26. Lux

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

LUX

I carefully sliced through thick layers of webbing, holding one of the two bodies suspended in midair. Behind me, the spider screamed as I assumed it lost another leg to my fellow dragons.

White spider silk covered every inch of the cave. Smashed skeletons littered the floor. Dried-up cocoons, identical to the one I cut down, hung precariously; the arm of some grey creature dangled out of the base of one. Only two cocoons looked fresh, including the one I sawed at with my dragon claws. I would not let them suffer the same fate.

The spider might not have wanted to take on four dragons, but once we showed up in the heart of its lair, its eight eyes turned red with rage. The course hair on its legs wasn’t hair at all, but spikes, and it was fast, much too fast for its size.

Rehan bellowed, and his blue-scaled human body hit the wall on my left. The cocoon with the arm in it shook before the entire limb fell, hitting the water dragon on the head. Rehan pushed off the wall with an angry roar and sprinted back into the fight. Like Tyson, he charged the spider head-on.

I wasn’t a fighter, but I played enough strategy games to understand taking turns hitting the spider from the same side wasn’t an effective battle tactic.

A light voice let out a muffled hiss, and I turned away from the fight to focus on my cutting. Pale skin bled where my claws sawed a small hole in the thick sticky webbing. At least I knew the inhabitant was alive, but this was taking way too long. I changed tactics and climbed up the wrapped body to find fist-width threads, keeping it suspended and hacked at those instead.

If nothing else, we could carry the entire cocoon out of here.

The roar of flames tickled my dragon hearing, and orange flickered in my peripheral vision. I turned, just as another web caught like tissue paper.

“Og,” I bellowed. “Fire, help.”

The spider screamed and launched itself away from the flames. Its scream turned into a gurgle as Rehan used the distraction to gut it.

“Shite,” Tyson swore and rushed toward the fire, his hands in front of him.

Next to me, Og jumped onto the second ball and began hacking at the line it dangled from as well.

Tyson bellowed, and the fire billowed before funneling into his outstretched hands. Rehan pulled water from the very walls and drenched the areas the fire hadn’t touched yet.

The cocoon I worked on finally dropped. A painful oomph groaned out of it. I turned to Og, and together, we finished off the second cocoon and pulled them far from the flames.

For a brief second, we shared a grin before awkwardly looking away from each other. My stupid dick twitched, and I clamped my mouth shut.

“It’s too big for me to stop,” Tyson yelled, his chest straining. “Everyone clear?”

After getting each of our acknowledgments, he released the fire, and it raced down the spider web so fast the air crashed together behind it with little booms.. In seconds, fire stripped the caves bare and vanished down a branch I hadn’t noticed yet.

“That was Jay,” Rehan stated, a grin filling his face.

I closed my eyes and felt my connection with my mate strong, vibrant, and moving towards us. Not a minute later, the woman herself walked into the cave, looking like a half-dead zombie. Three balls of Tyson’s fire floated above her, lighting the dark cavern. It was too bright for my dragon eyes. I changed back to my human sight and took one step toward my mate before the cocoon at my feet violently thrashed from side to side, making me hesitate.

The closest to Jay, Rehan, pulled her to his chest while Tyson was right behind him.

I pursed my lips. I’d spent most of my time in Ireland with Tyson and then immediately got drugged in Club V. Jay was turning into more of a stranger every day.

“Teamwork,” Ogden jerked his chin toward Jay, who was moments away from being pulled out of Rehan’s embrace by an angry fire dragon. “Let’s get these two out, and then it’s our turn to embrace our mate.”

I frowned. ‘Our turn.’

What did Ogden mean by that? This was the closest we’d had to privacy, and Ogden chose to use the word ‘our.’

“We need to talk,” I said lowly.

Og paused in his cocoon cutting but didn’t look at me. “It’s probably a good idea.”

We focused on our tasks, but I couldn’t think of a way to start the conversation, and Ogden stayed quiet. The sound of Rehan and Tyson arguing filled the cave.

I needed to say something. “This spider webbing is almost as strong as dragon tendon.”

“It is,” Og agreed.

We kept cutting, now with awkward tensions adding to our task.

Og’s cocoon shook violently. Sharp points dug out of it, shredding it from the inside. Og stepped back to keep from getting hit. With mine only half opened, Og’s burst, and a scale-covered fire dragon stood with wild eyes, his chest heaving.

“Tenzin?” Tyson asked, cutting off whatever fire and water were bickering about.

