“You all right?” Jax asked. The kid wiped his nose as he regarded Jax with wide scared eyes, but didn’t say a word. “What’s your name?” Jax tried again, using his compulsion to calm the teen at the same time.
“Rory.” The shaking stopped, though he still appeared freaked.
Jax amped up the compulsion. “It’s all right Rory, you’re safe now. When you leave this alley, you won’t remember any of this.” Jax watched, satisfied, as Rory’s fear slipped away and the teen nodded his understanding.
Jax sheathed his blades, then walked over and picked up his enemy’s knives and guns from the ground. With one eye on Rory, he stepped around another body and grabbed the tranquilizer gun.
Jax frowned. The Ilyium were going to Tranq the kid and he had no idea why. What was his enemy up too? He thought about the shots that had been fired at him and knew that surely someone would have heard and called it in. He needed to be gone before the cops showed up.
Weapons taken care of, Jax pulled his wallet from his pants pocket and took out all the money he had. “Here, get something to eat, and find somewhere to sleep. Inside, okay?”
Rory blinked, nodded and hesitantly accepted the money.
“Do you own any warm clothes?” Jax asked, wishing he could do more for the kid.
“No.” Rory pursed his lips and glared, daring him to remark on his lack of clothing.
Through a mix of suppressed emotions, anger simmered, never far from the surface as Jax remembered living in fear himself. A few days after he turned ten, dear ol’ Dad showed up. Marcius, always a cruel man, had grown meaner over the years after the Ilyium attacked their village, which was proven by his treatment of his boys.
Even though he shouldn’t think such things, Jax never stopped wishing Marcius had died when their village was attacked. For some reason Jax never understood, Marcius hated his boys, him especially. So, it was no surprise and a huge relief to both Jax and his brother Sami, when Marcius allowed Zander to bring the boys to the safety of Earth with him and Tierney. But it was a surprise—and a hellish one—when Marcius showed up a few years later and dragged him and Sami away from their new found security.
The feelings Rory invoked made Jax grit his teeth as he unzipped his hoodie and pulled it off. Though not a coat, it would help keep the kid a little warmer. Besides, Jax had a duffle bag of clothes in his car. “Here, put this on.”
Rory blinked at the hoodie in surprise. “T-Thanks.”
Jax assessed the skinny teen. Rory wouldn’t survive if the Ilyium came after him again. Taking a knife from one of the dead men, Jax sheathed it and offered it, hilt first to the kid. “Take this. Protect yourself. Stay out of dark alleys, okay?”
Rory accepted the weapon with a frown, and then hesitated for a moment before taking off.
Jax sighed and eyeballed the blood splattered alley. I wish the police luck. They are going to need it. With very little power left, he pulled a simple cloaking spell around him. No need to scare anyone with all the weapons he carried. Knowing the spell wouldn’t last, he hurried away with a slight limp.
Jax had planned to go home last week, but his leg wound wasn’t healing as fast as he had hoped. He suspected that his slow healing was due to his inability to get much sleep, a condition he developed after Marcius took him away. Regardless, he couldn’t let Tierney or Sami find out he was fighting the Ilyium, and if they saw the wound they’d figure it out, and then freak. He so didn’t need that.
Jax glanced at the time on his phone, swore, and hastened his steps. Zander was still missing, and he needed to get home. He’d been away long enough. Plus, he still needed to pick up his date. Shit. Why am I bringing a date home? Oh right—to keep from getting too close to Tierney. Just thinking of her made his pulse race and other parts of him harden. Not now, dumb ass! Pushing thoughts of the amethyst-eyed, annoying female from his mind, Jax drew on his ebbing power.
He made it to within fifty feet of his car when the spell dissolved. He glanced quickly around and hurried the last few feet to his pride and joy, an old black Chevy Impala. After popping the trunk, he stowed his weapons and slid on his comfy, brown leather jacket. Warmth encased him as he shut the trunk, walked around to the driver’s side door and climbed inside. Weary, he leaned back and shut his eyes. The familiar trembling started. Slow, easy breaths … try to stay calm.
