25. Kellan

Chapter twenty-five

Kellan

I’m not sure how I managed to fall asleep last night while Raegan laid in my arms, but somehow, I’m peeling my eyes open at the intoxicating smell of vanilla while sunlight peeks through the slit in the curtains.

Raegan is sprawled over and around me like a baby sloth. There’s absolutely nothing ladylike about the way her limbs are tangled up in mine, and her body is pressing into me as if she could sink into my skin to steal my warmth.

The covers are gone. I can see the pile at the foot of the bed like she couldn’t handle the heat of both me and the blankets, and she chose me.

I tilt my nose into her hair and breathe deeply. She has no idea how much she drives me wild. Everything about her draws me in.

She mutters something incoherent in her sleep and burrows her face into my chest, and my arm tightens reflexively around her back to encourage that closeness. My cock stirs when she moves, but I ignore it. I’m not ruining this moment just yet. She already thinks that our relationship is made up only of sex and adventures.

Which, fuck, if that’s the worst of it, then we’re doing pretty fucking well.

But I want more.

I want to sleep in with her like this and see what she looks like when she wakes up. I want to steal those quiet moments she doesn’t share with anyone else and covet them like a dragon hoarding his treasure. I want her wild and crazy times, and I want her soft and vulnerable times.

All of it.

All of her .

Mine to love. Mine to cherish.

Her breathing changes and her eyelids flutter as she wakes up. I wrap my other arm around her and hold her close one more time before she wakes, then bring my hand up to stroke over her lower lip.

“Morning, beautiful.” My voice is husky and thick still from sleep. I’m only grateful that I could wake up before her so I could have that moment first.

Raegan’s eyes snap open at my voice, and then her memory of last night must kick in because they lower again, and she hums. “Morning, Dragon.”

I chuckle and run my fingers through her washed but sleep-dried hair that’s now formed a few small nests. “Shall we get up? Dragon’s gotta eat.”

She smiles into my chest and then stretches her arm over to the other side. “Fuck, you’re comfortable,” she groans. “And Aiden’s out there. I don’t wanna.”

I grin at the easy compliment that’s worth far more to me than she’ll ever know, then tug lightly at one of her nasty tangles. “You’re not hiding from him. Let’s get it over with so you’re not trying to hide from us again. I will break down your door the next time you try it.”

“What if you stayed with me?” She pouts so prettily that I almost fucking cave. She’s way too good at that. Or I’m just a sucker for her.

“As much as I would seriously love that, we’re all in this together. I won’t shut my brothers out.”

“Ugh, you suck.” She rolls away from me, and I bite my tongue to keep myself from snatching her back. I can’t risk her running again because of this shit with Aiden. They need to get it out and find some common ground so we can work together.

Raegan tugs her clothes back on at the edge of the bed, and I sit up and straddle her from behind. My arms wrap around her waist and pull her back against me. “Kellan, what—” Her breath catches as my tongue paints a line up the side of her neck and circles at the sensitive spot behind her ear. Her entire body shivers, and I tighten my arms around her and chuckle.

“You should sleep in my room again tonight,” I breathe into her skin while pressing fervent kisses along the crux of her neck and shoulder.

Her head tilts to grant me more access as she sighs. “If I did that, you’d think that this might become a regular thing. Or you’d ask me to stay every night.”

“Well, I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t my end goal,” I drawl and then bite down on her shoulder.

She hisses, but I lick and suck the pain away so there’ll be a mark left when I’m done. “You’re incorrigible,” Raegan huffs, and I smile at that. Damn right I am. The sooner she learns it, the better, too. She turns in my arms and kisses me. It’s warm and languid. Hot and sweet. And everything I could ever ask for in a kiss.

She cups the side of my face, stroking my beard in such a way that brings my dick right-the-fuck to attention. She pulls away, and a growl rumbles in my chest.

“Like you said. We need to get up and eat.”

When the fuck did I say that?

She laughs at whatever face I’m making and stands up to finish getting dressed, then slips out of my room to leave me to it.

I should’ve kept my damn mouth shut this morning.

Everyone else is already at the dining table when I get there, excluding Jackson, of course. Haven’t seen him in weeks , which wouldn’t be odd except for the fact that Raegan is here with us, and he isn’t.

