At Year's End (The 12 Olympians)

by Gasq-Dion, Sandrine

~*Chapter Three*~

  Jaxon had parked four blocks down in a secure alley. He made the trek back to Elijah’s house just in time to see his guardians leaving. He narrowed his eyes as they both looked around suspiciously before getting into the car. His ears caught the unmistakable sound of the screen porch door slamming on the back of the house and he waited for the guardians to pull out and drive away. Jaxon made his way cautiously to Elijah’s backyard. The gate was open, but there was no sign of anyone. The smell of blood was strong and Jaxon raced into the house.

  “Elijah!” Jaxon shouted.

  He tore through the kitchen in a panic. The lights were all off and the house was eerily quiet. He stormed into the living room and that’s when he saw Elijah, face down at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Elijah!” Jaxon ran over to him and gently picked him up. Blood flowed from the side of Elijah’s head and his lip was cut. He grabbed his phone and dialed the police. Once he was patched through to Detective Nicholas Stevens, a fellow werewolf, and had relayed all the information, he hung up and cradled Elijah’s body in his arms. Nicholas had assured him that Kellan, Jude and Scott — all paramedics and werewolves, would arrive quickly.

  “Open your eyes, Elijah. Please open them,” Jaxon whispered. He bit his wrist and wiped the healing blood over Elijah’s open wound on his temple. Elijah stirred and then moaned.

  “That’s right,” Jaxon held Elijah close to him. “Come back to me.”

  “Jaxon?” Elijah licked his lips and tried to focus. “What happened?”

  “I thought maybe you could tell me.”

  The sound of sirens in the distance soothed Jaxon’s frazzled nerves. He held Elijah carefully and checked him over. Angry bruises covered the kid’s arms.

  “Um, think I fell down the stairs.” Elijah blinked and looked up to see Jaxon with worry in his eyes. “Hi.”

  Jaxon tried to smile. “Hi. How are you feeling?”

  “Sore.”

  “Well, the medics are coming. I want you looked at, okay?”

  Elijah nodded.

  “Do you think you can stand up?”

  Elijah stumbled to his feet and grabbed onto Jaxon for support. He realized his misstep and tried to pull away. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  “Don’t you dare apologize.” Jaxon put an arm around Elijah and supported him as he opened the front door. The ambulance pulled into the driveway, and then Kellan was off the bus and running to the house.

  “What happened?” Kellan shouted, running straight to Elijah and assessing him.

  “I don’t know; I found him at the bottom of the staircase.” Jaxon helped move Elijah to the bus where Scott and Jude were setting up an IV drip. He elbowed Kellan.

  “I gave him some of my blood.”

  Kellan nodded and eased Elijah into the ambulance. “Good. Let’s hope he can tell us what happened.”

  “I’ll meet you guys at the hospital.” Jaxon took Elijah’s hand and lightly squeezed it.

  By the time Jaxon arrived at the hospital maintained solely for the shifters, Caden was already there pacing in the waiting room. Jaxon smiled. The man cared for Elijah like a son, as he did all the boys. But Elijah was extra special to him. Caden noticed him and exhaled a breath.

  “Do you know what happened?” he asked.

  “I thought you would know by now,” Jaxon answered. “I found him on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. He’s got bruises on his arms.”

  “Well, he’s got a ton on his side, too.”

  They both turned to see Alexander Romasko, another werewolf and their physician, staring at them.

  “What?!” Jaxon fairly snarled.

  “He’s been beaten. Badly. Your blood began the healing process, but the bruises were slow to fade. Someone repeatedly kicked him in his ribs. Most of the bruises on his arms and hands were probably caused while he tried to protect himself.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Caden roared. “I am going to kill whoever did this!”

  “Get in line.” Jaxon balled his fists.

  “I am positive he will recover fully, seeing as he has werewolf blood in his system now.”

  “Well, he’s not going back to that house!” Caden bellowed.

  “No, he’s not. He’s coming home with us.”

  Jaxon whirled around to see Skylar and Justice. He’d never been so happy to see his brother.

  “Justice,” Jaxon sighed in relief.

  Justice pulled Jaxon into his arms. “We’ll take good care of him. I swear.”

