“We were worried that you might have had a rough night. Why don’t you come over and stay with us for a few days.”
“Why?” He frowned. “Did Dade tell you something or did you hear a rumor or something?”
“Your mother is just very worried about you,” he said.
“She doesn’t have to be,” he said. “Everything’s fine.”
“She still wants you to come over for dinner at least,” his father insisted.
“I have plans,” he said. Dinners weren’t tense with his family as long as his mother didn’t invite any of the neighboring families and their single daughters over. She enjoyed playing matchmaker, but it was always more than he could stand.
“Really?” he asked. “With who?”
“Some friends,” he said. He was hoping to be spending the even with Kel. He knew he was asking a lot of him that’s why they needed to spend as much time together when he wasn’t working. Their relationship could easily splinter under the weight of the stress of this election, and he didn’t really want to lose him.
“You need to stay away from him right now, son,” his father said. “Dad, I really have to go. I need to get some work done,” he said as his stomach clenched in ten kinds of dread. He was never going to be straight and a woman wouldn’t enable him to be a better leader. “Son, we’re going to have to have this conversation sooner or later, so you may as well come over tonight.”
“Yeah, I’ll come over after dinner,” he said.
“No. You’ll join us for dinner.”
He rolled his eyes. He’d rather be with Kel making love or cuddled on the couch. Hell, he wished he could spend the night with him. He never wanted to leave him when they were together. Nothing felt more right than being in Kel’s company.
“I mean it,” his father said. “You remember what time we eat?”
“Around six?” he asked. He could go to Kel after that. He’d need him to pull him out of the funk his family would put him in.
“I’ll see you then.”
He ran a hand over his hair. “Okay.” He disconnected and set the phone down. He was working from home today, but he had to run to the library. So, he’d grab some breakfast and sit down to work then head over there about lunchtime.
Jaxon made his coffee and had a slice of toast with it before grabbing his cell phone and punching in Kel’s number. He knew he was probably out in the orchard by now.
Jaxon tapped his fingers as he waited for Kel to pick up. When he didn’t he glowered and disconnected only to dial him back. Again no answer. He took a quick shower wondering if Kel was refusing to answer because he was upset or because he was with…Zier.
He finished up his shower and climbed out. He was dressed and out the door in ten minutes. He couldn’t be with a man who couldn’t be trusted.
When Jaxon got to the orchard, he found there was a gate leading into the orchard now that hadn’t existed before. Two guards were in a small guard house just outside the gate. One came to his car window and he rolled it down. He should just leave since either of the men might go blabbing about him being here looking for Kel. People would infer all kinds of things from that.
“What’s up Jaxon?” the dark-skinned male asked, giving him a pleasant smile.
He’d seen this one at the club, but he didn’t relax. Someone had let Daniel in.
“Here to see Kelphan?” he asked conversationally.
“Yeah.” Give no explanation, he told himself.
“Go on in,” he said and turned and motioned to the other guard. “Wait at the gate.”
“Thanks.” He drove through when the gate opened wondering what had prompted the change. He drove until he reached the parking lot pickers used. It was the only entrance he’d ever used, but it was the only way he knew of into the orchard. Jaxon parked and climbed out, some of his anger having abated.
“Morning, Jaxon,” Zan greeted him at the gate. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to Kel,” he said. He had no idea if Kel’s brothers knew about them. He’d only ever seen Kel at the club. Zan was seeing Alicia, one of the cat shifter girls. The other two brothers had mates.
Zan studied him. “How are you holding up?”
“Okay.” He must be talking about yesterday. Kel or Dade had probably told him.
“Did you pick up anything?” Zan asked, his gaze intense. “A sound, a name, or anything that might give you a clue what the attack was all about?”
“No.”
“You probably don’t know but politics could be nasty in the southern sectors of Barria,” he told him. “This could be nothing more than politics as usual. After all, you’re a pure-blood, and your opponent’s ancestry heralds from the south.
“How was politics where you came from?” he asked curiously.
“In the north, there were no political disputes. Older siblings took over when their parents stepped down as the ruling duke.”
“The north was a royal system?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “Let’s go find, Kel. He was heading out to check on some other trees this morning. We’re getting the nut grove ready for pickers.”
They started through the gate in silence and Jaxon noticed Zan didn’t talk much. He didn’t mind. He had too many things on his mind for idle chit-chat. He checked out the trees and their bounty but they slipped from his focus when he spied Kel standing way too close to Bria and sharing a laugh. He clenched his fingers when Bria touched Kel.
Electricity shot through him.
“Fuck.”
Zan’s soft exclamation jerked his gaze from Kel and Bria. The man was staring at him in amazement. He looked quickly away realizing electricity must be visible in his eyes. He grimaced and clenched his fingers tighter. Fear snaked through him.
“I’ll talk to him later.” Jaxon quickly strode away. He wasn’t surprised Zan hadn’t tried to stop him. He was probably thinking it was good riddance to bad rubbish.
* * * *
“Let me know how it works,” Kel said, his gaze on a retreating Jaxon.
“You can tell him the truth if it’ll help.”
