19. Rehan

CHAPTER NINETEEN

REHAN

I t had grown late. The fire in my conversation pit was down to coals, pumping little waves of unnecessary heat into the air. Only a few lights remained on, and the glow reflected off my mate's skin as she responded to my most recent message.

Jay: Yeah, I bet you made a good musician. You know all your scales.

Jay looked up from her computer and winked at me.

I groaned.

Rehan: I'm not laughing at that.

With a grin, I opened the folder with my recordings and clicked on the first one. Soft Spanish guitar floated out of my speakers. I'd rather be playing it for her live, but I wasn't willing to break the physical or emotional bubble we'd grown over the last few hours.

Rehan: I thought it would make me cool as a teen, but it stuck. I recorded these on my phone. Living on a quiet island gives you lots of downtime.

Jay: To do human things?

Rehan: What else would I do?

Jay narrowed her eyes but shrugged. She leaned back and swayed to my music. I loved it. A stupid grin filled her face, and she mouthed the word ‘scales' a second time, before giggling at her own pun.

My heart wanted to burst in my chest. Every message we sent got better and better. She was as sharp as a sea urchin, vicious as a shark, and radiant. If sea sirens were real, her song would put all of them to shame.

I undid and redid my ponytail, scanning the messages leading up to her terrible pun. She was good with words, too, dropping enough information. I knew she at least had experience with the supernatural, but not enough to let me know if she was part of the community. I wasn't ready to ask.

Rehan: So, you play music too?

Jay: I dabble.

She frowned and bit her lower lip.

I leaned forward, urging her to open up to me. Once again, instead of telling me anything about herself, she asked another question.

Jay: I just saw you heat your hot cocoa with a spell. Are you a warlock?

I picked up my drink, and she picked up hers. We hadn't opened the bubbly; warm comfort was what she needed, and I had been happy to oblige. We both sipped our drinks while I pondered my answer.

Jay knew enough about magic to recognize basic spells. That was something, at least. We clinked our mugs together before drinking. Warm chocolate coated my mouth. I needed to do little things like this for myself more often. Maybe with Jay in my life, I would.

After setting down my very warm mug, which I had reheated with my limited magic, I typed.

Rehan: Few dragons are good with magic since we isolated our island. I mean, we still have our elemental alignments, but actually using raw magic is a different story.

I took a deep breath.

Rehan: Those born with strong magic often have physical disabilities.

Jay frowned.

Jay: ‘Why?'

I shifted uncomfortably.

Rehan: This should have been covered in your class.

Jay tilted her head back and groaned.

Jay: That's literally how Tyson answered ninety percent of my questions. Just help a girl out.

I growled, not wanting to be like the fire prince, and thought about how to answer. The problems weren't so simple. They were paired with a massive decline in female dragon shifter fertility. I believe our isolation from the rest of the world caused the problems. Others did not. It was a charged issue.

Scalehive kept the best records and now regulated how we procreated to save our race, bringing fertile human women here who wanted a quiet domestic life. However, they ostracized anyone who didn't fall into line. I swallowed hard, thinking of the air dragons. Their current king broke the rules, and his dragon shifter mate died in childbirth. Although he tried to hide his disabled son, the truth eventually came out, and Prince Lux paid the price. No one had any idea where he was anymore. It was the most public display we'd had of anyone breaking our rules in the last twenty years.

Jay furrowed her eyebrows and bore a hole in my forehead with her gaze, trying to read my thoughts. I flexed my back and stared down at my computer screen. I didn't want to scare her or get into a discussion about morally gray issues over chat. After meeting her gaze, I made a decision: keep it simple but stay true to my side of the agreement.

Rehan: We've cut ourselves off from the world to save our race, but we've lost our balance with the Ley Lines and nature. Those consequences are seen in our children.

Not all dragons believed that was the ‘why' of our decline, but I'd be damned if I introduced Jay to the other side of the argument. I didn't look up from my keyboard and changed the subject.

Rehan: Tukaqu - what we water dragons call Grandad - is a warlock and a dragon shifter. I learned a few things from him, but I'm not a natural with magic. It's mostly, well, what you just saw.

The biting of her lower lip turned into chewing, and she sat up straighter. Her unease made me shift uncomfortably, needing to fix it. Was she still focusing on dragon fertility? Or was it my admission to using magic? Although I had a gut feeling she was fine with magic, she was still human. What if it made her uncomfortable?

I ran a hand through my hair, pulling out my ponytail, only to remake it again. Jay studied the line of my arm muscles, and I flexed, making her smile. The tension building around us eased, though she still held me in suspense.

I broke first and focused on my keyboard.

Rehan: I honestly only got into magic to mess with my cousins.

Rehan: Did you mess with your siblings?

She shook her head, but a small smile cracked her lips.

Jay: I can picture teenage Rehan heating his fellow surfers' beers after a few rad waves.

I grunted, praying the sound hid my relief we'd moved onto a new topic.

Her gaze unfocused, something that happened more often than I'd like. She took a deep breath and typed before dramatically pressing enter.