  Jaxon sagged in his brother’s embrace. The vision of Elijah at the bottom of the stairs haunted him. The thought that something very serious could happen to Elijah was something he just couldn’t handle.

  “He’s going to be okay, Jaxon,” Justice whispered into his brother’s ear. “You can pull watch tonight at our house.”

  “Damn right I will.”

  Kellan poked his head out of the door to Elijah’s room and scanned the people in the waiting room.

  “He’s awake. He wants to see Jaxon.”

  Jaxon fairly ran to the room. Kellan stood out of the way and smiled as he passed. Elijah was sitting up in bed as if nothing had happened to him. Jaxon sat on the edge and reached out to touch Elijah’s face. He stopped, and withdrew his hand slowly.

  “You can touch me, I won’t break,” Elijah smiled tentatively.

  Jaxon lifted his hand and pressed it to Elijah’s cheek. The warmth from Elijah flowed through him and an amount of peace settled in.

  “I was so scared when I found you.” Jaxon rubbed Elijah’s cheekbone softly with his thumb. “If anything ever happened to you…” Jaxon swallowed the lump in his throat.

  Elijah searched Jaxon’s features. “You were worried about me?” he whispered.

  “Of course I was — am, whatever. You mean a lot more to me than you think, Elijah.”

  “Yeah?” Elijah grinned.

  “Yeah.”

  The door opened and Skylar poked his head in. “Ready to go home?”

  Elijah’s nose twitched and a look of disgust came over his face.

  “Not that home. My home.” Skylar waggled his eyebrows.

  “Really?” Elijah brightened.

  “Yes, really and Jaxon is coming with us.”

  Elijah jumped out of bed and twirled around. He realized he was wearing a hospital gown and he had just exposed his ass to Jaxon and Skylar. He gripped the material and pulled it closed.

  “Oops! Sorry.”

  “I’m not,” Jaxon mumbled.

  “So, anyway,” Skylar raised his brows at Jaxon. “Let’s go.”

  Jaxon had to laugh. Elijah was a chatterbox all the way to Skylar’s house. By the time they pulled into the driveway, Jaxon had serious concerns about Elijah’s oxygen levels. Once out of the car, he walked next to Elijah, keeping an eye out on the neighborhood. The house was filled with laughter and all the guys hugged Elijah, welcoming him in.

  Skylar showed Elijah to his room and Jaxon followed him up. Matching nightstands flanked a queen-sized oak bed. A matching entertainment nook took up one corner and a dresser took the other. Elijah walked to the TV and checked out the equipment.

  “By the way,” Skylar peeked in the room. “I have the latest episode of your TV show on the DVR.”

  “You didn’t!” Elijah almost squealed. They didn’t have a DVR at his house, and he was lucky if he caught even one episode of his favorite show.

  “I did; I recorded the whole season, just in case.” Skylar winked.

  “I love you, you know that, right?” Elijah ran to Skylar and hugged him tightly.

  “I love you, too,” Skylar smiled, hugging Elijah. “How do you feel?”

  “I feel fine.”

  “Well, you can miss school in the morning if you want.”

  “No, I have to go. Spanish quiz.”

  “Okay, I’ll leave you alone now.” Skylar smiled at Elijah and winked at Jaxon as he closed the door.

  Elijah jumped on the bed and grabbed
the remote. Jaxon walked to the far wall and glanced out the window.

  “Want to come watch with me?”

  Jaxon turned to see Elijah sporting a big grin.

  “Sure, I guess. What are we watching?”

  “You’ll see.” Elijah reclined on the bed and hit ‘play.’

  Jaxon sat on the bed, close to the edge, so he wouldn’t be touching Elijah. It didn’t matter anyway, the smell and heat from Elijah was intoxicating. His canines were threatening to elongate and he was just about to excuse himself when a name caught his attention.

  “Did he just say Salvatore?”

  Elijah grinned and bobbed his head. “He did! The first time I saw you, I hoped you were a vampire.”

  Jaxon’s mouth dropped open.

  “I did! I mean, come on! Your last name is Salvatore! The first time I saw you, I could see the Italian in you. Dark hair but light eyes, and your skin tone is a bit darker than most. I figured you weren’t a vamp, though. Too tanned.”

