MADNESS: Book One of The Shadow-Keepers Series

by Jas T. Ward

  Unlike the beautiful goddess, he on the other hand, had no idea what he was. Where he came from or what purpose he served. There was only one being that knew about his past and she had assured it would never be learned by anyone.

  Not even by him. Nor by her.

  So he too, just was. He just didn’t know what ‘was’ meant.

  “Stop what, Yin?” He arched a brow and crossed an ankle to his knee as he tented his fingers under his chin. He had learned to play this game with Yin long ago. Her question could be as complicated as why he hadn’t stopped world hunger or as to why he hadn’t put an end to eighties night at the club. He would have to wait her out for more info before answering. Or she would get bored and let him know to learn the answer.

  Yin smirked and reached out to cup his chin with her thumb stroking his jaw. “The Breaker. The freak. The one you created. The one you wanted a body for. He’s with that woman. You know that cannot end well.”

  Ah, Reno.

  He should have seen this one coming. But Bounce had a trump. Not a trump he particularly liked, but a trump nonetheless. He was betting the goddess would be even less enthused.

  His eyes phased from a dark green to a light blue in anticipation of her reaction as he smiled. “They’re in love.”

  Yin Yang hissed through her fangs and backhanded him with a warning tone. “Do not use that word with me.”

  Oh yeah. Another thing about the goddess? She hated love. Love had the power to throw just about anything and everything out of balance. To send something that made perfect sense into utter chaos with just a hint of love to cause it. Yin Yang didn’t love. It wasn’t in her DNA, and he doubted she could possibly understand it.

  Turning his head back to face her as he licked blood from his now split lip; he shrugged before flashing her another dazzling smile. “Fine. They like each other a great deal, to the point they have that emotion you get pissed as fuck if I say. Again, doesn’t change the facts.”

  Yin Yang raised her hand to slap him again and sibilance at his not even having the decency to flinch. That apparently took all the fun out of it, so she dropped her hand. “This should not have happened, Bounce.”

  Bounce sat back and watched as the goddess paced his office. Odd, she was usually so coldly composed right before she got hotly pissed. This in-between fascinated him. A bit like a drunken fly caught in the grip of a hungry spider. Sure, it could get your head ripped off, but it was going to be quite a show.

  “You’re the one that said he should be brought here. That was all you, Yin.” Bounce got to his feet and walked to the front of his desk to sit on its edge as he crossed his arms on his chest. “I still have no idea why you thought that was a good idea. Considering that woman you speak of and him were already on their way to,” he stopped himself and gave a sarcastic grin, “that word that makes you go crazy, psycho-pants all over my ass.”

  Yin stopped pacing to narrow her eyes at him. “Your flippant nature is not amusing to me today Bounce.”

  Surprise to him, for he didn’t think she could be amused either. What a fascinating day.

  Bounce raised his brows as he braced his hands on either side of himself on the desktop to look down at the floor, to further not amuse or anger her. Said matter-o-factly, “You surely knew this would happen, Goddess. He loved her from their one night. He never stopped loving her. Time doesn’t always make love die.”

  His eyes drifted to the Rubik’s cube until his fingers followed and he held it in his hand, careful not to change the order of the colored squares. “Sometimes all it does is cause love to be wounded and hurt. But some how,” he gave a sad frown as he sighed, “it still survives.”

  Yin was one of the few being’s that knew Bounce’s more recent events. His origin was a mystery to even her. He had washed up on a beach, on what is now known as Fiji, more than four-thousand years ago fully-grown god with no memories prior. Only the memories since had molded Bounce into the god he was now. Those included events more than thirty years ago that had forever sealed Bounce’s place in the war, as well as how it would end. It was memories of that event that Yin knew he wished he could forget.

  Yin was a bitch. Of that she was proud. But heartless? No.

  She heard the sadness in the beautiful god’s words, enhancing his exotic voice with pain, which appealed to some part of her nature. She would even forgive him using that word several times in a row and not getting punished for it. This time.

  Walking over to gently tilt his jaw to look her in the eyes, she said softly. “Why do you still mourn? It has been much time.”

