Archaic (Reverse Harem 2)

“Where is Clarissa?” I ask. “Is she okay?”

“We don’t know,” Toshi says.

I can feel my chest clenching with a protective anger at his admission.

“What?” I ask. “How do you not know?”

“Toshi tells me Clarissa has left with Hiro and Penny to go to the Council,” Sebastian says.

“Why? Where in the world were you two?”

They trade looks between one another, and I know exactly what’s happened.

“I knew I should’ve been on this trip. I knew the two of you wouldn’t be able to keep it together,” I say. “What did you do?

Rip one another apart? Sink your teeth into each other’s jugular?

If Clarissa left you behind to heal yourselves, then that means—”

“We get it, Theo,” Sebastian growls. “Can it.”

“Can it? I stay behind because I think Clarissa’s protected and the spirits have to pull me from my own damn home because the two of you messed up?”

“Spirits?” Toshi says. “You’re a mediator?”

“Yes,” I say. “And they couldn’t get me here fast enough.”

“That’s how you found us,” Sebastian says.

“Clarissa went to the Council. Why?” I ask. “I thought you guys were here finding answers on the lead from Merti?”

“It didn’t quite pan out,” Sebastian bites.

“And what exactly does that mean?” I ask.

“It’s a long story, but it left us with more questions than answers. Hiro and Penny felt our only chance was to go to the Council, but I was healing from the wounds a rabid dog inflicted,” Toshi says.

“That’s what happens when you take advantage of Clarissa,”

Sebastian says.

“You what?” I ask. “What did you do?”

“We bonded. Nothing more. Clarissa had a rough time in the village with Sebastian, and she asked me to take her away to forget about it,” Toshi says.

“You synced,” I say.

“What if we did?” Toshi asks.

I can feel the heat rising in my body. I can hear the prophecy rolling around in my head. There’s so much they don’t know, and so much they still have to discover. And part of me isn’t

inclined to tell them. Doesn’t want to, in fact. I know Sebastian and Toshi weren’t happy with Clarissa and my actions, not that it was any of their concern.

“Did you do it to get back at me?” I ask.

“What? No. Cats are hardly that petty,” Toshi says.

“Then the only other option is that you exploited Clarissa,” I say.