Page 44 of Cursed

Goddess. I’m not used to him being the fiery one. And he heard my thoughts without me projecting them.

“Of course, I can hear you. You’re completely wide fucking open to us right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of us can read your thoughts,” he says quickly, then returns to the subject at hand. Shadows swirl over his eyes, his darkness just under the surface. “How the fuck did you die?”

“It was an accident.” I scoot away to sit up and shiver at their intense stares.

Arden slips his sweatshirt over me to keep me warm, then demands, “Explain.”

Branden darkens the open doorway to the outside and sighs heavily. “It was me. I was trapped in a night terror. I bit and drained her.”

Quade snarls and readies himself to attack.

“No. Don’t.” My own shadow magic reaches out, and I capture his arm. I’m a bit shocked I was able to do that without much effort or thought.

Landis sucks in a breath. “Shayla… your energy… I can’t make sense of how you’re doing this.”

“Which is why I need you all to settle down and listen to me!” I snap.

They all go still, even Rourke, who just arrived and is now standing behind Branden in the doorway.

“Branden didn’t mean to hurt me. He’s just as fucked up as the rest of us, and his nightmare took over. But that’s not why I’m bringing this up. I turned into a vampire for a little bit. I grew fangs and drank some of his blood. Then I was able to use water magic, but that isn’t a vampire thing necessarily, but itissomething I had just watched happen.”

“So you think you have mirror magic, after all?” Landis asks.

“It would make sense on some level. But she was able to use cubi, wind, and earth magicbeforeshe bonded with us.” Quade frowns. “And from the few mirror mages we know about, there has to be a formed bond to allow them access to it.”

“I don’t think it’s mirror magic.” I fiddle with my fingers, looking at them, wondering if I could be right. “I think I’m some sort of shape-shifter.”

“No.” Quade shoots me down. “That doesn’t explain your powers. Shape-shifters are only able toappearas another person or creature. They don’t actually have their magical powers, just the energy signature to mimic them.”

“Don’t dismiss her just because you don’t know the answer yourself.” Rourke steps forward, and in front of our vamp, casually protecting Branden as he does.

“Can you change your physical shape?” Arden asks.

“Well, I have only fanged out a bit, but I wouldn’t know how to shift on purpose.” I look at Rourke and Quade. Maybe they will know how to help me use my shifter powers.

Rourke clears his throat. “On the off chance that you’re a dragon, maybe we should go outside to try?”

My eyes widen. I would sort of love to have the ability to fly like he does, but I’m still not keen on the idea of fire. I leap off the bed and toward Rourke, who reaches out to take my hand.

I don’t hesitate. And because I don’t, I watch his face light up at my acceptance. “What’s it like? Being a dragon, I mean?” I ask.

“That is the perfect question because when you first learn to shift, you want to feel the animal inside ready to come out.” Rourke squeezes my hand and pulls me outside.

“Shoes!” Arden races after me with sneakers.

“If sheisa shifter, she will ruin them.” Quade shakes his head and throws on some clothes to follow us out.

“But your feet will get cold.”

I’m about to argue that I’ll be fine when Rourke lifts me into his arms and carries me into the center of the small meadow in front of our cottage.

He looks at me and his hold on me with a sheepish grin. “Is this okay?”

“You stuck your tongue into my pussy last night. I think carrying me a few feet is acceptable.”

He blushes at that. “I’m sorry if you didn’t want that from me. I know you allowed me to taste you with Branden, but I don’t want to push you into something you don’t want.”

I whisper into his ear, “As far as I’m concerned, you can lick my pussy every night.” I smirk and glance at the other guys following us. “Maybe we should work out a rotation schedule,” I joke… sort of.

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