The fire prince rushed to the new fire dragon’s side. Tenzin, assuming that is who it was, slid his feet further apart. He scanned the cave as if seeing it for the first time.

Free of his cocoon cutting duties, Og slid to Jay’s side and started to pull his dragon scales back into his human form.

“Don’t you dare,” Jay snapped. “Keep your scales up.”

Og stopped mid-transformation, looking like a parrot who’d started plucking his feathers out. “But I can’t heal you as a dragon.”

“I’ll live.” Jay's gaze blazed.

Ogden rocked back on his heels, indecision clear on his face.

“Please,” Jay added. “We need out of here more. A little pain won’t hurt me.”

Ogden scowled, but his scales returned, snapping into place. Jay let out a physical sigh of relief. Even Rehan, who’d taken on the role of lookout across the cave, heard it. She might be trying to keep us at bay, but she cared so much more than she wanted to admit, at least about Og.

I tried to push my bitterness away, but the emotion festered.

“My mate!” Tenzin roared, his wild eyes taking on a panicked edge. He stared at the cocoon I was supposed to be working on, and fire bloomed to life in his palms.

“Tenzin, you need to calm down.” Tyson cut off the fire dragon's line of sight, and I went back to work.

“You can’t keep her from me!” Tenzin roared, striking out at Tyson.

“Calm yourself.” Tyson dodged Tenzin’s punch and returned it right in the middle of the poor kid's stomach. “Shite, there’s no way I was this much trouble,” he added.

Rehan let out a barking laugh, which echoed across the walls.

In two more cuts, I had most of Tenzin’s mate free, and I made quick work of slicing through the webbing covering her head. She sat up, gasping for air, the same panicked fear in her eyes. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Caoimhe?” Jay asked.

Tenzin roared again, and with his mate free, Tyson let him go. Tenzin rushed to Caoimhe’s side. His dragon scales melted into human flesh. He ran his fingers over every part of her, picking her up out of the cocoon and cradling her to his chest.

Jay tapped on my shoulder and jerked her head, pulling the three of us away to give the lovers a minute. But not us. We hadn’t embraced like that. My mate didn’t give our emotions a single thought. We were in a new situation now. Jay ignored everything that had just happened and dove into it. I was equally impressed and upset.

“I thought dragons couldn’t leave the island,” Jay pointed out.

“That’s it, Jay?” Og crossed his arms. “We were forcibly separated and are now trapped in a new world, and those are your first words to us.”

Jay flushed and pursed her lips. She glanced at Tyson and Rehan before realizing whatever she’d said to them probably wasn’t much better.

“Look, we were separated for like half an hour,” Jay said. “And now we're not, and somehow, two people I didn’t even know could leave your island are here. This is what we need to deal with.”

Og opened his mouth, but before he could argue with her, I stepped to my mate and pulled her into my arms. “I thought you would use this as an excuse to cut us loose.”

Jay stiffened before wrapping her arms around my middle and pulling me close. “It never occurred to me not to come after you. Under London is a hell hole with no sun for lizards to warm themselves in. I have to rescue my dragons.” She peeked up at me through her lashes. “You’re an endangered species.”

I cupped the back of her neck. “Is that the only reason?”

Her flirty smile fell. I pulled her back into my chest and moved the conversation on before she felt pressured to answer my question. “We promised not to leave you alone again, and we did. It doesn’t matter if it was thirty minutes or thirty days. Take a minute and process.” Jay melted into me as if hearing my words validated whatever she wasn’t letting herself feel.

It was little, but it was a start.

“I was worried,” I continued. “I don’t care if you’re the most powerful bitch this world has ever seen. We didn’t have control, and it scared the piss out of me.”

Jay took a slow breath against my chest. “It scared me too. But I had to keep going, keep thinking. That’s who I am.”

I slid my hands down her back and cupped her ass, pulling her hips toward me while she leaned back with one eyebrow raised. “I get that. We’re not asking you to change. But I needed a hug, and so does Og, even if he’s better at starting arguments.” I gave Og the same disappointed look I gave my students before returning all my attention to my mate. “I need to process, and I want you to help me.”

Jay let out a breath, and the tension dancing at the top of her shoulders eased. I wasn’t lying; I needed this moment. But so did Jay. Some people were better at helping others than themselves.

I lifted her by her hips and physically deposited her in Og’s arms, giving the genius warlock a warning glace before glaring at Rehan and Tyson, daring them to challenge my actions. A soft smile lit Rehan’s face while Tyson kept looking at the space around me. He reached forward and poked the air above my head before muttering to himself.

