The Witchling Seer

  The emotions Jared had flying across the bond were enough for Cassie to know he was fuming mad under his passive face, and completely jealous.

  “New mate? When did you have time to do that? Wait a second, is Nate dead?” Turner asked, raising an eyebrow to what Cassie had just told him.

  “Nate’s not dead. Well, you know how my life wants to keep the drama coming? Fate decided two mates would be better than one. Not exactly my choice,” Cassie added.

  “You wanted no mate and now got two. Yep, you have to be my little sister. Only someone related to me could be that unlucky.”

  Cassie laughed. Turner was anything but unlucky for the most part. Everyone around town loved him. He was fun and funny, and the life of the party. He’d had a few unlucky things happen to him, but he wasn’t that unlucky.

  “Now you need to come with me even more.” Turner offered her his arm, as he had done the whole time playing tour guide the last time she was in town. Along with being utterly charismatic, Turner was completely a gentleman.

  Cassie glanced at Jared, who seemed a bit calmer now that Turner was referring to her as his sister. She wasn’t quite sure she should take the offered arm, though.

  Turner caught her looking at Jared and laughed. “Sorry about that, man. Completely forgot,” he semi-apologized and pulled back his arm.

  Jared nodded but didn’t speak.

  “Where do you want to take me now?” Cassie asked. “Your brother said dinner is at two in the morning. I think I need some sleep if I’m expected to stay up all night.”

  Turner chuckled. “I completely forget that you are a day human. The only day human I was raised around was Devin, and he acts more like a night human than night humans do.”

  Cassie stared at him; she had no idea what he was talking about, but at least she could pay attention to him. He wasn’t droning on about some artist she had never heard of before.

  “Someone is here I wanted you to meet. You were worried before that your father wasn’t a skinwalker. She can tell you exactly what kind of night human blood you have in you,” Turner explained.

  ‘Your father might not be a skinwalker?’ Jared asked, surprised by the information.

  “She?” Cassie asked. She was curious, but it was the way he said the word that made her wonder. Cassie had gotten used to not looking in people’s eyes over the years since she had grown better at reading inflection in voices. She was someone very special to Turner.

  “Just come with me. I think she can help you in more ways than one now that you seem to be living a life very similar to what hers was just a couple years ago,” Turner replied.

  Cassie was intrigued. She still felt very much like an outsider. Meeting someone who understood what she was going through was enough incentive for her to want to go without sleep. Jared nodded at Cassie’s thoughts. Neither one knew who the mysterious person could be, but she was ready to get some answers.

  Cassie followed Turner into the well-manicured garden she had seen out the windows while they had walked through the house and down the stairs to the main floor. Turner led them directly outside, and Cassie had to blink at the bright sun. She hadn’t noticed until they had gotten outside that all the windows in Turner’s house were tinted to keep the inside much darker than it really was. It was still daytime—just past noon by the look of it.

  “My friend is visiting, and I thought she could help you with your question of what type of night human you are. She has a very good sense of smell. She can tell any type of night human by scent. Now, with everything new in your life, she might be able to give you advice on more than that,” Turner explained as they walked down the flower-lined gravel pathway.

  Turner led them farther into the garden and away from the house. Soon the hedges were tall enough that Cassie couldn’t see over them. Luckily he didn’t deviate from the straight path, and Cassie felt much safer about how lost she could get if she made a wrong turn at any place along the way. As they approached a fountain, which was shooting water at least ten feet into the air, Turner stopped.

  To the left of where they stood, a dark-haired boy was reading a book, and a bright, blond-haired girl was lying across his lap, tapping on the cover as he read. His hand rested on her stomach as he didn’t seem to notice her bugging him. They didn’t say a word, and the girl sprung up, vanishing from her spot and appearing before them. She stopped and stared at Turner with her large, blue eyes.

  Cassie had no clue who the girl was, but the sharp intake of breath from Jared made it clear he seemed to know. It bothered her, sometimes, that Jared and Nate were so much better at hiding their thoughts from her than she was with them—even when surprised like Jared clearly was.

