Page 37 of Jay's Silence

I looked past the five corpses. No bullet holes riddled the walls. Although blood-stained keyboards and computer cases, the system was still on and functioning. This was likely tightly controlled magic or basic weapons. I didn’t see any apparent acid damage or signs of demons.

I slid to Ogden and clapped him on the back. “Do what you need to.”

I might not remember my parents well, but the first man I ever slid a knife into was a vivid collection of emotions and smells. It had been self-defense, but that kind of violence changes something inside you.

A fierce need to push all my dragons out of the room clawed at my throat, making it hard to breathe.

“Ogden and Lux go to the kitchen. See if there are clues to how long ago this happened,” I ordered. “Tyson and Rehan, second floor. Same thing. Someone had to keep a diary.”

I pulled out the phone Olivearose gave me and photographed the scene before sending it to her.

No one did what I said.

“Did you hear me?” I asked, squeezing the phone between my hands to hold back a tremble. “You don’t need to see this.”

Lux stepped into the room and placed a hand on my back. “We do.” His body heat kissed my back. “If you see it, we see it. We’re in this together.” He ran his hand down my spine. “Breathe, Jay.”

I did. One at a time, my mates controlled whatever emotion the violently rotting dead bodies brought out of them. Og straightened and wiped his hand on the back of his mouth. Meanwhile, Rehan moved slowly forward, noting every detail. Lux ran his hand down my back and rested it on my hip, supporting me. Like I was the one overreacting.

“It’s good to know you care,” Lux whispered in my ear.

“I don…“ I snapped.

“But we’re your mates,” Lux said over my lies. “Your equals. You cannot protect us.” He ran his hand down the seam of my thigh. “If you treat us like I treated my students again.” He cupped my sex and pulled, making me pulse with inappropriate lust. “I will make sure you are incapable of crossing the two.”

His threat felt more like a promise, and heat rushed through me. I dropped my fingers from my nose, unsure if I was going to pull his hand off me or encourage him more, but the smell knocked reality back into place. I replugged my nose and nodded.

“Got it,” I said, my voice hilariously nasally.

“Why is this computer smashed and the rest aren’t?” Tyson asked from a desk off to one side.

Lux released me and stepped back, his beautiful gaze glued to me and only me.

He’s right. You do care. You’ve led men into battle without so much as a warning.

They were my soldiers; these are my, well, something different.

Soul Mates, Jay. Dragons who love you.

I shook my head to rid myself of my thoughts and stepped to the fire prince and his half-melted computer. The hard drive was decimated with only half a stick of the RAM fused to its slot.

“Is this where your headshot was taken?” Rehan asked behind me.

I stood and turned to find Rehan kneeling on the dark wood floor, which looked identical to the one in my horrible headshot from my initial paperwork. Runes had been scored in a circle barely larger than a person. An edge of any of those runes could easily have been the unidentified smudge in the picture.

The water heir reached forward and brushed one of the runes. At his touch, the marks flared with a fluorescent-green glow, each one taking on the distinct markings of a familiar spell. A translucent tentacle of power streaked toward the ceiling, reaching for the dragon’s shield protecting the island.

“Rehan!” I yelled.

The glow bloomed to life before a familiar shimmer lit up the room.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

REHAN

Not again.

I’d felt this once before, as a child.