  Bounce let his eyes look away from Yin to find a focal point of a Pac-Man poster on his office door. The pain she was probing, whether good intentioned or not, was locked tighter than any door. Farther than any distance he allowed his mind to go. As he dragged his eyes back to meet Yin’s, he gave her a half smile.

  “Doesn’t change the feeling. Doesn’t stop the longing. And hasn’t changed a fucking thing.”

  Yin sighed as she leaned in to nuzzle his neck, her fingers still holding his jaw to do so as her lips brushed over his pulse with her fangs nipping the spot.

  “I could comfort you, Bounce. I am known for my beauty. Worshipped by lovers for my skills in bed.”

  Of that Bounce had no doubt.

  But he also knew he wasn’t going to be added to her trophy list of lovers. Which, it was said, held the names of Greek gods, rock stars, and a few presidents; each of them given small tokens of balance in their favor for the privilege of bedding the goddess. If they survived, that is. Chances are that list was much longer.

  Talk about pressure. Poor flies.

  “You know why I don’t. Thanks for the offer, but not with you. Not with anyone.” He pulled his chin away from her grasp as he said it to carefully place the cube back on its stand on his desk and then moved away from her.

  “Besides, I don’t think it’s officially called mourning at this point. More like a refined wallowing in my own pity party of one. Excellent snacks and music.” Bounce gave her a forced smile as he waved a hand in the air hoping to be dismissed from the center of woe spotlight.

  Bounce gave Yin a level glare as he was still not sure what or why she was involved in the whole situation. “Now, back to the matter at hand. Reno and Emma.” He stepped up to Yin and narrowed his eyes.

  “Why did you want him back here? You never said. And rather than find my left nut roasting on your fire, I complied. Thought it was best to keep the best fighters here where the greatest need was. And Reno is one of the best. But even I figured that he and Emma would end up together. And knew it would be a mess when it did. But you insisted. Why?”

  Yin curled her lip and let out a threatening hiss, and before Bounce could deflect, her hand snapped down and wrapped around his length with her long nails digging into his flaccid flesh.

  Bounce barely contained his rage and met her eyes even though that hurt like Hell. She knew he didn’t like being touched there and he also knew she didn’t give a damn what he liked or didn’t like. Her eyes went dark as she came in close to hiss in his face.

  “You do not question me, Bounce. Or you will find your left nut is all that shall remain of you.”

  He looked down at her hand as he wrapped his fingers around her slender but supernaturally strong wrist to pull her away, knowing his cock would have gouge marks in it from her nails. Wouldn’t be the first time and most likely not the last.

  “Fine. But know this. He’s one of mine. And I don’t take to anyone messing with my Breakers. The Light needs the Grid to stay strong until it’s ready. You know it. And I know it. On that one thing I think we agree.”

  Yin inclined her head with a slight nod as she brought her fingers up to slowly lick the tips that had dug into him. She probably thought he found that a turn-on. No, he just found it extremely strange, like most everything she did.

  “Very well. But we need to know that none can learn his origin. Have you a plan to test that
?”

  Bounce smiled. “Of course I do.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Best Made Plans n’Shit

  The females in his life wanted ice cream and Reno never turned down sweets, or them. Carrying the bags of goodies as he made his way through the door, he had to carry one bag in his teeth as he reached the upstairs living area. Dropping his keys, he grabbed the bags hanging from his fangs and called out to Witch.

  And then Reno froze.

  A dark grey Stetson sat on the hall table and hanging beside it was a black duster coat. Those two things alone were not common in San Francisco, but when he heard a deep tenor voice, with an easy-going southern drawl lilting each word, he knew why those objects were in their front entryway.

  He was still standing there as if he was more solid cold than the ice cream he held, which had begun to drip on the floor, when Emma walked into the foyer. She gave him a very nervous smile.

  “Don’t freak. Okay?”

  His eyes looked towards the living room and they seemed to stutter in bringing his gaze back to her. Emma looked scared, but had a hopeful smile on her face,. All Reno thought was this was bad.

