Chapter 48 #2
“And what about me?” Skye cried suddenly, startling me slightly. “My mother had to give up one of her Links to keep her other men happy. She was sick my whole life! It made Avery evil!”
“Actually, according to Levi, he was already a bit evil.” I offered unhelpfully.
Zephyr shook his head. “That’s how it is, Wyatt? What if I do my testing? What if I’m not supposed to be with your sister? You’d rather she be unhappy forever?”
“Don’t give me hope,” Wyatt snarked. “I hope she’s not your Key. I don’t want you anywhere near her.”
“So her feelings don’t matter?!” Skye snarled, jumping to her feet. Aiden was right behind her, and Zephyr slowly got to his feet beside his sister.
I stood, rubbing my eyes before I took a step toward Wyatt.
“Nice,” Aiden scoffed, his arms sparking again. “There’s the line in the sand.”
I didn’t look at Skye. I’d never sleep again if I saw the look on her face right now. So I looked at Zephyr, who appeared ready to throttle me.
“I’m not on this side of the sand,” I said softly. “I’m just…Wyatt can’t be alone over here. He’ll get over this.”
“No, I won’t.” Wyatt snapped.
“Shut up,” I growled at him. I turned back to the others. “There’s something else. Levi became very sick when describing the Crusader’s affinities to us.”
The sibling’s demeanor changed immediately, going from murder to concern.
“Is he okay?” Zephyr asked.
“Yes,” I said. “But let me explain what happened.”
Skye slowly sat back down on the couch, and Zephyr took the seat I’d been in previously, pressing his arm against his sister’s.
Once again, I found myself longing for a sibling. Why did Wyatt have to be such an asshole?
I decided I was going to find a reason to sucker punch Richard Craig the next time I saw him.
I recounted the conversation with Levi, carefully leaving out my panic attack and Aiden’s suggestion to kiss me, and when the siblings were practically on their feet again in anticipation…I said the magic word.
“Compulsion.”
“No one has an affinity for compulsion,” Zephyr whispered harshly.
“No one has an affinity for teleportation, either.” Wyatt said from his place near the wall.
Skye stared at the carpet.
“I said the word, and Levi started…seizing?” I looked to Wyatt. He shook his head. “Convulsing, then. I suppose it wasn’t really a seizure.”
“So, what, he’s been compelled not to…talk about this?” Zephyr asked, the pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. “Fuck all of this.”
Skye jumped to her feet suddenly.
“I feel sick,” she whispered, then teleported.
For a moment, none of us moved. Then, every man moved at once, and Zephyr snarled at me and Wyatt before he headed down the hall. Aiden looked back and forth between us as he inched to follow, but I shook my head. Zephyr was who she needed right now, and the three of us needed to talk.
“I need to apologize to her,” Wyatt said.
“You need to go jump off a cliff,” Aiden snapped. “Holy shit. You’re the literal worst, Wyatt.”
“Fuck you,” Wyatt hissed. “I’m allowed to be pissed about this. How could you not say anything?! I thought…I thought you said we were bros.”
Aiden’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “Oh, sure. Now we’re bros? Fuck you, Wyatt.”
“Fuck me?! I’m allowed to be pissed about this!” Wyatt roared, but I ignored him. My anxiety drew me down the hall toward the Chain bedroom.
I could hear Zephyr’s deep voice speaking to Skye, and my heart clenched as I heard her retching. I stayed outside the bedroom, waiting until she seemed to settle before venturing inside. My poor Key would’ve been utterly humiliated if she knew I’d heard her vomiting.
As I was about to enter the bedroom, Isaiah appeared from the shadows as if he were the shadow-wielder.
“Your Grace,” he said lowly, his eyes darting toward the bedroom door. “I heard raised voices.”
“Everything’s fine,” I sighed. “Just some…growing pains, I suppose.”
Isaiah nodded, looking like he was about to retreat again.
“Isaiah…” I trailed off, glancing into the bedroom to see Skye and Zephyr were still in the bathroom.
“I appreciate how close you’ve gotten to my Key.
It seems you’ve become a sort of friend to her recently…
” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Would you tell me if another man had been in this dormitory?”
Isaiah stared at me, his expression as blank as ever. “I haven’t seen another man in this dormitory.” I nodded, opening my mouth to thank him, but he continued. “But…I was not here last night. I was…visiting someone.”
“Visiting someone,” I repeated. “Do I want to know?”
“Want? Probably not,” he replied.
I stared at him. “Where were you? When you should’ve been watching my Key?”
“I was only one floor down,” he replied slowly.
One floor down.
Where Willow and Mia lived.
I barked a laugh of disbelief right as Skye and Zephyr were coming into the bedroom.
“There she is,” I said softly, entering the bedroom.
Skye let me pull her into a hug while Zephyr glared daggers at my skull.
There was silence around us, and when I pulled back, I…weirdly felt like I was intruding on something.
Zephyr and Isaiah were staring at each other.
They weren’t speaking, weren’t glaring…just staring.
Checking each other out, really.
And Isaiah had just spent the evening with Willow and Mia.
“Oh, Zephyr, that’s my bodyguard everyone’s worried about,” Skye said, her voice muffled against my chest.
“I get it,” Zephyr muttered, though Skye didn’t hear him.
Isaiah finally blinked, dropping his gaze.
And he might have blushed.
After everything that’d happened tonight…I really didn’t have time for this.
Zephyr, aside from being a dick to Wyatt, had come through and been here for his sister when she needed him for her…
cramps. And although I didn’t believe for one second that she’d had cramps, I wasn’t ready to interrogate her after the day’s revelations.
And I could never be mad at Zephyr for coming to his sister’s aide.
So I decided to help him.
“Zephyr,” I said. “I’d like to speak to Skye alone, now. I can take you back to the Gulf tonight if you don’t have any plans to visit with Willow and Mia.”
Isaiah’s head snapped up, his eyes darting back and forth between me and Zephyr with obvious alarm, but Zephyr only nodded.
“That’s a good idea. Let me go see how well I can grovel.”
“Ew,” Skye hissed at her brother, who only lovingly swatted at the back of her head before he headed for the door.
“Go with him,” I murmured to Isaiah. The guard looked like his brain short-circuited for a second, blinking his wide eyes several times before he turned toward the door to follow my brother-in-law.
A shadow pushed the door closed, and I cupped Skye’s chin, tilting her face up to mine.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
“I don’t think I’ve been alright in like, eight months.”
I huffed a laugh, shaking my head.
“You’re angry with me?”
I shook my head again.
Never. I only wish you trusted me enough to tell me what’s going on.
Wyatt would never forgive me.
My heart sank.
Yes, he will, I said. He always will.
Yeah, because he has to, Skye began to pull back, but I tightened my arms around her, keeping her close to me even as she grunted. How is this ever supposed to fucking work?
Wyatt left out a crucial detail from our chat with Levi, my love, I explained. Remember, Wyatt’s dad up and left his wife and child for his Key, but it seems your mother is not much different than mine. She chose Levi because they already had Zephyr.
Skye blinked at me.
Do you understand, darling? Your mother did not step out on her Chain. She chose her family.