Chapter Three
Sage
I feel like I’ve hardly been asleep at all before I’m being shaken awake.
“Wha . . .” My question is abruptly cut short and I glare at Kai who has his hand over my mouth.
He swallows nervously, my look having the desired effect.
He better have a damned good reason for putting his hand over my mouth.
Unless we’re having sex and there’s a reason why I need to be quiet I do not fucking appreciate having hands put over my mouth.
He puts his finger to his lips motioning for me to be quiet before he takes his hand away.
I glance around and notice that Jax is waking the others up too but unlike the way that Kai woke me up, he taps out a pattern on their legs and when they awake they remain silent and alert.
No need for them to be warned in any other way.
It’s becoming so clear to me that not only have the guys had an incredible amount of training but also how long they have been a team.
Once we’re all awake I follow the guys lead and draw my swords, feeling slightly confused since I don’t really know what’s going on.
Kai taps his ear and mouths listen to us.
Once I focus on my hearing I can’t believe that I missed it in the first place.
Coming from the right are the sound of approaching hooves.
It occurs to me that maybe greeting them with our weapons drawn will send the completely wrong message.
My tired and still half asleep brain also remembers that we can communicate using our Soulmate Bond although the guys seem to have forgotten that for the moment, instinctively reverting to the methods they’re more used to using.
“Guys, put the weapons away. People always meet aggression with aggression. They could be just passing by or friendly.” I send down the Bond link and receive sceptical looks in return.
“Seriously. We can all draw our weapons quick enough if we need to. Let’s just act casually and not start a conflict where there doesn’t necessarily need to be one in the first place.
” I suggest putting my swords away and walking towards the fire the boys have kept blazing throughout the night.
Reluctantly they all do the same although Kai pulls out one of his wickedly sharp knives and starts to clean under his fingernails earning an approving look from all of the other guys.
“What’s the plan for today then?” Levi ask’s aloud as we wait for the slowly approaching hooves to arrive.
It would be slightly suspicious if we were all sat here in silence.
“To grab some supplies from the nearest town I think. Although we need money to do that.” Jax frowns remembering our conversation from last night.
The trees rustle and we all turn in that direction just in time to see a large guy ride through.
A demon judging from his curved horns. Bigger than I have seen on anyone in the Earth realm but not as big as Levi’s or Kai’s.
His hair is a deep purple colour that could almost be mistaken for blue.
His eyes are a similar shade but like Kai’s and Levi’s they seem to roll with flames.
The most surprising and definitely epic thing about his appearance though is the pointed tail that whips out to the side before wrapping around his waist.
He looks shocked for some reason as he looks over all of us, more shocked than he should be considering that people camping in these woods should be a fairly normal occurrence, at least that’s what I’m assuming.
Levi stands as he approaches, the rest of us doing the same since if he is hostile we don’t want to be at a disadvantage.
“I didn’t actually expect you to be here.” He says.
“What?” Levi asks voicing our confusion.
“She said you would be but to be honest I thought my brothers were right and I’d finally gone of the deep end.” He chuckles, his features lighting up.
“Dude, more information.” Kai says to him familiarly.
There is something really familiar about him but I can’t quite put my finger on what it could possibly be. I study him harder hoping for a clue.
“Shit, sorry my bad.” He says his cheeks tinting slightly pink, “you guys are from the Earth realm right?”
“Yes.” Levi says shortly starting to lose patience.
To be honest though I feel no ill will from him at all. In fact he’s quite funny as he bounces atop his horse, who appears to be more than used to his riders excitement since it doesn’t even move just ignores him and continues to munch on grass.
“Right, the goddess Nyx sent me to you. Bloody weird vision that was.” He continues sounding almost English and making me question all sorts of things. “She said you’d be here.”
“And?” Jax prompts sounding amused as that is literally all the information the guy gives us.
“And my name is Kysen?” He answers phrasing it like a question and sounding somewhat confused himself.
“No dude. What else did the goddess say?” Kai chuckles.
I can practically see the steam coming out of Levi’s ears and it makes me chuckle quietly.
“Oh right sorry. I still can’t get over the fact that you're all actually here.” He says his tail whipping from side to side behind him, “She said that I needed to be your guide and take you to the Academy, that’s where I’m heading anyway, it’s about a ten day ride from here.