  “And that’s the only reason I couldn’t be a vampire? Because I’m tanned?” Jaxon chuckled.

  “Don’t laugh, I totally believe in all of that stuff.” Elijah stared down at his hands. “You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”

  “I would never make fun of you, Elijah.” Jaxon lifted Elijah’s chin and stared into his eyes. “Never.”

  The heat in the room seemed to go up and Jaxon could have sworn fire blazed in Elijah’s eyes. Jaxon moved over a tad. Well, now this was interesting.

  “Um, so, back to the show?” Elijah licked his lips and turned back to the TV. Damn, if wishes could come true, Jaxon would be naked on his bed screaming for —

  “Yep.”

  They watched the show for a good half hour before Jaxon turned to Elijah.

  “He seems kind of moody.”

  “As opposed to the psychopath brother?” Elijah chuckled.

  “Which one do you like more?”

  Elijah’s brows furrowed and his nose wrinkled in thought. “I don’t know. I can’t choose. There are traits to both brothers I find appealing. There’s the safe but sweet, and then there’s the brooding and dangerous — and that’s just the one brother,” Elijah snickered. “The other one puts up a front. Yes, he’s a ginormous asshole, but deep down, all he wants is to be loved.”

  “You find the brooding guy appealing?” Jaxon’s brow rose.

  “I think they both have reasons for who they are and how they behave. I just like a man with substance.”

  “I think you’d make a great shrink someday.”

  Elijah turned sideways and regarded Jaxon.

  “Let’s take you for instance. You had a wonderful family, until they were killed. Yes, I know about it,” Elijah put his hand up to stop Jaxon’s words. “I think in a lot of ways you blame yourself for not being able to do more. As you’ve gotten older, you didn’t want to care for anyone the way you did before. I bet you had girlfriends before your parents died. Didn’t you?”

  Jaxon nodded.

  “Boyfriends?”

  “One.”

  “See the thing is, you can’t go back and you can’t change it; some things you have to let go or they will destroy you with anger and hate.”

  “Are you sure you’re only 17?” Jaxon narrowed his eyes.

  “If I said I was older, would you kiss me?” Elijah batted his long eyelashes.

  “I thought you had a boyfriend?”

  “I do?” Elijah tried to concentrate, but the room was starting to spin.

  Jaxon felt Elijah’s forehead; he was a little warm. “Why don’t you rest, okay? I’ll get you something to drink.”

  Jaxon stood and went to the door. Looking over his shoulder, he made sure Elijah had gotten under the covers and was comfortable. Something very fucked up was going on, and Jaxon was going to find out exactly what it was. He made his way downstairs and into the kitchen. Justice was leaning against the island counter as his mate, Skylar, popped popcorn.

  “How are the Salvatore brothers?” Skylar chuckled.

  “Elijah is disappointed I’m not a vamp.” Jaxon raised his brows.

  “Won’t he be so happy to know you’re a werewolf instead?” Skylar smiled wide.

  “Who’s a werewolf?”

  Jaxon sighed and looked over his shoulder. Stone was staring at them.

  “You know, the character on Elijah’s TV show,” Skylar blurted.

  “Oh,” Stone nodded. “I like the quiet one better.”

  “The brooding, Mr. Do-gooder?” Jaxon laughed.

  “I see you know him well.” Stone grinned. His eyes widened and he looked from Justice to Jaxon. “Oh my God, I just put that together!”

  Skylar handed the popped corn to Stone. “Here, can you give this to the guys?”

  “Sure.” Stone nodded.

  He walked back into the living room, looking over his shoulder at the brothers. Skylar turned to Justice with a grin.

  “I wonder how long it will take him to put all of it together?”

  “Said the son of Poseidon.” Jaxon chuckled and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. “Where are the aspirin?”

  Justice pulled the bottle from the cabinet and handed it to Jaxon. “How is Elijah?”

  “He’s a little warm, but I don’t know if that’s from today or us being in such close proximity to each other. We have no idea how his powers work.”

  “Good luck up there, buddy.” Justice patted his brother’s back.

  “Ha, ha.”

