Page 75 of Laid Bare

My beautiful goddessplastered her exhausted self across Axel’s naked chest as soon as he laid down, quickly falling asleep, but I can’t quite settle down enough yet to close my eyes, because there’s something else plaguing me besides jelly legs.

Bailey’s words from earlier.

I like them. I almost kissed Zane. There’s something there with them, I just don’t know what.

I’m the biggest advocate for Bailey finding her mates. She needs them if she has any hope of surviving in this world. Not only to help stabilize her emotions and her magic, but also because she’ll never be truly fulfilled unless she has them all.

And there’s no telling just how many she’ll actually end up with.

Axel and I are a given. Then there’s the asshole Hudson, who’s been surprisingly okay. Not that I’d tell the Lycan fucker that. He’s done what I told him to do, and that’s to leave Bailey alone in the academy. But the big, hairy bastard protected her when Axel and I couldn’t. He shielded her against the masses, ready to put his life on the line for her.

Like any good mate should.

It was that action alone that makes me think he’s changing, wanting to be better. For her. And I actually respect the dick for it.

But at the end of the day, it’s Bailey’s choice whether she accepts him or not.

Then we have the twins. They’ve been hovering around her more than what simple bodyguards would. Axel and I have seen the looks they both throw her way, thinking we don’t see them. But we do. We see it all. Plus, I can’t forget about that little stunt when we left for the human sector.

I scrub my fingers through my black hair with a quiet groan.

At this rate, I’ll never fall asleep unless I talk to them, figure out their angle.

Do they like her? Do they not? Is this all a game to them and they’re toying with her?

“You’re thinking way too fucking loud,” Axel grumbles, tightening his arms around our mate. “Just go talk to them.”

“How?”

“Because you’ve been throwing questioning looks at them all damn day. Now shhh. I’m sleeping.”

Aero huffs in agreement as he noses open the main door, trotting into the room. He jumps up onto the foot of the bed before flopping one of his pink wings over his face to block me out.

Fucking grouchy vampire and pissy Pegasus.

Two peas in a pod, they are. I swear.

My bare feet sink into the plush black rug as I climb off the bed, careful not to disturb the three sleeping beauties. My sweatpants are still where I tossed them, and I throw them on before venturing out, clicking the door closed behind me.

The main living area is dark, but that doesn’t mean they’re asleep. I know a few things about demons, and their sleeping habits is one of them.

All is quiet as I leave the bedroom behind, though Aero’s snores filter through the wood, adding a background track to my travels across the dorm.

Just like I predicted, the doors to the twin’s rooms are cracked open, light spilling from within. I can hear what sounds like a television show playing in Bane’s room, while Zane’s is suspiciously quiet.

My knuckles rap against the white surface of Bane’s, figuring he’ll be better to go and find out what Zane’s up to. It could be just about anything, and the last thing I want is to walk in on a wanking demon.

Bane opens his door a moment later, bare chest on display and basketball shorts resting low on his hips. His wings twitch behind him, probably frustrated with me disturbing his night, but I don’t give a fuck. This is about Bailey, and if she’s important to him, he’ll suck it the fuck up.

“What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you and Zane about something.”

He raises a dark brow but doesn’t otherwise question me.

“Zane!” he bellows, not worried about waking anyone up.Asshole. “Put your dicks away. The half-blood wants to talk to us.”

“Watch it, demon,” I growl, pushing up into his space.

---