Page 69 of Silent Jay

“That has to be abuse,” the white-robed shifter said, wrinkling her nose.

Jay blinked and pointed at a specific part of her phone.

“The googles are cute.” The white-robed shifter shrugged. “But I still doubt the cat wanted to do it.”

Jay took her phone back. I swear she mouthed ‘meme meme meme’ as she scrolled. Although I spent as little time on the internet as possible, even I could admit my mate found some funny stuff. Maybe technology wasn’t quite as useless as I thought. After a moment, Jay grinned and handed the woman in white her phone again.

“Do you just enjoy watching animals suffer?” the white-robed shifter asked after looking at it.

Jay’s eyes flew open in shock. I growled and took one step forward, but Ogden put a hand on my arm.

Just as fast, Jay’s shock turned into a sly grin.

She scrolled again before holding out her phone so both of them could see it.

The white-robed shifter cracked a smile. “Clearly photoshopped.”

Jay jumped up, pointing at her face, and the shifter quickly schooled it.

“Betty, let’s try this again. I think I’ve found a better analogy,” one of the priestesses from the group called.

Jay grimaced but handed the white-robed shifter her phone. She made a scrolling motion before rushing to the group in red. I didn’t take my eyes off the white-robed shifter.

“She’s a priestess from the air temple, probably here to observe,” Ogden said before walking forward once more.

‘She.’ My dragon relaxed. Jay wasn’t into women. Wait. I jerked. My security officer said an air priestess woke Jay for the start of The Hunt. And now one was here?

I looked at the air priestess, only to find her watching the practicing fire priestesses. Or was she only watching Jay? A small smile played on her painted lips, and she clutched Jay’s phone to her chest. Did it mean anything? I wasn’t good at reading body language.

Regardless, her presence was too much of a coincidence for me to ignore.

As we approached, the air priestess pocketed Jay’s phone and turned. “Can I help you?”

Her voice was lower than I expected. The only part of her I could make out was her face, which she’d painted to look like a porcelain doll.

“Having fun with Jay?” I asked, not hiding the threat in my voice.

The woman didn’t cower or even lower her chin respectfully. “Jay’s really sweet. I think she feels bad about our first meeting and is trying to make it up to me.”

“Oh? I asked.

The woman pursed her lips. I made eye contact with Ogden and tilted my head. The warlock got the message, and we sat on either side of the priestess. That fast I decided I really, really liked Ogden. Whatever the future held, I would reach out to him and make a friend outside of my element.

“Jay didn’t react well to something I said,” the air priestess explained. “Her training for Tyson’s ceremony is intense. She’s just looking for a friendly face.”

“And that’s you,” I stated.

The priestess frowned. “I guess it is.”

Her vague answers bothered me.

“She’s my mate,” I stated.

The three words were possessive and implied a world of hurt if this priestess found herself on the wrong side of me.

“I’m a priestess of the air temple,” the priestess trained her gaze back on Jay. “I don’t even associate outside my gender, much less my element.”

“By choice?” Ogden asked.