22. Tyson

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

TYSON

A streak of sunlight fell across my face, waking me. My head throbbed. Every inch of me itched despite the soft sheets against my bare skin. I sat up slowly, finding myself in a large square hotel room, naked and tucked into a massive bed. On the other side, Lux still snored, his messy hair the only thing sticking out from the covers.

I followed my connection to Wiggles and found her nestled between Ogden and Rehan on a pull-out couch. Auras of swirling color sparkled around all three of them, though flecks of gold in Wiggles made her glow.

My dragon grunted unhappily. Because she was with others or I wasn’t in there with them was the new question. One I didn’t want to linger on.

I rubbed my eyes, still seeing the auras glowing. A second glance at Lux showed a hint of purple around the top of his head. Great. Whatever happened, I’d gone crazy. A headache bloomed to life, making my skull pulse painfully.

Not even attempting to be quiet, I stood and loudly found the bathroom door. With a sharp tug, I shut it hard enough to shake the walls. If I was awake and miserable, everyone else could be as well.

The cold tile of the unfamiliar white bathroom made me prance. I found a sink and splashed cold water on my face. Someone had left out a bottle of pills along with two massive bottles of some blue sports drink. I took four of the painkillers before downing both drinks and stepping into the shower. The hot water erased my itch. Though my headache didn’t vanish, it did ease.

I stood in the spray, trying to remember what had happened. A large pair of tits which, despite being everything a man could ask for, I wasn’t interested in, flashed across my mind. I remembered the taste of something sweet and spicy coating my mouth, and then the world went blurry. Like I was watching everything through a wet window. I hit the tile with my fist, suddenly angry. I’d messed up.

Someone knocked on the bathroom door. “Hurry up, there are five of us sharing one bathroom.” Whale Bait's voice.

I stomped out of the shower and ripped the door open, ready to take my anger out on Rehan, only to find the dragon now surrounded by a red aura. I pulled back, breathing hard. Why was I even calling the glow an aura? Where the feck did that word come from?

“Why the feck are you glowing red?” I asked.

Rehan looked at me like I was crazy and pulled me out so he could go in. The smell of Wiggles, Ogden, and sex coated his skin. My dragon whined pitifully, and my world tilted. It wasn’t angry. Feck. But I was furious. I turned before Rehan could shove me the rest of the way out and grabbed a towel off the heated rack.

I wrapped it around my bare waist, looking for Wiggles' approval, but she wasn’t looking at me. She’s gotten up and sat cross-legged, in a pair of ill-fitting blue pajamas, next to Lux, who was awake but still lying miserably in the bed. The Pretty Bird also rubbed his head unhappily.

A goddamn grey, streaked with red and yellow, aura glowed against Wiggle's skin.

“Morning,” Og said. I turned my head to find the dirt dragon lit up like a giant orange glow stick. He sprawled on a couch in baggy grey sweatpants, with his legs spread to accommodate his enormous dick. Or remind us all he had it.

I scowled. “What the feck is going on?” My stomach gurgled like I’d drunk too much whisky last night, and growled at the same time. “Do we have any food? Preferably something greasy?”

Wiggles pointed to a bag of take-out on the desk, and I helped myself to a burger and fries.

“You got dosed with Pixie Dust at Club V.” Wiggles frowned. “You, well, all of us really, have been asleep for most of a day. It’s the afternoon. We’re at a hotel in England. My guy had passports, phones, and money delivered.”

“Asleep,” I muttered between fries, not looking at Og. “Three of you were not sleeping.”

Wiggles wrinkled her nose. “That’s correct, but it saved your scaly hide.”

I slowed my chewing, my heart thumping. “Your magic?”

Wiggles shook her head. She still didn’t have her magic. Fecking relief flushed my system. She was still tied to us, er me.

“Why am I seeing colors?” I asked Wiggles.

She raised an eyebrow. “That I don’t know. The Pixie Dust is out of your system. You should be back to normal.”

Normal. A childhood memory tried to come up from the bowels of my brain, and I pushed it away.

“…see more magic now,” Wiggles hadn’t stopped talking, and I focused on her words. “With my improved magical sight, I was able to isolate the dust in your blood and burn it. Which only worked because you’re a fire dragon. Otherwise, I would have melted your insides.” She smirked. “Hot, right?”

I swallowed and narrowed my eyes at her.

In a flash, she stood and was at my side. I barely registered what was happening before she slapped me hard on the cheek and pushed my food to the side so she could straddle me on the little office chair. It groaned under our combined weight as she pressed her lips to mine and kissed me hard.