He took off at a dead run, but he had no intentions of breaking his word to Bria. She was seeing a councilwoman, and he wasn’t going to wreck their lives to put Jax at ease. He put on a burst of speed to catch Jaxon before he reached the gate. “Jax.”
He whipped around, cold fury burning through him. “Why didn’t you answer when I called?” He pushed Kel, hands flat on his chest. “You bastard. Why can’t you keep it in your pants?”
“You’ve got some nerve to get all pissy,” he muttered and bit back the groan brought on by the heat of Jax’s hands burning through his T-shirt. “You kicked me out.”
“You know I didn’t want to,” he said insistently. “I had to.”
Kel closed the slight distance between them. “You know why I didn’t answer you?”
“Because you’re a pouting asshole.”
“My phone is at your place, jerk. I left it and my watch in one of your vanity drawers. I took a shower there last night while I was waiting for you to get home,” he told him coldly. “As for whose bed I slept in I’d say it was none of your business except I slept in my truck. I was watching your place with Zan.”
Jaxon glared at him. “You really are a jerk,” he said but the words lacked heat. “I can’t be with you. It’s a mistake.”
“Why, because you’re afraid I’m going to dump you?” he challenged.
“No.” He jerked his hands back.
“Yeah, you are,” Kel whispered. “You’re getting stronger aren’t you? Your powers. I’ve never seen those sparks of lightning in your eyes until last night.”
“You need someone who isn’t freakish or insecure.”
He snorted. “You’re probably right,” he murmured. “But I’m addicted. Why do you think I agreed to your terms?”
“You didn’t,” he said breathlessly. “Not until I agreed to let you share me with Zier.”
<
br /> He put a hand on Jaxon’s hip. “And if you say no, I won’t push it,” he said.
“Can we go inside?”
“Why are we going inside?” Kel asked. He knew why he wanted to go inside.
“I need to touch you,” he said softly.
“Touch me, Jax.” It was more of a challenge than a statement. “No one’s watching.”
“Kel.” He leaned toward him. “I want to kiss you.”
“You can’t keep running, sweets,” he murmured. “It’s all about earning the respect of the people you’re going to lead. Show them you’re capable of handling whatever the hell they throw at you, but like anyone else in love, you’re putty in your man’s hands.”
Jaxon chuckled, putting a hand on Kel’s arm. He caressed him lightly and Kel smiled. His lover had a warm touch that always made his stomach flutter. “I’m scared putty.”
“I’ll always be here, Jax. Your fight is mine now.” He pulled Jaxon to the gate and put his back against it. Kel leaned forward resting one hand on the wood next to Jax’s head. “Kiss me.”
Jaxon glanced past him to Zan. “Kel—”
“Zan doesn’t care,” he said. “He’ll let us know if someone’s coming into sight.”
Jaxon brought his hand to Kel’s side. “You’re sweaty.”
“I’ve been working, sweets. Now, kiss me.”
* * * *
Jaxon licked his lips and Kel kissed him instead. Jaxon’s hand went to the back of his neck and his other pulled Kel closer. Electricity swelled in him and snaked around Kel’s neck before he could stop it. The kiss was sweeter, hotter as the energy burned through him.
“Mmm, Kel,” he murmured.
Kel kissed his jaw and then his neck. “What? Miss me last night?”
“You know I did,” he said breathlessly. “I never want either of us to have to leave after we make love.”
Kel smiled as their eyes met and heat flared in Jaxon’s belly. “Let me make dinner for us tonight? You can stay the night. My cabin’s not on the beaten path. No one will see you leave.”
“Your place?” He’d never been there.
“Don’t forget my phone and my watch,” Kel said, caressing Jax’s face.
“I have to have dinner with my folks tonight,” he said, stroking the back of Kel’s neck as he indulged his need to touch. It was ironic that he was deadly to this gorgeous man yet he needed to touch him.
Kel frowned. “Why don’t you come over afterward then? We can have dessert or take a walk.”
“About eight?”
“Whenever you get here,” Kel told him and kissed him again before walking Jaxon out.
Chapter Nine
Kel stepped back inside the gate to find Zan was waiting for him with an enigmatic stare. “What?”
“You do realize that boy’s a gaeafierokinetic?” he asked carefully. “He must be really low grade for his elders not to fear he won’t take them down if they try to take him out.”
“I don’t know enough about them to even know how to answer that,” he replied.
“They’re dangerous, Kel,” he said grimly. “He can stop your heart or poison your blood with fire or electricity. He can interrupt electromagnetic energy in even the planet.”
“He could cause pole reversal?”
“Maybe? We have no idea what they can do on this planet, but on our planet no. They could knock out satellites, temporarily disrupt sea currents, and definitely stop a heart, and that’s just the normal ones. The others, the most powerful of the breed, could do that plus poison the blood with electricity. The electrical storm they create in the blood could last for days, hours, or minutes, but it almost always kills.”
“How do they put out the energy?”
“The same way we do. The fire doesn’t flare like a pyrokinetic’s, it appears in waves of energy. Red-orange, bad, even deadly, but black, destructive. It’s a rare trait and the most powerful never live beyond the age of twenty-two.”
