Chapter 2. Fatal Grace

Lex’s POV

“Oh, I love X-Men,” I said through the mindlink, trying to make conversation with my Beta, who wore that damn cool t-shirt like a badge of nerd-honor. Really, I was just buying time before he snapped and unleashed verbal vengeance. So far, he’d been serving me the silent treatment on a flaming platter.

“Yeah, ‘cause that’s what we’re gonna be—ex-men in a few minutes,” he spat.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I backpedaled verbally, but I’d seen the storm brewing. “Hey, silver lining, right? We found the rogue’s cursed hideout—no one’s managed that in, what, decades?”

“You absolute dumbass,” Rowland growled through the bond as we both struggled against the barbed ropes tying us to a godforsaken tree. “You had one job—not to step into the forbidden zone without your dad’s command. And yet here we are, gagged and gift-w