31. Jax

Chapter 31

Jax

J ax felt his beast give a wolfish grin, the smug bastard.

THUNDER, his beast reminded him . I THUNDER.

Jax pushed Thunder to the back of his mind.

Mating with Thea while unconscious wasn't something he'd planned. Nor was Thunder taking over his body. But then again, the beasts by design were impulsive. They run by pure instinct, and mating to Thea was the loophole to the curse that hung like a guillotine above each Guardian's head. Because of the mating, he was no longer at risk of becoming a slave to Hadriel. A narcissistic angel chained to a realm created as his own prison, also known as Hell.

He knew Thea was his mate within moments of meeting, his beast pausing at the sound of her voice. Their mating was inevitable. Thunder just moved up the timeline.

"You should've seen the skill," Ruhne gushed, sitting on Thea's shoulder. "That cat-guy can really flip bottles!"

Thea leaned against one of the kitchen counters, her smile genuine when she quietly replied to the pixie. There was still grief there, because Jax could feel it. It was like their souls were connected by a thread, the warmth that had spread through him intensifying by her proximity. But he was sure it should be stronger, as if something was blocking it.

Her eyes pinned him with a glare when she found him staring. Something fluttered down the connection, like a prickling that was her telling him to fuck off.

Mine. He wasn't sure the thought was his, or Thunder's.

Jax wanted to fucking grin, except Thea strangled the connection between them until he could barely feel her.

"So, she wasn't kidding about absorbing some of your essence," Alice said, her frown deepening when he finally turned his attention to her. She was sitting on the sofa beside him, Riley an overprotective shadow behind.

"I told him he couldn't stay over," Thea muttered, probably low enough she didn't expect anyone to catch. Except both he and Riley had superior hearing.

"There's a little of your aura missing," Alice continued, blinking away her third eye. "But you'll replace it naturally. I think it would take continuous and constant touching to cause any lasting harm."

"It was an accident." A blush darkened Thea's cheekbones, and he found himself staring once more. He'd woken to the taste of her on his tongue, her scent still on the sheets she'd quickly thrown in the washing machine. There was a dull ache where he was missing some of his aura, but he'd happily suffer if it got her on her back again, with his tongue and fingers prepping her for his cock.

‘Kace is the unstable one,' Riley said, his tone irate even in the mental connection. ‘Yet it's you that's losing control.'

Jax had to drag his eyes away from his mate, only to meet the silver ones of his Alpha. ‘I'm fine.' He'd already shoved Thunder to the back of his mind, so he knew Riley couldn't see him in his irises.

‘Kace mentioned your leg.'

Jax was going to punch Kace in his big fucking mouth.

‘Sythe said the damage was from a hound,' Riley continued. ‘He was concerned.'

He was going to punch Sythe, too. ‘I've sorted it.'

‘You have to report these things so you can fucking rest.' Riley's beast glimmered, and it took everything for Jax to hold Thunder back. ‘Despite everything, we're not fucking invincible, J.'

‘I said I've sorted it.' His thigh had healed to the point it wouldn't split open. Which was enough. Within a few days, the threads would be pushed out, and the skin would be ready to tattoo again.

‘When's the last time you've slept? And being knocked out doesn't count.' At his silence, Riley glanced at Thea.

‘She's mine,' Jax growled, fighting the sound that threatened to vibrate through his throat.

‘No shit, you've been stalking this place for months, and you've had Ti tracking her every movement since the gallery.' Riley smirked, but there was still anger there. ‘I can feel a mating between you, but it's not finished.'

"Are you guys somehow talking? Or you just into some serious eye contact?" Thea asked, crossing her arms. "Because either way, it's super weird."

Alice burst into laughter, standing up from the sofa. "She's funny, you should keep her."

Jax simply grunted in reply, daring Riley to say anything. He'd confirmed what Jax had suspected. Thea was strangling their mating somehow.

It didn't matter either way, because it was too late to change. He would finish what Thunder had started; he just had to be patient.

"The museum was attacked last night," Riley said aloud, frowning as Reaper jumped into Jax's lap like he belonged there. "Gideon walked in along with ten Skulls and took the page on display."

Ruhne hopped off Thea's shoulder, his wings silent as he hovered by her side. "Skulls? Like that skeleton-face?"

"You're familiar with them, then?" Riley asked.

Thea glanced at Jax. "Yeah, something like that." The bruises around her neck had already turned yellow, partially hidden beneath the high-necked dress she'd thrown on. "What are they?"

"They're the Undead, soldiers belonging to Gideon."

"Holy toadstool, like actually undead?" Ruhne zig-zagged in the air. "In Asherah, we have Hollows, which are like zombies, I suppose. Do the Skulls eat people, too?"

"So he just walked into the museum?" Jax asked, forcing the conversation back.Alice nodded. "Three people were pronounced dead, and more still to be recovered."

"Recovered?" Thea asked, absently touching her shoulder.

"Gideon used arcane to bring down the ceiling, burying the celestrial display as well as a few members of the public." Riley pursed his lips. "He's no longer hiding, and with two of the pages – "

"What of the third?" Jax interrupted. "Is that not still in the States?"

"Harper checked with her connection, and they confirmed it's still locked in their vault," Alice added. "She's currently trying to get it transported here, but so far, no luck. It's under a private owner, who'd leased it out to the Institute."

Jax nodded, stroking a purring Reaper. "Cassiel has the first page, not Gideon. "

Riley waited for him to continue.

"Although, he could still strengthen the chalice with the single page."

"Is that the guy who hurt Harper?" Thea asked, eyes darting between everyone. "Why does he want the documents?"

"To unlock the secrets the chalice holds," Jax replied. Not that they yet knew what the documents held. He'd only caught a glimpse of a single page, and without the others, the information was useless.

"All this from the cup of death." Thea winced. "I told Harper to hide it at the bottom of a mountain surrounded by dragons."

"There are no dragons here." Ruhne snorted. "But seriously, who's this Gideon dude?"

"Someone who wants control," Riley said. "He wants the Daemons to reign above all, and will destroy everything in his way unless stopped."

"He was once their king, and now he wants to become a god," Jax sighed. "If not for the chalice, he would have found something else to empower his army."

"Unless we stop him," Alice added, the blue fractures in her green eyes glistening. "We've stopped someone far more powerful before."

Riley smiled, cupping the back of his mate's neck. "So we have, sweetheart."

"If Cassiel has the first page, he was the one who paid Thea to steal it," Jax said. "Which made Gideon send the hound to track the fence."

"And me by default." Thea nibbled her bottom lip. "So, we can't let Gideon get all the pages."

"That's what we're working on," Riley said. "We need to get the third page before Gideon does. "

"Then let's do that." Thea met Jax's gaze. "If we can't get the page to us, then we go to it."

"What do you suggest?" Alice asked. "Harper's already trying to negotiate a price, but the owner's being persistent."

Thea smirked. "Well then, it looks like we're just going to have to steal it."