<b>Chapter </b><b>26 </b>
<b>Daxon </b><b>POV </b>
Ashrian’s ce wasn’t what I expected.
I thought vampireirs would be dark crypts or blood stained dungeons full of cloaks and caskets and fuck all else.
Instead, I found books. So many damn books<b>. </b>
Shelves towered from floor to ceiling, filled with hand written journals, ancient scrolls, maps marked with blood trails and sigils I didn’t understand. A massive desk dominated the center of the space, littered with papers, feathers, ss vials, and ck and silver daggers so old they looked like they belonged in a damn museum. <fneead> Newest update provided by F?nd-Novel</fneead>
“This is… your house?” <b>I </b>asked slowly, stepping over a runed circle etched into the stone floor. “I figured you’d be sleeping in <b>a </b>coffin or something cliché.”
Ashrian gave a dry chuckle, tossing a thick leather satchel onto the desk and beginning to fill it with documents. “I did that once, for the aesthetic. Got a kink in my back for a century.<b>” </b>
Despite myself, <b>I </b>smirked.
I wasn’t here to like the guy. And yet… everything in this ce screamed protector. Not predator.
He moved through the space with purpose, grabbing specific books, tucking in rolled maps, and checking a locked cab where I caught the glint of fae charms and protective talismans.
“This one,” he said quietly, holding up a worn journal bound in silver threaded leather. “It’s a record of every hybrid I’ve helped hide. Nearly four hundred over thest 150 years.”
I froze. “Four hundred?<b>” </b>
He nodded, tucking it carefully into the satchel. “Most were children. Some were born inbs, bred like livestock. I got them out. Or I tried.”
Talon stirred in my chest, ears perked. “He’s not lying.”
I watched Ashrian move<b>, </b>fast but graceful, the edge <b>of </b>urgency in every motion. He wasn’t packing to run, he was evacuating. Strategic. Efficient. Like a soldier who knew this safehouse waspromised and time was short,
On a wall beside the hearth, I spotted something that stopped me cold, a painting. Faded but beautiful, a fae woman with a baby in her arms. She had Elowen’s hair. Her eyes<b>. </b>
<b>Ash </b>caught me looking. “That’s her mother. She gave it to me… years ago. Swore to me that her daughter would save them all. I <b>didn’t </b><b>believe </b>in prophecies back then.”
“And now?<b>” </b>I asked, voice quieter than I meant it to be.
<b>He </b>looked straight at me. “Now I’ve touched her magic. Now I feel the pull.”
Talon huffed, not in warning, but in understanding. He’s one of us.” I grabbed the photo to give to Elowen. She’ll appreciate seeing her mother. He nodded.
64
I didn’t answer right away. Just helped him gather the rest. Weapons. Rations. Crystals and coded scrolls.
Before we left, he paused by the doorway. He looked back once, shoulders heavy.
“This ce was my peace,” he said softly. “But she’s worth more than peace.”
Something inside me shifted.
I’d hated him. For being a vampire. For touching what was mine. But the truth was… he was fighting the same damn war I was. And he’d been fighting it alone.
1 pped him on the shoulder. “Come on, bloodsucker. Let’s go home.”
His eyes gleamed with something almost like relief.
And for the first time since he showed up, I didn’t hate him for it.
<b>Elowen POV </b>
The portal shimmered like someone had sliced open the air with a silver de. I barely had time to toss the throw nket over my legs and shove my empty cupcake wrapper under the couch cushion when they stepped through.
Daxon first, grim and gorgeous as ever, his jaw clenched and hair tousled from the wind. His golden eyes swept the room like a goddamn searchlight until theynded on me, and softened instantly.
And then Ashrian followed, cool as night, carrying a worn satchel that definitely screamed ssified shit inside. His obsidian eyes flicked to mine, and something in my chest thumped so hard I swear the air vibrated.
Lyssira was going wild like a damn pup in our mind link. “Mate. Mate’s back. Our tall, broody, bitey one. I want to lick his fangs<b>.</b><b>” </b>
I snorted and Ashrian grinned wickedly, showing off those sexy fangs. My thighs quivered as my arousal spiked and I snapped, “You’re not helping, Lyssi.”
‘I am absolutely helping. Bite the tall one, ride the growly one. We are WINNING.”
Talon (grumbling into the link)‘She’s not wrong.”
Me ‘Oh my goddess, you’re both feral.”
Talon, “No, we’re both mated to a walking orgasm and a shadow prince. You’re justte to eptance, sweetheart.”
<b>The </b>boys grinned and nodded their agreement because everyone could hear this mind conversation and my cheeks med red.
<b>Ash </b>set his bag down and straightened, brushing off invisible dust like a literal vampire runway model. Daxon dropped onto <b>the </b><b>couch </b>beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders like it was his full time job…which honestly, it kinda was now.
“Miss me<b>?</b>” he murmured into my hair.
:
<b>64 </b>
Before I could answer, Ash was suddenly in front of me too, holding out a crystal with ancient sigils glowing along the edge. “This holds everything I couldn’t carry. Names, Safe houses. If I die, it goes to you.”
I blinked. “Well, damn. Hello to you too.”
Lyssira in our mind link, “Ugh. He’s noble. I hate how wet that makes me.” Ashrian’s huge grin made me giggle.
Talon mumbled, ‘I swear to the moons, if she ever calls me noble, I’m yeeting myself off a cliff<b>.</b><b>” </b>
Ash tilted his head. “You’re blushing.”
“I’m overstimted,” I hissed under my breath.
Daxon grunted andughed, pulling me tighter. “You’ll be over something if you keep looking at him like that.”
Ash just smirked. “Jealousy looks good on you, Alpha.<b>” </b>
Lyssira purred, “Let them fight. Winner gets to knot us.”
My cheeks burned as the boysughed. “LYSSI STOP.”
The banter spiraled in my head as they unpacked, coordinated with the Alpha’s staff<b>, </b>and briefed the Luna. I was supposed to be listening to strategic updates about Scond and danger and mission prep. But honestly? All I could think about was that damn prophecy.
Fated mates. Plural.
And judging by the way my body reacted just being near these two?
<b>I </b>was so very screwed.
And not nearly enough.
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