Not to mention the blatant and unrepentant murders.

You know. Just two really big deals for it being Jackson.

I pull out my chair, letting it loudly scrape across the floor before I plop right down. Dane has made a large plate of pancakes and bacon, and there’s a bowl of mixed fruit as well. Considering it’s past lunchtime, and he’s still made us all breakfast, I’m wondering how many of us had a late night and just recently woke up.

I pile a load of each onto my plate and then pour myself a large glass of orange juice.

My fork stabs into the fruit first, shoving it into my mouth before I look around the table. Dane’s plate is already empty, and he’s just watching me with unguarded disgust at my eating habits. Aiden is scrolling through his phone as usual, while Raegan’s trying to look anywhere but at him. If I didn’t know what happened yesterday, I wouldn’t think much of it since they normally aren’t very chatty with each other in the morning. But now I feel a bit like Jack as I pick apart the details I would normally overlook.

Aiden’s wearing a black suit that’s wrinkled and rumpled. His tie is missing, and the first few buttons in his dress shirt are undone. It looks like he slept in it and then came straight here when he woke up.

If I paid any attention to clothes at all, aside from Raegan’s, I might know if he wore that suit yesterday or not. There’s also a light smell of bourbon wafting from him. Again, is it from last night or this morning?

At minimum, he’s definitely still going through some shit from Raegan last night. Even if he’s acting like nothing’s happened.

“Out late last night or early this morning?” I shoot Aiden’s way with a smirk. Some might ignore it or give him his privacy, but that’s not me. I just call it as I see it.

Aiden sets his coffee mug down and frowns at me. “Since we’re all here now, we need to come up with a game plan for our next steps. Where are we with Gifted Enterprise? ”

I chuckle at the topic shift and lounge back in my seat, one arm hooked over the back of the chair and one leg sprawled out.

“I haven’t made any progress on finding the island. Or, islands,” Dane begins. “I think Vera’s blocking me, so it’s almost wasted time at this point to keep trying.” His eyes snap up to Aiden. “I think we should prioritize getting Vera back. Not just because she’s my sister, but we’re stuck in this holding pattern because of her too. Getting her on our side means we don’t have to worry about technology or the Guild anymore, and I can get the exact locations of the islands.”

“You would say that.” I scoff, and he slashes a glare my way. I shrug back. “What? I’m just saying that getting her here and on our side is going to be just as time-consuming. You really think she’ll just hand herself over to us and cooperate?”

“I’m with Kellan,” Raegan chimes in. “There has to be a faster way to take down GE.”

“Reid and Tinsley weren’t much help in the information they had,” Aiden admits. “They were brought to other locations by someone with the ability to create a portal between two places, so they never knew where exactly they were. And they weren’t high enough up the chain to know more than a couple names of lead agents.”Aiden finishes the rest of his coffee before he continues. “Hopefully, those names can give us somewhere to start. Otherwise, we’re back to square one. Jackson usually sniffed them out for us, so we need a backup plan.”

“I can do it. I’m a magnet for trouble, so I’m sure I’ll run into something we can use,” Raegan volunteers.

My hand smacks down on the table. “I’ll come with you. ”

Her eyes cut over to me, and her mouth opens. To argue, I’m sure, but Aiden talks as if he didn’t notice.

“Good. Next, we need to figure out what to do with Jackson. We need to bring him in, detain him, and figure out what he’s doing and why.”

“We haven’t seen Thorne since Jackson took off,” Dane muses accusingly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Raegan’s head whips around to him.

He gives a slight shrug. “Nothing. Maybe something. I don’t know. I just think it’s odd that he tried to draw us out over a month ago, he ran, and then he never tried coming back at us?”

I frown at that revelation.

“In any case, getting Jackson will be our priority. Has anyone seen him?” Aiden looks around the table.

“Nope,” I offer once he’s looking my way. Dane’s shaking his head, as is Raegan.

Wind out of nowhere sweeps through the room, knocking décor off the walls and sending any loose papers flying. It comes in a steady torrent, increasing in speed as if a tornado’s about to pick up within the walls of the firehouse.

“Get under the table!” I shout at the others, jumping over to Raegan first to help her duck under the table. The chairs are whipped away from us before I can grab them, so I hold either side of the table from underneath and keep it in place instead.

