His hands are still fire, but at least the light has receded.
“You like my ring, or lack thereof?” he asks as he holds his left hand up, showing off his extremely fresh tattoo.
His family members take it in, and Vivian does indeed look surprised. “It’s certainly unique. Is there a special meaning to the design?”
“Yes,” Jaxon says simply, returning his hand to my hip.
Once again, it’s awkwardly silent.
“We’ll be in town for a few days,” I say, taking the lead once more. “And then we’ll be heading out on our honeymoon.”
I watch his mother’s reaction to that. She swallows once. Her lips thin out a little more. She clasps her hands together and her fingernails dig just slightly into her flesh. “Oh?” she says simply.
I nod and look back at Jaxon with a smile. Adrenaline is surging through my blood so fast I can hardly think straight.
But Jaxon manages a smile, looking into my eyes. “I’m taking Serena to Fiji.”
I barely manage to contain my sigh of relief. There he is. There are the easy lies.
“Fiji is a long way away,” Vivian says. Finally, she walks across the living room and sinks into one of the modern chairs. “How long do you intend to stay?”
“Two weeks,” Jaxon says, looking from me to his mother. “Trust me, you really don’t want us around for at least a few weeks.”
Fire ignites in my lower belly at his words.
Lies. Because we can barely touch each other and kiss without nearly killing each other, much less do what people do on a honeymoon.
Vivian’s fingernails dig farther into her skin, turning it white. She’s silent for several moments that stretch on too long. She isn’t sure what to say. This is a dangerous woman, but her son is twenty-five years old. He’s a man, not a child. And now he has a new wife that holds sway over his life as well.
“Perhaps I can motivate you to cut it down to a week?” Vivian asks. I feel just a little smug when she sounds desperate. “With a wedding gift, and perhaps a new suite for the two of you on the sixteenth floor?”
That’s bigger than I expect. The rest of the Gray family all live on the fifteenth. This is her giving him a little more of a leash.
Jaxon pauses, and it looks like he’s considering it, but I can still feel the temperature of his skin spiking and then slowly falling. He’s still struggling for control.
And it’s not because of me, because he’s the one who pulled me into his lap.
“Nah, but thanks for the offer,” he says, his voice cold.
The look in Vivian’s eyes hardens, and they slide from her son over to my face.
She blames me for this. That much is very obvious.
“Fine,” she says. “But I expect you back after two weeks ready to make up for lost time.”
Jaxon stares her down. “We’ll see.”
Vivian’s eyes snap back to her son, and her jaw clenches. I have to wonder now: has Jaxon ever defied his mother before? From her expression, I think the answer is probably no.
“I’ll remind you that your duty is to this family,” she says, managing to maintain her cool control over her voice. “And that just because you have a new love interest in your life, it doesn’t mean that blood should be forgotten.”
Jaxon looks…angry, like, so angry he could rip Vivian’s face off. “Actually, my duty is to my wife and myself, and doing whatever is best for our family. So, if you’d like to keep me around, maybe it’s time to loosen the claws a little bit, Mother.”
I don’t understand the coldness in his tone when he says her name.
“You need to remember your place, brother,” Blake jumps in. “Just because this little tramp rolled in—”
“Don’t you dare speak about her!” Jaxon barks, and suddenly he’s so hot, I jump up from his lap, trying not to get burned. Jaxon climbs to his feet and takes two aggressive steps toward his brother. “This has nothing to do with Serena.”
Jaxon spins around, glaring death at his mother. “What has changed has nothing to do with my wife, so don’t you dare start thinking you’re going to do anything about it.”
The anger roiling through Jaxon makes his entire frame tremble. He looks…like a bomb, just waiting to go off.
“Serena and I need a moment,” Jaxon says, glaring at each of his family members. “We’ll be back in a few minutes. And I expect you all to keep your shit to yourselves from here on out.”
Without another word, he reaches for my hand. His skin is still wildly hot, but I don’t pull away. He leads me to the door, and out.
“Jaxon,” I say as soon as it’s closed behind us. “What—”
But he looks back and presses a finger over his lips and shakes his head. He picks up his pace, practically dragging me down the hallway. We stop at his door and he enters the code. His movements grow faster, more frantic, and his hands are shaking so bad he can barely hit the right numbers.
It clicks, and he pushes himself inside.
And the second he’s in, he bursts into flames and light.
I swear under my breath and step inside, immediately closing the door behind me.
I haven’t seen him burn this bright or hot since the day after he manifested. I have to raise a hand up to block the light from my eyes. I rush across the room, pulling the blackout curtains closed, because I have no doubt that anyone can see the light he’s shining from anywhere on the Strip.
I turn, and Jaxon starts pacing the length of the room. A frustrated, angry growl rips from his throat. His hands rise up to his hair, his fingers lacing into it.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask, trying not to panic. “Is it…is it me? You’ve done so well the past few days. I thought we were passed—”
“It’s my mother,” Jaxon growls out loudly as he suddenly stops. He breathes hard, his shoulders rising and falling with his ragged breath. He stares at the wall, in the direction of her penthouse. “She’s possessed.”
Everything in me chills and all of my organs sink to the floor.
Six long seconds of silence stretch on after the revelation.
“And she’s not simply possessed,” Jaxon says. His voice shakes. Shakes with anger. With shock. With every ounce of his self-control. “She’s embraced the dusk.”
Every curse I know rips through my brain in a wave.
It makes sense. It makes so much sense. It explains why she is the way she is. And surely she’s been this way for a long, long time.
Since before Jaxon was born.
I can’t even wrap my brain around that and what it means. Vivian had already embraced her possession when she had most, if not all, her children. Does that mean anything?
No, it can’t. As I look up at Jaxon, I know that it can’t.
He may not be black or white, he’s as gray as his last name, but Jaxon is a good man.
“How?” I ask as the awe hits me. “How…” I shake my head because I can barely even process this. “You knew. You sensed it before we even walked inside. How were you able to fight it? How are you fighting it right now?”
When a guardian senses a dusk, it’s almost impossible to fight the urge to immediately exorcise it. And Jaxon is brand new. He’s only exorcised two of the dusk. He barely has control over his ultralight form, and he just fought it, for at least five minutes, with one standing two feet away from him.