Chapter 7 Too Late
Wyatt POV
Rafe was pacing behind me like a pissed-off model in a cologne ad while I hacked into her SeekAnArrangement inbox.
“You shouldn’t be doing this,” he muttered for the ninth time.
“You shouldn’t be watching,” I shot back.
He didn’t stop watching. The new message blinked in.
You are my heart-track.
I am on my way.
Run, little witch.
My pulse dropped into my stomach like a stone.
“Oh hell no,” Rafe breathed behind me.
Then the typing bubble appeared.
Good. You’ve seen this.
Run.
Ten minute head start.
I stood so fast my chair shot back across the office.
“Keys. Now.”
Rafe didn’t argue. He grabbed them out of my hand and we sprinted out the door, tearing through the lobby, and ignoring the stares. The moment we hit the street we dove into the black SUV.
Rafe drove, because I drive like a dad and he drives like a war crime. He floored it. Denver blurred into streaks of neon and headlights. Fifteen minutes to her apartment. We hit minute twelve.
And that was when it happened. The magic shockwave ripped outward from somewhere near her building and slammed into my chest so hard I choked.
Pain. Terror. Her. Vraeos exploded inside me.
"OURS. IN DANGER. NOW. SHIFT."
But we were still in the SUV.
“Rafe...” I gasped.
“I felt it...fuck...HOLD ON.”
He threw the wheel hard right, skidding into her complex, and the tires screamed across the asphalt. He slammed into park crookedly across two spaces.
The shockwave hit again. I didn’t decide to shift, my body decided for me. Bones cracked. Muscles split.
Silver fur tore through my skin. Rafe shifted beside me in a golden explosion, and the horn blared as his paw smashed into the steering wheel.
We kicked the doors off their hinges getting out. Her scent hit us instantly. Magic. Fear. Ysara. We launched toward the woods behind her building...and a blur of smoke and heat slammed into my flank.
A demon.
He snarled, “Move, dogs. She called ME.”
I hit him hard enough to crater a tree. Rafe hit him again from the other side. Branches exploded. Sparks shot off his molten skin. But then we smelled her fear again.
Everything stopped.
"GO," Vraeos demanded.
We ran. The demon ran too. Three predators.One girl.
When we finally arrived and the clearing opened, I already knew it was too late.
\~~~~~
Rafe POV
The moment we stepped into the clearing, my heart imploded. Ysara. Pinned against a tree. Her chest heaving. Her eyes glazed with fear.
And the Hunter Fae had his lips against her throat.
“No!!!!” I roared.
He bit down. The bond detonated. Magic blew outward in a violent ring that knocked leaves from branches. I shifted mid-stride, hitting the ground naked, shaking, my golden eyes burning.
Wyatt slammed down beside me in the same state.
Ysara stared at us like her entire life had just been rewritten in blood and moonlight. Her hand trembled over the new mark, pulsing gold and green, and ancient magic spiraled under her skin.
The demon appeared behind us, with smoke pouring from his body, and his eyes locked on the mark with hunger and fury. The fae lifted his head. His mouth was stained with her blood, and he smiled like a creature who had just won the fucking universe.
“A party?“ he purred. “Shame you’re late.”
Wyatt stepped forward, and his voice cracked with rage. “We’ll pay everything. Her mother’s transplant, everything. Whatever she needs...”
The demon snarled. “She doesn’t need your money, mutts. She needs someone strong enough to hold her.”
The fae’s markings glowed. “She ran from me. She accepted the ritual. She is mine.”
My voice came out low, lethal, and shaking.
“You stole that. That mark should’ve been ours.”
The demon growled. The fae hissed. Wyatt snapped.
Three supernaturals. One trembling girl. One blazing bond.
And a night that suddenly felt like the beginning of a war.
\~~~~~
Ysara POV
My heartbeat was in my throat. My pulse was in my skull. My sanity…I had no idea where that bitch went, but she left the chat.
Because right there in front of me, in a moonlit clearing deep in the woods behind my nice, normal, human ass Denver apartment, stood:
• two naked men I worked for, one gold-eyed and one silver-eyed, both furious and panting
• a literal demon with molten cracks in his skin
• a hunter fae who had just bitten my neck like I was a pastry he ordered
• my own heartbeat echoing inside someone else’s chest
And the worst part? I could feel him. Inside me. Inside my mind. Inside my soul. His pulse syncing with mine. His breath brushing the edge of my thoughts. His satisfaction like honey dripping into my bloodstream.
Nope. Nope nope nope.
“Hell no,” I whispered, pressing my hand to my chest. “What the...WHAT THE FUCK...”
The silver one, Wyatt, my scary-hot, always composed boss, took a step toward me, with his hands raised like I was a feral cat.
“Ysara...”
“NOPE,” I snapped, stumbling back. “Nope! Do not ‘Ysara’ me right now! What the fuck is happening? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!”
The gold one, Rafe, his twin, the one who made eye contact too intensely in elevators, winced.
“Okay, yeah, fair question...”
“FAIR QUESTION?” I shrieked. “I just got BITTEN by a fairy WEREWOLF DEMON THING...”
“I’m Hunter Fae,” the tall bastard corrected calmly.
“DOES IT LOOK LIKE I CARE ABOUT THE BRANDING RIGHT NOW?”
He tilted his head, and his eyes glowed predator green.
“My heart-track is upset.”
Oh my fucking god.
“Stop calling me that!” I practically screeched. “What the fuck is a heart-track? Why do I feel you breathing inside my head? Did you drug me? Am I dead? Am I hallucinating? Is this psychosis? Is this a BPD thing? WHAT THE FUCK...”
A warm pulse slid down my neck, right where he’d bitten. My knees buckled.