  The girl stared at Turner some more and finally nodded to him. It gave Cassie enough time to take a closer look at her. She couldn’t have stood any taller than five feet, which surprised Cassie since she came from a city where at five foot four she was always the shortest around. The mystery girl appeared young—possibly younger than Cassie—but something in her eyes seemed older, like she had seen more than her share in a lifetime. The blonde never looked at her, so Cassie didn’t know more about her beyond that. Turner eventually nodded back. He gave a little bow of his head and turned to walk away.

  Cassie curiously watched him. Turner threw up a wave in good-bye as he left.

  “He had a lot to attend to, and has been up too long for everyone’s sake,” the girl told Cassie while looking her over. She glanced at Turner’s back, and he stopped walking. After a quick nod of his head, he continued on his way.

  “So I hear you have a few questions he thought I could help with,” the girl added.

  A few? Hundreds was more like it. First off, who’s the girl? Cassie asked herself.

  “Oh, sorry. Turner said you were new to all of this. I forget that anyone can be new to this. Everyone I usually meet grew up in this world. I’m Arianna.” She offered her hand to Cassie. “Everyone normally calls me Arianna, but Ari works just fine. And please don’t call me Lady Grace like the people working around here. It gets annoying.”

  Cassie nodded, though she still a bit confused by who the girl was. Obviously, she was the mate to someone strong with the lady title, but that didn’t make much sense. It was like each night human family had their own royalty, and it was confusing. The girl laughed.

  “I remember feeling that exact same way a few years ago,” she added. “Your mate can go join Andrew while we have some girl time. This place is probably the safest you will find,” Ari said to Jared.

  He nodded and left Cassie standing with her. For being overprotective, it was odd that Arianna could say it was safe, and he just agreed. Cassie had no idea who she was, but Jared seemed to trust her completely. Cassie turned back to the petite blonde, completely unsure what ‘safe’ even meant. What sort of night human was she?

  Arianna shrugged. “I travel with probably one of the best night human security teams out there. They’re all still paranoid, but it isn’t like I can’t take care of myself.”

  The dark-haired boy sitting on the bench beside Jared coughed a little at her remark. Arianna turned around and stuck out her tongue at him.

  “I can, even if they won’t admit it. You know how guys can be. They have to be all macho and never will admit if a girl can do it just as well.”

  That Cassie had to agree with.

  Arianna looped her arm in Cassie’s and began to lead her down the pathway across from the fountain like they were old friends. They were still within view of the guys, but hopefully more out of earshot. She found a bench not too far away and pulled Cassie down beside her as she sat.

  “So Turner told me that you’ve had quite an introduction to the night human world,” Arianna began.

  An introduction wasn’t the way Cassie thought of it; it was more like a horrible reoccurring nightmare. One bad thing after another thrown her way and it wasn’t stopping. It felt like a black hole sucking her in. Okay. Maybe not that bad, but it
was pretty close. “Quite an introduction” didn’t even come close to how it felt. Cassie had no idea what to say to someone who lived in it all the time.

  Arianna laughed, though Cassie hadn’t responded.

  “Sorry. I’ll try not to eavesdrop on your thoughts. I just haven’t been around such a strong day human in a while, and I miss it,” Arianna explained, yet really didn’t explain. She shook her head at Cassie’s confusion.

  Cassie didn’t know what to say. Did Arianna just admit she could hear her thoughts? She really was curious now. What sort of night human was she?

  “I don’t try to listen in on thoughts normally, it just happened,” Arianna confessed. “I became a night human when I turned sixteen, and after that everything just kept getting more and more confusing until the point where I could then hear people’s thoughts as they thought them. Sounds like fun until you hear more than you want to hear.”

  Cassie smiled. Now that was something she could understand. Her own ability to see people’s pasts when she didn’t want to wasn’t fun at all. It had made her mostly a hermit for the past few years as she learned how to control it more.

