Tainted roots

"What?" I asked dumbfounded—the first time I spoke directly to him since that night.

"I went outside for some fresh air, and the next thing I knew, I was inside a shop. Nearly ten minutes had passed and I can't remember a single moment of it. I don't know how I got there, or why I was so cold and had a raging headache," Koa said, his gaze never leaving mine as he spoke.

"I wasn't cold when I woke up, but I know what you mean about the headache," said one of the elemental men, whose name I couldn't for the life of me remember, reminding me we had quite the audience for our reunion.

"Mine took at least eight hours to go away," Major added.

"You're mated, correct?" The stranger asked Major, who nodded. "Did she feel any side effects of the blackout too?"

Major rubbed his chin as he slowly shook his head. "No, she didn't feel any symptoms as Jade had. In fact, she couldn't feel the bond at all—not like it had been severed, but almost like it was blocked."

What the hell was going on? First, we find out Koa had an extra symptom that none of the others felt, and now we find out Rosie and I had different experiences regarding what we felt through the bond.

"Chosen mate?" The blood mage asked, being fucking rude by prying into someone else's personal life.

Major nodded, not looking the least bit bothered by the blunt question.

"What about the rest of you? Are any of you mated?"

I had enough of the bullshit. "Okay, first of all, it's fucking rude to ask a stranger all of these personal questions. And second of all, who in the actual fuck are you?"

Koa wiped his hand across his mouth, trying to hide his smile. Flutters filled my stomach and chest at the sight. Dammit!

Aylee's light giggle pulled my attention to where she lounged on the sofa, with her feet propped up on the table in front of her. "That's Seth. Don't mind him, he loses all tact when he's in problem-solving mode."

"You know him?" I asked, and she nodded with a small smile.

It took me a couple of moments before I realized I'd heard Starling and Koa use that name before.

Seth closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "There's a reason I was asking. Are any of you mated?" Two of the men shook their heads, and he nodded to himself like he was expecting that. I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow as I keep staring him down, waiting expectantly for an explanation. "Does anyone know if the others were mated and if so, which bond?" He aimed his question at Parker, choosing not to explain himself.

What an asshole.

My wolf—who had been close to the surface for a while now—and I didn't appreciate being this, the growl rumbling my chest was proof of it. As far as first impressions went, this guy was doing a terrible job.

"A few of the ones I met were mated," Parker said, giving me a side-eyed look.

"Fated?"

Parker pressed his lips together and shook his head, looking my way again when I sighed impatiently. Why couldn't they stop being so cryptic and say what they were thinking? My head was still pounding—even though I wasn't the one who blacked out, and my healing should've already taken care of it by now—I wasn't in the mood to try and figure out what he was hinting at.

"Seth, I'd advise you to explain your theory, before Jade threatens to jump out a window," Koa warned.

"Fuck you, that was one time."

"You tried to jump out of a window?" Parker asked, his eyes wide as he let out a surprised laugh

"No." I scoffed as if that was the most ridiculous thing in the world. "I tried to jump out of a car."

"It was a moving car, going eighty," Koa growled.

"Sounds like Jay." Reed chuckled, a hint of a smile lifting his lips.

Seth had gone back to observing me, an eyebrow raised inquisitively. "I don't like being dicked around," I explained.

"Out of all the reports of blackouts that I've investigated, you're the first I've heard of to experience the effects from your mate. Don't you see how valuable your knowledge is? It could help us figure out what's been causing all of this."

"And since none of the mates of the victims felt it, you're thinking it's because of the fated mate bond," Ander summarized. Tension still rode his body, while he continued spinning his ring, but the barely concealed rage was now masked.

"Exactly! The fact that whatever this is, worked its way down a bond that isn't even fully developed, tells of us its strength and gives us insight into the nature of its attack."

I shifted around uncomfortably on my feet, avoiding Koa's weighted stare.

"It has to be attacking their souls, that's the only way the effects could've found their way to Jade. Normal mating bonds only tie their energy together," Parker said slowly, staring down at the floor.

A thought popped into my head, and before they could go into a whole discussion about my fated mate bond, I interrupted. "What did he do when he blacked out?" I directed my question to Starling and Seth, partly because he wouldn't remember anything, but mainly because I was still avoiding him.

My maturity levels were through the roof today.

"I don't know, we found him a few minutes before the sorcerer did, whatever it is he did," Startling answered, rubbing her forehead. I could tell she hadn't slept well last night, the same as the others.

"Parker. And all I did was send a blast of energy to kickstart his healing. His body did the rest."

A shiver raced down my spine at the memory of the fire filling my chest, burning away the chill.

"Clever," Seth mused, rubbing his chin. "To answer your question, Koa didn't go crazy or start attacking anyone. When we found him, he could barely even move."

"I'm starting to wonder if what we went through, and what Koa went through, are unrelated. His experience and ours don't have many similarities." Major joined Reed by the table, his brows furrowed. "Ours lasted over an hour, and we came out of our blackouts with no help from anyone else. We also felt no chill, and weren't at risk of dying—even though it felt that way."

I nodded as he spoke. "Maybe that's why I felt the symptoms when no one else had."

"We came here hoping for answers and now all we have are more questions." Starling groaned, attempting to run her fingers through her hair. Only to stop when she remembered her curly hair had been pulled back in a bun.

