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“Oh, so if I were all human, we wouldn’t have been gifted?” Mari waved her hand. “Don’t answer that. You wouldn’t know what it’s like being human or like we were in this world.”

Thana grinned as Severin growled.

“I might not have been human, but I’ve been around them for a very long time. Thana was also human and has been around many different beings for much longer than you’ve been alive, girl. Don’t think that we look at one species as less than because they’re not like us. I’ve learned that each individual has strengths that can differ from another. I won’t tell you what my strongest is.” Severin winked at Thana after he finished.

Severin loved teasing Thana. The beautiful blush covering her face gave him a rush and challenged him to see how often he could do it.

“I will cut you, Sev dear.” Thana poked him in the chest with each word.

He grabbed her finger and pulled her closer. “You keep doing that, and I’ll poke you back.”

“Again, you two need to save the foreplay until you’re not in a small space with impressionable young girls. Me being the impressionable girl.”

Thana gave a very unladylike snort that made his dick jerk. Severin wasn’t so naïve as to think his female didn’t know what she did to him. Hell, he was pretty fucking sure she enjoyed the effect her words had on him. Not that he truly gave a fuck.

“We will do our best to save you from our...foreplay. You’re all of what, nineteen, twenty?” Severin wasn’t good at guessing ages. Mari’s dark hair and tan complexion, combined with her electric blue eyes and flawless skin, could be from her being a hybrid. He didn’t believe that, though.

“Twenty-one. We can go out and have a drink as a threesome. Oh lord, not like...that. I’m so not into that if the two of you are. I mean, I don’t look down on others for what they do behind closed doors, or wherever they choose to do their thing.” Mari stammered.

Severin and Thana shared a grinning look. Mari’s cheeks turned red, but her blush didn’t affect him the same way Thana’s did. He’d known she’d ruined him and saved him from the moment he’d seen her, much less been inside her.

“Your thoughts are illuminating, mo ghaol. However, I think our friend here is really good at redirecting.” Thana tipped her head toward Mari.

He grinned, flashing fangs the female couldn’t miss. “I noticed. Mari, I have limited patience. If you force my hand, I will get the answers I need my way, which will more than likely piss off my female and you at the same time. I promise that’s the last thing I want to do, so why don’t you tell us what we need without all this dancing around, hmm?”

“I sense auras like my mother. If I look to the sky, there are lines linking me to my brother and those bastards still.” Mari took a deep breath. “The line to my brother is getting fainter. That scares me.”

Thana went to Mari’s side. “We will find him, or discover what happened to him.”

“What if we don’t?”

Severin didn’t make promises, and when someone told you not to worry, you should start fucking worrying. He and his Clan learned that lesson early.

“You said they took blood from you. Did they do anything else?” Thana pushed the thought into his mind as she spoke. Had the captives been sexually violated while at the mercy of those sick fucks weighed on his female’s mind. He’d wondered the same thing, but figured Mari would tell them if she wanted to.

“I was not raped if that is what you’re asking. But they did take samples from me.” Mari looked away and placed her hand on her lower abdomen. “I could’ve stopped them at the time, but I knew if I did, the opportunity to find Pax would’ve been lost. This last time has been the closest I’ve gotten to him. The line to him is near.”

“What do you mean?” Severin shifted on his feet. Weariness settled in his veins. His beast pounded violently within him. What she described was unlike anything he’d heard, yet it triggered a memory of an ancient scroll he’d read. The brother and sister shared a soul, separated at birth. If he died, would Mari die as well?

Chapter 15

They set up wards before leaving Mari at the safe house. Severin called Enzo to keep an eye on Mari from a distance. The attack came several hours after they’d left, carried out by a male dressed as a food delivery driver.

The sheer audacity would’ve been laughable if Severin hadn’t been balls-deep inside Thana.

“Boss, we got a problem,” Enzo growled through their link.

Severin buried his face in the crook of Thana’s neck. “What is it?” he bit out.

“A dude just got out of a truck with a slapped-on pizza sign glowing on top of it. He’s carrying a box that’s supposed to have a pizza in it. You know I have amazing skills when it comes to smelling, especially a good slice of cheesy pepperoni pie. That box doesn’t have anything inside it except cheap cardboard.”

“Shit. How the fuck did they find her at our safe house?” Severin pulled out of Thana with a hiss.

“Is it Mari?” Thana flashed to her feet, pulling on what he deemed her battle gear.

He quickly explained what Enzo had told him, then held out his hand to save time. “We need to flash to her.”

“Let’s go,” Thana murmured.