Chapter 68

 

She looked at Arius again, who timed a flashy grin just perfect as she did. This time she checked him out just a bit longer before looking back at me. “Marcus warned us about the royal brothers …” A quick look at him again. “It’s true? They can do all sorts of freaky things?”

Remembering what her boyfriend looked like and the fact that his eyes had that whole neon flashy thing going on, I was a little surprised she thought the royal brothers were freaks. Clearing my throat, I swallowed the laugh. “Oh yeah, and more.”

Stepping back, she looked me up and down like I held the answer to some sort of puzzle. “Your her.” Her eyes filled with accusations. “You’re from my side and a traitor.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”

She paced over to the narrow cot and dropped down onto it. “You’re the supposed mystical huntress, finally arriving to save the world.” With her eyes looking at my feet she continued. “You should be on our side.”

I checked with Arius before I commented, he shook his head having no clue what she was talking about. I met her eyes, seeing she believed what she was saying. “Who’s side of what exactly?”

She sent me a look saying she thought I was a dunce. “The royals are going to take over our side.” She snorted. “Some mystical savior you are.”

Now I was just getting annoyed. “First, honey, I am not mystical anything. I am just as normal as you are.”

Her glare called me a liar.

I continued. “I don’t have any special abilities, unless you count survival. I do however know for a fact what Marcus has been feeding you is a big pile of crap though.”

“It can’t be.” She stood up again, suddenly agitated again.

“Let me explain a few facts that I know.” I moved to stand back beside Arius and gave her the room to pace. She may not have held any sort of weapon, but I did know she wasn’t restricted from taking any swipes at me and truthfully, I was feeling a little vulnerable without my raptor. “Marcus is handing out transporter bracelets to all the wrong players.” She paused in her pacing to listen. “Half those that were on your side shouldn’t be free to walk any realm, never mind handed the human population for snacks and entertainment…”

I watched her think through things, like a haze was lifting her expressions changed. When she came over and stopped right in front of me she looked like she was in a lot of pain. “I knew something wasn’t right.” She ran her hands through her tangled hair. “But I didn’t want to see, not really, it was the only way Javis and I could be together all the time.”

When she started to pull her shirt off, Arius straightened beside me. I looked to him and the look of confusion was clear on his face.

She revealed only her left arm and held it out. From the shoulder to wrist was an intricate tattoo, I’m not sure of what exactly but it was quite the piece of work. “We’re mates. We completed the blood rite.” She gave me a desperate look. “I have to know Javis is alright. He’s not a monster, he’s a guard from one of the daywalker villages. I can feel his pain…” She looked up at Arius. “Please?”

I looked from her pleading expression to her arm then up at Arius. He looked sympathetic now. Once again, I had no clue what was going on. “We’ll be back shortly.” Turning, I motioned him to the door.

When we were standing back in the hallway, I looked in at her as she put her shirt back in place. Shaking my head, I stomped back to the room of monitors, Arius was right behind me.

As soon as we stepped back in the room, my mouth couldn’t stay closed a second longer. I spun on Arius, who held up his hands like I was going to beat on him. Lifting my hands in the air, I stepped back so I wouldn’t take a swing just because he was convenient. “Find this Javis.”

Nodding he moved over to the monitors where Quinton stood. He sent me a puzzled look. “What’s going on?”

I sighed. “I have no idea.” Leaning back against the wall, I gave him a serious look. “Marcus has them all believing the royal family plans to take over my side of the realms.” His jaw dropped. “And as soon as we find her mate I’m sure we’ll get a whole lot more information from her.”

Quinton looked from me to Arius and then back again. “She’s mated?”

“Tattoo and all.” I held up a hand and moved over so I could see her in the monitor. “At some point was anyone planning on telling me this mating involved an arm of ink and pain if you’re separated?”

He flushed with guilt.

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

Troy and Chase stepped through the door with Victor right on their heels. Turning, I sent both Kings a look that would have wilted flowers. They both stopped so suddenly Victor walked into them.

Troy looked to Arius and Quinton. “Is there a problem?”

Arius tapped some keys to switch the cells the cameras viewed. “Other than we are holding a mated pair apart from each other and Daxx has just learned things about mating no one thought to explain to her? No, other than that all is well.”

Matching hazel eyes flicked to me, both looking wary.

I grinned. “You know this just keeps getting better and better, boys.” I pointed to one of the monitors. “That’s him.” Arius nodded and picked up a phone. I moved away from the monitors and walked slowly over to stand in front of the twins. Pointing up at Troy. “Was this another one of those things you thought to break to me gently, later on?” The guilt on his face answered without him having to speak. “I figured.” Poking my finger into his chest I glared up at him. “Later, we’re going to sit down and talk about all the things you’ve conveniently left out of my information pack.”

Troy cleared his throat. “I believe you’re aware of everything now.”

“We’ll see.” Turning, I looked up at Chase, I wanted to be mad as hell at him too, but then remembered how he had stopped the night before and now understood why. Even with hormones running amok he had found the common sense to halt things before I ended up tied to him for the rest of my days. I pointed at him. “You could have explained a bit more.”

Tucking his hands into his pockets, Chase looked down at me with a gentle expression in his eyes. “I planned to, as promised after this was dealt with.”

My anger was completely deflated when I remembered he had said he would explain everything. Looking from his apologetic stare to his brother’s hesitant one, I hissed out a breath. “Fine but later, the three of us are sitting down and all the little details you didn’t think I could handle are being tossed on the table.”