Dragon Fire Academy 1 First Term an RH academy romance - Rachel Jonas Page 0,47

months ago. “Haven’t we moved past that yet?”

“Ignore him,” Kai interjected, standing to reach for the bag Ori brought in for me. “Let me show you to Paulo’s room where you’ll be sleeping.”

My thoughts went places it shouldn’t—like what it would feel like sleeping on the sheets of the sexy beast I could feel checking me out in my skirt as I walked away.

Kai led me down a broad hallway, and then pushed open the second door on the left, flipping the light switch. The space was clean-ish, but right away I spotted something Rayen had missed during what I guessed to be the speediest of speed cleans.

Porn on Paulo’s nightstand.

Kai followed my line of sight to the magazine and cursed quietly to himself as he rushed to the other side of the bed to grab it. When our eyes met, he was as embarrassed as he would have been if it were his own spank-bank I spotted.

“Sorry about that,” he sighed.

I lifted a hand to stop him. “No worries. Let’s just hope these are new sheets,” I joked, taking slow steps around the room.

“Agreed.”

Several photos pinned to the wall redirected my thoughts, and a smile made my lips curve upward.

“Are these people family?” I asked.

Kai stepped beside me and nodded. “Yes, but maybe not in the traditional sense.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant.

“They’re members of the other Firekeeper hives, and the three women you see are their mates—Kalea, Lehua, and Nayeli. There was a fourth, Charlotte, but she’s no longer with us.”

When he mentioned her, the grief that followed was so heavy that I knew not to ask questions. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded, but didn’t elaborate.

Knowing it was best to move forward, I pointed at a group photo with what looked like a hundred people in it. Most of which were children.

“There are a lot of kids in this one,” I pointed out. “Who do they all belong to?”

When Kai laughed, I glanced toward him. “Several of them belong to members of the hives,” he revealed. “I suppose it goes without saying that they get along pretty well with their mates. The rest are kids from the orphanage. They don’t really have anyone but their caretakers, so we invite them to our gatherings sometimes.”

Although he meant to clear things up, his wording only confused me more. He must have seen that through my expression, because he smiled, which sent my heart into overdrive, of course.

“Firekeepers? Hives?”

His gaze was heavy on me for a moment, and then he shoved both hands in his pockets while he thought. Maybe wondering how to explain … whatever he wanted to explain.

“We already told you we’re guards, but the more accurate phrase is that we’re Firekeepers, chosen by Spirit to protect our people.”

I knew all too well what their people needed protection from.

“And hives?” I asked next.

Kai nodded thoughtfully. “We were chosen in groups of four, five coalitions total, each with names—Triton, Solaris, Eros, Aurora, and us … the Omegas.”

Things functioned so differently here in Sanluuk, which truly fascinated me.

I looked over the pictures again, so many smiling faces, happiness that wasn’t easy to come by. However, I noticed something peculiar.

“There are twenty adult men, but only three women. The guys aren’t big on relationships, I see.”

I imagined they were practically celebrities around here, like my guys were. Chances are, that meant there were a lot of girls throwing their panties at them on the regular. Maybe that was why so many hadn’t settled down. Too many options to just choose one.

This time, Kai rubbed his chin, clearly hesitating when he chuckled. “Uh … it’s kind of the opposite,” he said first. “It’s another one of those things that might not fit the mainlander idea of ‘normal’.”

Curious, I tilted my head while eyeing him. “Try me,” I pressed. After all, my family was anything but normal. There was nothing he could say that would weird me out.

At least, I didn’t think there was.

“Like I said, aside from us, there are four hives and three hive mates. There was a fourth, but now the Triton’s haven’t moved on since Charlotte’s passing,” he added. “But these hive mates are called Queens.”

My mouth was wide open despite telling myself to close it, but the pieces were starting to come together. Three women belonged to all these men.

Three women were mates to all these men. No way any sleep went on in those homes.

None.

As I stared at the wildly attractive guys who made up the Firekeeper hives, with bodies