Our dishes fly off the table and crash against the wall. Anything lighter than the chairs and not mounted to the floor or wall has been picked up and is now spinning around the room.

Aiden curses. “It’s Thorne. I don’t have enough metal on me.” He raises the small shield he’s made from whatever metal he’d had on him, but it’s barely the length of his forearm.

“Where’s the rest of it?” I shout over the wind.

His jaw clenches. “In the locker room.”

Great. So, the complete opposite side of this building.

I look out at the room just in time to see shards of broken glass and ceramic flying our way. I drop the table on its side to take the hit with a curse, then turn to see more coming from the other direction.

“Get behind me!” I yell at the others, then widen my arms and chest to take up as much space as possible. I reach out to grab or knock into the shards further out from me, then position myself to take the largest group of them.

They hit me all at once, slamming into my chest, my stomach, and my arms and legs. The pain is nothing if I can take it for the others. I’ll take every one of them to keep them safe. I roar with defiance as the last of them hits me. I drop to my knees and growl when a shard there snaps and burrows deeper.

“Kell!”

I turn my head back to try offering her a smile, that I’m alright, but my vision swims from the pain, and I lose control of my balance. “Shit.”

I crash down on the floor, miraculously on my back, and I can feel hands yanking the projectiles out of me. As soon as the first one leaves, my gift kicks in there. Then the next. And the next. The furious flow of regeneration and scales starts taking over enough that I blink my eyes and see Dane and Raegan hurrying to remove every last piece. Aiden stands guard behind them with his small shield.

It’s what I see standing beyond them that shocks me.

“What is this, Thorne?” Jackson’s voice is cold, dead. He’s asking a question, but it doesn’t sound at all like he actually cares about the answer. He’s standing on the kitchen island looking out over the room decimated by Thorne’s personal tornado. His hands are tucked in his hoodie pocket, and there’s an odd look as he takes it all in.

Thorne’s voice answers from the living area, but I can’t turn my head yet to look at him. I’m not even sure I would if I could. Because there is no way I’m looking away from Jackson right now. “Just keeping things interesting until you arrive.”

I’m about halfway healed now, but both Dane and Raegan freeze when Jack appears.

“Jack?” Raegan queries slowly.

His head slowly turns until his eyes fall on her. “Little one.” Jackson hops from the counter to the floor, and then he holds his hand out for her. “Come with me.”

She looks at his hand, and then Dane stands up in front of her. “Like fuck!”

“Jackson, what’s going on here?” Aiden asks calmly, as if he’s treating Jack like a rabid dog. He steps forward, trying to draw his attention when it doesn’t stray from Raegan.

“You know me,” Jack says, still talking directly to Raegan as if none of us are in the room.

She moves to stand, and I snatch her wrist. “No, beautiful. If he has something to say to you, he can fucking say it right here. There’s no reason for you to go anywhere with him.” What hold does he have over her that she would willingly go to him after something like this?

All I know is that I can’t let her leave with him. Them . Because while we can’t be sure of whatever dynamics are happening between him and Thorne right now, there’s something there. Thorne hasn’t moved or attacked since Jackson arrived.

Raegan smiles softly at me, and my grip on her wrist tightens. No .

Her hand touches mine. “He won’t hurt me, Kell. I’ll be fine. Let me go.”

“Never,” I growl. “I told you that before, and I fucking meant it.”

Dane spins around and takes her elbow. “He’s clearly working with Thorne now. You can’t go with him. What if he takes you back to GE? I can’t—”

“Enough of this,” Thorne snaps and swings his hand. Everyone’s thrown apart from each other, and I grunt when the table flies at me, and I have my scaled forearm block it from crushing me.

I shove it off, only to see that Jackson now has his arm around Raegan, and they’re both standing on the kitchen counter. Thorne blasts wind above them to create a hole through the roof outside, and he leaves first.

“Jackson, don’t make me do this,” Aiden calls out to him before he can leave, too. His shield is now a spear that he has aimed at him. “Tell us what’s going on, and we can help. But you’re not taking her.”

Jack just smiles at him. Something clicks, and then I see the lighter in his other hand right before he tosses it on a pile of scattered papers on the floor. The fire catches and grows instantly, too fast, like he’s stoking it with his gift.

And then he and Raegan are gone.