15.3

I shook off the memory feedback, and waited for Jax to catch up. Jax could be a baby all he wanted, but he'd still have to climb on my back to get back to the guild quickly. I got him on my back in the third notch. I'd lost the saddle Bryce had made for me at some point. He'd make another fairly soon.

He'd taken a liking to the forge that the werewolves had. He did mention the equipment being outdated, but that was only a minor concern. I barely noticed the weight. One week of walking reduced to a five hour flight. I came down outside of the guild since it would look bad for me to come down within the guild while one of the greats were here.

I didn't want him going after Calen after I'd worked so hard to make a good relationship with him, and the guild. There was already a crowd around the gate. One of which I noticed right away since his mana capacity was higher then any of the humans around him. Jax jumped off a second later. Striding toward his grandfather confidently.

I stared at his grandfather for a few seconds, and realized that this guy wasn't related to Jax by blood. I rushed forward. Nearly throwing Savannah off my back with the sudden quick movement. Ethan was the only reason that she didn't. My tail slammed down in front of him.

I lifted my tail, and pressed it into his chest to push him back.

"What the hell?" Jax yelled at me.

"He's not your grandfather," I snarled at the man in front of me.

"What are you talking about?" Jax looked at the earth great, and then me.

"Your mana fluctuations, physical appearance, and scents are completely different," I blurted, "Savannah, and her father both had similar mana fluctuations, and similar traits. Even their scents were similar."

"You don't have a good nose," Savannah frowned.

"Yeah I know," I lowered my head to growl at him, "You, and your dad smell exactly the same to me."

"What would a beast know of human genetics?" the earth great stepped forward as he snarled back.

Well the best snarl a human could manage.

"Get off," I snarled.

Ethan grabbed Savannah, and jumped off. Holding her in a princess carry as I prowled forward calmly. The earth great was an old man. His hair was mostly grey. He was a bulky man with a lot of muscle on his frame.

I wasn't surprised. Earth as an element was hard to work with. It required muscle, and mana to manipulate it. He wasn't short, but he wasn't tall either. I'd put him somewhere around six feet tall.

He had a solid square face with a short crooked nose. He wouldn't be considered handsome, but he wasn't the ugliest guy I'd seen before either. I snarled angrily at him. What would I know of human genetics? I didn't need to know much.

Savannah smelled like her father. Ethan smelled like his brother. I didn't have a good sense of smell. They were right about that, but that didn't mean I had no sense of smell. My muscles tensed up.

"What I know is that you look nothing like him?" I was getting pretty close to him now, "And that you smell nothing like him. You mana fluctuations are completely different as well. Savannah, and her father have very similar fluctuations. You, and Jax do not." I stepped in so I was nearly touching him, "The two of you are about as closely related as you, and I are."

The earth great slammed his foot down, and mana surged beneath my head. I reinforced my body from within using a good portion of the mana I'd saved up on the way down here. The nice thing about mana within the body was I could take back whatever I didn't use. The spike slammed into the underside of my jaw, and broke as if it were glass. Shattering into dozens of pieces of gravel as if I were made of steel.

For the first time since meeting me the man in front of me looked concerned. Small drops of black venom fell to the grass from my exposed fangs. Hissing and spitting like acid as it turned the grass it touched to stone. I was too agitated. I needed to calm down.

Ethan ran his hand along my tail as he walked around it. Settling my nerves with a simple gesture. I withdrew my fangs slowly since the earth great didn't seem able to move at the moment. Jax still cared for this man, and the truth wouldn't come out of a corpse. Jax had already had doubts about the man before him.

I'd just forced them to the front of his mind. I was an angry creature by nature. Had he done anything to anger me further I would have harmed or killed him. I withdrew my head slowly as I turned to look at Jax.

{You will not go with him back to earth} I spoke to him mentally, {He's been lying to you this whole time, and he'll only keep lying to you if you go with him.}

I lowered my tail so it was on the ground as I slid it away from him slowly. Allowing him to make a choice. If I forced him to act as I wanted then this connection we shared would be no better then shackles. Jax didn't walk to the man he'd called his grandfather. He walked right past him with very little hesitation.

This was the first thing that broke through the earth great's stupor. He turned to watch Jax walk toward the warehouse that we'd been using as our housing within the guild. The lizardmen that had been hiding in the grass emerged, and looked at the mage before them. I snarled at him again as I walked past him. The lizardmen opted not to try trading with the guild today.