18. Lux

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

LUX

I sat on a hard bench leaning against cold bars on my left. Through them, Tyson’s shoulders brushed mine as he leaned right, mimicking my position in the adjoining cell. The rest of the reasonably large jail stretched to my right. A sea of butts covered in every fabric and style known to man filled my view. Beyond them, I caught glimpses of an office full of desks and humans in official uniforms.

I’d grown up in various types of prisons, from the oubliette to my posh three-story apartment. In all of them, I’d been alone.

“I can’t believe we got in a bar fight in Ireland!” Someone laughed. “How much baller can this vacation get?”

A man whined. “My nose!”

“Póg mo thóin, Arran, your nose ain’t broken,” a different responded.

“What were you thinking, honey?” a woman said.

“What side of the bars do you think you're standing on, babycakes?” a man answered.

A grin pulled at my cheeks. I wasn’t alone. I sat up straighter, and pain shot from a broken rib. The entire fight was a bit of a haze, but bright clarity sparkled the aftermath. My dragon yawned, impossibly satisfied for the short amount of time we’d been rutting for. Although a bit of rage still clung to me. In their own ways, Tyson and Ogden helped me through my rut.

I didn’t understand it, but I wasn’t going to question it. At least, not yet.

A grin pulled at my cheeks, which set off a chain reaction of pain across my bruised face. I hadn’t just slept through this fight; I’d been a part of it.

Someone in the cell next to mine hit the bars, making me jump, though my grin didn’t fall.

“Ye did a gobshite job protecting ye’ little gowl,” Cormac, the bartender, said. He leaned down, putting his face right in Tyson’s. His eyes glowed white, and he flashed two elongated canines.

To my surprise, Tyson started laughing, which made me chuckle. Pain shot through my ribs, and I put my arm across them, cutting off my humor. Although the fight was mostly a haze of red, every lasting bruise and broken bone was from the fire dragon, keeping me from shifting or swinging at a human with my dragon strength.

Cormac rocked back on his heels before turning and pacing, clearly not getting what he wanted. I gently squeezed my ribs and gazed up at my mate’s mate. He’d protected me. Oh, he’d deny it if I said anything, but we both knew.

“What are you looking at?” Tyson growled.

“You,” I said honestly before looking past him and knocking the metal bar with my metal foot. The sound plinked happily.

Tyson’s cell looked nothing like mine. Only a handful of people, most dressed in leather with hard eyes, filled the white-washed space. The two women I’d first seen talking to Tyson stood in opposite corners. The younger one still peeked at Tyson from behind a gruff man with streaks of white in his red beard. I cupped my nose, briefly using my dragon sniffer, and pulled in a heavy scent of dog.

The doors to the office like space beyond the cells opened, and I felt Jay step forward. In unison, Tyson and I stood. Though he just stepped to the front of his cell, I was able to elbow my way forward.

A small queue of people waited at the desk closest to the double doors and far away from the cells holding Tyson and I. Jay, flanked by Rehan and Ogden, joined it. She gave Tyson a disappointed frown before finding me, and her face filled with worry.

“Really?” Tyson shook his fist and raised his voice. “I was in the same fecking fight!”

Jay snorted. “You probably started it.”

Tyson hadn’t, but he smirked anyway and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning on the bars between us. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to find a woman gesturing for me to follow the rest of my cellmates out a side door, which didn’t lead into the office space, but an unknown in the opposite direction. If I followed, I would be separated.

I shook my head and pressed my shoulder into the fire dragons. He’d stuck by me, and I’d do the same.

Like my cell, the office space beyond was thinning out of security personnel. The remaining uniformed personal sat stiffly. Two of them had their hands hovering under their desks.

My exit out of the cell clicked shut, leaving me alone, and my grin finally fell. Something was up.

“Jaiyana Doe.” A man with a clipped American-Irish accent stood. His uniform stretched slightly across his potbelly, contrasting with the neatly slicked-back short grey hair. “How bold of you to just show up in Ireland, at the Royal Irish Constabulary even.”

The few people still in front of Jay quickly moved. Officers escorted them out, and locks clicked behind them. A light buzzing filled the air. I wrapped my hands around the bars, ready to bend them and rush to Jay’s side.

Jay put her hands on her hips. “Ryan Kelly.” She smiled, though her eyebrows knit together. “I’m surprised you’ve not retired. It’s been what, twenty years?”

“Twenty years?” The man responded. “Try less than a year, and it’s Superintendent now.”

One of the few armed officers pulled out his gun and rested it in front of him, his finger a hair from the trigger, sending off a cascade of small motions in his peers. Of the seven remaining officers, two more drew firearms while a woman at the back brought up her hands with balls of dark purple glowing in her palms.

Jay slid her left leg back and dropped her arm to her belt as if she was accustomed to carrying weapons that were no longer there. Between the threat and her defensive posture, I couldn’t stay in here. The bars under my hands bent like butter with just a hint of my dragon strength. The noise drew everyone's attention to me.

In his cell, Tyson tried to do the same, but the bars didn’t budge.