  Jaxon left the kitchen and made his way back upstairs. He opened the door slowly and peeked around the side. Elijah was on his side, remote in hand. His eyes were barely slits, but Jaxon knew he was still awake. He made his way around and set the bottle down on the nightstand.

  “I brought you some aspirin. What did I miss?” Jaxon handed the bottle and pills to Elijah.

  “Brooding brother chasing rabbits.”

  “It’s rabbit season!”

  Elijah sat up quickly and stared at Jaxon.

  “It’s duck season.”

  “Rabbit.”

  “Duck.”

  Jaxon leaned in and glared at Elijah. “Rabbit.”

  “Okay, you win.” Elijah smiled, popped the pills in his mouth and gulped down the cool water. “I can’t believe you know that cartoon.”

  “Are you kidding me? Every Saturday morning Justice would drag us down for cartoon time. Not that we needed dragging. We’d come in with dry cereal and sit and watch for most of the morning.”

  Elijah tilted his head. “Just when I think there’s nothing more I could like about you, you surprise me.”

  “Next thing I know, you’ll tell me you love dipping cookies into cake frosting.”

  Elijah’s eyes almost popped out of his head. “Cream cheese frosting?” he whispered.

  Jaxon fell off the bed in surprise. Elijah crawled to the edge and looked down at an open-mouthed Jaxon Salvatore.

  “Yep, something new every time.”

  Jaxon got back on the bed and got comfortable against the headboard. Elijah leaned into his shoulder with a sigh.

  “Will you stay until I fall asleep?”

  Jaxon ran his fingers through Elijah’s hair. “Of course.”

  “Hey, Jaxon?”

  “Yes?”

  “Goodnight.”

  “Night.”

  ~*Chapter Four*~

  The next morning, Jaxon headed for Caden’s office. It had become so much more than a place for Caden to work. It housed a workout facility, apartments for the displaced shifters, an interrogation area, and James Pruitt-Jacobs now maintained an office there when he was in Seattle. More often than not, James spent more time in Seattle now than he did in Arizona. Jaxon parked his bike and walked inside. The same guard waved him through and he took the elevator to James’ floor.

  He was worried about Elijah. He didn’t remember New Year’s Eve, and that was worrisome. What else had Elijah forgotten besides that and his boyfriend? Or did he ev
en have one? Could he somehow have been brainwashed? James would know. As a government agent — and having endured his own torture — James would know.

  Jaxon stopped in front of James’ door and knocked.

  “Come in.”

  He stepped through the doorway and smiled at Derek Jacobs sitting in the corner. The retired — and protective — general was never far away from his husband.

  “Morning.” Jaxon took the seat James indicated.

  “What’s all this about, Jaxon? You were cryptic on the phone,” James asked.

  “As he should be,” Derek interrupted. “You never know who is listening.”

  “Don’t let Keegan hear you say that,” James chuckled.

  Jaxon chuckled as well. Special Agent Keegan Markov was one of the best hackers the government had. He could write programs that would scramble even the best security software on and off the market.

  “I heard about Elijah. How is he?” James asked.

  “He’s better. He went to school this morning. Killian went with them.”

  “In what form?” Derek chuckled.

  Jaxon shrugged. “No clue.” He sat forward and clasped his hands. “What do you know about mind control?”

  James’ brows lifted. “Quite a bit actually. Why?”

  “I think someone is messing with Elijah’s head.”

  “How?” Derek piped up.

  “New Year’s Eve, I was all set to kiss him — ” Jaxon narrowed his eyes when James snickered quietly. “But at that second, he got a call and the next thing I knew, he was walking away from me. Now, here’s the weird part: When I asked him about it yesterday, he had no memory of the incident. Says he was at home alone, watching Times Square on TV. To make matters more suspicious, he recited to me what he’d done that night as if he were reading it from cue cards.”

  James nodded. “You said he got a phone call?”

  “Yes, his phone rang some annoying chime right as I was leaning in to kiss him.”

  “How many other times has his phone rung during something important?”

  Jaxon scrunched his brows in thought. There had been a few times before. Skylar had mentioned it, as well as Stone and Ryder. Jaxon raised his eyes to James’.

  “You think it’s the phone?”