Page 92 of Blood and Magic
She froze and glanced up at me, raising her eyebrows. “November 10th? Are you certain?”
I nodded. “7:05 p.m. They used an AED to revive me.”
Her features dropped like she’d come upon some dawning realization that would solve all our problems.
“When did you first meet Mill?” she asked.
“When I was nine,” I said. “He worked on the ranch for a summer. Why? What’s that got to do with my heart?”
Morwyn blinked and shook her head, turning back to her computer and clicking through screens faster than I could see them.
“Christ, Kodiak was right,” she mumbled to herself. “I didn’t believe it. How could he have lived that long—so long without?—”
“What?” I tried to look over her shoulder, but she closed her laptop before I could catch anything worthwhile. “What’s wrong?”
“Maeve, I think I know what happened,” she said. “But I need to get Vermillion for this conversation.”
“Okay.”
She left in a hurry, and I waited in the exam room, trying not to let my anxiety get the best of me. A small voice in the back of my mind warned me that what she had to say wouldn’t make Mill any happier. Maybe I already knew what the solution was based on her line of questioning. I mean, hell, it wasn’t that hard to figure out. If Mill was my mate, exactly how long had we been connected like this? And if she thought my meeting him as a kid had anything to do with my heart, maybe we had been more mated than we initially thought.
When she returned, Mill was right behind her, his features drawn tight, his eyes stoic but alert.
“What is it?” he asked. “Is she okay?”
“Yes, she’s fine,” Morwyn said, gesturing to the chair next to the examination table. “Sit down.”
CHAPTER 28
Vermillion
“Kodiak told me what he suspected, but I didn’t know how it could be true,” Morwyn said once I sat. I squeezed Maeve’s hand, hoping to show that I supported her no matter what my sister said. “Most of the time, a mating bond doesn’t happen until a shifter transitions. But not always.”
Maeve furrowed her brows and glanced at me.
“What does that mean?” Maeve asked.
“November 10th is when Vermillion was attacked by vampires and died. His heart stopped for five minutes.” Wyn looked between us, her gaze imploring us to catch on. “At exactly 7:05 p.m.”
Maeve’s features dropped, realization dawning on her. “Oh my God.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “What does that mean?”
“That’s exactly when Maeve’s heart stopped,” Wyn explained. “There was no reason for her to have gone through that, not unless…”
“We were already mated,” I finished for her. Fucking hell, that was precisely what Kodiak had hinted at weeks ago. “Is that possible?”
Wyn shrugged. “Anything’s possible. We don’t fully understand magic and never will, as much as I might try.”
“So what?” Maeve said, tightening her hold on my fingers. “We’ve been mated since I was a child? I thought shifters couldn’t live without their mates.”
“The mating bond wasn’t sealed,” Wyn replied. “It still isn’t, but I suspect Mill’s wolf had already chosen you, and the tiny bit of you that was a shifter, the part that was lying in wait until you turned, it selected him, as well.”
“But he helped Guin through her transition,” Maeve continued. “How could he have done that if his wolf was already dedicated to me?”
“The transition is a compulsion,” Wyn explained. “And since the mating bond wasn’t official, he could go through with it. But, they came out of the other side no more connected than they were when they entered it.”
“Which is why we’re different,” Maeve said.
