Page 53 of Wonder
Well, shit. I hadn’t considered that. “I don’t know. As far as I’m aware, I’m the only vampire who’s ever mated outside our species.” Wait a minute. I sucked in a breath. “That’s why!” I grabbed Reno’s shoulders. “When we were fighting Marcas and Roibeart at the park, I was faster than usual, and I healed my wound when I misted. I’d never been able to do that before. I’m getting my abilities enhanced, like any other magic carrier’s mate would, and you’re getting some of my abilities, like a vampire’s mate would.”
That means I’ll never be able to call a vision.Reno’s realization echoed between us like a death knell. Our bond delivered the thought he hadn't voluntarily sent to me:What use am I?and then a horrified,I made Simon mate me for nothing!
I hugged him, drawing him as close as I could.Your calling a vision might have been why we decided to bond today, but it was never any part of why I want you to be my mate.
He didn't respond, but I got a swirl of gratefulness, guilt, and a feeling of inadequacy. Working through Reno’s feelings would take longer than we had right now.
We held each other for a beat until Tucker interrupted. “So, you’re mated? Is that typical for how a vampire mating bond looks?” He pointed at us.
Sighing, Reno broke away from our hug and tugged me to the table. “Yes, we’re mated. No, it didn’t take completely, because I’m an asshole and subconsciously I wasn’t all in. And the whole thing was for nothing because I can’t call a vision.” He gestured at me. “And it doesn’t seem like I’ll ever be able to.”
My knee-jerk reaction was to object to him calling himself an asshole, but he squeezed my hand so I let it be.
Tucker cocked his head. “Your scents have mingled, and you’re holding hands, so it can’t be all bad.”
Reno shook his head and pulled out one of the chairs. “No, we have to stay touching each other.”
Jackson and Nicky hadn’t commented. They were both too busy staring at the ramshackle bond Reno and I had created.
I saw Reno’s phone on the kitchen counter, so I grabbed it. His aunt had messaged him, but otherwise he only had a few new texts from Wonders. They’d all reacted positively to my responses, and many of them had started contacting me instead of Reno. I handed him the phone as I sat down next to him. He was explaining Cal’s plan to get closer if he couldn’t call a vision now.
Speaking of Cal, my phone rang. I answered. “Hey, Cal. You’re on speaker with me, Reno, Jackson, Nicky, and Tucker.
“Hi, everybody. So, same result. No vision. I’m in the car on the way to get closer to you. It’ll take me about two hours. I have a good success rate with calling visions within a smaller range, so I’m hopeful this will work. If it doesn’t, I’ll contact Delphia and get them to come home.”
But we all knew Roibeart and Marcas wouldn’t wait that long to feed again.
After wishing him good luck, we hung up. Tucker glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to be at work in a bit, so I need to get goin’. Do you want me to see if my mom can come over this afternoon, in case Cal finds out where the vamps are?”
Reno gave me a questioning look, and I shook my head. “If you can have her on standby, we’ll call if we find out anything.”
“Okay. Good luck with the, uh, bond. Reno, I’ll text for an update when I’m on break.”
He left, and Jackson filled the table with chips, crackers, cheese, deli meats, and fruit. We didn’t get plates, but we got napkins. I’d had worse lunches.
After we ate, I loaded the photos from Reno’s camera onto my laptop and tried to use image search to figure out who Emiliano’s girlfriend was. Using a photo of another photo, especially one behind glass, made it challenging, and I had to spend quite a bit of time cleaning up the pictures before I could get any search results at all. Reno worked next to me, going through his messages while we maintained physical contact by pressing our knees together under the table.
“Hey.” I nudged him. “Here, let me add your fingerprint so you can access my computer.” I turned my laptop toward him and pointed at the power button.
He held his hands up and leaned back. “What? Why? That’s your private stuff.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “At this point I don’t think we have any secrets from each other. Besides, this way you can get to my Discord account and texts in case you need to find a message from a Wonder.”
He considered this for a minute, then he made a huffing noise and put his finger on the button on my laptop. I got him added to the facial recognition on my phone as well, and I felt a little thrill that my mate was even more integrated into my life. Reno eyed me a little curiously at that point, so he must’ve felt something through the bond, but I pretended not to notice.
He hadn’t tried to block the bond yet, or at least not that I was aware of. The magic might not even let him do it right now, but either way I hoped he didn’t try.
We worked together well into mid-afternoon. I finally identified Emiliano’s girlfriend—or at least her Instagram username. She didn’t have any personally identifying information in her bio, but the face was the same as the one in Emiliano’s photos. I started a list of the accounts she’d tagged so I could investigate those.
I knew Reno didn’t love his job as a private investigator, but other than the low-key tension he’d had since he hadn’t been able to call the vision this morning, he seemed content enough. Maybe he’d just needed a partner. I loved that I could do that for him.
That thought definitely made it through the bond to Reno. He didn’t look at me, but his cheeks flushed, and he stopped typingthe email he’d been composing, his fingers poised above the keyboard for a few seconds before he carried on.
I refused to be ashamed of my feelings. Besides, how could he make an informed decision about whether to keep the bond after all this was over if he didn’t know how I felt?
Reno cleared his throat. “I think it’s time we alert the local gargoyle family about Emiliano Duran. I meant to do it yesterday, but....” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“We got distracted.”