"And the fact that you chose this city—the very same one we just so happened to be visiting—over the countless others, was just a coincidence?" Ander asked, his voice flat as he turned his sharp gaze to Starling.

"Actually it is, we would've never come here if we knew," Starling trailed off biting her bottom lip. I knew what she stopped herself from saying. Koa would've never shown up if he knew I was here.

It hurt more than it should've. This wasn't surprising news, I knew he didn't want to be around me. But that didn't stop my chest from clenching and my stomach from dropping.

A feeling akin to regret shot through me, there one moment and gone the next. I peeked at Koa from the corner of my eye, and shocker, his face was stoically blank. Had I imagined the feeling, because I wanted him to regret leaving me?

Ander and Starling had continued with their pointed jabs until Seth cut them off. "What are you two even arguing about?" Apparently, Seth also hadn't been listening to their argument.

"Can we have the room?" He glanced at Major and the other elementals. At least he asked instead of ordering them.

Major nodded, giving Reed's shoulder a small squeeze, before gesturing to the others, who looked relieved to be allowed to leave. Aylee didn't attempt to leave as they filed out, she just continued looking down at the glowing crystal of her wristband. Seth didn't seem to mind this.

Seth asked Parker to fill him in on what he'd found so far. While Parker and Reed spoke, I tuned out their conversation and sat back down in the chair. I wished Ari was here with me, right now I needed my big sister.

Harmony joined me in the sitting area, taking a seat on the coffee table placed between the chairs and sofa. She reached out and grabbed my hands, squeezing them between hers in a comforting gesture. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," I whispered, aware of the sensitive ears that could be listening in on our conversation.

"The nerve of him, showing up here and acting like he did nothing wrong," Harmony grumbled, apparently not caring if he was listening. I'd bet she wanted him to hear.

"Mmm, I don't think he knew until he got here," I mumbled noncommittally.

My gaze flicked to the others bent over the table. Koa hung back from the group, observing their movements. Something told me, that just because he wasn't looking at us, it didn't mean he wasn't listening in on our conversation.

My wristband flashed with a new message from Harmony: Who is this new guy, and can we trust him?

I bit my lip as I considered her question for a few moments. Koa and Starling have mentioned him before, he's an ally of their Alpha. But other than that, I don't know much about him.

Harmony's attention drifted to the others, staring at them for a bit. Maybe we should ask Ander.

My lips twitched as I typed back: He'll probably say, "Just because we're both blood mages, doesn't mean we know each other. Do you know every single summoner or elemental?"

Harmony snorted pressing her hand to her mouth. "He would." Her expression quickly sobered as she typed out another message: Do you know why Ari suddenly went home?

All she said, was that last night shouldn't have happened and that she had a theory.

A stifling silence filled the room, and when I looked at the table, I found everyone staring at us. "I'll assume from their confused faces, the girls weren't listening," Parker commented with a small chuckle.

You would've thought they'd have heard Ander's loud protests," Starling muttered, ignoring Ander's scoff.

I looked back at Harmony, sharing confused looks. I hadn't heard any arguing or protests. Were we really that deep in our own world, that we hadn't noticed that?

"Could you recap for us?" I asked turning my attention to Starling.

"Seth thinks we'd be able to cover more ground if we split up—"

"With you three going somewhere else and leaving us alone?" I cut her off, my voice pitched with false enthusiasm.

She gave me a bland look. "No."

"Do we get to pick our teams?" I asked raising my hand.

"No," Startling said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Reed, Ander, and I will go to the clan lands, to investigate the recent incidents. While the rest go to the Dusk court."

"I still think it's unfair that your team has more than ours. I vote we get Rowan," Reed commented.

I was ready to point out that Rowan was my spirit familiar, when Seth asked, "Who's Rowan?"

Everyone in the know froze, unsure whether or not I wanted him to know about her. I didn't personally know him well enough to gauge whether or not I could trust him with this knowledge, so I decided to play it safe. "She's not here to be able to join our team."

Seth raised his brows but didn't comment further. I doubted he'd forget, but at least for now, I had time to figure out if he could be trusted. He seemed knowledgeable, so it'd be helpful having him on our team, even though I would be stuck with Koa.

"I'm also a little offended, that Ander didn't want to be on my team," Reed said conversationally, and I just knew he did so, to keep the attention off of Rowan.

Ander groaned looking up at the ceiling. We all knew why Ander wanted to join our team; he didn't trust Koa. It probably was for the best, separating those two, they got along horribly the last time—and that was only because of alpha-male bullshit.

"I'll join your guy's team," I offered, raising my hand again.

"Must we keep calling them teams?" Starling groaned, dropping her face in her hands.

"Hey, don't try and leave me alone with them," Harmony complained.

"As interesting as this conversation is, we have more important things that need doing. Aylee, I'd like for you to tell me everything that happened in precise detail. The rest of you, have a half hour to get ready," Seth said, basically dismissing us.

I shared a baffled look with Harmony. How did we keep getting stuck with men with terrible social skills?

At least one good thing would come out of these groupings; I would finally get a chance to find out why Koa bailed. And get a real answer this time. Of course, that meant I'd have to talk to him.