I wrapped her in my arms, desperate to kiss her back but not ready for more pain.

The door to the bathroom opened.

“Og,” Rehan barked.

Out of the corner of my eye, the other three princes placed their hands on her shoulders. My dragon sang as I finally dared move, capturing her lips and running my tongue across her teeth until she opened and let me take control.

She was amazing, so soft and warm and perfect. The colors around her bloomed into dark reds and pinks. I tried to stand, intent on carrying her to the bed and continuing this, but she pulled back.

“Why?” I groaned, my half-erect dick peeking through the towel.

“I hit you because you were dying.” A tear tried to roll down her face, and she rubbed it away. “And I kissed you because you didn’t. Don’t get used to it. This isn’t a thing.”

I grinned like the idiot I happily felt like. Wiggles fecking loved me, whether she admitted it or not. While I stupidly basked in my stinging cheek and Jay’s fantastic body, still standing over me like the fecking queen she was, Lux shakily sat back down on the bed. I had a vague memory of him inhaling pixie dust as well. As he wasn’t a fire dragon, I’d bet Wiggles couldn’t burn the drugs out of him, and he was ten times worse than me. His aura was a mess of dark greens, brown, and black.

My gaze locked with Wiggles, and I realized I felt bad for the guy. A pang of guilt for drinking both sports drinks made me dance unhappily. A sensation I wasn’t used to at all. Rehan, leaning against a wall, drew my attention. The water dragon’s steady gaze didn’t leave Wiggles. Behind him, Og returned to his couch and his big-dick posture, which didn’t bother me as much as it should.

Wiggles’ eyes unfocused.

“Out loud!” Og and Rehan said at the same time.

I blinked in confusion.

“It’s stupid,” Wiggles responded.

“Say it anyway.” Og grinned. “I say stupid stuff all the time. I won’t feel so alone.”

Wiggles rolled her eyes before gesturing to me. “You have Tyson for that.”

“Hey!” I threw up my hands. “I don’t even know what’s going on.”

Wiggles snapped her fingers. “Good point.” The chair I sat in was on rollers, and she too easily slid me to the side, moving a few greasy bags off a laptop I hadn’t noticed. Hopping up onto the desk, she crossed her legs and balanced the computer on her thighs. It reminded me of our time in Og’s cave. No matter what weird glow she had, I wasn’t ignoring her this time.

“No demons have attacked the island since we left, nor has anyone seen any sign of my ex,” Wiggles said. “I checked in with Oliviarose, and she and Ryker have their people all over Scalehive. Although the destroyed computer, which probably had my files on it, is not recoverable, they found footage of my ex murdering the five dragons and building the portal a few days before The Hunt.” She flipped around the computer and played a bit of a video. Her ex scored runes into the wood floor, muttering to himself.

Wiggles wrinkled her nose. “They confirmed my headshot was taken while lying on the floor, post portal. I think it’s safe to assume that’s how I got onto the island.”

Anger boiled my blood, imagining my mate lying helpless. I hit my palm with my fist while Rehan stepped toward Wiggles to comfort her. No. I should have thought to step forward. The Plankton had my mate in his arms way too often. This was not his moment. I rushed to Wiggles' opposite side and glared at Rehan, warning him to back off. The water dragon ignored me.

Wiggles looked between us before sighing and handing Lux the laptop. At the exact moment, Rehan and I rushed forward, crushing her between us. She didn’t lean towards me, so I reached behind her and pressed a fire-covered finger into Rehan’s pants to get him to shove off. Although a curl of smoke wafted, the water dragon quickly put it out. A trickle of water ran down my back, somehow skipping my waistband to trickle across my ass and soak into my pants.

I growled, making a tiny fireball on each finger. Once again, I reached behind Jay and encouraged my little flame babies to go to their new water papa.

“His shadow isn’t human,” Lux stated.

Wiggles maneuvered until she had a flat palm on each of us and shoved. I let her move me only after I saw my water rival doing the same.

“Rehan put your pants out,” she instructed as flames burst out of his ass.

I puffed out my chest, unsure if it was possible to be more pleased with myself.

“And Tyson, it looks like you’ve peed yourself.” Jay pointed at my dick.

I looked down, seeing water dripping around my crotch.

Wiggles giggled. “Consider rectifying that.”

I snarled. The water dragon and I made eye contact as smoke rose from his pants and steam from mine.

“The shadow isn’t human.” Wiggles took the computer back and rewound the video to watch it again.

