Dracones Boxset Books 1-5

by Sheri-Lynn Marean

  “Who the fuck are you people? Get the hell off my property.” Chloe’s husband glared, fists clenched.

  “Yeah, I don’t think so.” Jax’s anger was rising as he advanced on the man. “You think you’re tough because you can hit your wife and child?” Jax asked, his tone deadly while Tierney stayed beside him. Behind him Zander and Sami stood with Chloe and Lilly.

  “You’re nothing but an abuser. A bully,” Jax bit out, anger seething through him.

  “I don’t have to listen to you, get off my property before I call the cops.” Lilly’s father pulled his cell from his pocket and waved it at Jax.

  Jax shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think you’re going to stop beating your wife and child.”

  Lilly’s father snorted and puffed up his chest “I didn’t touch them, she fell. She’s clumsy, and besides, you think you’re going to stop me?”

  “Yeah, I am.” Jax stepped forward, plucked the phone out of the guy’s hand and tossed it behind him to Sami who caught it easily. Then Jax pushed the guy back against the porch handrail.

  “Hey! Get your hands off of me.” Chloe’s husband attempted to push Jax away but couldn’t budge him.

  Jax was about to beat the shit out of the asshole when Tierney laid her hand on Jax’s arm, calming him. Tierney always had that effect on him. “Don’t do it in front of Lilly,” she said, telepathically. “He’ll just take it out on them later.”

  Jax glanced back at the frozen expressions of fear on Chloe’s and Lilly’s faces.

  “Jax,” he heard both Sami and Zander say.

  Ignoring them, he turned back around, sneered at the man and instead, took control of the guy’s mind. “Go inside. Now,” he commanded. “Stay out here with the wife and child,” he instructed his brother and Zander, then marched the bully back into his home.

  “What are you going to do, Jax?” Tierney asked as she followed him inside.

  “I’m going to mind-fuck him,” he said, then turned his attention on Chloe’s asshole husband and let his power loose. “You will never hurt either Lilly or Chloe ever again. Do you understand me?” he said to the man, using his compulsion.

  A glazed look entered Chloe’s husband’s eyes and his jaw went slack.

  “I asked if you understand,” Jax said again, and the large, pathetic excuse for a male in front of him finally nodded. “You will care for them and treat them with the respect they deserve,” Jax said and waited for the man to nod his understanding again. Then Jax asked the man to repeat his commands.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Serial Killer

  JAX THOUGHT it had worked. They never again heard sounds of violence coming from the little house, and anytime they saw Lilly or Chloe, they no longer sported bruises or cut lips.

  “No, Mommy was crying, so I sneaked away to get you,” she said, sniffling.

  Jax glanced from Thaniel to Lilly, wondering what the hell had happened. “I’ll go find out what’s going on, okay?” he said, patting Lilly’s back.

  “I knew you would help,” Lilly said with innocent optimism.

  Jax turned to Thaniel. “I need to go down and see what’s going on across the road. Can you watch Lilly?”

  Thaniel took a step back in surprise and horror as Lilly turned and stared at him with big eyes.

  “No, I—”

  “He has pretty hair, doesn’t he?” Lilly asked Jax as he set her back on her feet.

  “He does. Maybe you two can play the Wii or X-box or watch TV or something?” Jax suggested and Lilly’s eyes lit up. Then she turned and ran back into the great room. Jax followed her and Thaniel followed him.

  “I saw your TV. It’s enowmus,” she said, suddenly excited.

  Jax smiled then turned to Thaniel who looked terrified.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine, though she’ll probably kick your ass.” Jax grinned at him.

  Lilly stood in front of the large screen TV, a game in hand. “Can we play this one?” she asked, holding up a game for Thaniel to see.

  Thaniel swallowed hard and after a second Lilly marched up and grabbed his hand. “I like cats,” she said, drawing a startled frown from them.

  Then, with a satisfied smile, she pulled him over to the games and TV. Jax couldn’t help but grin at them.

  “Ahm, I’m not very good at this,” Thaniel said nervously and Jax knew he was more afraid of the girl than the games he had yet to master.

