“You’re not going to put me down?” I ask, rolling my eyes.
“Nope.”
“Caveman,” I grumble.
“I had to be away from you far too much today against every instinct to keep you pinned to my side. Don’t fight me on this, please?” Jayden whispers.
“Okay,” I say. “You can carry me up the stairs or you can shadow walk us to my floor to make it faster.”
Jayden’s eyes widen as his shadows wrap around us, darkening the stairwell and transporting us to my floor directly in front of my door. I hold my hand out and press it against the door. It swings open and Jayden rushes inside, depositing me on the bed.
Jayden leans down and devours my lips in a heated kiss, pressing his tongue to my lips to deepen it. I open my mouth to remind him we have things to do before any kind of sexy times can happen, but he takes it as an invitation to deepen the kiss.
“Jayden.” I smack his chest, giggling at him. “We still have things to do.”
“I need to be close to you. My instincts are riding me hard after seeing you be a badass at the training fields.”
I push at his chest. “All I did was boss people around at the training field today. Hardly badass.”
“I almost want you to boss me around like that. It’s fucking hot. If I bullied someone, would you treat me that way?” Jayden whispers.
“No, because you would never bully someone. We need to talk to Hades, my love. We can explore your submissive side after our chat.” I lean up and kiss his lips.
“Fine, but we’re snuggling up on the couch for this chat.” He scoops me up in his arms and settles on the couch with me in his lap.
I grab my bag from the table and pull out the communication shell. “Hades, God of the Underworld.”
The mist clears and Hades’ smile widens as he sees who’s calling him. “Children, so good to see you.”
“Lord Hades,” I say, bowing my head slightly.
“None of that,” Hades chuckles. “You’re our savior, young one. You don’t have to bow to me. Plus, you’re with my son. You’re family.”
“Thank you, Hades,” I say, cheeks heating.
I attempt to wiggle off Jayden’s lap but his arm is banded around my middle in a grip like steel. He’s not letting me go anytime soon so I slump back into his hard chest. Hades chuckles at my obvious embarrassment.
“You two are so refreshing together,” Hades says with a sigh. “But I’m guessing this isn’t a social call.”
“No, it’s not.” Jayden shakes his head.
“Thank you for getting the message to Greyson about the rogues from his brother. We were hoping we could keep that line of communication open.”
“Of course. I believe Orpheus communicated to the alpha that he could contact you through that line of communication anytime he had a need to communicate with you at the academy.” Hades nods.
“Good, we have reason to believe that the rogues are connected to us. One of the wolves in Arizona was infected with ichor and is in the wind.”
“That does present a problem. I do not believe that will be your battle to face, though. Things are changing in the realms, but I think your trials are almost complete, though others will have to step up to claim their place in this new world.”
“I don’t like this. It’s because of us that the shifter world is having this issue. We should help fix it.” I slump against Jayden.
“How about you focus on one war at a time.” Hades chuckles.
“I’ve been telling her that,” Jayden says.
I shoot him a glare over my shoulder. Jayden shrugs and squeezes me tighter. He’s not wrong. I just don’t feel right about leaving a mess we inadvertently caused to someone else.
“We also wanted to check on Hermes. We hope to leave tomorrow to go find his caduceus,” I say.