The adrenaline rush wore off and nausea set in.
Chapter Three
Anxiety
TIERNEY SHIVERED WITH UNEASE. What the hell! Who is this guy? With an eye on the SUV behind her, she tried to read the creep’s mind but got nothing. No thoughts. Though she did discern three minds in the vehicle. Huh, not human, then.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“You of course—what else?”
Disgust filled her. “Yeah, like that’s gonna happen!” Tierney torqued the throttle and flew into the other lane, passing the line of cars in front of her. Adrenaline surged as she zipped back into her own lane, narrowly avoiding an oncoming car. Oops, sorry … A pale, horrified face whipped past her in the oncoming lane. She really didn’t mean to give the guy a heart attack.
Tierney shifted her focus between the road in front of her and the creep behind her as he passed the same vehicles and caught up to her. “Who are you?” she repeated, getting angry.
“I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”
Tierney ground her teeth. “Go ahead, spoil the surprise.”
“So feisty. I like a challenge. We will have great fun together … with that tight little ass.”
Rage consumed her. Who the hell is this guy? Something about him felt familiar, but she couldn’t figure out what. “Yeah, I’ll have great fun when I cut your dick off and shove it down your throat.” She flashed teeth in her mirror.
Maybe they’ll pull over if I do, she thought, knowing there was a gas station just past the next intersection. Though impatient to confront this creep, she really didn’t want him following her home. “Let’s not wait, we can meet now.” She passed the intersection and eased off the gas.
“I know you’re dying to meet me, but I’m not alone, and I hate to share—don’t worry, we’ll be together soon enough.”
Ugh. That just made her skin crawl. Tierney shot into the gas station parking lot, and spun the bike around in a shower of dirt. She waited, her pulse racing, as the Escalade slowed. Huh, did the jerk change his mind? After talking to her like that, she wanted to kick his freakin’ ass. She watched the black behemoth turn at the intersection instead.
“Until we meet again,” creepy A-hole said.
A growl of frustration escaped her, and she had just decided to follow him when Sami’s voice stopped her.
“How much longer you going to be?” he asked, sounding grouchy.
“Sorry, Sami. I’ll be home soon.” Tierney sighed. Shit. I missed supper. With a scowl, she glared at the SUV’s fading taillights, gunned her bike and shot back onto the road. What a major dick!
She felt like kicking herself over her lost chance. And what the hell is up with Sami? He sure is cranky tonight. Samarias shared Tierney’s birth date and was also twenty-one. Her normally sweet friend had inherited his mother’s golden hair and emerald eyes, though tonight he sounded more like his prickly brother, Jaxsaron.
Jax was older than her and Sami by ten months, and his dark brows often pulled into a scowl to match his mood. As a kid, his shiny, raven black hair was long and glorious, soft to the touch. Eleven-years-old and recently returned home, broken both mentally and physically, Jax awoke screaming from a nightmare one night and locked himself in the bathroom. By the time they calmed him, and convinced him to open the door, Jax had hacked off most of his hair. Though he never said why he did it, he’d kept it short ever since. And while Tierney might not know the details, the haunted look in his blue eyes never failed to pierce her soul. She loved both brothers, but sometimes her fierce, ‘I’d kill or die for them,’ feelings terrified her.
She th
ought about her and Sami’s seventh birthday back on Tartaria so long ago. Her dad had been attending a secret meeting with other clan leaders, when the Ilyium had struck. In a brutal massacre, they killed her mother and little brother, along with Sami and Jax’s mother, and most of the village. Men, women and children, young and old alike died that day.
Now she wondered what her little brother would have looked like if he still lived. The attack had left the survivors devastated, and no matter how hard her dad tried to keep the clan together, it fell apart. Two weeks later, Zander led a group of them from Tartaria to Earth through a dimensional portal.
Impatient but almost home, Tierney slowed her bike as the turnoff to their driveway approached. She glanced at the little house across the highway. A soft yellow glow shone through the windows, and a single sad strand of Christmas lights hung on the porch railing. A small, beat up yellow car sat out front. It appeared that the mom and little girl were home, while the abusive husband wasn’t. After a domestic disturbance there four years ago, they all tried to keep an eye on the family.
