32. Thea

Chapter 32

Thea

T hea's eyes darted around the private jet, wanting to soak in every detail as quickly as possible. She'd never flown private before, and knew it was unlikely she would again. There were two seating areas, the first at the end of the plane with a three seater sofa, as well as four chairs surrounding a table. The second, which was situated directly behind the cockpit, consisted of four recliners facing one another.

Thea sank deeper into the soft leather of her recliner, glancing up to find Jax with his eyes closed opposite her. His jaw was tense, his fingers digging into the armrests. They hadn't even left the tarmac yet.

"Tell me about this page, document things?" she asked, feeling her stomach flutter when he settled those sapphire eyes on her. She hated the reaction, not knowing whether it was genuine, or the bloody bond Thunder had forced onto them both. She had felt it try to tangle around her, tethering to her soul before her wild magic had fought it. "What are they?"

Jax cocked his head, and she swore those flutters turned into full on bloody butterflies. "They're instructions. Separate, they are useless, but together, they reveal details on how to activate the chalice."

"Activate how?" Ruhne asked, sitting cross-legged on the armrest of her chair.

"We don't know." Jax paid no attention to the pixie, his gaze lazily tracing the lines of her face. He started at her eyes, moving down the slope of her nose, hesitating at her lips. Thea's tongue darted out, wetting the bottom one as those eyes of ice melted until they burned. He continued down, the heat of his gaze zeroing in on the pulse on her throat, one that was pretty much dancing against her skin.

Blood roared in her ears when he steadied his eyes back on hers, the early morning light slicing through the porthole window to highlight the reluctant desire etched against the stony set of his jaw.

Definitely the bond, she thought, clenching her thighs at the pressure building. No man could make her body react in such a way. It was as if all her feminism simply poofed into the void from a single, carnal look.

Jax leaned forward, and Thea found herself being pulled into his orbit. His eyes dipped to her lips once more, her resistance weakening until –

"Ri never mentioned you guys had a jet?" A low whistle filled the cabin, and Thea jerked back, whatever spell that was between them broken. "Fucking rich boy's been holding out on me."

A man threw himself down into the seat beside her, and a flash of irritation crossed Jax's features.

"Lucifer," he greeted with a dip of his head. "How nice of you to join us."

"Can you believe he asked me to fly there?" The man called Lucifer clicked his tongue, looking around the cabin as if he'd never seen a plane before. "Like I appreciate the confidence – my wingspan is pretty impressive and all that – but what the fuck?"

"You can fly?" Thea asked, checking out the width of his shoulders and the clear lack of wings.

He wasn't much different in size to Jax, his dark hair brushing his shoulders when he twisted to reveal red irises. "Of course I can, love," he said with an impish grin. "I'm Lucy. I'm… fucking Fates, is that a pixie?"

Lucifer bent at the waist, almost crawling into her lap to get closer to Ruhne.

"Luce," Jax warned. "Back the fuck off."

Lucifer slumped back into his seat, heavy boots trampling the plush carpet. "But he's literally made of glitter, J. Glitter ."

"My dust has other components, too," Ruhne said, jumping to his feet, which swung the sword he had on his hip. It was attached to his belt and looked like a needle, but larger. She should really ask him where he got his clothes from, because she was sure she'd never seen him in all black before. "I can give you the itch, which will make you want to tear your own skin off."

"Ruhne, what happened to your blue clothes?" she asked, curious.

He shrugged, his wings drooping behind him. "The death-eater faerie with the painted gold gave me this new set. She works behind the bar with the cat-man. What do you think? Sexy as fuck, right? It saves me having to cut my own patterns from your clothes."

"You make your own clothes?" Thea frowned. "Wait, you steal the fabric from mine?"

Ruhne flexed his arm, showing off his bicep. "Where else did you think I was getting the new clothes from? It's not like there's a pixie boutique around here. "

It hadn't even occurred to her he would need more than one set of clothes. She was the worst friend.

Jax cracked his knuckles against the cockpit door. "Let's go."

Thea crossed her legs, his eyes immediately drawn to the exposed skin there. "Not everyone is here yet."

"What do you mean, not everyone is here yet?" His usual hard exterior returned. "Who else?"

Thea tried to smile, but it did nothing to change his resolve. "Look, I'm a pickpocket. We think well on our feet, but something big that requires tedious planning… not so much."

"Thea, who else?"

Roach took that moment to step inside, a large backpack thrown over her shoulder. Like usual, she wore all black, but this time she'd added a few sharp silver spikes to her neck and boots. With a raised brow, she threw her bag onto the three-seater sofa at the back.

"This is Roach," Thea said, her cheeks hurting with how forced her smile was. "And somehow, in the next eight hours, we're going to plan a raid of the institute's archives."

JAX

Jax clenched onto the seat harder when the plane hit a little turbulence, his fingers almost piercing through the leather.

