48. Ogden

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

OGDEN

I should have known the moment Jay didn't message me back something was wrong. But no. I'd woken up horny and sent her a dick pic of my stupid knotted sausage like an asshole, and then spent the day assuming I'd fucked up and she didn't want to talk to me.

Our bond had gone from a living flower to a chunk of rock, and I assumed she blocked me out.

I was the idiot Tyson called me.

After being woken up by my handler in the middle of the night, I shifted into my full dragon and flew. Two of air's guards, in their dragon forms, ‘guided me' over their main city. Although the buildings of white walls and blue roofs sparkled during the day, by night the symmetrical grid looked lifeless and cold. What I knew to be a fairy tale castle of white sat in the center of the city, a few stars reflected off its surface. As far as I could see, the only lights on for miles were in a tower at the very top of the castle.

My mate bond pulled me towards that tower, not neutral territory at the castle's base. I took a single last look at the massive side wing, which housed the EMs, before focusing on my connection to Jay. My heart raced. I forced myself to breathe, almost inhaling a nearby bat with my deep dragon breath. My handler had passed on Prince Lux's message. The missing prince now had my mate, who was injured. And instead of trusting another air dragon, he called me.

I didn't have more information than that. Curiosity and worry warred inside me. My landing on a platform next to a side entrance I'd never seen before was embarrassingly shaky. I set my hastily gathered bag of supplies down before shifting and pulling on a set of loose black pants.

"Welcome, Warlock Ogden. You honor us with your visit." A mature woman said formally. Two little horns stuck out of her head, each framed by a tight bun of dark gray hair. "The king said not to detain you and, for now, to bend to Prince Lux's will. Please follow me."

I noted the ‘for now.' Despite the late hour, her silver and white pants suit was crisp. Her words felt like a threat, but one I didn't understand.

Too many stairs and hallways to count disappeared under our quick steps. We climbed a final thin spiral staircase and came to a landing only big enough to fit two. A thick metal door scraped against the stone floor as it opened, and a pale face peeked out at us before throwing the door wide. My eyebrows knit together. I hadn't seen Prince Lux in years. Even as a teen, he'd had the most beautiful eyes, like a storm at sea. He still did, only now they looked out of the chiseled face of an adult with high cheekbones and sculpted muscles. His bare, smooth chest rose and fell with tension bowing his posture.

"Thank you, Sky." Prince Lux nodded. "I didn't expect you to bring him yourself."

My brain twitched. I'd heard that voice recently. Leaning forward, I studied the prince's features, only to have a metal hand grip my bicep and pull me through his door like we were good friends.

I only needed to walk a few more feet, and I'd be at Jay's side. Every instinct pulled me toward my mate, but I wasn't willing to turn my back on the two air dragons staring each other down.

"You're sure you don't need anything else?" Sky asked, giving me a skeptical look.

"I'm sure." Prince Lux stated.

I pulled out of the prince's grip and stepped backward.

Prince Lux frowned. "I'm not to be disturbed."

Sky inclined her head. "Two days." She looked at me. "You have tonight. Tomorrow, you will leave our territory. Lux's mate is not your concern beyond her initial healing."

I cocked my head to the side. Lux's mate was most definitely my concern.

Horns sprouted out of Lux's head, popping open the band pulling his thick silver-white hair away from his face. His gray eyes crackled with lightning. "Ogden will stay until my mate is fully healed." Power rolled off him, and he snarled and slammed the door shut. The metal clanged oddly against the medieval stonework. He turned to me. Every muscle on his lean, corded frame thrummed like he was moments away from lashing out. Like me, he was shirtless. I let my gaze wander down his frame. His tight six-pack disappeared into a pair of loose green shorts.

One of my colors.

If there was a dragon on this island who could make anyone question their sexuality, Lux was it. I'd never seen a more beautiful man.

"Something's wrong with her." Lux grabbed my bicep again, pulling me past a round wall in the center of the room and toward a large bed. Jay lay still in the bed's center. A thin white bathrobe covered her while outlining her every curve.

Lux pushed me onto his mattress. Despite my worry for Jay, heat blossomed in my stomach. I'd never been manhandled before, and I loved it.

The air dragon released me and rushed to the other side of the bed. "You said you were a healer. Help her."

I blinked. Jay hadn't asked for me. The prince of air called me instead of one of his fellow air dragons. When had I told him I was a healer?

"I don't know how long Doctor Raba had her before I found him." Prince Lux cupped Jay's cheek. "She can't move, though it's getting better. She can open and close her eyes now and wiggle her fingers." He swallowed, the tension draining out of his muscles as his horns receded into his head. "When I kiss her, I get shocked, painfully. All the way down to my balls."

He brushed his lips across her forehead and jerked back with a yelp before turning to me, blinking his thick dark eyelashes as if I had all the answers.

A light bulb went on in my head. "Earm, Sister Abby?"