Tierney flicked on her signal and turned off the blacktop onto a winding gravel road. Trees and foliage blurred past as she roared up the mountain. After a half-mile, she eased off the gas and exited to a large plateau, letting her eyes drink in the breathtaking sight of her home.
Tierney’s dad brought them here after the massacre, and she loved the immense log building that used to be a ritzy resort. Large enough to have housed their entire village, a balcony wrapped around three quarters of the upper level, while a deck surrounded the main floor. Beneath all that were the underground parking and laundry facilities, while the pool and workout room opened onto a patio overlooking the lake. The two tall windows on each side of a massive rock chimney at the front of the building, always looked like they were reaching to the heavens to her. She glanced around at the forest surrounding them on three sides. A bunch of small cabins were interspersed between the trees, while on the other side of their home was the lake, with the mountains and an amazing view of the valley stretching beyond.
A faint whiff of something caught her attention. Burnt ozone? There was no other way to describe the smell. Tierney scrutinized the yard skeptically. No one was around and as quickly as the burnt scent came, it disappeared. Weird. Okay, so I must just be freaked at seeing Jax.
Jax had stolen her heart as a child and still owned it—though he didn’t have a clue. Oh my sweet, tormented man. Her heart ached for him. Jax kept his shields high, guarding his pain, but as an Empath, Tierney often caught glimpses of his suffering. She never let on, knowing he’d be mortified if he knew.
Now her emotions twisted inside her at the idea of seeing him this evening. With a rumble, she rolled past the entrance to the underground parking, and pulled up to the side door. She set the kickstand and pushed ‘Creepy Asshole’ out of her mind when a loud, echoing caw drew her eyes to a towering hemlock tree that stood fifteen feet away. She sat on her bike and searched in the direction the sound came from, but saw nothing. About to give up and head inside, she shivered when everything blurred and went gray again.
What the hell? She eyeballed the yard through the weird dingy tint, and heard another caw. The sound drew her eyes back to the hemlock. A quarter of the way up, perched a large, shiny raven and it appeared to be staring at her. Tierney’s skin started to crawl. What the hell is going on? Is that the same bird as earlier?
Intent on studying her feathered tormentor, she jumped, then chuckled when it dropped to a lower branch. Opening her mind, she tried to connect to the bird and received … nothing. Extremely weird. There were none of the basic eat or hunt instincts that she normally got from animals. Maybe I’m not paranoid, maybe I have a tumor.
Without taking her eyes from the bird, Tierney climbed off her bike. She jumped when an eerie shriek pierced the air, and then the raven toppled to the ground. What in all the universes … The bird lay still and a sudden wind blew dirt and leaves around, then the trees began to sway. Again, she searched with her senses, but other than faint magic, she found nothing unusual. Wait, faint magic? So, someone had to be doing this …
She stalked over the crisp ground, slowing as goosebumps rose on her skin. Her breath misted in front of her. This feels wrong, I should get my ass inside. Instead, her gaze swept the trees and surrounding forest. Everything was still tinged with a colorless murky film. She crouched down cautiously, and laid her hand on the bird’s chest, hoping for a heartbeat.
Instead, dread consumed her as ice began to travel up her arm. Tierney yanked her hand away and stood when the raven flickered. Like a hologram, the face of a young, blond, golden-eyed boy appeared. “Blood Sky approaches. Please, unbind my soul from Val Je—” The hologram whispered before it flickered back into a bird.
Holy mother. What was that? Tierney scrambled backwards. Frosty mist rose in tendrils from the ground surrounding the raven, before it disintegrated into thin air. She shivered, and stared at the empty spot. Not even an imprint showed where the feathered freak had lain. Filled with unease, her gaze skittered everywhere. Everything looked normal again. Turning, she hurried into the house.