  “I get that,” Cassie added, since it appeared Arianna was waiting for her to say something. She didn’t seem to have listened to what Cassie was thinking after all. “I don’t look too long into anyone’s eyes because I don’t want to see their past.”

  Arianna laughed. “Turner said you were special, but I thought he just meant what type of night human. I’ve heard of the skinwalkers, but I’ve never met any yet.” She shrugged. “Then again, I’ve only been part of this world for three years. Before that I was like you, I never knew it existed.”

  “Three years?” Cassie repeated.

  That would make the petite blond nineteen. Arianna said she became a night human at sixteen. Cassie was having a hard enough time believing she was sixteen, but three years older was even harder to believe. She looked younger than Cassie was.

  “Yeah, three years of being one and having to learn it all kind of stinks. I know exactly what you’re going through,” Arianna replied, leaning back into the sunlight that was peeking from between the clouds. “And those don’t help it much, do they?” Arianna nodded down the pathway to the guys.

  Andrew was back to reading his book, though Cassie wasn’t sure he was actually reading, and Jared sat on the other side of the bench, staring at the fountain.

  “Not in the least,” Cassie replied.

  “All that attraction is such a distraction.” Arianna was staring at Andrew. He looked up and smiled at her. She gave a bright smile back. Cassie watched Arianna’s eyes sparkle as she gazed at him. There was something tangible between them, even with just a glance. Cassie could almost feel their love.

  “I thought all this mate stuff was horrible when I first found out because I wasn’t given a choice,” Arianna continued, still staring at Andrew. “But then I realized it was a choice. Whether you let yourself fall in love with him or not is always your choice.”

  Cassie stared down the aisle at Andrew. He was back to reading his book, and Arianna was still watching. Cassie never considered it a choice. Nate bonded to her first and then Jared. Neither one asked her. She hadn’t talked to either of them for years before it happened. Now she felt stuck. But she was kind of jealous. Arianna made it seem like the bond wasn’t as bad as Cassie thought. She wanted to ask more questions, but there was one she really needed answered more than concerns about her love life.

  “So how do you tell what kind of night humans my parents were?”

  Arianna stopped watching Andrew and turned her gaze on Cassie.

  “It’s in your blood. Every type of night human blood is different. That’s how the scanners when you enter can say where you belong, or how to classify you when you visit town.”

  “Then they can tell me?” If it were that easy, why hadn’t anyone told her yet?

  “No, they can only tell what type you are currently, not what kind you come from. I can tell that. I’m a bit more sensitive than a scanner.” Arianna looked down at the guys like a thought caught her attention. Jared seemed to tense a bit.

  “As in, you need to taste my blood?” Cassie asked.

  Jared’s own brother had already attacked her once to eat her and a second wendigo had tried. She didn’t want to be food for a night human, but she did want to know who her father was.

  ‘If she even tries, I’ll be there, strongest night human in the world or not. She’s not feeding on you,’ Jared told Cassie across the bond.

  “No, and tell your skinwalker mate to settle down. I’m not going to bite you. My sense of smell is strong enough that I can smell your blood without ever having to spill a drop.” Arianna laughed like Jared’s threat wasn’t anything to worry about.

  Cassie was curious now that Jared called Arianna the strongest night human in the world. He knew who she was even if he wasn’t saying anything.

  Jared relaxed immediately.

  “So you already know?” Cassie asked curiously.

  Arianna shrugged. “I’m pretty sure, but I want someone else to confirm it for me. I think you come from a night human group that I’ve had little interaction with. I know someone there that can come here and tell me if what I smell is true. I’d hate to say one thing and then get it wrong. Really, I’m new at all of this. I’ve met over three dozen different kinds of night humans, but there are still hundreds more out there.”

  “Oh,” Cassie replied, a little disappointed. She really wanted to know and everyone avoiding it was making it seem worse. “Wait a second. Jared isn’t my skinwalker mate; he’s my wendigo mate. Nate is my skinwalker mate.”

