by J. D. Light
Copyright © 2019 J.D. Light
Edited by Ann Attwood Editing and Proofreading Services
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
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Chapter One
"What are you doing?" Jax whispered close to my ear, startling me, and I gasped, squeezing the water bottle in my hand too hard and slushing water everywhere.
The little chosen female I'd been trying to hand the bottle to met my eyes, looking close to laughter and I turned quickly, glaring at the man who'd been the bane of my existence for the last three weeks.
Jax was assigned to keep an eye on me after a little incident that wasn't even my fault. I'd done a decent job of trying to fix the unwitting mess up of another agent in another department who didn't realize they were stepping in the middle of a very long and drawn out undercover mission that seemed like it was going on and on and would probably never stop, but…
In the end, my boss had thought it would be better if there was someone else around to get me out if things went bad again, but I was pretty sure what he meant was that there would be a shifter around to make sure I got out.
I didn't have a problem with shifters, and the idea was probably sound for the most part. More, I had an issue with Jax… and the high-handed way he tended to be with me.
"Would you fucking quit that?" I growled, reaching out to snatch another bottle of water off of the table and turning to hand it to the girl. "Aren't kangaroos supposed to be loud and thumpy or something?"
He raised his eyebrow, one side of his mouth twitching. "Thumpy?" He blinked, shaking his head. "If they catch you, they'll know you aren't just hired muscle."
I sighed, glaring at him over my shoulder. "I guess I'll just have to make sure they don't catch me."
"You mean, I'll have to make sure."
The chosen gently took the water out of my hand, giving me a grateful smile and began to drink. Despite her mirth earlier, she looked sad, probably having moved beyond the fear days ago, and I wished she didn't have to endure this kind of treatment for the length of time it was going to take to get her out.
Nobody hurt them, and for that I was extremely grateful, since I knew I wouldn't be able to handle this job if I had to watch them be hurt, or worse, hurt them for my cover, but the emotional damage could be just as heartbreaking.
I turned back to Jax, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring down at him. I was a good four inches taller, and definitely heavier, but I knew without a doubt, he was stronger, especially in his lower body.
Against my will, my eyes moved down his muscular frame to his unbelievably muscular thighs. The guy was gorgeous. There was absolutely no denying that. Dirty-blond hair, bright, electric-green eyes and a boy-next-door/captain-of-the-football-team good looks. I guessed he could probably be charming if he wasn't so fucking annoying and invasive, but what really got me was the way he tended to talk to me, like I was stupid or something.
Making sure these poor chosen were being fed properly and given water on a regular basis was hardly stupid. Maybe a bit reckless, but someone had to do something. At this rate, there were a couple in here that weren't going to make it to the next auction.
"No, asshole," I sneered, surprising myself with how angry I felt. At what point was I going to get used to this caged-up feeling when he was around. I almost felt like I was the one with an animal moving just beneath the surface of my skin. "I mean me. Believe it or not, I don't need you here."
"So, you say, but every time I turn around, you're doing stupid shit like this," he said dryly, pursing his lips.
I actually glanced at the crumpled bottle that still had water in it, seriously considering dumping it over his head. "They haven't given her water since Wednesday. These jackasses apparently think she can absorb it from the air like a fucking frog or something."
He stepped closer, once again in my personal space, which seemed to be one of his favorite moves, and never failed to make me feel like my skin was on the wrong way or something. Goosebumps traveled over my flesh where the warmth of his body sank into my skin and my dick jumped in my pants, telling me I was probably going to have another very angry masturbatory session in the shower later.
"So," he said, voice dipping low as he nearly pressed his chest to mine. "You're just going to keep sneaking down here on your breaks to take care of them, on top of having to follow Darian around, on top of the fact that you are also working undercover? When the fuck do you sleep?"
"I sleep." Sorta.
He reached up and my gaze snapped to his hand as he slowly brought it to my face, surprising the shit out of me when he gently ran his thumb under my eye. "Your bags say otherwise."
I growled, smacking his hand away. "I have two days off coming up from bodyguarding. I'll rest then."
What the fuck did it matter to him anyway? Except, it was probably important to be well rested when you were in the middle of something like this, so you didn't fuck something up while you were in a delirious state, but I'd be damned if I would acknowledge that internally or externally.
"No, you won't," he grumbled, narrowing his eyes. "You'll probably be down here checking on the chosen."
"Well, someone has to fucking do it."
"Yeah, me," he surprised me into silence. "Part of the reason I was sent was to make sure that the chosen are kept healthy. The last one we recovered from that sale was dehydrated and actually collapsed as soon as we took care of her buyer."
I actually knew that. It was what had prompted me to come down here and start slipping at least water to them. The first instance had been met with fear and plenty of suspicion, probably because they all knew I was one of Darian's constants, but after a while of me calmly trying to hand them water… and letting them watch me break the seal on the lid of the water bottle, they'd started accepting.
"I thought you were here as my babysitter."