Lux clenched his metal fist. "Not anymore. It was a misguided pipe dream anyway." He looked at me again. "Help her."

Although I had so many questions, I bit my lips and focused on Jay. My mate's gaze lit up when she saw me, and I couldn't help but lean down and lightly brush my lips against hers.

Lux growled, but he didn't push me away.

A familiar but more powerful zing of magic ran from my lips to my balls. I sat back and rocked to ease the pain, grateful all I'd done was brush our lips. More and I'd be unconscious.

"She's my mate. Why did you kiss her? Why did I let you?" Lux asked, his brows furrowed. "And why did it hurt?"

An awkward laugh barked out of my chest. "She's all our mate. The shock is our marks defending her from each other. As for why you let me, you'll have to do some soul-searching on that one."

Lux groaned. "Right. Rehan even said she was his mate." He rubbed his cheeks. "I didn't look for marks. It didn't occur to me to look."

I gestured to the little scars, one shaped like a flame, the other a wave on either side of her neck. I didn't mention mine, it would be more fun if he found it on his own.

"Four mate marks." Lux pushed his hair out of his eyes. "And that's why when I marked her, the pain literally knocked me out."

"It's unexplored territory, but your logic is sound," I said evenly.

Lux rocked back, and a small smile touched his lips. He didn't seem upset. If anything, he seemed pleased. After Tyson's violent unhappiness and Rehan's silent acceptance, it was more than I could hope for.

I put one hand over Jay's stomach and traced a set of runes tattooed between my ribcage and my heart. My magic worked through her body. She had a foreign substance slowly oozing through her system, windburn, and a few bruises but no lasting injuries. The tension released out of my shoulders. Doctor Raba injected her with a paralytic made of magic and human chemicals. It wasn't permanent, just very potent.

"She'll be okay." I looked up to find Lux studying me.

"I don't hate you." He cocked his head to the side.

I smiled at him. "I would think that is a good thing as we're mated to the same woman."

What little color was in his face drained, and he gathered his long hair. "I was rutting. I don't regret it, but how can she have four mate marks?"

I bit my bottom lip. My rut had lasted three days, given ruts were rare and individual, but I'd seen Lux a little over twenty-four hours ago.

"How long ago was your rut?" I asked.

"Hours." Lux tapped his temple. "When I came to, I was back in control, but I can still feel it building inside me." He looked at Jay. "What's going on?"

I raised an eyebrow. It really was a fair question. "Jay thinks someone has cursed her and trapped her on this island, and the only way to break the curse is to mate and consummate all four of us at the same time. Or that's the theory, anyway. Whoever cursed her would know how impossible a task that would be."

Lux frowned. "So, what I'm feeling isn't real?"

"Jay thinks it isn't real." I looked down at Jay, who blinked very deliberately once. I shook my head. "I disagree and believe my feelings are genuine."

Lux's gaze snapped to me. "Are they?"

I scrubbed my eyes, suddenly feeling much older than I was. Lux looked to be a good four or five years younger than me, but it wasn't the gap making me feel decrepit. It was the vulnerability in the air dragon's gaze.

"I think it's much more complicated." I flattened my lips into a line. "And I want to know exactly how my mate came to be here with your mark on her before I say more."

Lux threw his shoulder back, clenching his flesh and metal fists before relaxing them. He found Jay's limp hand with his and gripped it as if desperate for strength. "I need to start from the beginning." Lux pulled a glass of water off a side table with a straw and made sure Jay drank while he gathered his thoughts. "You know about my fall out with Leberecht, the Air King, um, my dad?"

"I know what the rumors said." I picked up Jay's other hand, and she squeezed me too. "That King Leberecht kept you hidden away, but you rebelled and showed the world your deformities and ran."

Prince Lux swallowed hard, and his grip around Jay's hand shook.

I leaned over Jay to put my hand over the air prince's. He put his prosthetic over mine. Tension filled the air between us. Challenge blazed in his gaze. Would I pull away? Comment? I remember how close he and Jay had been during our game night.

I didn't pull away.

The prince met my gaze. "They're not deformities."

I released Jay to hold his metal hand between both of mine. "I know."

Every muscle in his body relaxed, and he pulled out of my grip.

"It wasn't just my dad who kept me out of the public eye. It was everyone here." His gaze filled with crackles of electricity. He took off his prosthetic and pushed his smooth stump toward me. "Because of this. Because we've isolated ourselves, our magic and our genetics suffer for it. There's nothing natural about the defects cursing our race. Instead of fixing ourselves, we've brought humans to throw a bandage on the problem."

I nodded, gripping Jay's hand and bringing her arm into my lap to let her know she had my support no matter how Lux's rant turned out.

"The air dragons believe they are better than everyone. Despite the deformities, we keep trying, we only use humans as a last resort. We keep failing. After my mom…" Lux trailed off. "Leberecht tried. He took so many human lovers, but none of them gave him the whole kid he craved. I'm it."

