3. Chapter Three

JAX

Glass scatters as Bennett's plate shatters against the floor, and cheese and little slices of pineapple land in a wet heap amid the wreckage in the small kitchen. "What the hell do you mean, Chaos, the god of literally fucking everything, is your soul bond?" Bennett's gaze flickers to Theo and then back to Rose. "What about Theo?"

Rose's twin brother ignores the mess he made. Instead, he stares wide-eyed at his sister, who's sitting across from me at the table. He's got a few inches on her and has much darker skin with the same blue eyes.

Many fae have blue eyes on account of our source of magic: their grandmother, the Luna goddess.

"She's still my soul bonded mate." Theo reaches for Rose's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Through our mating bond, her anxiety engulfs me, akin to a sudden storm. It's a restless, jittery energy that thrums beneath my skin, as erratic as leaves in a windstorm. Her worry pulses within me, an unsteady rhythm that disrupts my own nerves, like ripples disturbing the surface of an already turbulent sea.

Chaos.

The source of half my fucking trouble.

I don't regret what I did, only that my involvement might've put Rose on his radar. Though if what he says is true—that Rose is his soul bonded mate—it was inevitable anyway.

But it doesn't mean I have to like him. He saved Kieran, but fuck, we should've all been here. I promised nothing like this would ever happen to him. And what did I do? Let something like this happen again.

The guilt eats at me. I want to be able to strangle it, cast it from my chest, but I find I can't. Because I deserve this.

I let him down, and if it weren't for Rose and Chaos, he'd be lost to us forever.

"You're not going to the fucking veil, Rose." Bennett crosses the kitchen, glass crunching under his booted feet before he crouches in front of her. "You're my twin. We do life together, remember?"

A tear tracks down her cheek, and I make to lean over to get it for her, but Bennett does instead. His eyes soften as he takes in her distress.

"Yeah," she chokes out. On her plate is a half-eaten pizza crust that she pushes towards Mekhi, who happily shoves the entire piece into his mouth.

"The gods can come and go," Theo offers. "She doesn't always have to be in the veil."

"Our grandmother lacks that liberty." Bennett narrows his eyes at Theo. "If she could, she'd be with Rune. With us."

Rune is her mate. It's weird to consider him Rose's step grandfather, as he's always been this elusive, badass trainer of the soldiers on Convectus.

"She can't because she's Luna. Her connection to the moons keeps her beyond the veil." Theo shrugs. "It wouldn't be the same."

"Did he mention what, exactly, would be your role as a goddess?" A muscle ticks in Bennett's jaw.

And does Chaos just expect us to abandon Kieran? Chaos is a lying, conniving bastard.

"I was too stunned to ask before he sent me on my way."

"Mom and Dads are going to freak."

Rose cracks a small smile. She's always enjoyed being a rebel, and I think that's what drew me to her in the first place. I was a goner the moment she sunk those pearly teeth into my arm, eyes blazing as she fought like hell to get me off of her.

"Maybe the problem will solve itself," Mekhi muses out loud. "Just tell Daddy Finn and he'll be dead by morning."

A sharp stab of grief sears through the mating bond from Rose, and I toss my empty plate at Mekhi for being a dumbass. He winces as it hits him, his witch reflexes too slow to stop it, but he's able to stop it from falling to the floor.

Guess Chaos really is her soul bond, after all.

"I'm so telling Finn you called him that." Bennett chuckles as he rises to his feet.

"You wouldn't dare." Mekhi's eyes go wide.

"Would." Bennett smirks as he raises a hand, flicks his wrist, and conjures a spell to clean up the wreck of spilled pizza and broken glass he made.

Theo grimaces as he watches the clumsy incantation carry the mess towards the garbage can hidden below the sink, but it doesn't quite make it there. Instead, it slams against the cupboard, making an even bigger mess. "I swear I've done this a thousand times." Bennett grumbles. "Maybe I'm just tired."

We all give him disbelieving looks.

"Just use the tidy-all charm." The professor scoots his chair back, presses a kiss to Rose's head, and walks over to a small panel on the wall between the kitchen and dining room as he presses a button. "I programmed a shortcut. Just … watch your feet."