"That too." He shifted his eyes slightly away, and then back, and his tongue snaked out to quickly moisten his lips, the motion only perceptible to someone who'd been trained to watch for signs of discomfort that might imply they weren't being completely honest.
I narrowed my eyes, trying to ignore the way his bottom lip glistened slightly. "You're lying."
"No, I'm not," he said, with a slight twitch to his lips as he closed them. Another not-truth. "Now, will you please stop sneaking down here before you get caught? I'll look after them, I promise."
I didn't see a problem with that scenario if he actually followed through, which, though he made me want to hit things sometimes, and I was always fighting my own body, I did trust him to do what he was saying he would… which meant there was something about babysitting me that was making him uncomfortable.
"What if you get caught?" I asked, after a long moment watching his face for any clue as to what he was hiding, but aside from the two instances, his face was as stone-cold as ever.
He shrugged, frowning slightly in his naturally condescending way. "I'm a shifter. I have better senses than you. I won't."
"Did you basically just tell me you're better than me because you're a shifter?"
His expression was dry, and I didn't know if I appreciated his lack of enthusiasm. Like most things with him, I was stuck somewhere between being extremely annoyed… and wanting to suffocate him… with my mouth.
Damn it, he was fucking annoying!
"No, I said my senses are better," he said steadily and logically. "You might not like it, but it is what it is. Shifters have better senses."
I licked my teeth, wishing he'd just leave, so I'd st
op giving him all of my attention when I desperately wanted to be assuring to the three chosen who needed me. "You're a kangaroo. How good can your senses be."
He smirked, leaning so far into my space, I felt his hair brush my chin as he reached by me, grabbing another water bottle and handing it up to the lone male chosen and giving him a soft smile. "Here, Will. Did you get enough to eat earlier?"
Will? How the fuck did he know the boy's name? And what the hell was up with that warm smile? Jax wasn't warm. He was rude and abrupt and emotionless… except for when he was smirking at me about something I said when he went and pushed me too fucking far. Did he have a thing for Will? Judging by the bright blush on the young man's face when he nodded a yes, Will definitely had a thing for Jax. Though, secretly, I couldn't blame him. Jax was ridiculously hot, and if he ever smiled at me the way he smiled at Will just then, I'd probably fall head over heels for him.
No! You will not fall for the jackass who does his best to annoy the fuck out of you every chance he gets, and you will not fall for the guy who is perfection personified when you still have that extra twenty to lose that you've been putting off for… your whole fucking life. You will not be a tragic...
Jax turned that sexy smirk on me again, leaning his hip against the table and crossing his arms the way men with far too much sex appeal often did. "Actually, kangaroos have excellent senses, but you knew that because you researched kangaroos about a week ago."
"Wha… how… oh-ho-ho," I sputtered angrily shaking a finger at him.
The snickering of the three chosen caught my attention and I turned toward them, an awed smile slowly curling the corner of my mouth. It was such a relief to see the amusement on their faces when so much of their lives the last few weeks had been terrifying and shitty as hell.
I watched them so long, I made it awkward as fuck, and Jax chuckled, reaching a hand out for the empty bottles, so we could ditch the evidence on the way back. I gave them all a small smile on the way out the door, waving slightly, and three hands raised in response
They were okay. They were going to make it through all of this, and hopefully there would be someone out there who could help to repair the fucking damage done.
The place where the chosen were being kept was actually an old root cellar that had been attached to the old house belatedly by an underground walkway. The original entrance had been barred up, but I'd managed to get to two of the bars off a while ago, just in case I needed to get the chosen out some day before one of the auctions. I could put the bars back to make it look secured, but nobody really checked anyway. The cages were pretty secure, and the shifters around this place tended to be over-confident.
Jax wandered over to my entrance with ease, and I narrowed my eyes on his back the entire time, wondering if he'd been following me and that was how he'd found it, or if he'd been poking around for a way in himself. There were days when it seemed like his only reason for being here was to remind me that I wasn't a shifter, and therefore not as aware.
I wasn't used to being snuck up on. I'd survived this long in this business by letting my intuition lead the way most of the time, and usually, it worked like a heightened sense, letting me know when danger was close, or when someone was watching me, but for some reason, Jax could just sneak up on me at will and follow me around like a hired stalker, and I didn't get so much as a ping. The only time I even knew the man was there was when he let me know, and that was all incredibly embarrassing, especially coming off a fuckup like the one with West and Dylan.
Maybe my abilities were slipping. Maybe I was so burnt out on the job, I was one stupid decision away from getting a bunch of people killed. Maybe my boss was right to send a babysitter.
Or maybe, your intuition doesn't see Jax as a threat, because you have a big stupid crush on the man.
I bit my lip to keep from groaning and allowing anyone to see my distress over that statement. I was already a big enough mess who'd made a fool of myself in front of the man enough times, I didn't need him adding emotional problems to the list of things he no doubt sent back to our boss, but I was definitely emotionally problemed, because I really did have a stupid crush on Jax, and I truly didn't understand it since logically I knew the man was not meant for someone like me, but there was nothing logical about the way he got to me.
