Chapter Sixteen
Chapter
Sixteen
Gem
I’m so fucking angry and sad as I walk away from Gryffin, fire keeps erupting all over my skin as my phoenix tries to soothe me.
I’m so pissed at Gryffin and his obsession with this fictional sixth member, I’m tempted to find the witch who suggested it to him and kill her, but I’m also so fucking sad that he doesn’t want to give the two of us a chance.
I’ve wanted him for as long as I’ve known him.
Unlike Brodie, Liam, and Gryff, Hunter and I have only had our animals since we were seventeen.
Mythicals don’t shift until their seventeenth birthday.
I always knew I would be a phoenix. My father is one as well, but my mother is a wolf, so when I didn’t shift as a baby, they knew what I was.
Dragons like Hunter are born from eggs, and both of his parents are dragons, so they knew what he would be too.
I grew up in a large mythical village in the central shifter zone.
Hunter is from the same village, but because his father is a general in the army, he grew up in the palace.
I knew of him but had never met him until his parents brought him to our village so he could have his first shift.
There are a lot of dragons in our village, and all of the buildings are fireproof.
Both of us had our first shifts within weeks of each other and practiced control of our fire together.
It took a couple of months, but we both gained excellent control of our fire, so my father was working on my other magical gifts when Hunter and I both received bond marks.
We were thrilled to discover our marks matched.
Together, we made our way to the city to register our marks, only to discover that both his childhood friends, Brodie and Gryffin, were a bond match as well as another, Liam.
I just about swallowed my tongue when he introduced me to his best friend, Prince Gryffin.
He was gorgeous, but also nice, nothing like I imagined a royal to be.
We all moved into a suite in the palace to develop our bond relationship, and I quickly fell in love with the prince.
I would see him watching me out of the corner of my eye, and I knew my attraction wasn’t one-sided, but he never made a move, and our bond group was pursued by female shifters hoping to be our mate.
I watched as he had flings with both males and females alike, nothing more than a one-night stand.
In fact, we were all rather promiscuous for a while before Gryffin’s moms sat us down and lectured us about how our mate would feel to be with a bunch of playboys when she was finally marked.
We straightened up after that, but I always hoped something more would happen between us.
Hell, we were already bonded, so neither of us was going anywhere.
Somewhere deep down, I knew his mothers’ talk had struck a nerve with him, and I was going to be sidelined forever, wanting what I couldn’t have, and he just confirmed it in a heartbreaking way.
I don’t think the goddess would gift us a mate who wouldn’t accept us in a relationship, but I do also understand on some level—the reasonable, clear-headed Gem level, not the horny, pining for Gryff Gem level. No, that Gem wants to burn the world.
Instead of doing considerable damage to our home, I head downstairs to the night watch headquarters and decide to take my frustration out in our training room. Maybe there will be someone there I can spar with.
The hallways are clear as I make my way to the elevator, smashing the button to call it to our floor.
When it opens, a rush of scents, both familiar and stomach turning, whooshes out, and a growl rumbles from my chest, sounding more like Hunter’s dragon than my phoenix.
My bond mate, Liam, is in there, but he has company.
Gianna is wrapped around him like a sloth, her legs gripping his waist while her arms circle his neck as she grinds on him, their mouths kissing with desperate need.
I want to burn all the hair off this bitch’s head.
She knows exactly which buttons to push when it comes to Liam.
I’ve been watching his bear become more and more unruly as it pines for a mate, which means Liam is susceptible to the pretty words of a conniving manipulative fox.
Neither of them notice me, and I clear my throat as I step into the elevator. Liam looks up as he pulls his mouth away from the dark-haired cunt. His eyes are glazed, and her lipstick is spread across his mouth.
She smirks at me as she drops to her feet, smoothing her skirt down and straightening her top.
“Hi, Gem,” she flutters her eyelashes at me and steps closer to run a finger down my chest in what I think is meant to be a flirty gesture, but it just seems contrived.
That, combined with her scent which smells like wet newspaper to me, makes me step back, and I almost miss her eyes flash with frustration.
