What the hell just happened?
Lupe stood above me, eyes feral as he held the creature's head in his clawed hands. His face was contorted, fur growing on his forehead and cheeks.
"What the hell is that thing?" Devlin. I would recognize his voice anywhere.
My Genie mate was kneeling beside Jax, checking him over for injuries. Killian and Bash stood in the doorway, eyes wide and wary, while Dair had rolled his wheelchair to T. I didn't spot Ryland, but I knew he would be in one of the corners, a constant shadow.
"It shouldn't be possible," Jax was mumbling, sitting up.
"What shouldn't be possible?" Bash asked, voice tight with irritation. And disgust.
Pretty boy probably didn't want to get blood on his new shoes.
"He's right." Lupe's voice was a growl, his bear still fighting for control. He took a calming breath, reeling himself back in, and I watched in rapt fascination as his face changed once more. Gone was the beast, and in its place was a handsome prince.
I felt something touch my forehead, checking me for injuries, and I smiled reassuringly at Killian, wiping the blood from my nose on my sleeve. Bash still stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest.
"Will you stop speaking in riddles and tell us what the hell happened?" he barked, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
I had been the one mere inches from death, and Bash was the one demanding answers.
"This right here is a Fae," Lupe answered dizzily. Face twisting with disgust, he dropped the head onto the ground. It rolled, landing an inch away from T.
"Fae?" I parroted. I had heard the word before, had read about it in history books. Lupe must’ve been mistaken. "The Fae has been extinct for hundreds of years."
"They're coming back," Jax muttered beneath his breath. "They're all coming back."
Ignoring him, Lupe focused on me. The hardness in his features softened when he took stock of me. I could see instant relief when he spotted no new injuries.
"What are you saying?" Killian asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I shoved him away, ignoring the flash of hurt in his eyes, before scrambling to my feet. I didn't want to look weak with the seven princes surrounding me, regardless of them being my mates.
"What he’s saying is impossible," Bash snapped like the asshole he was. From my history lessons, I knew that there were once hundreds of other supernatural creatures, each descended from lesser known demons. When the Seven Deadly Sins came to the world, they eliminated all of them, determined to be the most powerful creatures on the planet. Besides the humans, of course.
They needed someone to be their slaves.
"Are you saying that I was just attacked by an extinct supernatural creature?" I asked in disbelief. I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around it. My eyes fixed once more on the dead Fae - if it even was that. For all I knew, it could be a Shifter or something in disguise. Anything seemed like a more rational explanation.
Lupe's jaw clenched. "I don't know."
T's voice had us all turning towards him. I could see my mates stiffening, muscles flexing dangerously as they surveyed the human. T, for his part, looked more annoyed than scared, though there was still a healthy dose of fear in his eyes. He lifted his hand as if he was in a classroom.
"Please, for the love of all things holy, tell me what is going on?" Turning towards me, he quirked an eyebrow. "Z, my dear sister, you have a lot of explaining to do."
SIX
Z
By the time we made it to the small, bungalow style house T had been staying at, the sun had fallen, disappearing behind boughs of trees.
My mates were uncharacteristically quiet, sullen almost, as we skirted past the remnants of an old school. Vines and ivy crawled up the brick sides, and the windows had long since been shattered. I spotted a tree growing from one of the windows, its branches wrapping around the huge white pillars adorning either side of the entryway.
As T scurried ahead, barely sparing us a glance, I turned towards Dair who was wheeling himself beside me. His forearms strained as we climbed the steep hill, blond hair glinting in the waning sunlight. He was so handsome, so perfect, that my breath caught.
"Don't pity me," he murmured softly. We had somehow found ourselves in the middle of the group. Bash and Jax walked in front of us, eyes warily fixed on T as if he was a monster they needed to smite. Devlin, Killian, and Lupe held up the rear. And Ryland? Who the hell knew where he went. Probably lurking on a tree branch or something.
"Pity?" I echoed, raising a brow.
Dair's handsome face pinched slightly - a furrow of his brow, a crease between his eyes, the scrunch of his nose. It was an expression I was beginning to read easily on my Mermaid Prince, one that hinted at the unease he wished to remain hidden. But he couldn't hide things from me, whether or not he liked it. I was his mate, dammit, the other half of his soul.
Releasing a breath, Dair continued to roll himself up the incline, his powerful muscles bulging with each movement.
"I'm not stupid," he said quietly, succinctly. "Everybody looks at me like that."
"Like what?"
Like they want to jump his fine ass? Because if that was the case, I might get a little stabby.
"Like they feel bad for me." His voice was resigned, holding no anger or resentment. It was as if he was reciting a fact like the color of the sky. My heart clenched. "And it's funny. I had never considered myself lesser because of my disability. I never considered myself as anything other than a person." His tongue snuck out to wet his lips, and my eyes fixated on that seemingly innocent movement. "I'm used to it, you
