Page 17 of 3013: Hellion
“I guess so,”Xian muttered.“You’re pretty good at handling them.”
“I have learned how to deal with troublemaking males since I have two of them at home.”
White hot blinding rage swept through him at the thought of another male touching her. It made him feel murderously possessive.“You have children?”
She snorted out a laugh.“Nay. I have twin younger brothers who like to cause all sorts of mischief. These two are nothing compared to how difficult Riko and Nox are.”She switched to speaking out loud and called out, “Stop. There is another small group of zombies a few blocks ahead and toward the right.”
Xian watched the boys pull their knives out of the sheaths attached to their belts. “I thought you were having trouble sensing the holo people.”
She shot him a playful pout. “You are not supposed to bring that up.”
“Bring what up?”
“That I was having trouble with something.”
He was a little confused until Eddie let out an exaggerated sigh and whispered, “Dude, get a clue. She’s flirting with you.”
Since he had no idea how to respond to that, Xian just stood there speechless.
“You don’t get out much, do you?” Cosmo asked sympathetically.
“Since I am totally awesome, I figured out a way to scan for the holo people,” Jaya told them.
Xian cleared his throat and gestured toward the boys. “They might be better off with blasters.”
“Hmm, you might be right,” she murmured. “Eddie, give me your knife.”
The boy cuddled it close to his chest and his eyes widened with horror. “But you said I could keep it!”
“Do you want a knife to hack the zombies to pieces, or do you want a new blaster that will allow you to kill them easily?”
“Oh, a blaster!”
It didn’t take long for Jaya to transform their knives into magical blasters that wouldn’t have to be recharged or reloaded. Eddie and Cosmo looked far more comfortable with the blasters in their hands than they had with the blades. They let out whoops of joy as they admired their new weapons.
The noise drew a few zombies toward them. As the boys went to work blasting away at the zombies, Xian and Jaya stood back and watched them to make sure they didn’t need any help. They were making so much noise, they were bound to lure more zombies to the area.
Feeling a little foolish for his overreaction earlier, Xian cleared his throat. “So, you have a twin sister and younger brothers? Are they your only relatives?”
Jaya chuckled. “That is only the beginning. Jecca is my twin, and Riko and Nox are my younger brothers. Malachi and Braxas are my elder brothers, and they have a set of twins with their mate, Addison. And then there are my parents, the Kings and Queen of the Palace on the Isle of Mist.”
That had him blinking at her in shock. “You’re a princess?”
She nodded. “Aye.”
“But…” Being mated to her would technically make him a prince, and that was something he couldn’t quite wrap his head around. Nope, he definitely wasn’t ready to think about that yet.
“Do not worry. Jecca and I spend most of our time traveling, so our titles do not mean much unless we are home on Arcadia. I cannot wait for you to meet everyone.”
“Yeah, that should be an experience,” he said weakly. “I don’t have any family left. I lost my father, mother, and older brother during the war with the Zyphir.”
She reached out and squeezed his hand. “I am sorry.”
“It was a long time ago. I’m sure you can tell that I’m a hybrid. My mother was D’Aire, and my father was Krytos. Somepeople think I’m a little strange, especially my dual eye color and—”
“They are beautiful,” she said. Moving to stand right in front of him, she reached up to remove his glasses. Staring into his eyes, she spoke with conviction. “Your eyes are beautiful.”
Damn, never in his life did he ever think he would be the sort of male who blushed over a compliment, but he couldn’t deny he felt his cheeks heat with pleasure.