“Jaxon,” I call out, hurrying to catch up with him.
He doesn’t turn around.
I pick up my pace, trying to keep up.
But instead of going to the command center like I’m expecting, Jaxon walks straight into the vault, and pulls the door closed behind him.
Just as I step into view of the glass, he lets out a deafening, sonic roar, and his entire body bursts hotter, the flames filling the entire vault.
Someone mutters a curse and I look over to see Ascelin at my side, his arms folded over his chest. “Bad day?” he asks.
I shake my head. “You have no idea.”
Chapter Seventeen
“What the hell are you wearing?” he asks as we both turn away and walk into the command center.
“Wedding party, remember?” I say, arching an eyebrow at him.
It’s there. We’ve come to terms and an agreement, but it’s still there. Ascelin’s face darkens a bit and I watch as his jaw clenches tighter. “Care to explain?”
We both walk into the conference room because it’s obvious a meeting is about to go down. I sigh as I sink down onto a chair. “It’s a lie Jaxon and I came up with before he manifested. He needed a reason why we were leaving together and why I was going to be around a lot. He told his family we were eloping.”
The displeasure on his face is obvious. “Did you? Elope? I see the ring on your finger.”
I hold my hand up slightly, staring down at the ring. “No, it’s just for show.” Even if the ring is real.
Ascelin doesn’t say anything for a moment, and I look up to see the slight sneer on his face. He looks like he can’t decide if he believes me or not. “The wedding party was his mother’s idea. She’s…well, let’s just say she’s a whole lot more complicated than expected.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks.
I sigh once again and climb to my feet. “I’ll explain it all in a minute when everyone is here. I’m going to go get changed first.”
I walk out of the conference room. On my way to my room, I look into the vault.
Jaxon is still fully engulfed in light and flames. He’s pacing back and forth inside, talking to himself. His words are very angry.
I leave him be. A lot of shit just went down. He deserves a few minutes to being angry.
My bedroom is comfortingly calm and quiet. I take my time peeling my dress off. I take my time grabbing some more appropriate underwear and a bra. I don’t rush as I pull on some pants and a comfortable t-shirt.
I sink down onto the bed when I’m done. I brace my hands against the edge of it, my elbows straight, my shoulders shrugged up to my ears. My head hangs low.
For more than a century life was kind of boring. Sure, there were the regular kidnappings and every few decades the Kindred showed their faces and we all got our asses kicked.
But it’s been so intense for the last month.
And there’s so much of it that I can’t control.
In a way, it’s so much harder being in a relationship. It’s not just my own drama I have to deal with. He brings all of his, as well. Because I’m in this and I’m committed, I’ll do whatever I can to help him through everything.
But it’s still heavy. It’s still hard.
I let out a long breath and force myself to my feet once more. I walk through the dark passageway, back to the conference room.
Jaxon is still doing his thing in the vault.
Davorian shoots to his feet the second I walk into the conference room. He steps across the space and pulls me into his arms, crushing me into his chest.
Guess he isn’t still mad at me about falling in love with an ultralight.
“I’m so glad you made it back okay,” he says as he squeezes me tight once more before releasing me.
“We were fine,” I say, catching my breath as he lets me go and steps back. Just then, I hear the sound of voices in the tunnel.
I step out and see six of the other agents walking into the bunkroom.
“What’s going on?” I ask with furrowed brows.
“There are Kindred on the way here, and you think we aren’t going to call everyone back in?” Ascelin asks with a raised eyebrow.
Duh.
“Makes sense,” I say instead, playing it cool.
“How about you update us on what’s happened since you and Jaxon left?” Davorian asks as we all sit around the table.
“Apparently, Jaxon’s mother, the one who is a crime lord and seriously bad news, is possessed, and has embraced the dusk,” I say, dropping the biggest bomb I have in my arsenal.
From their stunned silence, I know I was effective.
I lean forward, crossing my arms on the table. “And get this. So was one of his brothers, though he hadn’t embraced it.”
“Damn,” Ascelin breathes out. “That’s rough. Was he at least somewhere private when he took them out?”
A smirk crooks in the corner of my mouth. “This is the part you’ll never believe,” I tease. “He held it together, didn’t lose it, for multiple days, around the both of them.”
They both just blink at me. It takes a moment for the words to sink in, for their meaning to hit full force.
“You’re trying to tell me that Jaxon, the ultralight who couldn’t shift back into human form, even once, for over two weeks, kept from exorcising two dusk? That were in the same room as him? For multiple days?”
I let the smile pull on my lips, and I nod. “He freaking hugged his mother, danced with her. Spent hours with her. Even with her antagonizing him, and me. And he kept it together.”
Davorian shakes his head in shock. “I don’t think that even I could do that, and I’m the oldest of all of us.”
“I know,” I say with pride. “He…he might have struggled in the beginning, but now…” I shake my head again. “Jaxon has a whole different kind of control than the rest of us.”
“You said is possessed with his mother,” Ascelin points out. “And was with his brother.”
I nod and my mood falls. “He exorcised his brother this morning. The change was…astonishing. And immediate. But his mother…” Once again, I shake my head. “He couldn’t do it, at least not yet. And there wasn’t much of an opportunity. She was around the other family members pretty much the entire time.”
“I don’t know how he can fight it,” Davorian says.
“And he shouldn’t,” Ascelin points out. “It’s literally his entire reason for existing. He has to exorcise her.”
I nod, because I know this is the truth. But I can also understand. “She’s still his mother. Even if she was possessed from before he was born, she’s still the woman who gave birth to him and raised him. Can you blame him for hesitating in ending her life?”
They both stare at me, mulling that over.
This is black and white to Ascelin. But I think the look in Davorian’s eyes says he understands, at least a little bit.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say, moving on from this subject. “For now, we need to focus on the Kindred. What do you want to do about that? They’re coming after Jaxon.”
Which means that I have to explain what happened with the resident ultralights.