I stepped forward, shifting to my dragon eyes, and grew my horns. “I suggest all of you calm down.” I stirred up the air in the room, sending papers flying and making the lights flicker. Rehan and Ogden followed my lead, sliding closer to Jay and displaying various scales and claws.

Dragons.

The word passed through the officers, and Tyson’s cellmates uttered with the same awe my kids showed on chocolate chip pancake day. Men and women gave us second looks, some as if seeing a legend, while others, like the women from the bar, with calculated greed. I puffed out my chest and focused on my mate.

Jay crossed her arms over her chest. “Superintendent, I don’t even know why you’re treating me as hostile, so maybe we don’t escalate this further.”

The superintendent took a deep breath before calling his men to stand down. Only after the glow left the woman's hands and every weapon was far from reach did I drop my horns.

“You dumped the shit bag fast,” Superintendent Kelly said, some of the confidence fading from his face.

“I have no idea what or who you’re talking about,” Jay said. She put her hands in the air. “I’ve not had a partner since…” her words trailed off, and her eyes unfocused before she blinked and shook her head. “And I’ve had no reason to visit your tourist trap since you turned the old faith into movie sets.”

Superintendent Kelly narrowed his eyes. “Do you expect me to believe you have no memory of what you did? You stole from us. Took a piece of our heritage. We were lucky only human garda were on duty, or it would have been England all over again.”

Jay blinked. “What happened in England?”

Superintendent Kelly’s jaw dropped. A few garda shifted uncomfortably.

“Sir,” a uniformed woman said. “We’re holding humans and our officers against their will at this point to keep the room private. If this is complicated, we need to move it.”

Superintendent Kelly picked up his jaw and grunted. “If you’re telling the truth,” Superintendent Kelly said. “Then you won’t mind stepping into the interrogation room.” His face darkened. “The special one.”

Jay tilted her head towards Tyson. “I suggest you let my other dragon out before he melts your bars.”

I turned just enough to see the bars under Tyson’s scaled hands glowing orange and collapsing under his grip.

“Dragon,” Sarah repeated breathily, stepping around her appointed guard and taking in Tyson like she saw him for the first time.

“My dragons.” Jay made a little circle with her fingers. “All four of them.”

I bit my lips together, fearing my skin would split if I grinned any wider at Jay’s claim. My dragon did a little victory dance while my human hips echoed it.

Superintendent Kelly nodded. “If you’ll come peacefully, I’ll hear you out.”

Jay splayed her hands. “I literally walked in here peacefully. This is your dog and pony show.”

“Walked in with four dragons,” the superintendent added. “Shifters that haven’t been seen in over a hundred years.”

“Technically, I only walked in with two.” Jay batted her eyes and leaned toward us.

The superintendent scowled before barking orders to his men.

Cormac growled, and I shifted my attention from my mate to Tyson. Cormac and the older man with white in his beard slid closer to the fire prince's exposed back.

“Let my guys go while you’re at it,” Cormac said, coming up on Tyson’s side and blocking the cell door.

“I can’t just let everyone go,” Superintendent Kelly bellowed from his desk. “Tourists got involved, Cormac. The media’s all over my ass. Just relax.”

“I had to close early. There’s damage and lost revenue. These dragons started it.” He jerked his thumb toward Tyson. “The gombeen didn’t even deny it. At least give these two my debts.”

His eyes gleamed, and I didn’t want to know what he’d ask us to do to pay those off.

“Not gonna happen, Cormac. I’ve got guys reviewing CCTV as we speak. If action is taken, it will be presentable in the media. Now back up, or I’ll make you.” Superintendent Kelly stepped away from his desk and toward Cormac.

“I’d like to see ya try,” Cormac snarled, his eyes glowing once more as fur grew over his body.

I jerked. A werewolf? I’d never seen one before.

In a blur of motion, Tyson kicked. Cormac staggered away from the bars.

“Tough fecker,” Tyson mumbled before striking out with his fist. The first hit the werewolf in the stomach, and the second mashed his toothy jaw. The furry man flew backward to the sound of cracking bones before hitting the concrete jail floor. His werewolf form receded.

The air filled with growls and snarls. The sound of snapping jaws cut through all of it, along with the overwhelming smell of not dog but something wilder.

“Bad do—” Tyson started to say.

“Tyson!” Jay snapped. “You’re in there with his entire fucking pack.”

Tyson straightened, squaring up against nine people in various phases of shifting. A shiver of fear ran down my back. I didn’t know enough about werewolves to understand the situation truly, but nine-on-one wasn’t good odds.

Keeping their leader's prone body between him and the rest of the angry pack, Tyson edged toward the cell door, which two of the superintendent’s officers were poised to open. In a single giant step, Tyson slipped out, and the barred door slammed shut behind him. He slid to my side, and we strode together to our mate.

As we approached Jay, Ogden took a step toward me before hopping backward so he could still flank Jay. My heart beat a little too fast. Maybe the earth warlock just wanted to heal me, or perhaps it was more. I still hadn’t talked to Jay, and I’d bet Og hadn’t either.

We had to figure this out. The longer we let this fester, the worse it would be when it finally came out. My gaze bore into Og, who steadfastly kept his eyes forward as if standing at Jay’s back was his sacred duty.