“Get off me,” I said, lifting my hand. “You’re giving me a fuckin’ headache.”
“Do you have your powers?” Keifer persisted.
I sighed.
“No,” I answered.
“Why are you so calm about this?” he asked.
I gave him a look.
“Because it’s a normal process,” I answered him.
His eyes narrowed.
“How do you even know about this?” he asked. “I never told you.”
I blinked in surprise.
“Do you think we’re all stupid?” I asked him.
He didn’t reply.
“You do, don’t you?” I asked. “Well, let me tell you, we’re not. We know what goes on. Everyone does. The men and women. The fucking servants. And the way y’all fight and fuck so loud doesn’t help keep it a secret, either.”
Keifer’s face darkened to a mottled red.
“That doesn’t explain how you know,” he said. “And from what I remember reading, only the members of the royal blood mate. You’re not of royal blood. I would know if I had a brother walking around out there who I hadn’t met yet.”
My stomach pinched.
“Psychometry,” I said.
His eyebrows furrowed.
“What?” he asked.
I smiled.
“I know everything. If you’ve ever touched it, I know. If I want to, anyway,” I said smoothly. “And honestly, I didn’t really want to know this time, and I usually try to respect everyone’s privacy. But I have no control over what I learn,” I said blankly. “I may not be of royal blood but I have my own dragon and apparently, that’s all I need to have a predestined mate.”
That was my only thought.
I’d have freaked the fuck out had this happened without my knowledge.
This morning when I’d woken up and felt off, as well as later in the morning when I realized that I couldn’t ‘feel’ anyone, I’d had a minor freak-out.
But then I remembered Keifer’s mating, as well as Nikolai’s. And I’d instantly calmed.
Then promptly freaked out again over the fact that I was mated.
I’d left without another thought, going straight to Wink’s house to confirm my suspicions.
Last night I’d been drawn to her. But this morning, after seeing her again, it’d taken everything I had not to pull her into my arms.
And to see my mark on her neck…that’d been everything.
I wasn’t even ashamed that she had my handprint on her neck.
Territorial didn’t even begin to describe what I felt.
“You’ve been holding out on me,” Keifer said stiffly.
I shrugged.
“I never signed up for anything that said, specifically, what I did and didn’t have to tell you,” I said, glaring at Keifer.
I was so fucking tired of being treated like I was an outsider.
I did just as much work as the rest of the fucking dragon riders. In fact, I likely did more.
Yet, not one of those motherfuckers would ever do anything for me the way they’d do it for another one of the riders.
I got up and started walking, heading for the bus stop.
If I remembered correctly, the buses ran hourly, even this early in the morning.
“Where are you going?” Keifer asked.
“The bus stop,” I answered.
“Why aren’t you riding Mace?” Keifer asked in confusion.
I looked over at my dragon.
“Because he pisses me off,” I answered.
Kiefer didn’t answer, and I didn’t bother to wait for him to come up with a reason that I had to stay.
I had a woman to find.
Not that it’d be very hard.
Not all of my powers left me. That, or I’d already started getting them back.
Either way I could see exactly where she went, so I could follow her very easily.
What surprised me, though, was the fact that she went to my house.
I could’ve guessed a thousand different places as to where she would have gone, and my place wouldn’t have even made the list.
Color me fucking surprised.***I walked through the door and immediately noticed the difference.
Normally when Wink had been in my place, the scent of her was faint.
This time, I would’ve been able to tell she was here even if I hadn’t known she was.
The smell of her shampoo, as well as the lotion she used, seemed to permeate the air, almost like it was circulating through my ventilation system.
It was intoxicating.
And arousing.
I didn’t bother to hide my steps.
She would hear me.
She was up in the loft, and although she was trying valiantly to hide, I could see her shoes.
So, I went about tossing my shirt, seeing as it was covered in sweat, walked into the kitchen, and started cooking breakfast.
It was only nine in the morning; it was still a good time to eat.
I would have reconsidered had it been a little later.
I hated when there was that lull between breakfast and lunch, or lunch and dinner.
I never knew whether to eat or not.
Most of the time I didn’t.
“You know I’m here, don’t you?” she asked softly from the top of the stairs.
She was looking at me from between the slats of the landing, and I nodded absently as I grabbed a blob of butter with a spatula and plopped it down into the pan.