  That made Arianna grin.

  “When Turner said you have a lot in common with me, I didn’t know he was right.” Arianna smiled. “Two mates.” She laughed like someone was telling her the punch line to a joke. “But, sorry, that guy over there is definitely a skinwalker. His blood smells identical to the other two you brought with. Turner said something about skinwalkers and wendigo being the same to begin with, and I think they’re still the same. Maybe their night human form smells different, but the blood inside their day human forms is the same.”

  Cassie returned her gaze to Jared. He obviously heard the conversation but was adding nothing to it. It made Cassie wonder a bit. Wendigo were skinwalkers who’d had their animals ripped from them. It made sense that their blood was essentially still the same. But what did it mean? Why didn’t they get along then?

  Arianna waited for Cassie to turn back to her. “And two mates. I know exactly how that feels. I was born as a mix between two-night humans—dearg-dul and baku. But I’m sure they didn’t tell you much about night humans. Actually, Turner said they’ve told you almost nothing. How it works is that when your parents are two different kinds, you would be born one or the other. No one was ever born both until I came along. That was enough to make me an oddity, but then my night human sides each chose their own mates. So lucky me ended up with two mates.”

  “You have another one?” Cassie asked in shock. Everyone told her what she had done with getting two bonded mates was not only odd but impossible.

  “I had another one. He’s someone else’s mate now.” Arianna didn’t seem to mind in the least. “You’ve met him. Devin.”

  Surprise laced Cassie’s face, and she couldn’t stop herself from gaping at that information. She hadn’t been expecting Devin to be the person she named. In fact, Cassie kind of expected it to be Turner. He always talked about the one that got away, and Cassie had to wonder if it was Arianna. Never would she have guessed it was Devin; he was married now. Cassie had been to the ceremony at the end of summer. And he wasn’t married to Arianna.

  Arianna shrugged at Cassie’s surprise. “Devin was the mate to my dearg-dul side and Andrew to my baku. When I was with Devin, all I wanted was him. When I was with Andrew, all I wanted was him. It was horrible to feel like that. Always cheating on one of them, but still not being able to h
elp it.”

  “So how’d you choose one?” Cassie asked, genuinely curious.

  “I didn’t. I never saw what everyone else saw, but I’m glad Devin did. He knew I should be with Andrew and left. He gave me up because that was where I was meant to be. If I had more time, I would have figured it out.”

  “What did they see?”

  “There’s just something about Andrew. He makes my world right.” Arianna shrugged as she failed to find the right words to describe it. “There’s a spark there, and once I saw it, I knew. Andrew was and is the only one I could ever truly be with.”

  Cassie nodded alongside Arianna as she watched her talk about the love of her life. Even after just meeting her, Cassie noticed it, too. She could see how Arianna watched Andrew, even if he was only reading a book. And she saw how both of them just looked different when they were looking at each other. It was like nothing else existed. That spark was certainly there and very visible.

  “So I’m going to have to make a choice?” Cassie asked. She hadn’t thought about it. She had been so set on getting rid of the bonds completely that she didn’t realize she was going to have to possibly turn one down.

  “There’s always a choice, whether you make it or not. I prefer to be in charge of my own destiny. Too many choices were made for me once I entered this world. I promised myself that from here on out, I’m not going to shrink back and let everyone else tell me what to do. I’m going to do what I am going to do,” Arianna explained. “You might want to start thinking about what you want. I know it’s all confusing when you first find out about night humans. And then things like to keep changing around you before you can catch up. But this is your life. Don’t let anyone else live it for you.”

  Cassie sat and stared at the large bushes in front of them. Small pink flowers were blooming and it looked like someone less than four feet tall had been picking away at the ones down at the bottom. Everything in her life was changing fast. She never had a chance to take it all in and realize that she was now basically with two completely different guys. She couldn’t live her life like that, being pulled between them. She was going to have to make a choice.