I, begrudgingly, tore my attention away from Rehan to focus on the screen. Sharp lines made up the mystery man’s shadow, and a bull-shaped head stuck out of the top. Suddenly, the man stopped. His head snapped around to look directly at the security camera. His eyes glowed fluorescent-green, then flooded with crimson, before he calmly stood and cut the video feed. Despite his advanced age, he moved with surprising confidence and speed.

“Could he be the same man as in the security footage we saw in Ireland?” Og asked.

Wiggles wrinkled her nose. “I should have asked for a copy of the security feed, but I don’t feel like they moved the same. The man in the security feed didn’t use magic. He relied on me to do it for him. We’ll have to look for that when we pull the footage from the British Museum.”

“We’re doing what now?” Rehan asked.

Wiggles grinned. “We’re in England to watch past me steal another piece of Gorm’s Casket, remember. It turns out I stole it from the British Museum.”

“Wait.” Og held up his hands. “Your ex is still on our island, we think, right? Shouldn’t we be going back there?”

“To do what?” Wiggles asked. “Because I’m cursed. I have no magic. Even if I found my ex, he exploded five dragons in seconds. Red eyes are a sign of possession, and we’ve recently seen some fluorescent-green magic animating the demons. What if I’m completely wrong, and my ex and the demonist are the same person?” She tapped the laptop screen. “We still don’t know what I did with Gorm’s casket. A god could be involved in all of this. We just don’t know.”

“Your ex claims he brought the five of us together,” Lux added. “For a reason. We’re missing fundamental information he could provide us if we go back.”

Wiggles crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the floor.

Og held his hands up. “Jay, relax, this is exactly what I wanted. You to explain things so we can talk about it. I’m not doubting you.” He dropped his hands. “We want to hear your thought process and help.” He stood and slid to Wiggles' side. “You are not alone. You don’t have to process all of this alone. If I have to say it a thousand times for you to feel it, I will. I’ll say it as many times as it takes.”

Og’s aura turned a fierce blue while Wiggles flickered with reds, greens, and a little spark of the same blue. I scrubbed my eyes, wishing I could turn it all off.

“My ex used magic to project himself, but someone abruptly cut him off. He didn’t come to us in person. He didn’t use technology,” Wiggles said slowly. “I believe he’s either helped or handicapped us, and relying solely on him will only give us hi s answers. I’m not comfortable with that.”

Ogden nodded. “When you put it that way, I’m in complete agreement.”

More of the blue filled Wiggle’s aura, and her features softened.

“Are we all in agreement to stay in England?” Rehan asked. “Trust our people to keep their eyes open and their guard up while we recover Jay’s memories?” Although the water dragon’s face remained impassive, his aura flickered like a candle.

These auras had to be the side effect of the pixie dust… unless they weren’t. The colors felt familiar and not in an uncomfortable way. Everyone stared at me, and it took me a moment to realize they were waiting for me to agree with them.

“Yes, stay in England,” I growled.

Wiggles bobbed her head.

“See, that wasn’t so bad,” Og squeezed her to his side.

Wiggles batted him away, but a soft smile pulled at the corners of her mouth, and her aura turned a lovely deep purple. I liked the color. A little more red and it would match my scales.

“So, back to the British Museum,” Jay said. “I think our best plan is to avoid the British authorities completely and hit the building itself.” She brought up a picture of a large Victorian estate flying an assortment of flags on the laptop. “Although they turned in their CCTV footage to the human police, they should still have their backups in their server room. So, all we need to do is break in and watch it.” Her aura changed to yellow.

I ate another fry and studied the colors. What if they meant something? “That doesn’t sound so bad,” I commented, waiting for the colors to shift.

Wiggles nodded. The yellow grew brighter. “Just a few guards, a few locked doors, and a security code, we should be fine. No clubs or bars for your guys to mess about in.” She grinned, though the color surrounding her took on a pink tinge.

A flash of pain split my head, and my sire’s voice echoed in my memory.

You can’t act this way, son. You are of my blood, a prince, a fire dragon who wields fire magic. Empathy is a weakness others will use to exploit you, us. Your weakness is the reason you still can’t shift. And until you learn to block out extraneous information, no one can help you.

By the time the words stopped, I saw my sire, impossibly tall above me with his wings spread wide. Darkness surrounded him despite the sunlight glinting off his scales. All I’d wanted was to be like him. But I hadn’t stood a chance.

“Earth to Tyson,” Wiggles said.

I shook my head, trying to dislodge the memory and focus on her concerned face.

“Are you well enough to hit the museum tonight?” she asked.

I rolled my chair forward to rest my hand on her knee and nodded. “Aye.”

Although I looked at Wiggles, all I saw was my sire, his glowing black aura telling me something I didn’t want to remember.