“Liam, what are you doing?” I ask him, ignoring the fox and narrowing my eyes on my bond mate. His eyes clear as he takes in my pissed off scent, and he adjusts the front of his pants as I huff in annoyance. Before he can answer, I turn my attention back to the wily female.
“You’ve been banned from the building and the neutral zone. If you are caught in here, Liam will be in trouble,” I warn both of them, and she shrugs, not giving one fucking damn.
“Nobody will know if you don’t say anything. We’re going straight to your apartment,” she snarls, and I chuckle darkly.
“I’m pretty sure Prince Gryffin will have something to say. His dad was the one who fired you and had you blacklisted after all.” She pales slightly, but my words finally get Liam’s attention.
“Gryff’s in there?” he asks, looking down the hallway in the direction of our apartment.
“For now,” I mutter, and he tugs Gianna back into the elevator. The doors close, and it starts to move downward. She screeches and crosses her arms, glaring at him.
“What the fuck are you doing, Liam?”
“You can’t be here, Gianna,” he tells her.
Her lip sticks out, and she begins to pout, but I can still see the anger in her eyes.
I’m certain she’s trying to get him to bite her in the hope that once one of us is mated to her, the rest of us will give her mate bites too.
I’d rather cut off my dick than stick it in that piranha.
The doors open on the bottom floor, and he takes her by the arm and walks her to the building entrance, practically shoving her out the door.
The glass doors close behind her, and as he returns to my side, I watch with amusement as she loses her shit.
She screeches again and stomps her foot in anger before screaming something and flipping him off then storming away.
I whistle as he gets to me, and I shake my head. “Dude, what the fuck?”
He shakes his head, not looking at me as we start walking toward the mission rooms. “Fuck, I don’t know what happened.
She approached me in the locker room, and I was telling her I didn’t want to see her again, and then the next minute, we’re dry humping in the elevator and my teeth were aching to bite her.
Thank fuck you came along when you did, because your scent was what brought me back to reality. ”
I frown. “That sounds like magic at work. Do you think she’s wearing a spelled charm or something?”
He runs a hand through his white hair before rubbing his jaw, looking lost. “Fucking sure felt like it.”
“You need to avoid her. If you see her, go in the opposite direction,” I suggest, and he nods, quickly agreeing, but grabs my arm.
“Don’t leave me alone. I’m worried if she corners me again, I won’t have the strength to fight her off.”
“Sneaky fox bitch,” I mutter. “Don’t worry, we’re going to be assigned to the palace for the next few weeks once the new royal presents themselves, and she definitely won’t be getting in there.”
His sigh of relief is heavy, and I almost turn around and chase after her to make good on my burning her hair off her head idea. Instead, I slap my bond mate on the shoulder. “Come on, I was just heading to the gym to work off some aggression. Why don’t you join me?”
He falls into step with me. “What has your panties in a twist?” he asks. I can feel his gaze on the side of my face, but I don’t look at him.
“I just came from the apartment where Gryffin is preparing to leave again,” I mutter, my annoyance leaking into my tone.
“Ah, Gem, I’m sorry.” He claps a hand on my shoulder and gives it a squeeze.
My other bond mates aren’t stupid, they know how I feel about the tiger.
I try my best not to let it affect how we work, and I’ve been mostly successful until now, but Gryffin’s obsession is affecting us.
I’m certain it’s part of the reason we haven’t been gifted a mate yet.
We’ve been a group for ten years now, which is the longest a bond group has gone without finding their mate.
I feel like we are being punished, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.
Something has to give, or the five of us are going to splinter irrevocably.
The two of us are silent as we walk toward the incident room, but a sudden shout has us exchanging a glance and picking up the pace.
The incident room is wide open, and I find Hunter and Brodie with General Bryson. Hunter is arguing with his father.
“We don’t have time to chase around after some human. We are still trying to locate the other missing children and deal with the uptick in feral occurrences. Assign a different team the task of babysitting.” Hunter’s nostrils smoke, and his eyes shimmer with his dragon’s annoyance.
Brodie is leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, watching the two with amusement. Liam and I join him.
“Hunter didn’t take the news well, I see,” I comment quietly.
Brodie scoffs. “What makes you think that?”