His gut clenched and Jaxon threw open his door. He was barely out of it when he saw the glint of something. He picked up an item spiraling through the air at the speed of light and his eyes flared again in panic. He started to run as metal collided with metal.
The explosion behind him was almost deafening, and the force of it lifted him off the ground and sent him careening forward. He landed with a hard grunt and gunfire erupted around him. Bullets pelted the ground until one hit him in the shoulder. He let out a cry as cold metal tore through muscle and tissue. With his powers, he disrupted the path sending the bullet out of his body and away from his heart.
Jaxon let out a scream as the metal exited into the ground. He felt their footsteps echoing on the earth and forced his heart to slow so it would be undetectable. He gave his body and his mind a two-minute command to lower all body functions to minimal levels so his breathing wouldn’t be detected either. He would be catatonic, but he’d be able to understand everything that went on around him.
There was no sound except the static of a radio as they moved around him. Cool, rough fingers felt for his pulse and then he was kicked in the side. Jaxon was glad he’d opted for the catatonic state or they might have put a bullet in his brain when he reacted to the kick. In this state, he screamed inwardly making no sound on the physical or mental planes. It was like being effectively locked inside his mind.
In two minutes, he heard a distant sound of two vehicles pulling away, but he didn’t move for another minute. When he did roll over, Jaxon let out a low cry. His phone had been digging into his hip, and his shoulder hurt like hell.
He grimaced and then gritted his teeth as he tugged his phone free of its holster. He called the sheriff.
Chapter Five
An hour later, Jaxon was ready to collapse after answering questions and waiting for a ride to the town’s small clinic. It hadn’t been necessary since the sheriff had brought Keyos Andron with him. Keyos was a healer as well as a farmer he’d learned as he was easily healed leaving tender skin and a scar in pain’s wake.
“You’ll be fine in a few days, but you’ll need some iron supplements to replenish the blood you lost,” Keyos told him.
“No transfusion?” Trek, Jaxon’s brother asked as he stared at his ashen brother where he sat leaning against a tree trunk.
“No,” Keyos said quietly as he withdrew his hand from Jaxon’s chest. “I’ll get you what you need.”
“Thanks.” Jaxon gave him a tired smile.
After a quick checkout by the doctor at the clinic, his brother took him home.
“You should just stay with the family tonight,” Trek said giving his brother a look as they pulled into his apartment complex.
“I’d rather be on my own,” he said.
“You know Mom wants to fuss over you,” Trek answered. “She’d love to have someone in the house to baby.”
He knew, but he’d moved out for a reason. This single’s complex wasn’t big, only about ten units. His neighbors minded their own business most of the time and left him to his. None of them ever said anything about Kel coming over or how long he stayed. He figured most of the people living there just thought they were a couple of guys chugging some beers and playing video games.
“I know.” His head was hurting and his mother would only add to that with her million questions about him not having a girlfriend. His father was straight like ninety percent of the men from the southern part of Barria. The bi men often quietly took male lovers to satisfy their need for masculine companionship.
“Then, let me take you home,” his brother insisted as he pulled into Jaxon’s parking spot.
Jaxon shook his head. All he wanted was to be held. A part of his soul ached for something that was missing. Kel. “I really just want to get some sleep. I mean, whatever happened, I’m sure Dade will figure it out. It was probably just some random kids’ games.”
“It was Jarvis or Daniels’s brother,” Trek snapped. “His brother said Daniel told him he was going to that house out by the Androns’ orchard. He thought it was a sex club for men.”
He tensed. “What does that have to do with him attacking me?”
“Ronald thinks Daniel saw you there last night and you had your lover kill him.”
“Trek.” He sighed. “I’m too tired to deal with petty shit tonight. Whatever he thinks I did, I didn’t.”
“His entire family is clamoring for justice,” Trek exclaimed. “Daniel was beheaded.”
Jaxon bit the inside of his cheek as electricity coursed over his fingers. “I wasn’t responsible for that,” he said. And he believed Kel when he’d said he hadn’t killed him.