"So, I think you're onto something with the obsidian," Lucifer droned on, frowning at the bullet between his fingertips. It was the prototype and was yet to be tested. And by tested, Jax meant shooting Lucifer to see whether it, A: stayed in his body, and B: stopped his ability to drift for an extended period of time .

"The theory works," Jax added, releasing the armrests long enough to grab the bullet. It looked identical to the picture drawn up by himself and Kace, the tip obsidian that had been carved into a spiral, with the rest of the body made from silver. It was a softer metal than steel, so should split on impact, and if coated in the same residue he'd added to Thea's bands, it shouldn't react with Kace's compound.

The thought of Thea in his bands drew his attention to where she sat with Roach, both of them slouched over notes and blueprints scattered messily over the table. They spoke quietly, Thea's brow low as they discussed the details on the upcoming raid. He'd been frustrated she'd invited someone he hadn't had time to vet.

She was right; they needed the best, and she was mature enough to admit that wasn't her.

Thea looked up, as if sensing his gaze. Warmth spread beneath his ribs, but it was weakening the longer she denied it. Thunder had shared the memory of the mating, and the exact moment her wild magic reared up to block.

"Hello?"

Fingers clicked in his face, and Jax pinned Lucy with a glare. "What?"

"I was asking about timelines in testing." Lucifer looked over his shoulder, probably eyeing up the fucking pixie. "But clearly you have more interesting things on your mind. Like a certain faerie with the most amazing pink hair. Is it natural?"

"Luce…"

"Suppose we won't be going out and sharing a woman anymore." Lucifer twisted back in his chair. "Unless..." Amusement danced in his eyes.

"Touch her, and I'll rip off your wings and shove them down your throat. "

Lucifer snorted out a laugh. "Kinky, there's a reason we're friends."

"We're not friends."

"Said just like a best friend." Lucifer grinned. "Can I at least watch?"

Reaching for the handgun, Jax placed the bullet inside the magazine. "You know a Daemon called Leo?" he asked, changing the subject.

Lucy pursed his lips at the deflection, but didn't push. Probably because Jax held the gun with a bullet designed to fucking hurt.

"No, but it's likely he chose the name Leo once he came to the surface." He shrugged. "He wouldn't risk using his summoning name, or even a shortened version. Other than those we've put six feet under, I've not run into anyone, and it's not like I have cute tea parties with the bastards I was forced to share Hell with."

"He said he and some others wanted to live peacefully, free and without the threat of war."

Lucifer drummed his fingers on his knee. "Gideon ruled by force. You went against him, and he'd have you flailed in the square as punishment. Peace isn't a concept he understands." A darkness flashed across his features, but Jax knew better than to ask Lucifer about his time down in the Nether. "The only person who kept him in check was Hadriel, and that's only because his power was connected to the fucking realm we were all chained to."

"Do you think there are more that would go against him?"

Lucy huffed out a chuckle. "Many of my kind thrive in the madness of war, while there are others, like Leo, who were forced into it. They would be hiding, and considering summoning names are bound to our tongues, it's not like I could summon any of them to be of aid. "

Which meant Lucifer couldn't summon anyone, because magic prevented him from revealing the names. Which was fucking useless, and would have resolved the majority of the issues if they could simply summon Gideon, and then destroy him while he was bound to a circle.

"He was already ruthless while chained to the Nether, and now freed from those restrictions, he'll be even more relentless," Lucy said. "He's the most powerful out of the Originals because he was one of the first, and that power increased over time."

"What about the others?"

"Alrameth, Murath and Dargran were all killed in territorial wars when we were still chained below." Lucifer frowned. "Fuck, saying their names out loud makes me realise how stupid they all sound. Mine's just as bad."

Not that Jax knew it. Lucy's summoning name wasn't something he shared easily, not when it gave someone power over him. Jax was sure the only person who knew it was Alice, and that was because Lucy had killed everyone else.

"Then there's Dirk and Bishop, the fuckers. Honestly, who chooses the name Dirk? He could have been anyone. Steve. John, fucking Baron of Titsville the third. Yet he decided on Dirk?" Lucy picked at his painted nails. "Obviously, he deserved to die because he hurt Kyra, and tried to create more Daemons for Gideon, but that shit name is a close third."

Jax nodded, although he found himself drifting back to Thea, watching how she checked her phone religiously for an update on her father. He'd already made a discreet call to Molly, knowing there had been no change. He was being made as comfortable as can be, but they all knew he didn't have long left.

"You'd think druids wouldn't continue to choose the rite," Lucifer continued. "Maybe I should go give a talk about how accepting dark magic isn't all sunshine and rainbows, and in reality, it can fuck you up the arse without lube. Maybe that will give the young lads some hesitation."

Thea looked up, and that warmth in his chest, despite being suppressed, spread like wildfire. "The weak crave power." Jax said, having to force his eyes away from his mate. "Which is why Gideon will never be satisfied until there's nothing left."

"Then let us hope your girl knows what the fuck she's doing."