Fin had attempted to draw the relic.
It looked… nothing like it.
Not even remotely.
Rex tried next. His was marginally better—if one squinted, turned it upside down, and assumed Rex had never seen a drawing utensil in his life.
Jax didn't even try, merely describing the runes with clipped efficiency.
Between the three of them, however, the librarians gathered enough detail to work with.
And the mage-librarians were thriving.
They tore through stacks of ancient tomes with scholarly ferocity, muttering to one another in three languages, turning pages with reverent speed. They compared sketches, cross-referenced royal lineages, and barked titles across the room like battlefield commands.
This was their arena.
Their hunt.
Their moment to be terrifying in the way only brilliant mages could be.
Fin shook his head once and muttered, "We need a few of these in Shadowclaw."
Aeron ignored all three men, flipping another tome open as the search intensified.
"That's it!" Rex called, stepping forward so quickly a chair scraped backward behind him. One of the mage-librarians—positively glowing with pride—held the open book aloft. Fin and Jax leaned in, both nodding.
"That's it," Jax confirmed.
"Perfect," Aeron said, mind already moving four steps ahead. "Then the path is clear. We either kill Ashbane or retrieve the item to sever his tether to Nova."
Beta Fang folded his arms, gaze sweeping the half-injured men. "None of you three are in any condition to retrieve it tonight."
Elle, who had remained silent until now, spoke up. "If you describe the room, Nova might know exactly where it is. She'd be the best person to get it, actually."
Fin turned his head so sharply it was a wonder his spine didn't crack.
"She is not going anywhere near there," he said, voice low, dangerous, absolute.
Elle blinked, unbothered. Marra's gaze slid to Jax.
A flicker in the air—Marra's mindlink.
Marra: Jax… may we speak?
Fin looked utterly annoyed, but didn't say anything, not wanting to give away he heard. There was a chance Marra didn't realize her mindlinks weren't private either.
Jax: Of course.
He followed Marra and Elle out onto one of the palace's private balconies, the night sky stretching wide and jeweled above them.
Elle opened her mouth, took a breath— then promptly closed it, brows knitting like she'd forgotten the entire concept of language.
Marra stepped in, voice quiet but firm. "Can we all agree this conversation stays here?"
Jax looked between the two of them. Elle anxious. Marra earnest.
"Yes," he said with perfect sincerity.
A lie so blatant it should have counted as performance art.
He would tell Fin. He would tell Cael. He would tell Aeron before the hour ended.
And if the topic involved danger—to Nova, to Marra, to Elle, to anyone he cared about—Jax would deliver the entire conversation word-for-word without remorse.
But the girls didn't need to know that.
Bless their hearts. Their mates were, at times, almost painfully adorable.
"Were you and Fin taking turns sleeping with Nova and caring for her when she was unconscious?"
Elle blurted the question so abruptly that even the night air seemed to pause.
Jax blinked. Not offended. Not embarrassed.
Just… startled.
Of all the things he expected, that was not on the list.
"Yes," he said simply. "Of course. Why wouldn't we?"
He had assumed the girls knew. He just hadn't expected any of them to say it aloud before Nova knew.
Elle's eyes widened only slightly. "Are you and Fin going to… share her?"
Marra kept her gaze on the stars, deliberately avoiding Jax's eyes. She had promised she wouldn't tell anyone and technically she hadn't.
"Yes," Jax answered. Calm. Direct. Certain.
"We haven't had the chance to tell her yet."
Marra's voice came next—quiet.
"I dreamed of her dying tomorrow… from that."
Her throat tightened on the last word.
Jax nodded, swallowing.
"She knows she's going to die tomorrow. She's… worried about it hurting you and Fin," Elle said.
A partial truth.
She added in you deliberately—instead of just Fin. Saying just Fin felt too much like admitting Nova worried about one mate more than the other. Nova likely didn't think it would hurt Jax.
Elle had already decided that double-mating was going to be an organizational nightmare.
Color-coded charts. Rotating schedules. Emotional landmines everywhere.
"She asked Aeron if there was anything she could do about that," Marra added softly.
"And I think her plan tomorrow is to retrieve the item, open a portal, toss it through, and then…"
Her voice broke. She couldn't finish.
Jax's jaw tightened, the muscle ticking hard.
"I'll handle it."
Elle and Marra both exhaled—relief and dread tangled together.
Jax continued, voice gentler now, warmth threading through the steel.
"Thank you for telling me. I do want her to live. And I love her with everything in me. I always have. That has never wavered."
Neither girl expected him to say it aloud and they certainly didn't expect him to look so wrecked and resolute in the same breath.
On instinct, both Elle and Marra stepped forward and hugged him.
Jax stiffened—shocked—because absolutely no part of him anticipated that. But after a beat, he wrapped an arm around each of them in return.
Shadowclaw's Gamma, stood on a balcony under the stars, receiving comfort from two tiny, furiously loyal women.
Gods help anyone who threatened their Luna.
"Cael is probably worried about you. Does he know you're here?" Jax asked, glancing at Elle with a raised brow.
Elle froze, face going scarlet. "Right," she said quickly—far too quickly—and absolutely did not answer his question.
Marra snorted, trying (and failing) to cover it with a cough.
"What?" Jax asked, already grinning because these two were about as subtle as a dragon landing on a rooftop.
"Nothing," they said in perfect unison, then practically sprinted off the balcony like guilty foxes fleeing a henhouse.
Jax shook his head, amused despite everything, and started back inside.
Elle, halfway down the hall, did something she had never done before.
She mindlinked Fin.
Elle: Fin, can I speak with you for a second?
Fin actually stopped mid-step. She had never initiated a private link with him—ever.
For a moment he wondered if this was some kind of hallucination brought on by cracked ribs and stress.
Fin: Yes, of course.
Across the room, Jax caught Fin's eye. One look was exchanged between the two men—dry, knowing, resigned.
An unspoken agreement: We'll exchange notes later.