“Jarvis and his pals claim not to want to honor Barrian culture and laws, but going after you would be mimicking Barrian life. Grandpa said in the South where he’s from, dominant men never let submissive ones hold positions of power. They killed their weaker rivals and no one ever did anything about it.”
He suspected he’d be just a casualty in the war for control of Willow Brooke then.
“I’m going inside,” Jaxon said, knowing he couldn’t walk away from this. He would be seen as weak. His family would be forced to defend him or bury him because he wasn’t a killer. He wouldn’t be planning anyone’s death unless he killed them in a fight for survival.
“You’re going to have to do something,” Trek said. “You can’t just let this go.”
“I don’t know who attacked me, Trek,” he muttered as he reached for the door handle. “So who am I supposed to retaliate against? Hell, for all I know this was an attack on me to keep me from finishing the revisions to the bill of rights and constitution.”
“You’re right,” Trek said. “Everyone knows you’re working on it. Many of them are against the change and some probably think if they eliminate you the problem will go away.”
“Exactly,” he agreed. “I told Dade that too. I’m going to let him do his job instead of pointing fingers. Thanks for the ride.” Jaxon leaped out before his brother could say anything else.
“Hey, Jaxon.” His neighbor Sue waved from her little porch. Her unit was next to his and they shared a front lawn.
He waved. Her close friend Angie was there with her no doubt. Probably inside getting them some drinks or something.
“Hi, Jaxon.” Angie stepped out on the porch. “Are you okay? We heard you were shot at coming into town.”
“I’m good,” he said.
“Probably some jerk, trying to kill the constitution,” she said. “Have a nice night.”
“You two do the same,” he answered, mustering up a smile. He pulled keys from his pocket and jammed the door key into the lock. He turned the knob and removed the key before stepping inside to what smelled suspiciously like broccoli and cheese soup. His mother must have brought it over while he was at the clinic getting checked out.
He sighed and headed for his bedroom. He’d call her when he finished his shower. The sound of a glass in the kitchen pulled him to a stop. “Who is it?” Angie and Sue would have said something if someone had broken in. All the same his body was as tense as a tautly pulled rope.
“It’s just me, Jax.”
Warmth filled him to his bones, and he closed his eyes in relief. That masculine voice was like balm to a wound. He trudged to the kitchen. Kel stood at the butcher block center with a jar in hand.
“I dumped you. Go to Bria,” he said tiredly.
“Go take your shower, sweets. I’ll finish making your sandwich.”
“Kel, I can’t even begin to fight you right now,” Jaxon said angrily.
“Then, don’t,” Kel answered meeting his gaze. “Take your cute ass to the shower and then get back here. Tell me what happened, so I’ll know whose ass to kick.”
He sighed. “Bully. You can’t solve everything with your fists.”
“No. Sometimes my power is better.” He flashed a grin.
Jaxon groaned and headed to his bedroom. He took a quick shower and dressed in a
pair of short briefs and a T-shirt before heading back to the kitchen. There was a white bag on the counter. “What’s that?”
“Your meds. I whipped up a little something your shoulder and to prevent infection,” he said.
“Do all Barrians know how to make their own medicine?” He opened the bag.
“Those of us who lived in the north were more skilled at it. At least one family member was a healer and one was the apothecary.”
“In your family that’s you?”
“Mostly, but Keyos can mix meds too. Take it.”
He did as ordered and accepted the iced tea held out to him. He liked Kel taking care of him. “When did you have time to make this?”
“I keep it on hand since things have started going crazy. We don’t have time to make it up every time someone gets hurt,” he answered.
“How’s Bria?” he asked more to remind himself that Kel—Kel was his, that voice inside his head screamed. Mine. He is mine. He clenched his hand into a fist as electricity danced along his skin and tucked his hand behind his back.
“Fine, I guess,” he answered. “She was going to dinner with a friend.”
“And you’re okay with that?” he murmured.
“Come taste,” Kel ordered. “See if there’s enough pepper. I know you like a lot.”
“I like the feel of your hands on me too but that doesn’t mean I’m getting it.”
