Page 26

Chapter 26

Mine

Xavier

The moment we realized Cassius was missing, a cold dread settled over me. I shared a quick, worried glance with Blake before we sprang into action, searching the glass-and-stone labyrinth of a house for any sign of him. We split up, calling his name and checking every room, but there was no response. Warrick, who’d been in the living room reading a book, joined in on the search.

Blake and I regrouped near the back door. “He has to be around here somewhere,” Blake said, running a hand through his hair. “We need to keep looking. Could he have gone outside?”

“I hope not.”

We stepped outside, the cool desert air hitting our faces. The stars twinkled brightly above us, a stark contrast to the worry gnawing at my gut. We scanned the area, and that’s when I saw him—Cassius, sitting on a large rock, his head in his hands .

“There he is,” I said, nudging Blake and pointing in Cassius’s direction. We hurried over to him, relief flooding through me at the sight of our friend, albeit a distressed one.

“Cassius, what’s going on?” Blake asked gently as we approached. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Cassius lifted his head, his eyes red and filled with hurt. He’d been crying. “I think my dad is involved in all of this,” he said, his voice trembling.

“What makes you say that?” Blake asked, sitting down beside him, trying to keep my tone calm even through my thoughts.

Cassius pulled out his phone and handed it to me. “I recorded a call with him. You need to hear it.”

Blake and I listened to the recording, our expressions growing more serious with each passing second.

“Dad, where have you been? You haven’t been answering any of my calls,” Cassius had asked.

“I can’t talk right now. It’s complicated.”

“Complicated? What do you mean? Are you involved with my uncle?” Cassius had asked point-blank. I looked to Blake. He had a hand over his mouth.

“Cassius, there are things you don’t understand. I can’t explain right now.”

“Dad, please. We found a recent photo of you with him. You said you hadn’t spoken to him in years. Why would you lie?”

“It’s not what you think. I had no choice.” His father sounded angry, like a snarling dog being pushed into a corner.

“No choice? What are you talking about? Dad, are you working with the Time Turners? Tell me the truth. Please.” The pain in his voice was as clear as the light coming from the stars above.

There was a pause. Long, stabbing. Even Blake had appeared to stop breathing. “I can’t… I can’t talk about it. I’m sorry. This has to happen. Don’t get involved. Don’t try anything stupid.”

And with that, the call hung up. The silence fell on us like a guillotine.

Holy fucking shit.

Cassius’ dad was involved. Blake embraced his friend in a tight hug. Cass dropped his head into the crook of Blake’s neck and started to cry. I rubbed his back. The cries became louder, waves of pain leaving his body like an exorcism. This was a torment I didn’t want to see inflicted on anyone. Even my own father, who’d been distant for most of my life, would never have betrayed me like this. There was something about going against your own blood that felt demented. It shouldn’t be.

“Oh Cass, oh Cass, I’m so fucking sorry,” Blake said, tears in his eyes.

Cassius lifted his head and rubbed his face. He looked out at the distant rock formations, the quiet dessert, the silent expanse.

The app.

Shit.

“Cassius, there was something else. That app you have. We believe they’re using it to track us.” I couldn’t beat around the bush about it. Every second he had that app meant another second we were placed in danger .

“I know,” he said, surprising us. “I figured it out after the call. But I had already deleted it after the attack on the castle. I got a bad feeling then, but the call just confirm—” He couldn’t finish before another rush of tears took over.

We let him get it out, sitting on either side of him.

Cassius sniffled and started to regain control. After a few moments longer, he had stopped crying altogether. “I think I’m going to go to bed. I want this day to be over already. But there’s something else,” he said. “I think I know where the lab might be.”

That had us whipping our heads in his direction. “Really?” Blake asked. “How?”

“I wasn’t the only one using the tracking app. My dad was too. For a little bit, at least. I remembered checking it a few times and seeing him go to a random address. I checked it out online. It’s a warehouse in the middle of nowhere, close to our home in DC. That must be where it is.”

My jaw dropped. Blake looked equally as shocked. “That’s huge, Cass.”

“I guess.” There was defeat in Cassius’ demeanor. Understandable considering how this information came to be discovered. “It could be another dead end, but at least it’s something.”

“It is definitely something,” I said. “Thank you, and I’m sorry you have to go through this.”