“Well, I guess Jaxon isn’t one of the deadly ones,” Kel said. “He’s almost thirty.”
“Kel, he might just be going active,” Zan told him. “Once they go active, it’s only months before they die.”
“It’s not happening to him,” he said coldly. He didn’t feel death when he was with Jaxon. He felt life, powerful and real. “Anyway, I need to get back to work.”
* * * *
Jaxon stepped into the silence of the library to find a few tables occupied and Travis, Kel’s brother’s mate behind the long counter along with two others. Travis smiled at him and immediately motioned him over.
Jaxon went even though he didn’t know Travis that well. They’d been raised in the same area of town, went to the same small school. “Hey, Travis.”
“Hi.” Travis smiled. “How’s it going?” He leaned on the counter.
“Just here to check out a few books. What’s up with you?”
Travis shrugged. “Need them to finish up the constitution?”
“Kind of. I want to get a few things just right.”
“Like what?” Tom sauntered over with a book in hand and placed it on the counter. “How to make sure the elders gain control of the town legally?”
“Actually, I need to check out a few books on civil rights,” he said. “I don’t want to leave anything important out.”
“Did they even care about civil rights on Barria?” Tom asked. “Because all of us are about to have our civil rights violated if you get elected.”
“Give it up, Tom,” Travis muttered.
“We don’t need a replica of Barria here,” Tom snapped after glaring at Travis. “Gays being cops is one thing, but I’m not for the rest.”
“The only rest there is, is equal rights for all, including women,” Jaxon told him coldly.
“The brothers will be great allies in this mess,” Travis said. “They’ll fight for and with you.”
“Because they’ll do anything to turn this town into a gay-bisexual—”
“It’s not about sex, Tom,” Travis cut in coldly. “It’s about fairness and people’s right to live without persecution. It’s about peace, and we won’t get that if Jarvis wins.”
“Yes, we will,” Tom insisted. “He doesn’t want to keep gays from existing. He just isn’t going to stand for you flaunting your amoral lifestyle up and down the street. Marriage is between two people not three, so triads won’t be legal here. The American constitution and legal system will be what we live by.”
“Jarvis and his people’s interpretation of it,” Travis said. “He doesn’t care about the people in this town. He just wants to rule it.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tom muttered. “Jaxon isn’t Mr. Lily White, and the proof is going to be put out there for everyone to see.”
“This is a library gentleman,” a woman said from behind the desk. “Travis. You should get back to work.”
Travis gave her a brief look before saying, “Need some help finding anything, Jaxon?”
“No.” He headed up to the second floor rubbing his forehead as he considered Travis’s words. He would love being able to live his life out in the open instead of hiding as if he were doing something wrong. He wasn’t. Loving Kel was right as drawing breath.
And what about Zier? It was clear Kel had a little more in mind for him than an occasional threesome. He did like Zier, but was he ready for two men in his life?
Jaxon made his way to the back of the library where a rich research section awaited him. What he was looking for was a book on family law. He wanted to get things just right there so women would have as equal a chance as men to get custody of the children. At least they could get joint custody. Judge Logan, a family court judge, was there with a book before him.
“Judge.” He nodded to the older man before moving to the shelves which held tomes of law books.
“Jaxon,” he said. “Checking out a little law before finishing off the constitution and bill of rights?”
&n
bsp; “I was looking for something on family law,” he admitted.
“Looking to make some changes in the way child custody cases are handled?” he asked. “It would be nice to see things change on that score. Women deserve as equal a chance to raise their children. Did women have those rights on Barria?”
“Wealthy and dominant women, yes,” he answered with a nod. “The planet favored the dominant and those with money. I must say that bribes were very unusual unlike on this planet though.”
“What about joint custody arrangements? Were they out of the ordinary there?” They were here, and he’d seen the results of what happened in families where the woman was stuck with a husband she didn’t love and couldn’t leave. She could get financial support, but not the children.
Logan shrugged his shoulders. “Divorce simply wasn’t common there. Couples took lovers and raised their children in the same home. Children were legacy and heir of a man’s name, his family’s power and status.”
The same was true in this town.
“Nothing says you can’t change what’s broken,” Logan told him. “Women did hold positions of power. They were highly considered and their sexuality wasn’t looked upon as something amoral or wrong.”
Jaxon sighed. “Can this town survive being turned into a replica of Barria?”
“If you take the best of both worlds,” Logan answered with a pensive expression. “You can get something better, but Southern elders don’t want something better, Jaxon. They want the kind of subjugation that existed on Barria before the civil war remade it. They won’t stop until they get that here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Straight men ruled once, while gay and bisexual ones kept their lives secret. The war was about sexuality, but it was as much about power, strength, and integrity. It was who had them and who was willing to go the distance.”
“It was a war of attrition,” Jaxon murmured.
“Yes, but in the sense that it took a single man in the east to stand against the gay and the straight, to lead people to fight against the extremism of both sides,” Logan told him with a gleam in his eyes. “You’ll earn the respect of the people of this town if you show them you’re willing to lead them to a middle ground that gives everyone what they can live with.”
Passion's Fire [Alien Passions 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) Page 6
