Page 103 of Cryptic Dreams
Not that I knowanythingabout my so-called gifts outside of all the pain they caused me, but I’m trying to figure them out. Between what happened to Ian, and what happened with Atticus, there’s more to what I’m capable of doing than I originally thought, and avoiding using them for literal centuries was probably more of a disservice to myself than anything else.
If I’d have known there were multiple facets of what I could do, I might have tried figuring this out and learning how to control it a lot sooner. And since Ian and Atticus are two glaring differences, and I can’t use my gift on my mate, I’ll have to settle for a little experimentation with his mother and hope for the best.
“Zephyr, darling, I thought that was you,” Drusilla says as she comes right up to our table. “Randolph was driving like a maniac and I wasn’t sure, but I made him stop the car so we could check.”
“You were right,” I say with a small shrug. “It was me.”
“Smashing. Is my son here as well?” Drusilla starts searching the room again as Randolph goes tense beside her. “Not that I’ve ever known him to come in here before, even someone of his inclinations wouldn’t be caught mingling with the masses.”
Her severe dark eyes swing my way as I shake my head. “No, Wraith is currently preoccupied at home.”
“Preoccupied with what, exactly? It’s not as if my sonworks, and I assumed since your mating he wouldn’t feel the need to find anyone else to mess about with anymore.” Drusilla’s gaze flicks to my cousins even though she keeps talking to me. “Though, I imagine old habits are hard to break after hundreds of years of practicing them. For some, even the mate bond isn’t enough to sate them, and with Wraith being so old…” she says with a tisk as I clench my teeth so hard I can feel my fangs scrape along my lower lip.
And I was just thinking how maybe an only mildly hammered Drusilla would be more pleasant that the completely trashed one.
“He’s planning a surprise for Zephyr,” Orion says through his own set of clenched teeth. “He asked us to take her out so—”
“Asurprise? My son, planning a surprise for his mate?” Drusilla laughs as she watches my cousin stand then motion for Aries to do the same. “Zephyr, is this true?”
She still isn’t looking at me, and if she keeps staring at Orion and Aries like they’re the very bane of her existence and don’t deserve to be in her presence, I’m going to end up learning how hard I can punch tonight.
I watch Randolph stand between my family and this horrible female, Orion and his mate both rounding the table to kiss me before probably going to rant about this entire thing in their truck. “It is. He rushed me out of the house just after dusk and everything.”
“We’ll go pick up your purchases from the boutique,” Orion grunts as he kisses my temple. “Everything should be packaged up by now.”
“Hmm,” Drusilla hums as she watches Aries kiss my cheek, her stare practically burning after them before she sits across from me with all the grace of a drunk aristocrat and flaps her hand at Randolph. “Go fetch me some tea. And a few pouches of B+, in a wine glass.”
With a curt nod, Randolph spins on his heel to carry out her command, leaving me alone with this vile female.
I swallow thickly as we just stare awkwardly at each other, me taking in Drusilla’s ageless good looks: her golden blonde hair pulled into some sort of loose chignon, the rather delicate features of her face, and the cold harshness of her eyes. Eyes that were once sky-blue but now an almost cobalt color that speaks to the many years she’s been mated to a Descendant.
Wraith explained that while males are the only ones who can be born Descendants—even if females are born of the bloodline, like his aunt who perished during the Species War—after many years of being together, their mates can take on some of the traits through the bond.
Which is why his mother’s eyes have darkened over time, why her skin has become like porcelain, and why the more toxic parts of her personality became even more so.
“Who are they?” Drusilla asks as she adjusts the fur around her shoulders. “The males who accompanied you here. I know they aren’t in my son’s employ, they don’t have the same build as Declan or Jonatha, the poor soul.”
Ignoring the way she said that with absolutely no remorse over the loss of someone she must have known, I slowly lift my cup to my lips. “My cousin and his mate.”
“So, not your lovers?”
“No,” I squeak out, barely keeping my espresso in my mouth.Gross.“No, they’re my only family.”
“And Wraith allowed them to take you out… shopping?”
“Yes.”
Drusilla tilts her head to the side as she narrows her eyes on me for a few beats, my heart rate picking up speed with each second that passes until Randolph reappears.
He sets down a teapot, cup and saucer, and the wine glass before puncturing two bags of what I’m assuming is B+. The extremely silent—and creepy, if I’m being honest—male empties them into the glass before producing a flask from the inside of his vest. The High Elder’s mate watches him pour its contents into the crystal before swirling the glass and handing it to her.
And again, the entire time Drusilla watchesme.
It’s making me very uncomfortable, all the quiet, analytical staring, and I have to wonder if she also has the ability to hear everything everyone is thinking the way Wraith does.
He did say that came from Atticus though, but if qualities can be shared between mates why couldn’t abilities be as well?
“Now then, tell me about thissurprisemy son is planning for you. The one that caused him to send you off with your cousin and his male mate for hours on end.”
