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Chapter 29
~Jade’s POV~
I couldn’t answer him, and Xade’s gaze darkened. "Tell who hurt you."
His voice was calm, but it carried weight, the kind that made it clear he wasn’t going anywhere until I spoke. The garden felt too quiet all of a sudden, like the world had leaned in to listen.
"Tales of Spice." I swallowed. "The school’s gossip centre. Soone..." My throat tightened, and the rest refused to co out.
Xade stiffened. It was subtle, but I felt it in the way his arm tensed around . His eyes turned darker. Then after about a thirty seconds, he looked down at .
"You... soone posted your nudes," he finished for , carefully, like he was trying not to make the words hurt more than they already did.
I flinched anyway.
There was a sharp, distant look in his eyes, the kind he got when he was thinking too fast and too far ahead. I knew that look now. He was mind-linking his brothers. One of them. Maybe all of them.
Panic rose in my chest at the thought of them all finding out my predicant. I tried to step back, to put space between us before I could see disappointnt or disgust cross his face.
Xade’s arms ca around my waist and pulled back, firm but not rough. His eyes sharpened. "Where do you think you’re going?"
"I—" My voice broke.
"Don’t think of running," he said quietly. "We three will protect you. Now tell , do you have any idea who did this?"
I just stared at him.
I had braced myself for jokes, for cold words or sothing that would make feel smaller than I already did. Instead, I got this. Concern and certainty. He was on my side.
Another tear slid down my cheek before I could stop it.
Xade lifted a hand and wiped it away with his thumb, then kept his hand there, like he was anchoring in place. "Hey," he murmured. "Look at ." I sniffed and did. "You’re not alone in this."
Sothing in my chest twisted painfully. "You’re not... angry?"
"Angry?" A faint, dangerous smile touched his lips. "Yes. At the person who did this, not at you."
I let out a shaky breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
He studied my face for a mont, then his tone shifted, softer, almost teasing, like he was trying to pull back from the edge. "You know, for soone who pretends to be made of ice, you cry like you’re made of glass."
"That’s not comforting," I muttered.
"It’s honest," Xade stated. "And you don’t need pretty words right now. You need the truth. The truth is, soone crossed a line, and we’re going to deal with it."
"We?" I echoed.
"Yes, we," he replied, without hesitation. "You don’t get to carry this by yourself."
For the first ti since everything started, I actually looked at him, focused, instead of the ground.
His expression wasn’t playful or distant. It was focused, protective, and sohow gentle all at once. The mix of it made my chest ache.
"I’m so tired," I admitted quietly. "I’m so tired of fighting alone."
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he drew closer, then stopped, like he was giving ti to pull away if I wanted to. When I didn’t, he lifted his hand and touched my face, as if I might shatter under his fingers.
Our foreheads almost touched, our breaths mingling. His scent cald my nerves when I inhaled.
"Jade," Xade said softly, breaking from the haze I was, "if this is too much, tell . I won’t push you."
I should have said sothing, anything. I didn’t. That was enough for Xade.
He leaned in slowly, his jade-green eyes heavy with a dark, protective heat before they drifted shut. His warm breath fanned across my lips, a soft invitation that made my pulse erratic.
I didn’t pull away; I couldn’t. Ti suspended as he tilted his head, his nose grazing mine, before he finally closed the gap and claid my lips.
Javelin heaved a sigh in my mind, and that was all I could rember aside from Xade’s lips pressed on mine.
The kiss wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t hungry. It felt like relief, warmth after standing in the cold too long. Like soone finally saying ’you don’t have to be strong right now’.
Safety eting fire.
For a second I forgot to breathe, morizing his soft lips on mine.
As though my action wasn’t enough for Xade, his other hand slid up my cheek, caressing it softly.
My lips parted, and he dove in. When Xade’s tongue swept against mine, a soft moan escaped , lost in the heat of his mouth.
My breath ca out in a shaky sigh without even thinking about it. It was every bit different from Troy’s.
His lips moved against mine again, unhurried, as if he was giving ti to breathe him in, to feel the mont instead of losing myself to it. Our breaths mingled, and I felt the soft brush of his mouth adjusting to mine, like he was learning .
My chest rose and fell against his, and I realized I was holding onto his shirt just to stay upright. When he finally eased back a fraction, our foreheads still touching, my legs felt unsteady.
I hadn’t even noticed I was trembling until his hands slid to my arms, steadying without a word.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
I nodded, even though my heart was still racing.
Suddenly his phone’s notification sound rang out. He hesitated, then his eyes narrowed.
I knew what he was thinking, and I hoped he wouldn’t.
Howbeit, Xade took out his phone with one hand. I wanted to stop him from checking it, but the look he gave was reassuring, like he already knew what I was afraid of and wasn’t going to let it hurt .
He opened it.
I saw the mont he froze. His breathing changed, and his hold on my waist tightened just a little.
Then he turned the screen toward . "Did you take this? Or did soone hack your phone?"
I shook my head imdiately. "No."
He didn’t question . He just nodded once, like my word was enough.
His eyes narrowed, that sharp brightness flickering in them. His jade-green gaze looked even more intense like this, frad by his dark hair and that dangerous calm.
He was about to pull the phone away when sothing hit .
Until now, I hadn’t really looked at the picture properly. I’d been too scared and felt betrayed that my mind blurred out the truth, my body.
As if on cue, Javelin stirred in my mind. "Wait," she said suddenly. "Stop him."
"Wait," I blurted, reaching out for his phone. Xade paused. "That’s not ." The words tumbled out before I could second-guess myself.
He searched my face. "You’re sure?"
"Yes." I nodded. "It’s not . The only person I ever sent anything like that to was..." I stopped, and the silence said the rest.
"Xander," Xade finished quietly.
"Which was by mistake," I added.
"And thankfully so," Xade said dryly. "Otherwise your backstabbing ex would have made a public show of it. He might have done this too."
I swallowed. "I know it’s fake because... my birthmark isn’t there. Not even angles can hide that."
His gaze flicked up to with interest. "Where?"
I hesitated, then sighed. "On my chest," his gaze darted to my chest, "atop my cleavage." I shut my eyes when I saw the questioning look on his face. "Between my boobs," I added quietly.
For a second there was only silence. Then I opened my eyes a little. A small, almost proud smile curved his lips. "That’s my girl."
I huffed out a weak laugh before I could stop myself.
Xade sobered quickly. "This ans it’s edited. Which ans whoever did this planned it. And planning leaves trails. No matter how skillful the perpetrators are, we would find him or her," he assured .
"You’re already thinking like a hunter," I muttered.
"That’s because soone decided to make you prey," he replied. "And I don’t like that."
We stood there for a mont, the garden quiet around us, and my heartbeat finally starting to slow.
"I don’t know how to do this," I admitted, breaking the awkward tension like I hadn’t just let my Lecturer and mate kiss inside my chaos. "Go back there and face them."
"You don’t have to do it alone," Xade said again, like he wanted the words to sink in. "Lean on . Just this once, if nothing else."
I looked at him, really looked at him, and for the first ti, I didn’t feel like I was about to fall apart.
"Okay," I whispered. Just as his hand squeezed mine, another thought crossed my mind. "But you’re a lecturer. My presence around you leaves a bad image on you." I released Xade’s hand, then gave hima small smile.
"I’ll go back alone and..."
Xade grabbed my hand and pulled my body against his, my palms plastered on his chest. Everything had happened so fast that I lost track of things, until his lips crashed on mine once more.
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