Sapphyra
My wings held me aloft as I examined the men through the hole in the wall. The men that have given and taken my stress for the past few months. And in Wyatt's case, the past century.
I almost believed that he was innocent. Almost.
“What?” Wyatt whispered, retracting his claws. “I would never hurt—” the glare I gave him ended that sentence real quick.
“Never hurt me? Yeah, you really don’t want to lie to me right now.” The wall shook slightly as I landed in front of them. A familiar heat rolled off of me in waves. I used to wonder where it came from but after that talk with Phereda I knew.
It was my dragon trying to break free.
Bad things happened when I let it out and my emotions were spiking. So despite me wanting to rip off Wyatt’s head, I counted to ten and breathed slowly to reel in my anger. It still didn't stop the smoke escaping my nose.
“What happened to you?” Noa was still on edge but he never once directed that aggression towards Wyatt, at least not in front of me. Must be nice I guess.
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Stop it, Sapph. It’s not Noa’s fault—at least it better not be. He doesn’t deserve this anger.
“Sapph.” He relaxed his body and took a step towards me, hands raised like I was a wounded animal ready to bite. In a lot of ways I was.
“Don’t.” I held up a hand, examining the boy.
“We’ll talk about it later. Right now I’m more interested in why there's a new hole in my building and why there's a naked kid on the floor.”
The boy blushed and tried to cover himself. His whimper tugged at my heart strings, cooling off the heat in my soul into something warm and soft. While I walked over to him, my tail grabbed an old lab coat that was stuck in a drawer. It pressed the coat into his hands while I reached a hand up towards his head.
He flinched.
“Don’t be such a baby. I’m just checking to see if they hurt you.”
“Wasn’t me.” Noa raised a brow and smirked at Guy.
“Hey! It wasn’t my fault! It’s not like I knew he’d be here.” Guy crossed his arms and pouted.
So he was already here when Guy arrived. That’s not good.
“What’s your name, kid?” I asked as softly as I could. His eyes…they were the same as Wyatt’s. Come to think of it, they had the same nose and jaw structure. But there's no way he’s a relative of Wyatt’s…
“Ezekiel.” He muttered, moving the heavy dreadlocks out of his face, “Ezekiel Jones.”
Jones. Wyatt’s family name before he changed it to Hart. I was really hoping not to be drawn into his orbit again but it looks like I have no choice.
This boy needs help.
Dammit I hate being wrong. I glanced at Wyatt, expecting his input. But of course he was all too busy staring at my injured arm. An arm that still wasn’t healing oddly enough.
I’ve punched the moon before and my arm was completely fine before I hit earth’s orbit again, so why was this taking so long? Is something wrong with my body?
“Well, Ezekiel Jones, I want to hear all about you. But first, you look like you could use a shower and a good hot meal, yeah?”
I tilted my head to the side with a small smile, waiting for a nod.
He turned away from me with darkened cheeks, eyes on the floor.
Narrowing my eyes, my tail slapped the ground, making him and everyone else in the room jump to attention.
“That wasn’t a request, Zeke. Get up. You’re getting cared for.”
Was I being overly aggressive? Yep. Did I care? Not one bit.
He scrambled to his feet and walked in step with me. I nodded at Guy, motioning for him to follow with a flick of my tail. Floating along behind me, he waited until I got Zeke settled into the showers before speaking to me.
“Wait.” I hold up a hand, glancing around the corner for Wyatt and Noa. It was clear. I gave Guy the go ahead.
“I didn’t tell them.” He admitted, visibly stressed.
“I didn’t ask you to lie,” He glanced at me, holding his gut like he was about to throw up. “But I’m glad you didn’t say anything. I have no doubt Wyatt would have tried to leverage his sins against mine if he knew what was really going on.”
And try to guilt trip me back to his side.
“You should tell him.” Guy fully turned to me, unease settled in his eyes. “I don’t like keeping secrets, especially from my mates. It’s not right.”
“Mates.” I spit out the word. “You should reject him the first chance you get. Trust me, when I get the chance I will.”
Liar.
Something sparkly on my hand caught my attention. My wedding ring. It still held up after all these years. A small golden band with white edges and a single ruby stone baked into the ring. This would be a good place to start.
When the moment is right, I’ll toss this damn thing into the ether and forget about it and him.
“Sapph, you need to tell him or I will.” He shook his head. “I refuse to add any more toxicity to this relationship.” Guy gently took one of my hands in his, cradling it like I might fly away.
“All I want is to help you both heal. We’d be unstoppable together.”
I grit my teeth, listening to my jaw snap shut like a snapping turtle. Gently, I pulled myself free from his grasp.
“I love how gentle you are, Guy. How you wanna help fix what he broke…but I believe it’s beyond fixing. There's something you should know about Wyatt. About how sick and depraved he and his ‘devotion’ can be.”
My lips curled inward while I told Guy every gruesome detail about what I’d found in the underground bunker. How Barbie had been held captive in there, about the door, all of it. When I finished, my hands were trembling with rage. I expected the same from Guy, maybe a little sympathy for Wyatt.
To his credit, he placed a hand on the wall to steady himself like I’d just knocked the wind out of his sails. He breathed through the trauma. His nails buried into the wall but after a tiny moment, his eyes widened and his head snapped up.
What I didn’t expect was for him to say this.
“Sapph, I don’t think he did it.” The look I gave him said exactly how crazy I thought he was.
“Hear me out, Sapphyra. I think I’ve figured out what’s been going on.” He pulled me in his arms, leaning in close.
“I know who’s been playing us.”
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