Page 27 of Wicked Bonds

Aya checked their own as soon as Issac mentioned it, and sure enough, they also had similar outdoor gear.

“So she’s been here before,” Issac murmured. “But when?”

“Or she shared these details with Osiris,” Aya replied, her expression saying she wasn’t thrilled with either possibility.

Balthazar’s vision snagged Issac’s attention again as he wrote another message in the snow.Going now. Tell the others.

“Right,” Issac said, rolling off the bed to begin pulling on clothes. He sent Balthazar an escalated visual of them already dressed as a way of saying he’d handle things here. They would inform the others and prepare for next steps while Leela and Balthazar checked out the Iceland route.

Knowing Balthazar, he would refuse to move Jayson, Elizabeth, and baby Aidyn until he knew for sure the location was safe.

The mind reader could be counted on for many things, such as turning any potential situation into a sexual encounter, intruding on everyone’s thoughts without invitation, and ensuring the safety of those he cared about.

His mental connection disappeared, confirming the Hydraian Elder had left with Leela.

The other Hydraian Elder, Jayson, appeared to be lost in a blissful family moment with Elizabeth, as she and the baby were all he pictured.

Issac left his visual behind as he searched for Caro and Sethios. He’d skimmed over them before, avoiding whatever intimate act they were experiencing. But he found them both dressing now in the wardrobe Skye had left for them.

“Either Vera visited your parents, or they felt the disturbance in the atmosphere,” Issac stated.

Aya scratched her lower back again, her lips flattening. “Definitely the latter, but maybe also the former. Why didn’t she come talk to us?”

“Because I was busy talking to Osiris outside,” a feminine voice replied as a flurry of navy feathers appeared in Issac’s peripheral vision.

Vera ruffled them out in annoyance before settling into her corporeal state.

“He’s providing a distraction so we can escape,” she continued. “But I need to check Caro for a tracking mark first. It’s the only explanation for how they found you all so quickly.”

Balthazar said he didn’t trust Vera,Issac thought at Aya.However, I don’t know why.

Perhaps because she’d shown up without any explanation? Gabriel had likely given her the directions. But her chatting with Osiris seemed a bit suspect as well.

Astasiya didn’t reply, instead saying, “We should go find my parents.”

Issac agreed. “They’re waiting for us in the hall.”

They’d either heard them speaking or had sensed Issac somehow as he’d checked their vision.

He wasn’t sure how the runes worked to block power, but thought they might allow access based on trust. Or maybe it only deterred Ichorian and Hydraian supernatural energy.

As Issac was no longer an Ichorian, his gifts now worked on a Seraphim.

At least the ones he’d met, anyway.

Except for Sethios. His mind appeared dark. It’d been Caro’s eyes he’d looked through minutes ago. And even that had been a bit blurry.

Perhaps he just hadn’t finished coming into his powers yet because Sethios appeared susceptible to other seraphic powers. Such as his father’s compulsion and Vera’s memory manipulation.

Issac made a mental note to ask about runes later and how his own seraphic abilities would develop over the next twenty-five years—otherwise known as the length of time it took a Seraphim to finally grow wings after birth or the creation of a blood bond.

Hence the reason Astasiya, a born Seraphim, hadn’t been able to mist until after her twenty-fifth birthday.

She pressed her palm to his, drawing him from his thoughts as she linked their fingers together to pull him toward the door.

Vera led the way, her steps certain.

She wasn’t acting guilty of anything.