Page 40 of Silent Jay

I shook my head. I couldn’t give him kids. That was the only reason they even brought humans to the island.

“You are.” He stepped forward and put two fingers under my chin. “I felt it in The Hunt, and we confirmed it with that kiss.”

I bit my bottom lip. Every piece of me grew warm as his tongue twirling with mine filled my memory.

Yeah. That kiss.

Shaking myself out of the memory, I pointed at my neck.

Rehan let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know what Tyson told you, but that piece of work has a lot to answer for.” He pulled his fingers away. “Sit. I got something for you.”

Crossing my legs, I sunk into the couch that was ten million times more comfortable than it looked. Rehan handed me a laptop, and I had to stop myself from throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him.

You go, girl. Suck his face off.

So, Tyson’s mate mark can shock his balls?

Right, I forgot.

I rolled my eyes before setting the computer onto one of the decorative pillows and placing both on my lap. The lid slid open at my touch, and a chat box floated in front of a generic background of blue. The names Rehan and Not Betty sat at the top of the chat.

A tear welled in my eye, and I pushed it away. I spent two days trying to be Betty, then the next trying to fix my lies. Rehan already knew.

Not Betty:Not Betty?

Rehan:There’s no way your paperwork is right.

I looked from the screen to peer at him, leaning over his laptop.

Not Betty:You know you can talk, right?

Rehan:But you can’t, and I want us to be on equal footing.

My heart fluttered, and I blushed like a fucking schoolgirl before peeking up at him through my lashes. His soft smile melted my heart.

Fuck.

He was being nice. What were the chances he was in on my abduction? Or could he be another innocent bystander like Tyson?

I studied his dark blue eyes and the slight downturn of his lips. Even if I hadn’t told him I couldn’t have kids, he’d already figured out I wasn’t Betty, and I needed help, as much as I hated admitting it.

Kissing him eased the curse on you.

Fuck, it did.

His gaze swirled with charged emotions. Despite his size, he looked at me with an open vulnerability which was too hard to fake. This shifter wasn’t in on it. Or if he was, his acting was so good it would dupe me either way.

I poked around his chat app's settings before finding where I could change my name.

Jay:Equal footing. I like it.

Rehan:So, your name’s Jay?

Jay:Jaiyana, but no one calls me that.

Rehan:When you get your voice back, you’ll have to teach me how to pronounce it.

I nodded at him, smiling. Instead of looking back at either of our computers, we sat gazing into each other’s eyes. He didn’t quite have the sculpted perfections of Tyson, but his square superhero jaw looked like he just shaved it. Faint crow’s feet kissed the sides of his wide eyes. He discovered my paperwork couldn’t be correct even without me present, so he was already a hundred times more observant than Tyson.

---