  “You’ll be just fine,” Jax repeated and then informed Tierney of where he was going. As he hurried through the great room, Thaniel stopped him.

  “Ah, what if I … ah, you know—” Thaniel said nervously and while Jax knew Thaniel worried that he’d lose control and change into his leopard, he himself wasn’t.

  “I’m not worried. You won’t hurt her.” He smiled reassuringly at Thaniel. If there was one thing he’d learned, it was that Thaniel was very gentle and kindhearted.

  Outside, Jax hurried over to his car and drove down the long gravel driveway to park at the bottom, across the highway from the little house. Sure enough, there were ten police cruisers, lights flashing, parked haphazardly in the yard and along the road. Armed men were crawling all over the place.

  Jax crossed the street, letting the officers see him. Chloe was sitting in the back of one cruiser with the door open. In the back of another sat Lilly’s father, and the door was closed. An officer stood outside that car as if guarding it.

  Another officer met Jax at the side of the highway and asked who he was.

  “I’m Jax, I’m a PI. I live just up there.” He indicated over his shoulder as he showed his ID. “Their little girl, Lilly, came up to my place.” As the officer frowned at him, Jax added, “She was upset, said you guys were here and her mommy was crying. I just wanted to make sure Chloe was okay.”

  The officer nodded. “She’s fine, but you can’t be here.”

  “Look, can you at least tell me what happened? Did he hit her again?” Jax asked, the anger that he’d been holding back at the thought clear in his voice.

  Once again the officer frowned, then he shook his head. “I can’t tell you anything.”

  “Is she under arrest?” he asked, glancing at Chloe in the squad car.

  “No, but we may have more questions for her,” the officer said.

  “About what?” Jax asked. He started to use his compulsion on the guy when a plain clothes detective came up.

  “What’s going on?”

  “This is the neighbor, he has the kid up at his place. Says he wants to talk to the wife,” the first officer said, indicating Chloe with a nod of his head as Jax flashed his I.D. once again.

  The detective frowned and thought about it. “Give me a minute,” he finally said, and walked away. When he came back, he nodded at Jax. “We may have questions later, but we are done for now, so you can talk to her,” he said, and turned to the first officer. “Captain wants you inside.”

  Chloe stared blankly at him as Jax walked up to her. “Chloe, are you okay?”

  A frown lit her face as recognition dawned. “Jax?” she said and slid out of the car and stood. Then, as if suddenly realizing where she was, Chloe scanned around the yard with panic in her eyes.

  “It’s all right. She’s up at my house,” he told her.

  Chloe blinked. “Lilly? She … she’s with you?”

  “Yes. She came up to the house. She’s safe, playing video games. What happened?” Jax asked, worried her husband hit her again, though he didn’t see any blood or bruises.

  “They said Jeff, my uh … h-husband. He, k-killed a bunch of girls.” Chloe looked around again with dazed eyes, before focusing back at him.

  What? Horror filled him at her words and suddenly he needed answers. Looking at how shaken Chloe was, he knew he couldn’t ask her.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said, and turned away to walk up to another one of the officers. “What happened here?” Jax asked, threading his words with compulsion to make the officer give hi
m information.

  The officer blinked, then looked at Chloe’s husband in the back of the cruiser. “That asshole’s been abducting young blonde women for years now.”

  No! No, couldn’t be!

  “He kept them locked up in a shed he had back in the woods.”

  Jax's palms grew sweaty and his heart began to race as he stared at the man in the car. He frowned as he remembered a newscast he’d watched with Tierney not too long ago. There had been an Amber alert out for the latest missing girl. Jax felt sick to his stomach. Did I do this? Oh, gods. …

  “Did he … are they …?” Jax couldn’t say the words, though deep down, he knew. They were all dead.

  “Yeah, evidence indicates they’ve been raped repeatedly before he killed them,” the officer said with disgust as he sneered in the direction of Chloe’s husband. Then, realizing what he’d just revealed, his eyes grew wide.

  Jax knew he was going to be sick, it was just a matter of when. I did this, my compulsion … I should’ve just kicked the guy’s ass instead of messing with his mind.