On the other side of the wood doors that separated the main part of the cellar from the stairs that led up and out into what probably used to be part of the yard, but had been taken over by the woods behind it, Jax was leaning on the wall at the bottom of the steps, and I rolled my eyes both at him and myself, since he looked hot, and that was fucking annoying.
And because he went through your computer, he now knows you at least think about him when you should be worrying about other things.
I stopped, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at him. "You checking my browser history, Jax?"
He shrugged, giving me that smirk that made my body send those fucking mixed signals and messed with my head. "I thought it might be relevant."
"How so?" I asked incredulously. I wasn't being investigated… was I? "Is there a reason you need my porn preference?"
He narrowed his eyes on me like he was trying to figure something out. "You don't watch porn. At least, not on your computer."
Damn, he really had been checking my browsing history. Well, at least the most embarrassing thing I had on there was the fact that I'd been curious enough about him to look up kangaroos… I hoped.
I gave another eyeroll meant for both of us and walked up the stairs, needing to get to the safety of my room so I could die of embarrassment. It wouldn't even be a surprise at this point. I'd always known I'd probably go out that way.
"Why don't you?" Jax asked, from behind and a little below me, and I had the sudden feeling of being completely exposed, like I was wearing ass-less chaps or something, because there was no doubt in my mind that his face was inches from my ass. It was almost like I could feel his breath on my cheeks.
Shit! My dick twitched again, and I balled my fists, not at all understanding how this man affected me so much without even trying. Like seriously, how the hell did a person get turned on just because another one was walking behind him on the stairs. It was fucking nuts.
That's what this job was doing to me. It was making me fucking nuts.
"Why don't I what? Watch porn?" At his grunt, I curled my lip at the absurdity of it all. Why the hell did my lack of porn watching matter? "Are we really talking about this?" He just grunted again, and I decided we weren't talking about it.
When I got to the top of the stairs, I peeked through the old planks, making sure nobody was out there wandering the woods, and Jax pressed up beside me, doing the same. He sniffed at the cracks of the old door before meeting my eyes and nodding.
I easily removed one bar, setting it aside and then another, but nearly dropped the thing and had to do the ridiculous bobble/juggling act when he asked his next question.
"What do you think about when you masturbate?"
He asked it so calmly, so dryly, like it was a normal question you asked people on a regular basis. I could honestly say I'd never been asked that. Not even West, who had very few qualms about asking just about anything, had asked that.
"The fuck?" I squeaked when I finally managed to get the steel bar secure in my hands, my face insta-flaming, and my heartrate spiking up to dangerous. "Are you seriously asking about my masturbation habits? Is that part of your job too?"
I couldn't look at him. Not when the answer to that question lately was you. So, I pushed the plank door open on the side I'd just removed the bars from and eased out into the wooded back yard, my eyes scanning for movement while trying to ignore the fact that his face was once again at ass level, and then I grabbed the discarded bars and eased out.
"No," Jax said, and goosebumps prickled my skin as his hands landed lightly on my hips, and his chest brushed my back as he slipped by me. "That's a personal inquiry."
He
took the bars out of my hands as I stood there gaping at him like a fucking fish, and started putting them back in the proper places, putting his ass in the air as he worked, and I could make out the definition through the worn material of his jeans.
"What the hell for?" I finally said, blinking at him in shock as he gently shut the door and stood, turning to meet my gaze with a smirk.
"Just curious about your type."
I groaned, covering my face with my hands and throwing my head back dramatically. "Oh jeez. I'm never going to be able to forget this conversation." I let my hands slide down my face and returned my head to its upright position, stretching the skin in a way I had no doubt made me super attractive, but what the fuck was going on? How the hell had I gotten to here?
"Good," he said simply, before walking off.
I blinked after him before looking around, not really sure what I was expecting to find. "What the fuck just happened?" I asked the trees on a whisper.
Chapter Two
I pressed closer to the wall, wishing I had a glass or something. Fucking noise-control walls. They were normally a good thing since I didn't much care for hearing the things going on in the rooms in the rest of this fucking house, but at the moment, I wanted to punch a hole through the one separating my room and Lane's.
He was talking on the phone to someone, and though I could make out the tone of his voice, and I had definitely heard my name a time or two, I couldn't clearly make out what he was saying.
Shit! I guess I'm going to have to break the amplifier out.
It was a shifter's worst nightmare because though it absolutely worked for hearing through walls, which we didn't normally need help with, it also tended to put off a high-pitched hum that absolutely drove them nuts. Unfortunately, I was apparently desperate enough to endure that irritating hum just so I could hear the conversation of some guy I'd been obsessing over since I met him.
I'd never felt this kind of want before… this need. It was completely all-consuming and absolutely obsessive.
