Page 20 of Let's Talk One True Mate

“Which could present a problem—he says he stole Khain’s power of omnipresence, and he’s holding it inside himself—he doesn’t know what’ll happen to it when he dies.”

Burton picked up a rock and threw it in the hole. “It’ll go back to Khain.”

Timber and Canyon looked at each other. That was the worst-case scenario.

“Boe’s marked—you’ve seen it?”

Burton grunted affirmative, eyes on the ground.

“The only other markedfoxenhe knows of is his sister Adil, who he hasn’t seen in a hundred years or more, not since they were children.”

Burton looked up sharply. “He was marked as a child?”

Timber nodded. “Both of them were. He thinks he might have been three or four when it happened.”

Burton winced, then opened his mouth like he wanted to ask a question, then closed it again, his expression troubled.

“He says he remembers nothing but the pain and the terror of it, and watching his twin sister also be marked by a demon who said he was their father. Other than that, most of his childhood and the rest of his life is blank to him.” Timber paused, chucking another pinecone in the hole, before picking up more. “He said it was hard and he suffered a lot. He tried to be loyal to Khain but it stressed him out constantly. The only thing he recalled clearly is, just before Ella came to the Pravus, he had a dream that Rhen told him ‘the Promised’ was not a promise for Khain, but rather a promise to Boe himself, and this meant his time was served and his duties were fulfilled, and he could escape with a clear conscious.”

Burton stood and moved to the edge of the clearing near Canyon. He crossed his arms and leaned against a tree, frowning at Timber. “He dreamed Rhen told him that?”

Timber nodded. “Our informant in Chicago knew about it without us saying a word. He says it was a hidden sign in the Vahiy. It has something to do with the tether we told you about, and with afoxenprophecy called the ‘300 Year Bondservant Tether’.”

Burton scoffed. “Foxendon’t have prophecy, all they have is the Vahiy, and that’s not true prophecy.”

Canyon and Timber looked at each other.

“They might though,” Timber said.

“They don’t have Citlali so how can they have prophecy?”

Timber thought carefully about what to say next. “On a scale of 1 to 10, how sure are you that they don’t have Citlali?”

Burton’s frown slowly turned from mulish to suspicious, as he watched Timber, likely thinking about digging into Timber’s mind to find the truth there. “Are you saying they do have Citlali?”

Timber shrugged. “I’m not saying anything, but we have an informant who says they do,” he said, even though that wasn’t quite the truth.

“Wait,” Burton said, pacing around. “If there’sfoxenCitlali—” He stopped short and pointed a hand at Timber. “If there’sfoxenCitlali, I need proof.”

“Got it, Chief. It’s on our list,” Timber said with a grin and a glance at Canyon, who was also grinning. “Anyway, right after our team interviewed Boe, Shay—still in a coma—had her young. Two males. So far, they look like normal human babies. No red eyes or powers. Shay’s boyfriend showed up and took her and the young with Sebastian following him. Since then, Seb’s been on round-the-clock baby surveillance and we were assigned to take over the Abigail White investigation.”

Timber snapped his fingers as something popped into his mind. “Oh, wait, we haven't been showing you the pendants.”

He and Canyon gathered close to Burton as Canyon pulled up pictures of the pendants on his phone, swipingthrough them slowly. All were gold with an angel on one side, and either a wolf, a dragon, or a bear, on the other side.

Timber spoke as each picture appeared on-screen. “That’s Ella’s, that’s Heather’s, that’s Dahlia’s. Cerise doesn’t have hers—Khain took it to the Pravus. Rogue doesn’t have hers—she never did, but these are two she found in Grey’s hideout. Cerise has this one now, and Leilani has that one, but she says it’s actually hers—Grey took it from her mom. Here’s Willow’s—see the bear?”

“I see it.”

Timber and Canyon moved back to the edge of the clearing, Timber still speaking, Canyon scooping up handfuls of pinecones for both of them.

“Those’re the six we have—there’s one more, but we can’t get a picture of it until Troy shits it out.”

Canyon mimed gagging.And cleans it with bleach.

Burton shook his head. “I don’t even want to know.”

“He swallowed it whole during a fight so Grey couldn’t get his hands on it.”

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