  “You’re sure it’s him?” Jax asked, praying they were wrong, that it was all some big mistake.

  “Yeah, we’re sure. Found tons of evidence along with seven bodies so far. We have dogs on the way to search for more bodies—” The officer slapped a hand over his mouth and shook his head.

  Numbly, Jax walked back to Chloe. His mind was running in circles of guilt. He was responsible for ruining Chloe’s and Lilly’s lives. Even worse, he’d gotten all those women killed. Obviously, the sick fuck needed some outlet for his perversity, and since he couldn’t beat his wife and child, he abducted young women instead. As he stood in front of Chloe, Jax didn’t know how he’d ever fix this. He should have just killed the guy. Then none of this would have happened.

  “I can’t stay here,” Chloe was mumbling as she watched the car with her husband drive off.

  Turning away again, Jax went to talk to the detective in charge. Five minutes later he walked back to Chloe. “I got permission for you to leave, so I’m taking you up to the house,” he said. For a second Jax thought she was going to argue with him, but instead she just nodded.

  “Okay.”

  ***

  THANIEL WATCHED LILLY PLAYING video games with Bastien, grateful for the teen's intervention, when Tierney came out of Zander’s room.

  “Oh, hey,” she said, smiling at Lilly and Bastien jumping around playing Mario Kart. “I see she found someone else to play with.” She looked at Thaniel. “Are you doing all right?”

  Without making eye contact, he nodded. He had been feeling pretty overwhelmed, fearing he’d shift into his leopard and hurt the little girl until Bastien showed up and, to Thaniel’s relief, asked to play. Thaniel gladly handed over the controller to the boy, but he wasn’t about to tell Tierney that.

  “I’ll be in with my dad if you need me—” she said and started to say more when Jax walked in with who Thaniel suspected had to be Lilly’s mother. The woman appeared as if she’d just had the biggest shock of her life and he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened. Jax looked almost as bad.

  Tierney sucked in a breath and Thaniel knew they were communicating telepathically. Then she looked back down at Thaniel. “Thaniel, I need to ask a favor of you. Would you mind sitting with my dad? He’s not in his coma, but he’s sleeping, so you shouldn’t have to do anything, just let me know if he wakes up and needs me.”

  Thaniel nodded and even though he feared meeting her father, he just couldn’t refuse Tierney anything.

  Relief filled her eyes. “Thank you. It’s just for a few minutes. We need to get Chloe settled in a room.”

  Thaniel nodded and though his heart was in his throat, he got to his feet and headed down the hall. More people, and now he was to watch her dad. What if the man woke up? What would he do then? Surely Zander would tell Thaniel he needed to go. Wouldn’t he?

  Thaniel slipped into the room, unable to stop the faint tremble running through him, but Zander was asleep just like Tierney said he would be. Thaniel let out the breath he’d been holding in and started to sit down in the chair beside the bed when he noticed that the glass on the bedside table was empty. Careful not to make any noise, he took the glass and went to refill it.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Guilt

  TIERNEY SHOWED CHLOE to a room down the hall. It was a double suite across from where Genna and Caden were staying.

  “Who this be now?” Genna asked, poking her head out of her room.

  “This is Chloe. She and her daughter Lilly are going to be staying with us,” Tierney said pointedly before ushering Chloe into the room.

  Genna scowled at Tierney like she was crazy. “She’s a human.”

  “Yeah, and so is Caden,” Jax said from behind them.

  At their exchange, Chloe looked back and blinked.

  Tierney, ignoring both Jax and Genna, entered the room behind Chloe and shut the door. “Don’t worry about Genna––she’s a bit of a head case.”

  “Am not,” Genna yelled from the hallway.

  Tierney showed Chloe the bathroom and where the towels and shampoo were, then opened the door to the second room. “Lilly can sleep in here if you want.” Tierney had a feeling mom and daughter would probably share a bed that night.

  Chloe just nodded and gazed around blankly.

  “Just let us know if you need anything, and please, feel free to help yourself. There’s plenty of food in the kitchen,” Tierney told the woman who looked like she just wanted to curl up and sleep for the rest of the year.

