“Hey Jax, the meeting’s upstairs,” Sam said over her shoulder.
Rae turned to face the one with the scar down his face, his dark navy eyes dropping to her necklace. He tried to reach for it, but she shuffled back, the stool toppling between them with a clang.
“Hey man, you okay?” Sam asked, tone bright compared to the growing tension. He seemed relaxed, elbows resting against the bar, but she noticed the slight tightening of his muscles. As if ready to move.
Jax seemed to ignore Sam entirely, his frown seeming to pull the scar. Up close she noticed the end slicing thinly through his top lip, mouth moving as he spoke in a language she’d never heard, the words somehow calming despite her not understanding.
“Where did you get the necklace?” he said, returning to English. His voice wasn’t as rough, his words spoken calmer than before.
Rae clutched the pendant tighter, ignoring the pain. It took her a second to realise it had changed, lines forming in the centre stone that definitely weren’t there before.
“My mother gave it to me,” she found herself saying, fascinated at the change. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” he said, just as confused as she was. “Has it done it before?”
“No… wait.” She thought back. “It reacted to you last time, but I didn’t see whether it changed.”
“It’s celestrial.”
“Like the angels?” Rae frowned. “But my mother was a human. Why would she give me a necklace that’s celestrial?”
“What about your da?” Sam asked, just as curious.
Rae shook her head. “Witch.”
“Do you know what it is?” Jax asked.
Rae bristled at his tone, back to his usual harshness. “A necklace, obviously.”
Irritation flashed across his face. “I think it’s a relic, one that only works if you have celestrial blood. The magic is old, long dead.” His eyes dipped once more. “It roughly translates to child of the gods.”
Chapter18
Titus
Titus ignored his beast, the bastard growling at him for leaving Rae. He’d left her downstairs for a reason, not trusting her with any more knowledge than she already knew.
What he found on the Guildmaster’s computer had turned his blood cold. He knew who’d ordered his hit, he just had to confirm it with evidence, which was one of the reasons he’d asked all his available brothers to meet.
“Ti,” Riley said in greeting from his desk, with Xander and Kace standing just behind. Just like in Blood Bar, the main wall was specialised glass, with the patrons seeing nothing but mirrors, and the office having an unfiltered view of everything below.
“You move Laolao? My parents?”
“We’re working on it,” Xander answered, turning away from the view of the bar below. “Your grandmother’s fuming. Apparently she didn’t want to leave her place, and Axel’s currently coaxing her as we speak. We found your parents in Greece. Mykonos, specifically.”
Titus’s head jerked to the side. He wasn’t sure why he was so shocked, it wasn’t like his parents ever updated him on anything to do with their lives. Only calling when it was convenient for them, or when they needed something. “They moving to a safehouse there?”
Riley sat back in his seat, the office space taking up the right side of the room. “No, I’m flying them in where we can keep a closer eye on them, at least until the threat’s been removed.”
Titus clenched his fists, surprised at how easily they’d hopped on a plane when he’d barely seen them as a kid, and even less now he was an adult.
“Which will be in the next five, six hours or so,” Lucifer added, leaning against the lip of the large poker table to the furthest left. “I’ll pick them up from the airport.”
Kace sniggered, moving to sit in the chair closest to the glass wall. “You can’t drive, Batboy.”
Lucy looked over his shoulder. “Alright Psycho, I’m sure I can figure it out.”
“Axel’s already on guard duty,” Riley said, standing up and moving to the seat beside Kace. “He’ll pick them up from the airport, he’s a face they’ll recognise.”
