sethios and Caro had been there before misting to the Bahamas.

Balthazar pictured Ezekiel in the next minute, then flicked his gaze upward toward the sky.

Issac sent an image back of Seraphim Skye’s face, wondering if that was who he’d met. Then it dawned on him that the Elders hadn’t met her before. She’d always been tucked away in Osiris’s grip until he’d allowed her to be recently taken by Ezekiel.

Or that was the way Osiris had recounted the actions, anyway.

He’d described the entire event of saving Sethios and Skye as a training exercise for Astasiya.

The ancient Seraphim of Resurrection had a twisted view on how to properly teach someone their powers.

Balthazar’s mental image changed again, this time as he knelt to draw words into the snow on the ground.Going to Iceland to check wards. Don’t trust Vera.

Issac’s eyebrows lifted at that last part. He wanted to ask why but suspected there wasn’t a lot of time, as Balthazar was already looking for clothes—something he saw through the mind reader’s gaze.

Vera had disappeared.

And Leela appeared unconvinced.

Issac relayed the details as Astasiya went to check the dresser beside the bed. “We have two outfits as well.”

“Definitely Skye’s doing,” Issac said, noting the winter jackets Balthazar pictured in the closet.