I glance at Ciprian, but he won’t make eye contact.
My stomach twists. “I’m dangerous, okay?” I bite down on my lip ring as cold creeps behind my eyes. “Ciprian doesn’t want you to know that, but I’m not the same kind of shifter as you, Therion. Even if we both lived on the home realm, we’d be worlds apart.”
Gideon meets my gaze without fear. “You’re a monster,” he says quietly.
“Don’t call him that,” Ciprian snaps.
“Chill out, squirt.” Gideon punches his arm playfully. “I’m not talking shit about your boyfriend. I think he’s cool—whatever he is.”
I freeze, Ciprian shifts in his seat, and Alistair chuckles, exchanging a conspiratorial glance with Sheena. It’s annoying, but I can’t focus on it because I’m too surprised by Gideon’s easy acceptance. He was born at the top of the heap, and he’ll likely die there, too. We may have the same realm of origin, but his kind are always taught to hate and fear mine.
There’s no way he accepts me as a permanent part of Ciprian’s life. I’m going to prove it.
“I’m a basilisk,” I say, laying the deadly truth out there.
Alistair pins me beneath a narrow-eyed stare, and I look away.
Gideon shoots from his chair, and it wobbles wildly before Sheena grabs the arm and steadies it. “That. Is. Awesome.” He claps Ciprian on the back. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” Turning back to me, his grin widens. “I’ve been trying to get Idris to take me to see some of the monsters in the fae realm, but he won’t do it.”
Sheena groans. “Don’t even think about asking Luca to?—”
“Can I watch you shift? I’ve never seen a basilisk—fuck, no one has. This is amazing.” He ruffles Ciprian’s hair. “You’re a good liar, you know that? All ‘Luca has a lip ring. Luca makes the best drinks. Luca is so hot.’ I assumed he was some boring coyote shifter, and you were hiding the cool shit all along.”
Wait, what?My fangs retreat, and I swallow the bitter venom coating my tongue.
I’ve got a bad feeling I just fucked up.
“See?” Ciprian glares at me and shakes his head. “I told you not to say anything, and now you’ve opened a can of worms. Gideon is almost impossible to say no to.”
“I-I thought,” I sputter. “I thought you were ashamed of me.”
Gideon sits back down, but the smile never drops from his face. “Ashamed of you?” He chuckles. “Bro, Ciprian is obsessed with you.”
“Thanks, Gideon,” Ciprian says drily. “You’re helping a lot.”
“You’re welcome.” Gideon kisses Sheena’s cheek, ignoring the elbow she jams into his ribs.
“Have you practiced using the bond to locate Celine?” Sheena asks.
I pull my focus away from Ciprian and Gideon and shake my head. “Is it possible?”
She rubs the heel of her hand over her heart and twists her lips into a half smile. “Yeah, it is. Gideon is better at it than me, though. We think it’s because he’s a shifter and I’m not. Heexperienced a directional tug, even before we bonded.” A vivid blush spreads across her cheeks. “It got a lot stronger after we made thingsofficial.”
“Focus on the bond now.” Gideon braces his elbows on the table. “What do you feel?”
I close my eyes, checking in on the ribbon of light in my chest. “I feel her. She’s stressed and... bloodthirsty.”
Ali snorts. “Sounds about right.”
“What else?” Sheena asks. “You already know where she’s going, but if you didn’t, what would the bond tell you?”
I focus harder. At first, there’s nothing but her emotions, which are fainter than they would be if we were in the same room. Underneath them, though, there’s a distant tugging sensation. “I found it,” I whisper. “It’s weak, but if I needed to follow it, I think I could.”
A large piece of my stress falls away. I’m still scared, but this is a solid failsafe. If Celine doesn’t come back through the gateway soon, we’ll figure out a way to follow her—and our bond may be the key.
I put Celine’s life at risk for this connection. The least I can do is use it to save her if the time comes.
THIRTY