  Really, really bad.

  “Jess is here.”

  Reno heard her as his eyes went back to the hat once again and then slid back to look at her.

  “As in...?”

  She nodded.

  Reno knew she hadn’t told Sophia who her father was as she and Jess had agreed that to be for the best. And Reno also knew that Emma had not told Jess that he knew. Or so he thought, because now he wasn’t sure. “Does he know that I know?”

  Emma shook her head as she chewed on her bottom lip nervously. “No. And it’s none of his business. Okay? I had no idea he was coming by for a visit, or was even in town. Just,” she took the bags and gave him that desperate, hopeful smile and he knew he would do anything she asked, “relax, and let’s hope it doesn’t go too bad, okay?”

  Oh, she had no idea just how bad this could go as he followed her into the living room. She continued on to the kitchen but he was stopped by Jess standing up in front of him to prevent Reno from following with a greeting in that southern drawl. “Howdy.”

  Reno faltered internally as his ego took a hit from seeing that Jess was taller and broader then he was. Big guy to his little guy.

  And once again that normally didn’t bother him but he often wondered if Bounce had chosen him off the discount rack of bodies.

  But now wasn’t one of those times, because if there was one person in the whole world he considered an enemy?

  The big man standing in front of him was.

  Reno didn’t like the fact the enemy was more threatening than he was in size. He didn’t even dare go into the zone of Jess being his lover’s ex-lover, as well as the true father of a child he had come to adore. Nope. He didn’t have that good of control.

  Reno also knew their size difference made total sense if the facts were all laid out, but he didn’t care. In Jess’ human life he had been a gun for hire, a card sharp and a womanizer; all by the age of thirteen.

  Granted, Reno could take a lot of the credit for some of those twists in Jess’ life, and if you asked Jess, all of it had been because Reno had caused all the bad things that ruined what would had been a happy life for the cowboy in their human existence. But Reno knew that wasn’t totally true.

  After Jess became immortal, it had been Jess that slaughtered his own brutal father and took over what was now one of the largest cattle ranches in the west. Since then, the man worked it every night from dusk to dawn, when he didn’t have work to do for Bounce. Riding broncs and bulls bulked up a guy better than any gym.

  Then there was Reno’s body. For all Reno knew? His body was that of a mail man who had one too many run-ins with the neighborhood dog. Okay, if a dog had wicked knife skills, judging by the scars from being stabbed this body had before he got it.

  Lifting his eyes to the good four-inches Jess stood over him to meet those dark brown eyes, Reno stuttered and finally squeaked out.

  “Hi.”

  Oh good god Reno thought. Why didn’t he just pee in his jeans while he was at it? Could he just once not embarrass himself?

  Jess cracked a half grin and raised a brow. “You must be Reno, right?”

  Sophia walked up and tugged on Jess’ jean’s leg and said softly, “He’s berry nice.”

  Reno watched as Jess’ face softened with his eyes actually going a rare kind as he looked down at the sweet little girl. A little girl that Jess couldn’t claim as his daughter, and Reno couldn’t imagine the pain that must have caused. Well, maybe he could since he had been locked away from the woman he loved for years. It was probably a lot like that, and Reno admitted to himself that he liked Jess feeling some of that pain now. Yeah, it was wrong, but it felt really right.

  Jess let out a soft laugh and bent down to scoop up Sophia and pointed between her eyes with a finger causing her to giggle. “Well baby girl, why don’t you give Uncle Jess a chance to find that out a’right?”

  Sophia cuddled Jess as the big man brought his eyes back to look at Reno. Softness flew from the gaze and hardness returned full-force.

  “So. Breaker?” Jess’ eyes had gone to Reno’s Grid stamp causing Reno to tug his shirt sleeve to cover it and he had no idea why. That caused Jess to narrow his eyes and let out a grumbled “Hmm” before turning to sit on the couch with Sophia. “So. Ems tells me you and her are hmmm,” he glanced over at Sophia, “friends. Is that right baby girl? Your ma and this fella are friends?”

