51. Tyson

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

TYSON

I never remembered being this uncomfortable in my life. As a wingless, angry teen, I'd been, well, wingless and angry. But my anger had direction. I knew what I needed to do, and even if I couldn't be what my sire wanted, at least I could be angry about my failure.

But there was no single reason anymore.

My mate mark begged me to go to Wiggles. My loyalty demanded I stay at my sire's back.

Rehan and Lux walked into the room like old friends, and my heart squeezed painfully.

The air prince was new to our group. He hadn't shared any moments with us. How dare Rehan accept him over me!

My heart twisted, and a bead of sweat rolled down my back.

The dry, formal words of the EM rang with a slight echo in the air dragon's sterile white room. Representatives of each element, including my sire and older brother, sat around a thick glass table held up by a steel-welded dragon at its center. Matching metal dragons with light bulbs in their claws hung from the ceiling, filling the space with brilliant light.

Every dragon shifter, including those of us arrayed behind our representatives, had our horns on display. Everything from the complicated crown on Rehan's grandsire to the small, softly glowing green nubs on the only young female dragon made my chest puff with pride.

I reached up and ran my fingers down my pronged horns. They didn't have nerve endings, but the rough, texture made me feel alive. It reminded me of who I was, a dragon, a prince, and how hard I worked to be who I am today, unlike every other fecker here.

Straightening, I dropped my hand and calmed my unease.

Rehan could be friends with whomever he wanted. It didn't matter to me.

I pointedly turned my attention away from the Pond Algae to Lux's sire. Leberecht, the Air King, reminded me of my sire. Both sat with their shoulders back and their heads high. Where Ryker's display of branching horns rippled with fire, Leberecht looked like crystals woven above his silver hair. A matching beard hid the strength of his chin, and his broad chest made the buttons on his yellow and cream checkered shirt strain.

Usually, I loved the displays of our dragon nature. Everything ‘dragon' made my blood rush. Instead, my gaze landed on Prince Lux. Unlike Rehan, Ogden, and myself, Jay's fourth had a seat at the table next to his sire.

He didn't radiate his sire's strength. His horns grew with only a single branch on either side. I, at least, had two. He held his shoulders back, but his gaze darted around. He drummed the fingers of his metal hand against his leg under the table before looking down and frowning at them as if remembering the table's surface was see-through, and the world saw him fidget.

His skin was too pale for our tropical island. Was Wiggles trapped in a sterile room like this one with no sun? Anger boiled my blood as the air prince gave me a focus, something I could rage against.

"Now, I believe we should begin with the simpler of our two issues." My sire said, opening Jay's file. "This barren human who has inserted herself into our island."

I clenched my fist. Ogden and Rehan made brief eye contact with me, their gazes questioning. Questioning! Like I wanted to hurt her.

"The water dragons believe your report is misleading," Rehan's grandsire said. "I would like to?—"

Before the old fart continued, the doors to the room crashed open. One of the air guards skidded across the ground and thumped against the wall, dazed.

I shot to my feet, a fireball instantly hot in my hand.

"Sorry to party crash," Jay said, sauntering into the room. "But you forgot to invite the star of the show."

My jaw dropped as her rich voice washed over me. Dressed in what looked like an ill-fitting school uniform, my colors and Rehan's colors covered her breasts just under the thin white material of her button-down. Her long strides brought her to the table. She vaulted onto it. Her long black hair in a high ponytail whipped behind her like a tail.

Guards ran into the room with swords and magic ready. But Jay already stood in the middle of all of us. Lording above us, like she had at the Social and on Og's table. I fecking loved it.

"Call off your guards." Jay splayed her fingers palms up and created a little elemental tornado spinning with fire, water, air, and earth. "I'm not here to hurt any of you." She laughed. "I don't even want to be here."

She frowned slightly, making eye contact with me first before the others.

"Maybe I do want to be here." She tossed the tornado so it whirred above her head, dangerously close to enveloping a hanging dragon lamp. "Fuck. It doesn't matter what I want. There's something wrong with the Ley Lines. Something much bigger than me. You wouldn't be having this meeting if you didn't already know it."

"How dare you!" My sire pushed to his feet, smoke curling out of his mouth. "Who do you think you are?"

Jay grinned. She picked up one foot and then the other so that she hovered above the table in a cross-legged position. The tornado above her head burst into a shower of colorful sparks, which gathered under her to create a slowly rotating globe. It took me a second to realize I looked at a replica of Earth. Denser patches pulsated with magic while smaller lines glowed softly.

"Is this a map of the Ley Lines?" Olivia Rose asked, her voice full of awe.

Jay blew on her fingernails and rubbed them against her shirt. "Just pulled it out of my ass."