They’d been chatting about everything from daily life to magic. I didn’t read every message, but they were trying to fix her voice and something else I didn’t quite catch onto. Probably a fertility potion.
I flipped as fast as I could to the start of their chat.
Not Betty:Not Betty?
Rehan:There’s no way your paperwork’s right.
Not Betty:You know you can talk, right?
Rehan:But you can’t, and I want us to be on equal footing.
The side of Wiggle’s phone bit into my palm and cracked as I squeezed it. I quickly dropped the device before I snapped it in half. The waves roared in my ears, and I sat hard. Rehan figured it out and didn’t care. She lied on her paperwork. She came here to have kids but couldn’t, which meant she came here for her own selfish reasons.
I fisted a handful of sand. Either Rehan didn’t care, or he knew something I didn’t. I wasn’t sure which one was worse.
“Tyson?” Rehan asked, a note of actual concern in his voice.
“Feck you.” I glared at the sand while jealousy and guilt flooded my stomach.
Water and fire were opposites. I shouldn’t be anywhere near this asshole, except I was.
I pounded my fist against the sand. I should have been helping her from the beginning, not him.
I needed to fix this.
Her phone sat in the sand near my feet, and I snatched it up. Between one breath and the next, I had the settings opened. They were using the general chat service for the island, and her phone had no security on it. None. Stupid, technologically incompetent water dragons.
“What are you doing?” Rehan demanded.
I didn’t look up from her device. My fingers flew across the screen as I downloaded and installed protections and, most importantly, a chat blocker so no one could spy on their conversations except me. I added myself to her contacts and sent her a quick note.
Tyson:You will respond to my messages, or I will destroy Rehan for hiding all of this. You’re my mate, not his.
I read the message once it appeared and grimaced. I hadn’t intended to come across as aggressive, but it was too late. I took off the horrid blue case before tossing the phone back to my Wiggles. She studied the cracked screen, and the blood drained out of her face.
I flexed my back muscles. “I’m going to send TECH over to secure your place, Rehan.”
Rehan clenched his fist. “You’re not.”
I ignored him. “I require a fire ceremony.” I snapped my fingers. “Wiggles will be front and center.”
“Wiggles?” Rehan asked, pushing my mate further behind his back. “And no, that’s your problem.”
“It’s your problem.” I snarled. “You put out my fire and then took her from me.”
“You just called her broken and useless, Tyson.” Rehan punched the air in my direction. “She doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“She wears my mate mark,” I snapped, eyeing her neck. “She needs very sketchy things from me for this fertility concoction she’s cooking up.”
Rehan started lunging at me, but my mate grabbed his arm and held him back.
I took a deep breath, trying to decide how I felt about her actions. She protected me but touched him. After a few heartbeats, Rehan relaxed, and Wiggles dropped her grip on his thick bicep.
For now, they could equal out.
She took a step back, and her throw of blues and silvers brushed her thighs.
“Also,” I smirked. “I’m sending a few girls over to get her a better wardrobe.”