“Sami!” Tierney pulled her helmet off and shook out her tangled hair as she strode through the mud room and into the kitchen. “Hey, the strangest thing just happened. This raven—” Her mouth dropped open at the sight of Sami looking like sheer hell.
He hunched tensely on a stool at the counter, with a half-empty bottle of vodka in his hand. His shaggy, golden hair stuck out everywhere—which was normal. However, the lack of sparkle in his emerald eyes, now dull and bloodshot, along with his scowl and the booze in his hand, alarmed her. “What?” he growled.
Sami might get annoyed, but he was rarely ever angry with her. In fact, he was the one who they could count on to be calm and mild mannered, and he was usually the happiest of them all. And while he’d been quiet and withdrawn lately, she just figured it was due to Zander missing and Jax being gone. But now she wondered, and decided to shelf her crazy story for the moment.
“What’s wrong?” Her heart raced as she took a seat beside him.
“Nothing.” Sami swigged straight from the bottle. Something was definitely wrong. Surely he isn’t this angry over me being late, is he?
“Sami, I’m sorry I missed supper.”
He stood with a fluid grace no one would have expected given his intimidating size, and shrugged. His brown tee and faded blue jeans showed off every well-defined muscle, as he strode over to the oven. He pulled a plate out and set it in front of her along with some cutlery. “Eat,” he said, his six foot-five body towering over her five-five frame. Tierney obeyed and Sami settled back beside her on his stool.
“Sami, what’s the matter?” she asked again, worried.
With a scowl, he averted his eyes. “I told you, nothing. Now eat.”
Tierney studied him as she ate. His mental shields were tight, preventing her from getting into his head. “Right, well, anything new on Dad?” she asked, changing the subject.
“No.” Sami took another swig.
“Shit.” Tierney set her fork down, and blew out a breath while acid churned in her gut.
Sami sighed and his expression softened as he gazed at her. “Sorry.”
“Nothing new from Olympia PD?” she asked.
Sami shook his head.
“And we still can’t track his car?”
“I told you, I tried—” Sami, the techie, always found something on the computer to help in their search, but not this time.
“Yeah, I hoped it came back online or something.” Tierney absently pushed a messy strand of hair, that had fallen into her face, back behind her ear.
“No, I told you, the Lo-Jack’s been disabled. Now eat.” He nodded at her food.
Scrunching up her face, Tierney picked up her fork and took a couple more bites before putting it down again. “And his phone?”
Sami sighed and Tierney knew she was testing his patience, but she
just couldn’t help it.
“Nothing,” he said.
Tierney fought her panic. “Shit.”
“Yeah.” Sami grimaced before glancing up at the clock on the wall. “On a different note, Jax should be here soon.”
“Right.” Tierney ran a hand through her tangled hair, anxiety eating at her.
“I’m sure Zander’s okay. He’s gotten out of tough situations before,” Sami said, then cleared his throat and changed the subject at her stare. “Did you find Shay?”
“I found her and Daniel at his dad’s hunting shack. I gave her until noon tomorrow to contact her parents.” Tierney pushed her plate away, too upset to eat.
“Well, good.” Sami ignored her unfinished meal as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“Shit, you look like crap. What’s going on?” Tierney pressed, knowing there was something he wasn’t telling her. But Sami just shook his head, and without looking at her, he tilted the vodka to his lips, taking a long swallow as a car pulled up outside the house.
“Jax’s here,” he said, stating the obvious as he lowered the bottle and set it on the counter.
Tension radiated through her at the familiar sound of Jax’s Impala. Gah! It had been six weeks since they fought, and Jax left to work out of their family apartment in Spokane.
The fight had been so stupid. He’d been pissed at her recklessness, and she accused him of being controlling, claimed he didn’t care about her. Jax blew up and said he cared. Then she blurted out that they were soul mates, and she was tired of waiting on him to admit how he felt about her. And she was. After years of waiting, every time she tried to get close to him, he pushed her away and kept his distance. In fact, he continued to grow more distant every day. She couldn’t wait forever—forever for them, was a very long time.
Dracones Boxset Books 1-5 Page 3