“We also aren’t entirely sure why your dad is involved,” Blake said. “Things aren’t always what they seem. Maybe he’s got a good reason.”

Cassius shook his head and stood. “I highly doubt it. But I like the optimism. You were always great with that.”

“It’s how I keep afloat.”

Cassius’ lower lip twitched. I could tell more tears were on their way, but before they could manifest, he excused himself.

Blake and I stayed outside for a few moments longer, processing everything we’d just heard. After a bit, I stood. “Let’s head back inside,” I said.

Blake nodded and grabbed my hand. I pulled him up onto his feet.

We walked back to my bedroom under a cloak of heavy silence. This was a revelation that none of us were expecting or wanting. Cassius’ own dad? He was working all this alongside his brother? It made sense the more I thought about it. Like one of those logic puzzles on the LSAT I was always so terrible with. It would take me a while to put together the pieces, just how this entire hunt for the dagger had been.

Finally, the pieces were falling into place.

But at what cost?

Once back in the bedroom, Blake closed the door and called his father. He had to be the first to know about this. I stepped into the bathroom, wanting to give him space for the call. It would be difficult for the vice president to reconcile the fact that his best friend had been working against him this entire time. He’d used his power in the government, his access to top secret areas, in order to steal that dagger.

I leaned against the sink. The deep green chevron tiles made the bronze mirror pop. I fixed a rogue curl in my hair, running a hand through the rest of it. We had a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

A knock sounded. I opened the door. Blake smiled, the corners of his lips faltering a bit. “That was interesting.”

“What happened?” I walked out and moved to the bed. I sat on the edge of it. Blake moved to my desk, leaning against it. He crossed his arms. The sleep that had been clouding his gaze was gone. He looked at me with sharp eyes.

“He had a feeling. He said he felt like something was happening on the inside. It’s why he didn’t want to give me a Secret Service detail. He was scared it ran that deep. That he’d be putting me in danger. He just didn’t realize how bad it was.”

“Do they know where Joshua is now?”

Blake shook his head. He came over to the bed and sat at my side. “Nope. He’s gone MIA.”

“Did you tell him we knew where the lab could be?”

“I didn’t… After he said he was scared of an inside job, I got nervous. I don’t know who’s listening to those calls.” Blake rubbed the bridge of his nose. I could almost sense the tension pouring from his tight shoulders and neck. I reached over and gently squeezed his neck. He dropped his head down with a sigh and rolled it.

“You did good. That was a smart decision.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. The tighter we keep this circle the better, at least for now.”

I moved from his neck to his shoulder, kneading out a knot with my thumb. He groaned and leaned into it. Our legs touched, the hair of his brushing against mine. “I just feel so bad for Cass. I can’t believe it. Just… why? Why would he do this?”

“He must have been corrupted somehow. With one of the locks broken, the Chaos King might be spreading more of his influence. Maybe he got into Joshua’s ear somehow. Lead him astray.”

“Maybe. Or maybe this was just him all along? Everyone has a little chaos inside them. I’ve come to realize that you just never know how that chaos manifests in someone. It’s whether you choose to contain it or release it that matters. It’s what happened with my stalker. I really didn’t expect him to be an unhinged psycho when we first met or the couple dates after. There were no red flags until there were about a dozen all at once.”

“I’m sorry. Trusting anyone after that would be difficult for most people.” It hurt me that Blake had gone through such a traumatizing experience. As a bodyguard, I was naturally predisposed to keeping my suspicions high around others, but Blake didn’t deserve that kind of worry and second-guessing.

“It was hard for a long time. And I still don’t trust all that easy.” He leaned his head on my shoulder as I worked on massaging the other side of his neck. “It really wasn’t until I met you that I found someone new I could fully trust.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm. You’re the first person I’ve opened up to in a really long time.” He lifted his head from my shoulder. I dropped my hand so it rested on his lower back. His heat pushed through the T-shirt, warming my palm.

“I haven’t felt this close to anyone in a while either.”

“Who would have ever guessed a handsome bodyguard would fall for his slightly awkward client?”

“I could have guessed from the second I laid eyes on my slightly awkward but extremely sexy client.”

“Sexy, huh?”