"Watch my fee—oh fuck!" Bennett lunges for the counter, landing on top just before a round little metal beast darts across the kitchen floor as though it were a comet shooting through the skies.

Each of us picks up our feet in case the monster wants to get ours, too.

Rose grins before pushing back from the table and peeking into the kitchen. "Where the hell did you get a robot vacuum? And why is it so fast?"

The sleek, metal beast barrels across the floor with lightning speed, leaving a trail of air in its wake. Its movements are so quick that it's almost imperceptible to the fae eye before it disappears into a slot in the cupboard, as if it were never there at all.

"That's what I was working on while everyone was at the competition," Theo folds his arms across his chest, smiling triumphantly. "Couldn't find an engine or motor, but once I understood the mechanics, it was pretty easy to insert a self-replenishing charm into it to make it go."

"Yeah, if it doesn't eat your feet first," Deakan chuckles as he makes his way to the kitchen to inspect where the hell the little beast disappeared to.

Bennett inspects the ground before deciding it's safe to hop off the countertop.

"Let's call him Dustbin Bieber." Rose sighs, a wistful smile on her face.

"What is actually wrong with you?" Bennett shakes his head as he straightens out his clothes. "I thought I'd heard the end of your obsession with him," he grumbles, and an unsolicited growl builds in the back of my throat.

The others join in.

"Who the fuck is Dustbin Bieber?" I narrow my stare at Rose, and we all fix our attention on the blush that creeps up her chest and into her cheeks.

"Rose's first true love." Bennett licks his lips, grinning as he watches our possessive sides take hold, glee dancing in his eyes.

"I'll kill him," I snarl. Smoke curls out of my nostrils, perfuming the air as my dragon threatens to take hold of my temper.

Mekhi doesn't appear to be phased, though. Instead, he looks on, amused. "He sang you to sleep every night, didn't he?"

It takes every ounce of my willpower to keep my beast contained. Theo and Deakan aren't faring much better. It's in the flicker of light just behind their eyes.

"You guys are terrible." Rose laughs, collecting the dishes, and I make to help her. "For fuck's sake, you're going to give them all a coronary." She plops them into the sink before activating a cleaning charm on those, too. Parking herself against the counter, she beams at us. "Justin Bieber is a human pop star from Earth. Yes, I thought he was cute?—"

A primal snarl rips from Deakan's throat. His lion has the exact same thoughts my dragon does.

"He's a singer! An entertainer!" Rose shouts above the noise, laughter coloring her tone.

"You're not making this any better," Theo growls, though he still eyes her cautiously, as though he's waiting for her to reveal exactly how close this human was to her.

"I don't even know him!" She throws up her hands before stalking towards her brother and giving him a shove. "You're a dick."

He stumbles before righting himself, laughing it off before hopping up to sit on top of the counter, his legs swinging in front of him as he gives us all a shit-eating grin.

"I've never met the man a day in my life." Rose saunters over to me, resting her palms on each side of my neck, and the touch soothes my beast. My shoulders relax as she pulls me in for a hug, her arms wrapping around my waist as she rests her head on my chest. "No different from my little sister having a crush on Mekhi. Just an innocent infatuation with someone as a kid."

The man in question chuckles before shaking his head. Nova has had hearts in her eyes for him since the day she met him. Probably because he lets her play with his knives.

She's a little stabby.

A contagious yawn ripples from Bennett, his jaw stretching wide in a lazy arc. This sleepy gesture triggers a chain reaction among us, our own yawns echoing his. "I'm going to go crash," he announces, languidly swinging his legs off the counter. With a fluid motion, he peels off his shirt, revealing the night's wear and tear on the fabric. He took a small tumble down the ravine as a call came in on his phone when we were searching for Rose.

Casually, he tosses it towards the tiny pantry adjacent to the kitchen. The shirt sails through the air, its trajectory subtly altered by a flicker of Bennett's magic, guiding it towards a small, unassuming hole in the dirt floor near the pantry.

Just as the shirt hovers on the brink of disappearing into the ground gnome's territory, Bennett pauses to fish something out of his pocket. A glint of metal catches the light—a simple paperclip, unremarkable yet valuable in this exchange. With a practiced flick, he sends the paperclip spinning after the shirt. It tumbles through the air, disappearing into the hole along with the garment.