Og said something to Jay, which I purposefully didn’t listen to. The sound of Tenzin and Caoimhe’s sweet nothings filled the cave. I kept my gaze off Jay and Og, letting them have the privacy I wanted.

Og cleared his throat and returned us to the problem at hand. “Maybe Caoimhe made a portal?”

Jay raised an eyebrow. “I guess nothing’s impossible. But my ex had to tie the magic of your shield to his portal. His design used runes that took me centuries to master and relied on manipulating raw Ley Line magic and all four elemental powers at once. Something I doubt Caoimhe or any one single dragon is capable of.” Jay poked Tyson in the chest. “Fire rules the island, right? What do you know?”

Tyson threw his hands up. “I mean, exceptions are made to the rules. We have contracts and shifters in key places to keep our island hidden but still get supplies. All of that’s done by boat. Portals shouldn’t be able to get through our shield.”

Og leaned forward.

“With one obvious exception.” Tyson wrinkled his nose. “Most of our people are in Spain or Africa…not wherever this is.”

“Under London,” Jay offered. “Long and short of it. London used to be very dangerous for humans and shifters. The community came together to boot the worst of them—only England’s an Island. They’d already shipped their human convicts to Australia. So, much like the shield around your island, they cut off this piece of the supernatural. It’s a prison for people too dangerous to live in the world but not powerful enough to bust themselves out.”

“It’s as effective as our shield?” Og asked.

Jay shook her head. “The two have different purposes, where only dragon shifters made your shield to save themselves. A diverse group of supernaturals created this place with one common goal, but each knew if they did something wrong, Under London could become their new home.”

“Hence the ‘not powerful enough to bust themselves out’ comment,” Og pointed out.

Jay shot him with her finger guns.

“How do you know those two?” I asked, gesturing to the de-spider-podded pair.

“Tenzin’s in our guard training program,” Tyson answered at the same time as Jay said. “The Social.”

“From the island, just over a month ago,” I translated their answers into tangible information.

Tyson and Jay nodded, their heads almost perfectly in sync. Despite our moment of closeness, I still felt like an outsider. Instead of focusing on Jay, I turned my attention back to Tenzin and Caoimhe, who were currently trying to eat each other’s faces.

Rehan cleared his throat, and Jay led us back toward the pair, skirting around spider guts leaking across the floor.

The two separated and turned towards us. Hope radiated despite the dark circles under their eyes and skeletal features. Jay reached into her pack and pulled out a water bottle. The two finished it in seconds.

The spider must have held them for days.

Jay gave the bottle to Rehan to refill with his magic. “Right. We jumped down here to escape Orcs and human bureaucracy. And probably supernatural justice. We can’t get back up.” She looked at Caoimhe. “Nymph?”

I cocked my head to the side. Her name was Caoimhe, I thought.

Caoimhe’s eyes glowed, and she pressed into Tenzin. “You can’t keep us apart.”

Jay held out her hands, streaked with blood and burnt spider webs. “That’s not my goal. Though you not being human is probably very important, right now I honestly don’t care about that either. How did you come to be here, physically right now?”

Caoimhe looked distrustfully at the four of us before focusing on Jay again. “You’re not human either.”

“Technically, I am.” Jay slashed her hand through the air. “More technically than usual at the moment. But for the sake of this conversation. I’m not. Same boat as you.”

A footstep boomed in the distance, followed by a slow second. Without dragon ears, the sound wouldn’t have registered to Jay yet. We didn’t have time for this.

“We need to get out of here,” I said, stepping forward and addressing Tenzin. “Like yesterday. How did you get here?” I reiterated Jay’s question.

Jay scowled at me, and my heart dropped, not knowing what I did wrong. She stepped back and gave me a mocking little bow. My heart squeezed, but Tenzin’s tan face going deathly pale, combined with what I now knew were footsteps getting closer and closer, forced me to continue.

“How?” I demanded again.

Caoimhe let out a whimper and pressed her hands to her stomach.

“You can’t make it worse,” I soothed like she was one of my little orphans.

Coaimhe’s sunken eyes swam before the fight left her body. “I made a deal… I destroyed everything.” A sob ripped out of her chest.

Tenzin wrapped her in his arms before meeting my gaze. “A mage. Caoimhe called him Marduk, but he tricked us. We can’t give him what he wants.”

Jay sucked in a breath, and her fire lighting the cave went out. “Balls.”