“The sexiest.” I placed two fingers under his chin as I examined his face. “You’re beautiful, Blake. In a way that would rival the finest painting. Yes, you have a kind heart and a welcoming soul, and that all enhances the physical features that drew me in like a crackling hearth in the dead of winter. You have beautiful lips, arresting eyes, a smile that could melt a glacier, hair that always looks styled whether you just woke up or stepped out of the shower. You’re perfect, Blake. In every way, shape, and form. I’m lucky to have you at my side.”

A rosy pink blush took over half of Blake’s face, creeping down his neck. “You’re going to make me haywire, X. Either that or you’re going to make me self-destruct.”

“I’m serious. About every word I said. You are perfect. You are everything.”

You are mine.

The thought came unbidden and carried with it an ocean’s worth of truth. I had to speak it, had to cement this. “Blake… I’ve found someone special in you, and I don’t want to let that go. Whether my contract to protect you is up or not, I want to be by your side and you by mine.”

He blinked a couple of times as the weight of my words settled onto him. “Are you—is this—are you asking me to be your boyfriend?”

“Would the answer be yes if I were?”

His grin spread across his face like light from a rising sun. “It’s a definite yes.”

My heart warmed, and I could feel a similar flush of heat cross against my chest. It wasn’t from being bashful or shy; it came from excitement, from flames that roared between my ribs, inside of my heart. I may not have been a fire dragon, but I contained an entire blaze inside of me that only Blake could quench .

My hand went back to his neck as I leaned forward and claimed him with a kiss that only fanned the wildfire. He gripped my bicep, squeezing. I pushed my tongue between his lips, dancing with his, tasting him.

Instantly, I became rock fucking hard. His lips on mine cast a spell of absolute lust over me. I moaned into his mouth. He dropped a hand between my legs, finding my arousal, squeezing. He answered me with a moan of his own. I swallowed it hungrily.

I had wanted this from the moment we met; I just hadn’t known it back then. But this kiss that cemented our bond had been written in the stars. It was our destiny to come together, and tonight, I had plans to make us fulfill that destiny in more ways than one.

I took off his shirt, laid him back on the bed, took off his shorts. I took a second to stand and get completely naked, my cock jutting out, before I got back onto the bed. I rubbed his legs and watched as his bulge responded, his cock straining against his light blue briefs. I smiled as his eyes locked with mine.

“Look at how sexy you are,” I said, reaching down and massaging his feet. He dropped his head back on a pillow and shut his eyes.

“I want you, X. I want you to give it to me tonight. Fuck me.”

I arched a brow, my smirk turning devilish. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, please, I want to give you my virginity. I trust you to take it. To make me feel good.”

I leaned down, caging his body underneath mine. I pushed his legs open with mine and rutted my hips. He responded with a whimper that nearly had me self-combusting.

He reached down and pulled off his briefs. The warmth from our stiff cocks rubbing together was heavenly. I kept us there, locked together, as I embraced him, kissing him. Licking his chin, sucking on his neck, getting him used to feeling me on top of him. His hands roamed my body, squeezing on my back and kneading my ass, spreading me apart. He thrust upward, pressing himself against me.

I put two fingers against his lower lip before I slid them into his mouth. He sucked them, swirling his tongue around my fingers. “That’s it, make them nice and wet.”

He smiled around my fingers before I pulled them out and brought them down between his legs. I went underneath his balls and slipped underneath him, finding his tight hole. He gasped as I pressed against him.

“That’s it, relax, breathe into my touch.”

He did as I asked. I circled his hole before I teased him with the tip of one finger. His eyes opened wide. “Go slow,” he said, breathy.

“Of course. Tell me whenever something hurts or feels uncomfortable, and I’ll adjust. This is about you.”

“That feels great,” he said, eyes rolling back as I pushed my finger in deeper.

“You’re so tight, Blake.” His body opened for me. I rubbed against his inner walls, feeling the velvety smooth muscle react to my touch. I sunk in deeper, and his eyes widened.

“Ow, whoa, that hurt.”

“Sorry,” I said, slowly pulling out. “Here, I’ve got an idea on how we can get you more relaxed. ”

I stood and walked across my bedroom, going to the closet. Blake sat up and watched me. Inside my closet, I reached for a black bag at the top of a shelf. I opened it and took out a slick bottle of massage oil.

With a wink, I said, “Turn over and let me make you feel like a god.”