Page 28 of Taste of Danger

“Your room is already spotless,” she said. “You should have seen Damon’s before Casimir moved in there. He was such a pig.”

“Trust me, I know.” Jax shivered. “I’ve lived with him my entire life.” He crooked his finger. “Feet on the ground, ma petite. I’m glad you shared that with us, but you’ve yet to tell Arion or me what problem you’re dealing with.”

Elvine slowly descended. “It’s illegal to leave our realm, but Raidh and I have always snuck out to see the human world and explore, though we’ve never stayed gone for more than a day. About a year ago, one of the king’s guards caught me slipping through a passageway I created. I thought I would be arrested,” she said with a quiver to her voice. “Unseelie punishments are harsh, but the human world is just so fascinating and too irresistible to stay away from.”

“What happened with the guard?” Arion asked cautiously, more than likely feeling the same wariness Jax was experiencing.

She crossed her arms and toed the carpet as she avoided their gazes. “He said he would be willing to take a certain kind of bribe to keep his mouth shut.”

Jax’s canines instantly lengthened as his claws emerged, while Arion let out a loud hiss.

Closing his eyes briefly, Jax prayed… She’d told them she hadn’t been with a man in centuries, but what if she’d just been afraid to tell them the truth? Now Jax’s heart was thundering, terrified to know what happened. “Buttercup, did…”

“No, I told him I would meet up with him once his duties were over for the day, but I’ve been dodging him ever since.”

Relief had never felt so good. Jax could finally breathe again.

“But sooner or later, he’ll catch up with me,” she said. “I have to return to the realm often so I’m not reported missing. If you’ve noticed, every other day I disappear for a few hours.”

Jax had noticed. He noticed everything about Elvine, even before he knew they were mates. There were moments when he’d had to force himself not to outright stare at her.

She started opening drawers and looking inside of them. Jax wanted to ask why she was doing that, then recalled Raidh telling them she liked to snoop.

Not that he had anything to hide.

“I’ve also gotten very good at creating passageways.” She picked up a pair of his boxer briefs, sniffed them, then put them back in the drawer. “I can use a passageway now without having to wait for the golden rope to appear.” She turned to him. “At least you don’t use too much detergent like Damon.”

“Unlike my brother, I know how to do laundry.” Jax pulled her into his arms. “How am I supposed to feel comfortable with you going back there, knowing you have some deviant looking for you?”

“I don’t like it one bit,” Arion ground out. “Can’t you report him? Oh, wait. You were doing something illegal.”

“And it’s the only time I’ve ever been caught when doing something I’m not supposed to be doing,” Elvine huffed. “Nine hundred years of sneaking out, and some anus stumbles on me with blind luck.”

“Asshole. There I said it for you.” Arion gave a firm nod. “He’s a predator, an asshole who has free rein to impose his sick pleasures on those who can’t fight back.”

Arion had said that a little too vehemently. Jax understood his mate’s rage because he felt the same way, but the guy sounded as if he was talking from experience.

“Exactly.” Elvine waved a hand at Arion. “You understand, honey bunny. Big, mean men who think people of short stature are easy prey. Men who wouldn’t think twice about torturing you.”

Arion snorted. “Trust me, I know the type.” He blinked a few times, realizing too late he’d walked right into that one.

“So who is your meanie?” Elvine asked in a softer tone. “Who thinks they can hurt you and get away with it, Arion?”

“That was foul,” he ground out, anger filling his amber eyes. “I don’t appreciate my own mate setting me up like that.”

Jax grabbed the vampire before he could use his inhuman speed to run away. He pulled Arion’s back to his chest then folded his arm around him. Now Jax had both of them tucked close to him.

Elvine turned and stroked Arion’s cheek, smiling at him with pain in her eyes.

Seeing his mates hurting so badly made Jax want to go on the hunt. He wanted to tear out that guard’s throat and eviscerate whoever had tortured Arion.

“I wasn’t setting you up.” Elvine ran her small fingers over Arion’s chest, causing him to flinch. “I know you feel as if you can’t trust anyone, but what we were doing is called sharing. There wasn’t any malice involved, honey bunny.”

“I don’t want to have any secrets between us,” Jax added. “I’m not saying to share everything, but keeping the harmful secrets inside will only cause them to fester.” He kissed Arion’s forehead. “We’re not going to force you to tell us. You’ll always have choices, babe. But we can’t help to protect you if we don’t know what we’re protecting you from.”

Jax’s fucking heart hurt seeing the struggle in his mate’s eyes. Arion was fighting internally, debating on whether he should tell them or keep his secrets locked inside.

As badly as Jax wanted to tell him what to do, the ultimate decision had to be Arion’s. The vampire had had too many of his choices taken away, and Jax wanted to give Arion back some of the power over his life that had been stolen from him.

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