Jay: I'm just putting this on the table. What if I'm an immortal enchantress who's been abducted and put on this island to keep me away from something?

I looked up from the question and studied my mate. Her bright green eyes glowed with defiance, daring me to doubt her. But the corners of her mouth pinched with worry. I couldn't see her hands; she'd tucked them into the pockets of my hoodie, but I'd bet money they shook.

She was either insane or exactly who she said she was. Every piece of her odd appearance on my island pointed to the latter.

I jerked when she suddenly yanked her hands out of her pockets and typed. My chat box flashed, and I dragged my gaze down to her message.

Jay: I don't know if it will do anything, but it eased the curse on me when we kissed. Assuming it's a curse. I don't even know. Maybe if we kiss again, you can see if you feel anything?

Jay: Please, I'm not crazy, but I don't know how else to prove it.

I pushed my doubts away with my laptop and grinned. "I can't say no to kissing my mate."

My words sounded so loud after our quiet key clacking. She dumped her laptop behind her and crawled to my side. Although she tried to keep our spacing platonic, I didn't. She was my mate, and here. Regardless of what was going on, I wanted to touch her. My dragon demanded I never let her go.

I gripped her hips and guided her to straddle my lap. Licorice, with a hint of brimstone, filled my nose. She flushed but didn't fight me. Although I wanted to run my hands up and down her, I kept my grip on her hips as she leaned down and kissed my cheek.

When no pain shocked my system, she pressed her lips against mine. For a split moment, pure joy filled my soul. My dick sprang to attention like a swordfish chasing its next meal. I kissed her back with the force of a waterfall and inched my hands down her hips toward her perfect ass.

A tingling was my only warning before pain shot from my lips all the way down to my balls. I yelped and pulled back from her, shaking and sweating. The world turned into shades of black and white as unbelievable pain seared my family jewels.

"Squeak!" she yelled.

She ripped herself off me, and I cupped my junk, breathing hard. My chat window pinged, but it still took another minute for the pain to subside enough for me to see color again and read it.

Jay: Tyson's mate mark.

I grunted, unsure how I could have forgotten. I'd even smelled his fire in her scent.

Jay: If I kiss you, nothing happens, but the minute you kiss me.…

Anger built in my chest. I'd marked her first. My magic was more potent than Tyson's without his fire lit. If anything, my mark should have repelled his.

Jay: Sorry, but did you feel anything else before that?

I rubbed my eyes. "All I felt was you and how much I wanted you. I didn't sense any foreign magic in me or you. But I'm not good at this."

She let out a disappointed sigh before returning the laptop to her lap. Her hands hovered over the keyboard, clenching and unclenching before she finally typed again.

I gave my balls a final rub and glanced at my laptop.

Jay: Do you believe me anyway?

My heart broke. She needed me, and regardless of the state of my dick, I would never let this woman down. I turned back to her. "Love, you're my mate. How could I not?"

Her eyes widened before she madly typed.

Jay: I'm a fucking stranger, dude.

Rehan: Then we will spend the next few days fixing that.

A thought occurred to me. "We can send for your stuff from your old life."

Her eye twitched, and I looked at my chat box, waiting.

Jay: Here's the thing. My paperwork isn't me, and the genetic profile isn't mine. Betty and her stuff doesn't exist.

Jay snorted.

Jay: And, unless they were idiots, they wouldn't touch my real identity because it's a surefire way to alert anyone who knows real me something's wrong. Whoever did this has to have a guy on the inside who created Betty and physically got me to the start of The Hunt. Maybe more than one.

Jay: I need to find that person or persons before they realize I'm looking for them.

I growled, wanting to punch something.

Rehan: So, what do we do?

Jay: If you have a way to check on my real old life discreetly, that might give us some clues. If you don't, then I need to exist here and observe.

Jay: My watcher will slip up eventually.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, hating all of this. My mate's eyes twinkled, and a smile pulled at the corner of her mouth.

Some of the tension in my gut eased. "You're enjoying this?"

She flushed and wiggled adorably.

Jay: I shouldn't be. But, well.…

She stopped typing and studied me. A squeak came out of her throat, and she clenched her fists.

Jay: This, being here, caught between you and Tyson in a mystery I can't escape.

My earlier anger flared to life. "You're not caught between us. I don't know what that punk said, but I'm your mate."

She put her hands up in a peaceful gesture, and I took one of them, sliding her long fingers between mine. Feeling her skin calmed my anger. I swear power washed over me like I couldn't imagine, but the feeling left me just as fast as it came.

She typed slowly with one hand, but I didn't let her other go. I never wanted to let her go.

Jay: The Hunt woke something up in me. I've not been myself, just existing, not really living. As sudden as this is, I think I needed this.

I kissed her hand. "You feel alive here with me."

She nodded, and a tremor ran through her body.

Dumping my laptop on the floor, I pulled her into my arms. "We'll figure this out together."

She smiled before cuddling into my chest and pressing into me like a kitten, her body relaxed and trusting. I purred and wrapped her in my arms. We would figure this out together.