EXTRA CONNECTED

“All things considered, yeah. I’ve wanted to find a life beyond Earth and Emerald for years. Sure, I could have gone without being kidnapped, but the end result is going to be the same.” I added a wink, trying to lighten the heaviness around us.

“How do you know things will be the same?” he asked with a tilt of his head.

“I just do. Something about all of this feels right.” I paused. “Not like Lia’s intuition or anything, but being here doesn’t make me nervous like I’d expected it to after everything I’d heard about this House.”

Atlas’s eyes darkened. “What do you know about your parents?”

That was a swift change in conversation.

“Nothing,” I answered. “Well, besides the fact that there was a woman I assume was my mother who left me at the coven when I was a baby.”

He looked away and nodded before turning back to me with a softer look. “About earlier. Do you know much about mates?”

I knew enough. Or at least, I had thought so before he’d asked me. Once I’d learned what I’d considered