  “Thank you.” Chloe sat on the edge of the bed and ran her hands over the cover on each side of her.

  “Let me know if you need anything,” Tierney told her again, but she didn’t think Chloe even heard her.

  She found Jax waiting in the hallway when she stepped out of the room. Genna, thankfully, was nowhere in sight. “You all right?” she asked, worried. Jax appeared pale and through their bond, as well as her empathy, Tierney could feel how upset he was. Taking his hand, she led him down the hall, up the stairs and to their room. “What’s going on?” she asked when they were alone.

  Jax, looking almost as dazed as Chloe, shook his head as he paced. “Her husband. He’s been killing young blonde girls,” he said after a moment. At her gasp, he ran a hand through his short hair. Turning to the French doors, he stared blankly outside. “They say he kept them in a shed out back of the property—”

  Tierney could feel Jax’s guilt and horror. “Jax.” Coming up behind him, she took his hand and led him over to the bed. “Sit.” With her hands on his shoulders, she gently pushed him down onto the edge of the bed.

  “The officer said they recovered seven bodies so far.” Jax looked up at her and the anguish in his eyes tore her apart. “This is my fault,” he whispered.

  Heart breaking, Tierney shook her head. “No, love.”

  But Jax shook his head. “It is, I know it.”

  Shaking her head, Tierney pulled him against her. “No, Jax, this isn’t your fault. You didn’t make him do what he did.”

  “But it is. It has to be. If I hadn’t messed with his mind, he wouldn’t have needed another outlet.”

  “Jax. Love, no. If you hadn’t messed with his mind, it might have been Chloe and Lilly that they were digging up … and if he killed seven, there might be more. Did they say when they thought he started doing this?”

  Jax gazed at her like she was a lifeline to keep him from drowning, but he didn’t say anything.

  “My love, he may have been doing this long before you did anything to his mind, so until you know for sure, don’t blame yourself, okay?” She hated the torment she saw in his eyes. Jax stared right back, as if drawing on her belief. He closed his eyes and Tierney hugged him close.

  “I love you so much,” he whispered.

  “I love you too,” she said.

  “What would I do without you?”

  They stayed like that f
or a few minutes until Jax finally pulled away. “I better go check on Lilly.” He stood up, then looked down at her. “You always know how to make me feel better.”

  Tierney smiled up at him and with a groan, Jax pulled her against his hard body, making her shiver in anticipation of being alone and naked with him later.

  Lowering his lips to hers, Jax kissed her deeply, making her tremble with need. Knees weak, Tierney clung to him. She no longer wanted to wait until later.

  “Oh—” she moaned against his lips as his hands slid inside her shirt. His touch never failed to set her blood on fire.

  “Want you,” he mumbled against her throat as he kissed his way around her neck.

  Pulling away, Tierney almost swooned under his brilliant-blue gaze. “Jax, we won’t get out of here if we don’t stop.”

  “I don’t want to stop,” he whispered, and lowered his lips to the soft skin of her collarbone. Finally, leaving her skin tingling, he pulled away with a frustrated groan. “Damn, you make me crazy.” Jax’s blue eyes twinkled down at her with a promise of later.

  ***

  THANIEL PERCHED NERVOUSLY on the edge of the chair beside the bed, watching Zander’s chest rise and fall. He couldn’t imagine the pain this man must be in. He knew what it was like to be held captive, and that had been bad enough, but this … Just seeing what they did to Tierney’s father made Thaniel’s heart ache. He hated to see anyone hurt and this was his friend’s dad.

  And there was no doubt that Zander was a warrior. Even if he hadn’t heard some of the stories, he’d know just by looking at him. Even weakened and with limbs missing, he appeared fierce and strong. Not someone Thaniel wanted to mess with.

  As the male in question opened his eyes, Thaniel flinched and lowered his gaze, horrified that he’d been caught staring. When Zander tried to speak and swallowed instead, his gaze shot back up. Zander attempted to speak again and Thaniel jumped up and grabbed the glass of water off the table.