Gold and silver flashed in the corner of my vision, Rafe and Wyatt moved toward me again, but the demon stepped forward silently, blocking them both with a presence so large the moon seemed to shrink around him.
And holy shit. Up close? He was ridiculous. Black suit.
Black tie. Black stubble. Black tattoos curling up his throat like shadows that learned how to flirt.
My brain short-circuited.
“Okay,” I said weakly, pointing at him. “You’re fucking hot but WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?”
He blinked once. Slowly. Like a cat evaluating a bird.
“Darken Vakros,” he said in a voice that vibrated in inconvenient places. “Demon-blooded. Owner of VAKROS Cybersecurity. The firm behind the sugar baby site.”
My mouth fell open.
“You… own SeekAnArrangement.com?”
He nodded. “The legitimate version, yes. I came because your profile pinged seventeen supernatural systems at once. Which usually means Ravelyn.”
The clearing went silent. The Fae’s posture tightened. Rafe swore under his breath. Wyatt’s silver eyes went wide.
“What the fuck is a Ravelyn?” I demanded.
Darken’s gaze softened...barely. “A lost species. Believed extinct. Born with too much magic for one mate to hold. They require several.”
My jaw dropped so far it hit another dimension.
“Several… what? Several mates? Like...multiple? MULTIPLE?”
Kalesh...the fae with the stalker vibe of a romance villain, stepped forward, and his green eyes were glowing.
“It explains your scent. Your magic. Your spirit.”
His voice dipped into reverent hunger. “My heart-track, you are a Ravelyn. You are not too much. You are simply what you are meant to be. Mine.”
The word mine hit my chest like a hammer.
“NO,” I said quickly. “No no no, stop that. Stop saying ‘mine.’ Why do you keep saying ‘mine?!’”
“Because he marked you,” Rafe muttered darkly.
Wyatt glared at the fae. “He jumped the line and sealed a bond without consent.”
“A Ravelyn signal overrides verbal consent,” Kalesh countered. “She ran. She accepted the ritual. She is..”
“If you say ‘mine’ one more time,” I snapped, “I’m going to bite YOU next.”
His smile went feral.
“Promise?”
Oh fuck me sideways. My brain was melting.
“I...this...what...” I pressed both hands to my head. “You’re all talking like I’m some magical fucking...thing. A Ravelyn? A mate? A heart-track? WHAT DOES ANY OF THIS MEAN?”
Darken responded first.
“You are not human, Ysara Hartwell. You never were.”
My breath froze.
Wyatt stepped closer, slowly, and gently this time, like approaching a wounded animal.
“Your reactions. Your instincts. Your… everything,” he said softly. “It always felt wrong for a human. Too raw. Too powerful.”
Rafe nodded, his golden eyes warmer now. “Your emotions hit like storms. Your presence fills rooms. People either adore you or fear you. You’re built for supernatural energy. Not human limitations.”
My chest tightened.
“So… my BPD?” I whispered. “All my ‘too much?’ All the times people said I was overwhelming or crazy or emotional or intense...”
Kalesh stepped forward, his voice low, and threading into my bones.
“My heart-track, you were never too much. You were simply caged in a world too small for you.”
My knees buckled. My throat burned. Tears threatened. Rafe caught me before I hit the ground, with warm arms wrapping around my waist. “Hey...breathe. You’re okay.”
Wyatt moved to my other side, and his fingers trembled as he brushed hair from my face. “We’re here. You’re safe.”
Safe. Fucking hilarious. I pushed them both away and staggered upright.
“No,” I said, shaking. “No, actually I am not okay. Because I have a bond mark...” I jabbed a finger at my neck “...and apparently I’m not human, and this jackass fairy just bit me like a goddamn donut, and YOU TWO showed up like superhero porn twins, AND there’s a DEMON CEO just standing there looking like a sin I’m not prepared to confess to!”
Darken smirked. It should have been illegal. “I aim to please.”
“STOP BEING HOT FOR ONE SECOND,” I snapped.
Rafe snorted. Wyatt choked a laugh. Kalesh looked personally offended. I threw my hands up.
“Am I...” I swallowed hard. “Am I mated to ALL of you? Or WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?”
Four supernaturals stared at me. Four sets of eyes, each hungry in a different way. Four energies pulling at the new power in my chest. And somewhere deep inside me…something ancient whispered...
.....Yes.
\~~~~~
Darken POV
I came to assess a disturbance, nothing more.
A Ravelyn pulse was rare enough to investigate, but I didn’t expect her, and didn’t expect the way her magic struck me like a live wire. I didn’t expect the recognition that slid under my skin, ancient and undeniable.
When I looked at her… my instincts shifted. I had not planned for that. I had not planned for a mate.
My jaw tightened as I stepped forward, and I forced my voice to remain even, calm, and rational. The opposite of what my demon blood was urging me to do.
“Ysara,” I said quietly, “listen to me. What the fae did was wrong. He forced a first claim bite without your consent.” I watched Kalesh’s shoulders tense, and watched the twins bristle on instinct. “You are bonded, yes… but not fully sealed. A Ravelyn can sever a bond if she chooses. Your choice overrides his instinct. You must mate to fully seal the bond."
Her eyes widened. “I can… break it?”
“Yes,” I said. “Because you are a choice maker, Ravelyn. The rare kind. Every mate you accept becomes yours by will, not ritual. You have enough power to shift the entire supernatural hierarchy simply by deciding who stands at your side.”
A low, cold thrum curled through my ribs.
“And I have a very bad feeling,” I added, “that the Broker will want a slice of this. Of you.”
The others shifted uneasily, but I kept my gaze on her. She was mine now, whether she knew it yet or not. But the choice would be hers.
Always hers.