“Bria is nothing to me, sweets,” Kel said gently. “I wanted to share you with Zier not Bria.”
His jaw dropped and his brows knitted in a frown. “Zier looks at me like I’m lunch.”
“He wants you, but he hasn’t approached because he knows whose bed you’ve been in.”
“I’m not your personal property!” he snapped. “I think I should go out with him.” He did think he was cute and liked him. He might even be in love with him if he hadn’t started seeing Kel first.
“He won’t touch you, sweets, unless it’s a ménage,” Kel murmured. “That ass of yours is mine.”
“Ha.”
“Ha yourself,” he said amused. “We better eat in the living room so that cute little ass of yours won’t get cold sitting on a chair.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’d be confusing me with Bria.”
“Not hardly, sexy,” he drawled and let his gaze slide down Jaxon’s body.
“Stop that,” Jaxon commanded.
Kel laughed. “If you didn’t want me looking you should have put on some clothes.”
“My home,” he grumbled. “Bring me my dinner, servant.” He stalked from the room.
A few minutes later Kel appeared with a tray. “You break up with me and I get to grovel. Something about that ain’t right.” He set the tray down on the coffee table and leaned down to kiss Jaxon’s forehead. “You have a fever. Did you take all the caps?”
“Yes, doctor.”
“I am a doctor, boy,” he said, giving him a teasing smile. “Don’t piss me off or I’ll take out your intestines.”
Jaxon laughed. “I better not tell you to leave before dinner then.”
“I’m not leaving,” Kel told him quietly. “You’re still a little pale.”
“I’ll be okay, Kel,” he said softly. “Angie and Sue are home. They can help me if I need it.”
“Angie might kick some ass, but Sue’s not the type.”
“Still—”
“Tell me what you heard and saw,” Kel cut in.
“I told Dade everything,” he protested and reached for a bowl of soup.
Kel grabbed his own bowl and dug in while Jaxon ate quietly. “You know I can’t stay away from you for too long,” he murmured. “Not being able to see you like a bullet to the head. I want you back.”
Jaxon’s breath caught. “Don’t say it if you don’t mean it,” he said huskily.
“I mean it.”
“I need a man who’s going to focus on just me, Kel. No more fucking Zier either,” he said. “Please?”
Kel sighed. “Will give me the ménage I want?” Kel asked and Jaxon heard pain in his voice.
Jaxon turned to look at him and saw a hint of fear in his eyes. He set his bowl back on the tray and straddled Kel. “He’s important to you, isn’t he?”
“Some,” he admitted.
“If you’re in love with him, you can’t love me back,” Jaxon said softly.
“That’s not true,” Kel answered. “But I’m not asking you to feel anything for him. I just want the three of us to have some fun together.”
He was asking more than that. Damn this had suddenly gotten so complicated. He stroked Kel’s cheek. “Some fun?”
“Fun and if you get to know and like him a lot, that would be good too.”
“The occasional ménage?”
Kel reached around him to get rid of his bowl too. He gripped Jaxon’s hips and pulled him close. “And maybe dinner sometime?”
“But I’d be the man in your life, and you wouldn’t see him without me?”
“I’d never see him sexually without you,” Kel said. “But we are friends. Can you accept that he’s my friend?”
“You’re mine anyway, you know that right?” he demanded. “You belong to me, and I swear I will castrate you if I catch you sticking your dick anywhere unauthorized by me.”
He grimaced. “You do realize you’ll be cutting off your nose to spite your face.”
He shook his head. “We’ll get you a dildo and harness.”
“Like freaking hell!” Kel roared.
“I’ll still love you anyway.” He rubbed his nose against Kel’s and then went still as their eyes met. He groaned. “Sorry.”
“About what? Feeling something for a jackass?”
“Kel, you’re a good man.” He kissed him.
“I’m good at my job when I’m not goofing off,” he corrected.
“Modest too,” he murmured and kissed him. “I need you, Kel.”
