Page 64 of Knox

He glanced at the mortal who sat beside him, engrossed in his phone. The mortal who might be his mate. Knox clenched his fists, shadows whispering around his knuckles.

"Next time, you’re not coming along," Knox stated.

Adrian looked at him and shook his head stubbornly. "Of course I’ll come along! He’s got my friend!"

"That’s exactly why," Knox’s tone hardened, leaving no room for argument. "I don’t want him to have you too."

Adrian’s mouth opened, then closed. His cheeks reddened, and he looked away suddenly, back at his phone. Why was he still so skittish?

Knox reached out, placing a hand on Adrian’s shoulder, feeling the tension there.

"We’ll get him back," Knox said, his voice gentler. "But Caelen thought he was taking you from me. I can’t let him succeed."

Adrian nodded, though his eyes remained on his phone. After a moment, he licked his lips. "You still need my magic."

For heaven’s sake. Did Adrian still think that was the only reason he mattered? Over Adrian’s shoulder, Knox saw Lyrian and Zev shooting them glances, Zev with that knowing look in his eyes.

Just tell him he’s your mate, he seemed to want to say.

Like Knox was going to have that conversation with him while they were stuck in a metal carriage with tons of other people.

"You’re worth more than the magic you give me," he said instead.

Adrian kept his gaze fixed on the device in his hand. "That’s… um… Thank you."

He seemed uncomfortable and Knox had no idea what to do or say to change that. If only he knew what made this mortal feel so insecure. The fact that his cock wasn’t enormous? Knox didn’t care about that, and he’d thought he’d made that clear.

Maybe not clear enough?

Or maybe it wasn’t that.

Maybe what bothered Adrian was his stated dislike of anal penetration.

But that was also something Knox couldn’t discuss with him right now.

"It’s odd," Adrian said, pulling Knox out of his musings.

"What’s odd?"

"They’re not writing about the convention. I thought we’d be in big trouble for the chaos we caused, but…" He tapped on his phone’s screen. "Oh… Oh shit."

"What?"

Adrian nearly pushed the phone in Knox’s face. The screen showed the image of an orc. At first Knox wasn’t sure what he was supposed to make of that—sure, orcs weren’t his favorite people but he’d never had a problem with them. But then Knox realized that the orc in the picture was walking down a street in Adrian’s world.

"They’ve appeared all over Lancefield," Adrian said. "And not only orcs. Trolls too! They’re breaking into houses and attacking people! And Leon lives around there."

"Who is Leon?" Lyrian asked. "And where is Lancefield?"

"Leon is my friend," Adrian explained. "And he won’t respond to my messages. What if something happened to him? First Daniel, and now Leon too!"

Lyrian rubbed his chin. "Do we think Caelen has anything to do with the orcs and trolls?"

"It’s not his style," Zev said.

"No, it’s not," Knox confirmed. "All the more reason we need to investigate what is happening."

"But what about Daniel?" Adrian cut in, his mind obviously torn in a million different directions. "What will Caelen do to himwhen he finds out he’s not me? Daniel’s never been good at keeping anything to himself."