Page 35 of Fated Exile

"I know that." She grins a little. "But I just have this... hunch. It's a bit of the communal magic I learned, thrown together with research I did on mating threads. I think if we do this, you'll be able to seeallthe connections. Five of them total, leading back to me. Okay?"

"Whatever you say."

Delilah places her hand on Finn's shoulder, then Bastian's. Finn places his on mine, and I return the favor, rolling my eyes as he bats his lashes at me suggestively.

"Stop that."

"What? You're just sohandsome," he purrs, laying it on thick for comedic effect. "Why, Mr. Clay, I never noticed."

"Finn." Delilah laughs helplessly. "Please."

"Okay, okay. Serious time."

He settles, and I turn to place my hand on Roarke's shoulder, who puts his on mine. Our arms twist together a little awkwardly, so we step in more, allowing more room for relaxation. Across the circle, Kieran and Bastian do the same as their own arms become joined.

The idea that Bastian might be keeping a secret, while standing next to Kieran who opened himself up so thoroughly to earn forgiveness, makes me twitch in irritation.

I breathe in deeply and out slowly, calming myself, and try to do as Delilah said. Focusing on her, I think of our connection.

There was that moment I first met her, when she threw open the door to her father's old house and my heart did a little skip beat. Other parts of me took notice, too. As she bows her head a little and shifts into the circle, her maroon-colored hair slides over the bare side of her neck.

Hunger flares in me, and the thought of what will happen tonight makes it almost too much to wait even the hours until then. I want hernow,complications be damned, other males can wait in line. The thought of sharing her isn't so hard when I realize just exactly who I'll be sharing, and how far a little bit of time and intimacy with Delilah goes.

We have so much left to learn of each other. So much time we can spend together, making discoveries and yearning for more. It would be a shame to waste it, I reflect, on a little jealousy and misunderstanding.

Especially when I, too, have something I haven't been completely forthright about, I reflect. Though I eye Bastian a little mistrustfully, I have to admit that he's not the only one with secrets. If Kieran can be open and honest about his mistakes and his addiction, I owe it to Delilah to do the same.

I have to tell her. Before tonight. About who I was, what happened, and how deeply I learned the importance of loyalty—and the perils of trying to go it alone.

As the thought occurs to me, I glance across the circle and meet her eyes as she looks up. Only a moment or two have passed since we joined hands all across the circle. In that time, something like static electricity has filled the air, charging it. And the instant Delilah's green eyes meet mine, that little brown chip a tiny hollow in one, I feel a spark across my skin ten times stronger than any I've ever felt before.

To my left, Finn jumps, and I know he felt it too. Roarke's hand tightens on my shoulders. Kieran sneezes a little, and Bastian—he gasps, eyes wide and lips parted.

Because as the energy sparked to life, so have thousands of threads.

Not little, dancing threads, spotted out of the corner of your eyes, vanishing the instant they're stared at for too long. Despite the sun overhead, the threads are the brightest thing here. Thick, colorful, joyful, andalive,they twist around each of us, course down our bodies, surge across the ground, and connect us to Delilah.

And they're different colors. Blinking the sudden light from my eyes, I study each one.

Between Delilah and Roarke are golden threads, warm and vital, reminding me of his leadership and effortless connection to the pack. Though most of them wind across the circle to Delilah, some seem to arch away from him towards Juniper, and others rise into the air and disappear in the golden sunlight.

Kieran and Delilah share a strong connection that I've seen before. The threads between them are numerous, thinner than the others but just as strong. They shine white, and seem to sink into Delilah's skin wherever they meet her body, as if they're an innate part of her.

She has similar threads with Finn, though they're clearer than the white of Kieran's, almost see-through. The threads that run from him to her jump and skip around the circle. Some of them race between my feet, and others swerve around Roarke and Kieran, before bending back towards Delilah. They're almost invisible when they curl around her, as if they're a part of her as well as a connection between them.

The strangest threads I've ever seen connect her to Bastian. There are fewer of them, their journey short across the circle, though some wind through the other threads and hesitantly tie them together. Each of their threads are black, though they glow with an eerie silver light somehow. They remind me of the smell my nose picks up when strong spells are cast: ozone and smoke.

And between me and Delilah are blue threads. Strong and sure, they race across the circle with straightforward movements. They seldom stop to twist around the other threads, but they do join with them in some places, melting to almost become one. Though I'd like not to see it, my eyes clearly show me that in more than one place, the threads she shares with me connect with the threads she shares with Bastian.

She has an undeniable a connection to all of us.

It's just as clear, though, that we're connected to each other through her. I can't trace my eyes from her to me without stopping along the way. Finn's easy humor, Kieran's messy past, Roarke's natural affability, and something about Bastian that I don't have my finger on—they all connect to Delilah.

Grinning around at us as we stare in awe, she says, "See? I knew you'd enjoy it. Here's the proof—tonight, everything changes."

When she says everything, I get the sense that she really meanseverything.I don't know if she realizes yet how much each of us will change as well.

It would scare me if I weren't so damned excited to be with her.

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