  Sophia nodded and smiled. “Good friends. Theys like to tell bedtime stories to each other in beds.”

  Reno’s jaw dropped and he gave Sophia a ‘you got to be kidding me look’ before she giggled. He smirked and sat back and shrugged as he met Jess’ eyes. “We’re more than friends actually. Really, really more.”

  Jess’ brow rose at that and the air seemed to change. Reno felt it, Jess knew it, and Sophia even frowned as if she sensed it too.

  Meanwhile in the kitchen, Emma’s hands were shaking as she tried to fix dinner. She could hear the two males talking along with Sophia giggling so she assumed that her daughter wasn’t being entertained by a brawl that had broken out.

  Emma was far from entertained. She was pissed.

  How dare Jess just show up out of the blue after almost a year of not doing so? How dare he not even call? Of course he didn’t call. He hadn’t done that in over six months. She had the same damn number she always had. Hell, her land line was the same damn number her parents had. But instead, she had opened the door expecting the man she loved and found the man she used to love standing there. Surprise!

  Jess had eased his way in like he had just been in her home a week ago rather than years. Like he was still a part of what went on under its roof. As if he was a part of this family. A family he had walked out on and rejected three years ago.

  “Wearing that stupid hat.” She slammed down the knife on the cutting board and cursed. “I always hated that dumb looking thing. It’s the 21st century, Cowboy. Get a new style.”

  She wasn’t paying attention with her cutting assault on innocent carrots and sliced into her finger with the blade. Yanking her hand at the shock of the pain, she then sent the bowl of tomatoes for the sauce crashing to the floor where it shattered loudly on the tile.

  Reno was on his feet in a flash and so was Jess. Both of them ran into the kitchen which made Reno shove Jess out of the way to walk over to Emma. Jess grabbed Sophia before she stepped in any broken glass.

  “You okay?”

  Emma nodded and he took her hand in his to look at the cut on her finger, dripping with blood. “Damn it Witch.” He brought her finger up to his mouth and sucked the blood away so he could see the cut better. “It doesn’t need stitches, but it needs a Band-aid. Maybe two.”

  He turned on the faucet and cleaned her finger before then turning to pull the med-kit out of the kitchen drawer to find what he needed.


  Jess watched and narrowed his eyes. As far as he had been told, the two of them had only been dating for two months.

  But as he observed Reno and Emma together; the way they stood around each other? It seemed like that fact was teetering rather crooked on the fence of truth. Not to mention he thought him and Emma had an understanding about no Breakers in her life. Not only because he was still in love with her, even if he wouldn’t admit it to her or anybody else, but most of all to keep Sophia safe. To keep her off the Grid and away from being connected to Breakers in any way which included him, but here she was, seeing a Breaker.

  A Breaker that wasn’t him.

  “How about we go out and eat?”

  Before Jess even gave it much thought, the suggestion had come out of his lips and hung tensely in the air. It was Sophia who broke the stand-off as she clapped and squealed. “Mama? ‘Eno? We go outs eats?”

  “No!” The word was out of Reno’s lips before he even knew he was going to say it. Out loud anyway. The idea of a ‘family’ night out with Jess had less appeal then scraping all his skin off with a cheap, made in China, plastic spoon. But he saw Emma’s expression along with Jess’ smirk followed by an absolutely adorable pout from Sophia, he didn’t stand a chance.

  Great. Now he was the bad guy.

  He tried to recover and smiled, although it was forced and tight. “I mean. No, that’s a great idea. Right?” Reno looked down at Witch and he saw relief mixed with understanding as she stood on her toes to give him a kiss, her hand coming up to cup his cheek.

  He glanced over at Jess as they kissed and that all too familiar smirk still rested on Jess’ handsome face. God, he hated that face. His gaze slid to Sophia, still held in Jess’ arms, and he knew he’d do this. No way was he turning down Witch nor Rugrat.

  And boy, was he screwed.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Charm versus Nananana

  “You remember when you accidentally bleached all my black shirts?” Jess was laughing as he sat on the opposite side of the table with Emma, who was laughing right back all light and happy much to Reno’s dismay.