Bennett then saunters off towards the bathroom, his steps unhurried, and the door closes behind him with a soft click. In the quiet that follows, a faint, high-pitched chittering fills the kitchen. The ground gnomes are already at work. Their tiny, industrious sounds weave through the air, the only proof of their labor. The noise rises and falls, a bustling, busy hum that promises his shirt will be returned immaculate, the fabric cleansed and mended by their diligent, tiny hands.

Or so I assume.

"I'll never get used to that." Mekhi shudders. "Creepy little things."

"Have you ever actually seen one?" Rose fixes her attention on the hole, hoping for a peek. "I've never seen one."

A chorus of no's fills the kitchen.

"Your turn next." Deakan bumps Rose's hip, jostling me.

She rolls her eyes. "I'm never getting naked in the open when Bennett is still under the same roof. We don't need to scar him any further by letting him see his sister without a shirt on."

"But Kieran's fair game?" Mekhi props his elbows on the counter, watching the pantry, too, before glancing back at Rose, smirking.

Rose opens and closes her mouth several times before snapping it shut, as though she can't find the words to say. No one comments on the brief flit of arousal we feel through the bond. Nor the small flare of it on her skin.

Theo rescues her from being on the spot by holding out his hand. She takes his as he leads her to the bedroom. We follow, but pull up short in the doorway.

"Shit," Deakan whispers. "He's always tossing and turning in his sleep."

He's in here because I failed him. I failed him so spectacularly by abandoning him when he was hurting, and fuck if it doesn't destroy me.

"Maybe we can just turn him on his side?" Rose offers. "Or he can use one of my body pillows."

An involuntary growl escapes me, earning a confused, stunned look from Rose.

But I shake it off. Just my dragon being possessive again.

We gather in a hushed cluster at the entrance of our bedroom, peering in on Kieran's slumbering figure that's now sprawled across the center of our wall-to-wall bed. On top of the covers. His patchwork of tattoos adorns his body, and I spot a few new ones, though I can't quite make out what they are.

"I shredded that body pillow." I grin down at Rose.

Her mouth drops open. "I liked that body pillow!"

"You don't need it," I grumble. "You want a body? You've got five of them to choose from." That seems to settle my dragon.

She narrows her eyes on me and seems to acquiesce with a small shake of her head before turning back towards the bed.

Despite the midday sun pouring through the windows, the room feels dim and heavy with exhaustion. We've all been awake for well over twenty-four hours.

"He won't mind sleeping with us." I gesture toward Kieran. I don't want him away from us anytime soon.

"Definitely not." Deakan beams. "We can make a Kieran sandwich. Come on, baby." He inclines his head.

Rose hesitates, eyes darting around the space as she whispers, "You don't think Chaos can see in here, can he?"

That quiets us all real quick. Fucking god. "I have half a mind to lay my claim to you right in front of him. Show him you're ours," I growl.

Rose's eyes widen, her lips parting in surprise. "Jax …" she protests weakly, but a blush spreads from her cheeks to the tips of her pointed ears.

I pull her into me, whispering against her temple. "You like being watched."

"I can fucking hear you, get out of the fucking hallway!" Bennett shouts from the bathroom adjacent to our room.

"Sorry!" Rose squeaks as she ushers us into the bedroom and shuts the door.

"Fuck it, I'm tired." Deakan slides past Theo before yanking Rose towards the bed, her weak protests dying under her exhaustion. It wouldn't be the first time we've all crawled into bed filthy. Without another word, he undresses her down to her bra and panties, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make my dick twitch.

He shucks his clothes, all bronze skin and hard muscle as he maneuvers Rose on one side of Kieran, and he takes her other side, nuzzling into her neck.

"You're closest with him, so you get to sleep next to him." Theo uses magic to make his clothes disappear, save his boxers before sprawling on the other side of Deakan, arm tucked behind his head.

Mekhi grumbles as he works his way out of his clothes, something like, fucking fairies, before digging in the closet for a spare blanket or two. He tosses another one over the fae already in bed.

I'm slower to undress, seeing how I don't get to lay next to Rose, so I'm in no hurry to join. It settles something in my heart, though, seeing each of them there.

This feels more right than it ought to.