Page 32 of Reluctant Rebel

Jinx took a deep breath, calming her tiger. “He’s no one. Just a douche I’ve had the displeasure of running into a few times.”

“Is he giving you a hard time? Do I need to enlist a brutal assassin to give him a talking to?”

“Not at all,” Jinx promised as the elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, revealing a vast, dimly lit space that seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions.

She inhaled deeply. The air was heavy with the musty scent of aged paper and leather bindings, a fragrance that spoke of centuries of accumulated knowledge. Towering shelves of dark, gleaming wood stretched upward, their tops disappearing into shadows cast by ornate wrought-iron chandeliers suspended from the vaulted ceiling. Each shelf was laden with an array of tomes, scrolls, and folios, their spines a symphony of faded colours and gilded lettering. Narrow aisles between the shelves beckoned, promising untold secrets and forgotten tales.

Jinx hummed happily. “Why have I never been up here before? This place is awesome.”

“I’ve never been to this level before, either,” Eric said, his eyes wide as he took in the huge space. “There’s sure to be something useful here.”

She sure hoped so. “But where do we start?”

“Computer search?” Eric suggested, nodding to a row of three desktop computers.

Jinx grinned, reaching over to squeeze his cheeks. “Not just a pretty face.” She skipped over to the computers, typing in Founding Fathers as Eric tried other word combinations.

Two minutes later, they each had a list of a dozen books and scrolls and split up to search. Jinx ran her fingers along cracked leather spines, hunting for the books she needed, and found herself relaxing into the task. She'd been tense with her fated mate business, thoughts of her parents, and then running into Carrick.

After gathering a handful of books, she took them back to a large table in a cute little corner next to a tall window. Eric met her there minutes later. The thud from setting his huge stack down was loud in the otherwise unoccupied space.

“Shit,” Eric exclaimed, looking around sheepishly and making Jinx laugh.

“Are you sure you got enough books?” she asked sarcastically.

Eric shrugged. “Can you ever have too many books?”

“Touché,” she said with a nod. She eyed the daunting pile in front of them before reaching for one randomly. “Well, let’s see what we can find.”

Two hours later, Jinx was ready to call it quits. She’d skimmed multiple books and found nothing relevant. There was a lotof information about the history of all four realms and details about the abilities of each species in Purgatory. But nothing to shed light on Z’s possible motives or a link to the Founding Fathers.

Suddenly, Eric whistled from beside her. “Wow.”

“Did you find something? What does it say?” she asked eagerly, peering over his shoulder.

“It's about demonic possession,” Eric replied, flipping through the pages of a large, black tome. “Did you know that’s a thing on Earth? Possession?”

Jinx frowned, studying the disturbing images in front of her. “No. I didn’t. Demons from Purgatory?”

Eric shook his head. “Can’t be. How would demons take over a human body? Demons already have their own bodies. I think it’s something different. It mentions sorcery.”

“As in magic?” Jinx asked curiously. She’d never heard of such a thing.

“Yep. Magic-users like witches, warlocks, and wizards,” Eric supplied. “Cool.”

“It’s interesting, I’ll give you that. But I don’t think it’s relevant to Zagan’s evil plan,” Jinx said. “But maybe it’s worth running it past the others—and Lucifer.”

Eric nodded. “We’ll do that.” He set the book aside, his fingers trailing along the pile until they found another ancient text. “How about this one?Chronicles of the Purgatorial Lines. That sounds promising.”

As he pulled it free from the stack, a cloud of dust erupted, making them both cough. Jinx waved her hand, dispersing the particles, and leaned in to examine the cover. Intricate etchings depicted all the realms—swirling vortexes, floating islands, and creatures of nightmare and wonder.

“I’m feeling lucky,” she murmured, carefully opening the fragile pages.

The book was divided into four sections, one for each realm. Each section was then further divided into multiple parts. Purgatory had the most parts by far, with pages upon pages of pedigrees from each species. Thumbing through the thick sheets, she paused when she found the royal seal of Cerberus. Seeing the multiple rows of three offspring did something funny to her insides. For the first time, she wondered what it would be like if she and Mikhail gave in to biology.

Triplets. There would be triplets in my future,Jinx thought silently. Warmth spread through her chest, surprising in its intensity.

“Did you find something?”

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