Page 27 of Laid Bare

My best friend takes a moment to release his blond hair from the tie holding it back and then shifts in the booth, leaning back with an aggrieved sigh. “The flight was fine, but it’s all the bullshit before it. Your text couldn’t have come at a better time.”

A slow sip of the whiskey in front of me leaves a burning trail down my throat. “Is Dirk still trying to throw his weight around?”

“He is the head councilman, after all.” Cassian shakes his head. “That man is going to throw around whatever he can to get what he wants. And there’s not a damn thing we can do about it while he continues to hold his position.” He grunts in displeasure and changes topics. “So how is Miss Foss holding up?” My fingers tighten around my glass at the sound of her name. “Jasper?”

“She hates me,” I mutter, squeezing my eyes shut as the glass finally shatters in my hand. “My own mate hates me.” A self-deprecating chuckle slips through my parted lips. “I wanted to give her time to get used to her new life, like you suggested I do before I tell her what she is to me. And everything has fucking snowballed from there. Now all there is is hostility every time she looks at me.”

Cassian leans forward, gripping my shoulder. “You did what you thought was right. What we thought was right. Who the hell knew she was going to be exposed the night of the gala?” He releases me and sits back, an air of contemplation surrounding him. “You know what you need? Some kind of grand gesture so she’ll stop seeing you as the bad guy.”

I snort at his ridiculousness. What kind of grand gesture will change her mind in regard to everything I’ve lied to her about? Hell, I already sleep perched outside her windows every night, guarding her from the shadows so she can rest peacefully. But that’s more in the lines of stalker territory than anything else.

“I’m serious, Jasper. Listen?—”

I tune out my best friend, ignoring his words. I listened to him when I first met Bailey and realized she was my mate. The moment she walked out of my office, I called him in a hurry and brought my worries to him. And I told him everything. Who she was. What she was. The fear I had over her being discovered. Everything.

And now, I’m left with a broken heart because my mate looks at me with such hatred. The same hatred she reserved only for Hudson—the dumbass. That motherfucker is a whole other story. He’s dead lucky he even kept his job after what he did to her. Theonlyreason he did was because he swore he’d never do another thing to hurt her. Remorse had shone so brightly in his eyes that I just couldn’t keep him from his mate—our mate.

But I put the fear of our gods in his eyes after Bailey disappeared. I threatened him with his job. Relayed that I’d give Bailey the option to reject him if she chose to. She might not even know that it’s an option since I’m sure she would have done it already. Then I heard about the confrontation between Hudson and Luka. Not that it was really a confrontation. More like a well-deserved ass beating.

“You know, Jasper,” the sound of my name pulls me from my thoughts, “you could always give up your council position.” I look at him aghast. “No, no, hear me out.” He raises his hands placatingly. “That’s what she’s ultimately upset about, right? That you’re on the council and didn’t say anything when Dirk the dick was trying to have her killed?”

I shake my head, not even entertaining the thought of giving up my position. “You know my seat on the council is something that’s been passed down for generations. My father, my grandfather. The one thing they wanted was for me to take my seat on the council. And now that I’m here, it’s not something I’m willing to give up.” Something flashes in his blue eyes, there and gone before I can question it. “Especially since Bailey’s life now hangs in the balance.”

“You’re right,” he murmurs. “Keeping her alive is what’s important. I just… Jasper, I really hope your position on the council isn’t what causes your mate to reject you. You’ve been looking for her for centuries, and now she’s here.”

She is here, and now I’ve got to get my shit together and figure out how to get her to forgive me. If she doesn’t, I’ll have to live with the regret that I didn’t stand up for her when I should have for the rest of my life. Because it should have been me who interjected during the gala, not my best friend. And I know he did it for my benefit. He didn’t want to see me lose my mate.

But it doesn’t matter.

I lost her anyway.

“Alright,class. Amazing job today. Go ahead and pack up and I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

Thaddeus doesn’t have to say it twice. It’s almost a race to see who can grab their shit and get out of the room the quickest. Or they’re trying to get as far from my demon bodyguards as possible. Both are extremely likely. But I’m definitely betting on the latter.

I’m right there with them in wanting to get far away, but really? What’s the point when my next class is rune practice with this very professor. Moreover, he’s another layer of protection walking through the halls.

The brothers and I head toward the door, Thaddeus not far behind us. When we step out into the hall, Zane and Bane take their positions—one in front and one behind—while Thaddeus walks step-by-step beside me.

As soon as our little posse is spotted, the whispers start again, the pitch rising in fervor. Instead of moving toward their next class, everyone stops and stares, not even bothering to hide where their focus is.

“Look at the skank flaunting her relationship with Professor Winterton.”

“I give it a week before he tosses her to the curb.”

“How much you want to bet she’s fucking all three of them?”

My jaw clenches, and as much as I want to snap at every single one of them, I don’t. I keep moving forward, doing what I can to ignore them. If I lose my cool, they’ll try to turn shit around on me and force Councilman Cassian’s decree.

The man already stuck his neck out for it, so I don’t need to give him a reason to regret it.

It doesn’t matter how many times Zane and Bane snarl to shut them up, it just restarts a second later, each remark getting worse.

“The guys flocking around her make me wonder just how good curiomancer pussy is.”

“I say we wait until they’re not around and find out. It’s not like she knows how to use her magic to stop us.”

That last comment makes me stumble right into the leathery wings on Zane’s back, not realizing he stopped. His head snaps in the direction of the guys chatting and laughing like they didn’t just plan to rape me. Black smoke billows from his nostrils, and sparks ignite on the very tips of his red horns. All in all, the man is absolutely terrifying, but the dumbasses don’t seem to realize what they’ve unleashed.

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