She also said that you’d need the appropriate attire to blend in as the last thing you need is to have attention drawn to you.
” He adds pointing to the bags loaded on the saddle.
“It should all be in the right sizes.” He says his eyes running over us, lingering on the guys.
In a way that I’m familiar with, Kysen has good taste.
The guys don’t seem to pick up on it though since as soon as his eyes land on me, Kai growls and steps forward.
“Watch it!” He warns.
“Easy mate I’ve got no interest in her.” He chuckles, making it obvious that he’s checking Kai out instead.
Jax bristles and Kysen smirks at his response looking to me and raising his eyebrows, I shrug and smirk in response. I like this guy. I still can’t for the life of me tell you where I recognise him from but I definitely know him from somewhere.
“Sage?” Levi questions, gaining my attention.
I watch as Jax moves over to Kai, standing ever so slightly in front of him, placing himself between Kai and Kysen.
“He’s good. There’s no bad mojo going on.” I say and Kysen looks slightly startled especially since the guys postures immediately relax.
“I expected a bigger reaction.” Kysen mutters.
“We’ve sort of gotten used to the goddess throwing random stuff at us now.” Mav shrugs.
“Wow.” Kysen replies, “Ok well I don’t think I’ve got the appropriate response to that so here you go.
” He says hopping off of his horse and bringing over two bags.
“That ones for Sage and the guys clothes are in the other one. You really can’t be walking around in Earth realm clothes it would attract the wrong kind of attention. ”
“Thanks, man.” Levi says taking the bags off him and handing one to me and then rooting through the other and separating the sets of clothes for each of the others.
My bundle of clothes includes supple leather riding pants, a soft, long sleeved black cotton shirt, a leather waistcoat that matches the colour of the pants and a long leather duster lined with soft fur and a split up the back so it sits nicely whilst I’m on horseback.
Right in the bottom are a pair of sturdy but soft inside, lace up boots, surprisingly they’re my size and when on they’ll reach just above my knees.
I absolutely adore them.
If I’m being completely honest I adore the entire outfit.
The only thing that is missing is underwear and I am incredibly glad he didn’t get me any.
That would’ve been weird.
I walk towards where I dumped my bag earlier to find some of the underwear that I brought with me and spot Hunter pulling out a pair of purple boxers with red hearts all over them from the pile of clothes that he was given.
Kysen’s stood behind him and winks at me before snickering making me giggle.
He is definitely going to be fun. I can see him, Kai and Jax causing trouble.
So long as Jax and Kai don’t get jealous of the attention Kysen is showing the other one. They really have nothing to worry about though, I have a feeling Kysen belongs to someone else and happily.
He just enjoys creating mischief.
As I rummage through my bag I come across a black pouch, about the size of my hands cupped together, heavy and rounded with its contents. I open it curiously, knowing that I definitely didn’t put it in my bag when I packed it.
“What the hell?” I mutter. “Kysen?” I call out gaining the attention of everyone of course.
I pull out one of the shiny gold coins, rough and uneven around the edges, with a faded picture that I can’t quite make out on either side. It’s fairly thin but slightly larger than a quarter. I hold it up to show Kysen as he approaches.
“Is this the currency for the Demon realm?” I ask.
“Yeah it is. I thought you guys hadn’t been here before?” He asks. The guys having already filled him in on some of our back story.
“We haven’t.” Levi confirms.
“Where’d you find that Sweetheart?” Hunt asks me.
“In my bag,” I reply.
“Maybe Nicole put it in there?” Kai suggests.
“Maybe but she seemed honestly surprised and worried that the portal was taking us somewhere that she hadn’t instructed it to.” Maverick replies.
“Will this be enough to buy us the supplies we need for our journey?” I ask Kysen holding it out to him.
“Absolutely. There’s more than enough there.” He replies after taking a quick glance inside.
“It looks like we’ll be able to go into town after all.” Kai says, grinning as he bounces up and down, clearly excited to explore more.
“Before we go you guys are all going to have to lower your glamour. It would be like waving a red flag to a bull if you went into town with your human glamour on.” He starts looking over us.