“I’m right here.” He angled his head and plundered Jaxon’s mouth with a greedy tongue, and Jaxon moved against him, causing their erections to brush against each other. Jaxon gripped Kel’s shoulders and Kel cupped his lover’s face as he deepened the kiss.
Jaxon ached to feel Kel’s skin beneath his hands and tugged his T-shirt from the waistband of his jeans. He scraped his nails along Kel’s skin and Kel groaned low. Electricity rose in him, pooled on his fingertips and released.
Kel moaned and nipped Jaxon’s bottom lip. He kissed him again. This kiss was a slow mating that set Jaxon on fire. He ground his hard prick against Kel’s and Kel thrust up against him. Jaxon moaned into the kiss and Kel’s lips grazed his throat, nipped gently before sucking the side of his neck.
Jaxon sighed roughly. “You’re stealing my control,” he said groggily. He needed a small amount so he didn’t hurt Kel with his powers.
“Just let go. No holding back,” Kel said roughly. Then, he nipped and kissed a path to his ear and back again. Kel scraped his teeth over the lobe of Jaxon’s ear before sucking the side of his neck. Jaxon groaned and strained against him. He pushed the fingers of one hand into Kel’s hair and tugged.
The pleasure built in him and Jaxon felt the power inside strengthen. It twisted in his solar plexus and reached out. Jaxon’s stomach tightened in an effort to prevent leakage.
Kel’s tongue licked over Jaxon’s bottom lip then slipped past parted lips. Jaxon closed his lips around it and sucked it into his mouth. He caressed Kel’s side as Kel took control of the kiss again. His head was spinning and his body was a pulsing mass as the sweet kiss tore through him. One arm curved around Kel’s neck, fingers played in his hair as he held his man closer.
Kel slowly rubbed his cloth-covered cock against Jaxon’s as he fucked his mouth. Jaxon groaned and Kel picked up the pace.
“Kel,” Jaxon called his name as he ground hard against him. Kel kissed his throat causing his body to shudder lightly with a mini orgasm.
Chapter Six
“I want you to stand up for me,”
Kel ordered. Jaxon did on shaky legs, and Kel got to his feet before him. “Go grab some condoms and lube.
Jaxon stumbled into his bedroom and pulled open the bedside drawer on the side of the bed that was always cold after Kel left. He tugged out the bag that his lover had brought a month ago. He knew it had lube and condoms in it. He returned and held the bag out to Kel who took it before pushing Jaxon down on the couch cushion. Then, he pushed back the coffee table before kneeling before him.
Kel looked up at him. Jaxon’s eyes were dark and stormy with bolts of lightning shooting jaggedly across the canvas of rich violet. That was more of a show than he’d ever seen and it made his dick press tighter against the zipper of his jeans. The man made him so damn hot it scorched his soul.
“Kel.” Jaxon sat forward and stroked his hand over Kel’s arm. “Baby, please, don’t.”
“Don’t what?” Kel murmured. Jaxon could be insecure at times, but he was starting to realize it had everything to do with the secret he was trying so hard to hide. He knew what Jaxon was, but he had been too young to have learned any prejudices against the rare breed.
“Don’t stop,” Jaxon begged.
“No plans to unless you keep holding back,” he murmured. “I want to feel how much you want me. No fears.” He tugged Jaxon’s shirt over his head and tossed it aside
Kel kissed him as he stroked his fingers over Jaxon’s chest. He kissed a path down Jaxon’s throat to a flat nipple. Kel swirled his tongue around the tiny bead and scraped it with his teeth before sucking it.
“This is how I want you,” Jaxon murmured, clenching his fingers in Kel’s hair. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back as pleasure rocked him. Firm lips whispered over his skin as a warm tongue lashed at his nipple while sure fingers pinched the abandoned one. This was what he’d been aching for.
Kel licked over his nipple one last time before kissing his way over Jaxon’s stomach. He bit the pouting edge of Jaxon’s navel before lifting his head. He reached for the band of his briefs and Jaxon lifted his hips to help Kel get them off. Kel tossed the tiny scrap aside before straightening to tug his own T-shirt over his head.
Passion's Fire [Alien Passions 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) Page 4