I glanced down at Jay, who stared at Lux, soaking in his every word.

"Leberecht hates me because he can't toss me aside." He gestured to himself. "His mate died giving birth to a broken dragon. Leberecht both hates me and can't bear to be away from me because I'm all he has left."

My insides twisted. I didn't know how to respond. Having been brought up by a community who didn't rely on single parents I struggled to relate. But I knew pain when I saw it.

"You're not broken," I stated.

An inner strength hardened Lux's gaze. "I'm not."

I licked my lips. "Two dragon parents. You have more power, right?"

Lux paused to eye me, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Yea, it seems to be the case."

I grinned. "You sound gifted to me, and no one needs two feet these days."

Lux rocked his head from side to side.

We lapsed into a soft silence.

Jay's fingers wiggled in mine. I rubbed her palm before running my hand down her arm to rest it on her stomach. How was she responding to all this information? What had her family been like? Her childhood? Did she even remember it if she was a thousand years old?

Lux rested his good hand on her hip. "I love the feel of her. I spent so much time alone." He smiled. "I enjoyed working with the kids, but everyone at the temple was either young or grown-ass older dragon women. It was just isolation in a different way."

A soft smile pulled at his lips, despite the single tear running down his cheek. Until this moment, I'd been doing my best to remain as aloof as possible. I still hadn't heard Jay's side of this story… but she was so calm and Lux wasn't a stranger. Not anymore.

"God, I understand loneliness too well." I slid further onto the bed and pulled the air prince into my chest over Jay. Instead of pulling back, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight.

"I barely know you; you've not said two words while I've spewed my feelings like one of my students," Lux said into my bare chest. "But you've let me talk. You didn't pull back from my hand, and you've not once judged me."

I rubbed his back. "I have judged you. I called you powerful."

He snorted, and I felt a hot tear fall onto my chest.

"I would give anything to be as friendly with Jay as you were last night," I added. "Earth dragons aren't very demonstrative. My power earned me respect instead of love from a young age. I never got the chance to connect."

"Jay thought I was another woman." Lux pulled out of my arms and rubbed his cheeks, erasing his tears, before looking at them as if surprised they weren't dirty. "I don't know either. If we're both mates with Jay, are we mates as well, then?"

It was my turn to snort. "Yeah, I'll let you run that past Tyson and Rehan."

Lux blanched. "Right, so no."

I frowned.

Jay poked my leg, and apparently Lux's too, as we separated and looked down at her at the same time. Heat rose to my cheeks. I hadn't forgotten she was there, but well, I'd just shared a moment with the air prince literally on top of her prone body.

"She has four mates," Lux stated, giving her more water.

"She does." I picked up her hand and messaged her fingers. "Say it as many times as you like. It won't change."

Lux peered at me. "And that doesn't bother you?"

"Not at all." I smiled. "I never liked my isolation. Last night was special to me, too, and sharing made it happen."

I pursed my lips, studying the side of Lux's features. He was drop-dead gorgeous. I didn't know how else to say it. Even if I hadn't met him as a woman first, he reminded me of an Otokonok, beautiful men with feminine features. Not that I would mistake him as a woman without his disguise, but he looked like a work of art.

I sighed, regretting my words before I said them, but life was short. If I didn't take risks, I'd spend the rest of my days in my cave pining. "I also enjoy the company of men, I think."

I trained my gaze on Jay's feet. Her toes wiggled like they were trying to take flight. One of her knees slightly bent, and an excited hiss of air escaped her lips. I didn't dare look at Lux.

The air prince stood, and disappointment flooded my stomach as he walked away from the bed without a word.

I hardened my heart.

I still had Jay.

Out of the corner of my eye the air prince climbed a tight spiral staircase. I focused on my mate, pushing down my embarrassment. The drugs pinched her nerves. That's why she coudln't feel. As they unpinched, I imagined she'd be flooded by an uncomfortable prickling. I put her fingers between my hands and rubbed them between my palms.

She sighed, her hand relaxing in mine. I rubbed faster.

Lux's footsteps came back into the room, but I still couldn't look at him. I'd just met the guy. What was I doing opening up like that?

"How long has she been like this?" I asked.

"I don't know," Lux said, his voice right next to me.

A cold bottle bumped my shoulder, and I finally looked away from Jay.

Lux had two bottles of light beer in one hand and two shot glasses filled with a vivid blue liquid in the other. "At least eight hours, probably more. Too long."

He pushed the shot glasses toward me. Our gazes met, and he smiled reassuringly. My embarrassment eased, though disappointment weighed on my heart. I finally took the shot glass and the beer.

Lux smiled. "The shot's called a Kamikaze. I felt like maybe we both needed something strong."

I grunted and knocked back the liquor. Lime and vodka burned the back of my throat, and I chased it down with a big swig of beer.