Half-Blood Descendant: A Paranormal Series (Half-Bloods Book 1)

by Natasha Brown

  He found her bottle opener on the counter and popped the cap from his beer, then reached for hers to do the same. “So, ah, did you know Deane came to pay me a visit the other day?”

  She whipped around, her throat closing up. “He did?”

  He gazed at her carefully, pausing before he spoke. “He said you’re the one looking into finding my mom.”

  “Yes, that’s right.” She was relieved he hadn’t been warned away from her. It would have been something her father would have put Deane up to. “Would you want to find her?”

  Jax raised his bottle to his lips and took a swig. “Just so I can ask her why—why she left. And to find out if she’s a shifter too.”

  She was relieved to hear it. She hadn’t been sure about showing him the shifter profiles she’d printed out. There was a good chance it would be traumatizing seeing a picture of the woman who’d abandoned him. Aerilyn picked up the manila folder and handed it to him. “You might just get the chance. I found a few women whose names and location fit based off what you told us. Take a look.”

  His blue eyes blinked at the folder in her hands and said nothing. She questioned if she should have prepared him better when he finally took the files from her and leaned against the counter. “What am I about to look at?”

  Aerilyn stood beside him, unsure how to best offer him moral support and simply chose to remain close. “I printed six profiles of women named Jenny or Jennifer who lived in or around Nebraska within the last two centuries.”

  He took a shaky breath and opened the folder. He leafed through the papers, one after another, staring blankly at them all until he reached the last profile.

  “Well?” she asked, gazing up at him.

  Jax closed the folder with a shrug and handed it back to her. “None of those women are my mom.”

  “That’s okay. This is just a starting place.” Aerilyn took the files and set them on the counter. “If you can give me more details, like her eye color and height, that can help.”

  He sniffed and his jaw tightened.

  “Hey.” She put her hand on his forearm and looked into his eyes. “Are you okay?”

  He avoided her gaze and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. If you want to keep searching, she had blue eyes. Blue like the color of a tropical sky. That much I remember.”

  “Okay.” Aerilyn sensed he was ready to drop the subject, so she took the plates to set beside the stove. She leaned against the counter and gestured to the food. “Ready to eat?”

  He set his drink down to grab a plate and begin serving himself. While he worked, he asked, “So, how’s all that work?”

  “What, exactly?”

  Jax said over his shoulder, “Breeding. I hate to sound like a five-year-old here, but where did we even come from?”

  She waited for him to load his plate before she took her place at the stove to do the same. He wandered over to the dining table and set his food down. She hurried up, knowing the answer might take a while and wanting to give him the focus it needed.

  At the dining table they both sat down. She laced her fingers together and leaned over her plate as she looked at him. “Over three thousand years ago, seven founding families started Genus Society when shifters were being murdered by their own kind. The Society was created to protect our race. It wasn’t until the common era when we adopted our most important law—to keep our existence a secret from the mundanes.”

  Jax made no move to begin eating, he stared at her evenly from across the table. “That doesn’t answer where we came from.”

  “No.” She plucked her napkin from beside her place setting and dropped it in her lap. “It doesn’t. If you can find anyone who knows the answer, let me know.”

  “From the start of the Society, did they track genealogy?” He raised his brow.

  Aerilyn nodded and picked at a sliced olive from her plate and popped it in her mouth. “That was one of our first practices, recording our lineage. The Mayan people were known for their meticulous record keeping of such things, along with their calendar system. They learned it from Central American shifters, who were recording their family lines. It was they who figured out the beginnings of what we know today.”

  She was too hungry staring at her food not to eat, so she paused to take a bite of her taco. Aerilyn crunched away with Jax staring at her. He blinked, glanced down at his own meal and joined in, gazing at her silently as he chewed.

  Aerilyn swallowed her bite and cleared her throat. “It’s challenging for two shifters to conceive, but it’s possible. There can be complications. Both the male and female have to lay off shifting for several weeks—regular shifting puts our bodies into a bit of a stasis. That’s why we age so slowly.”

  Jax took a sip of his drink and asked, “And that’s how a shifter’s made?”

  “Well.” She thought about it. “If the mother can carry her child through the gestation period without losing the pregnancy, yes. It’s also possible for a shifter to mate with a non-shifter, but the likelihood isn’t as high their young will be a shifter. Even dormant family lines can result in shifters, though it’s extremely rare.”

  “Could that have happened with me?” He stared at her from across the table.

  “It’s possible, but not as likely.” Aerilyn took a bite and thought about how she could explain everything better. She washed down her food with her beer and paused. “The law that binds us to secrecy can create heartache for some. Because our lives often intertwine with mundanes’, shifters have been known to fall in love with them, putting that law at risk. There are non-shifter members in the Genus Society. Brought in by their families and loved ones under various circumstances. But they all must abide by our laws or…”

  Jax’s brow raised. “Or what?”

  “Even more heartache.” She sighed. “My point is, shifters usually choose a mate within the Society. Outliving your loved one is a painful process most wish to avoid.”

  “So, my mom was probably a shifter?” He stared at the food on his plate with a sour expression.

  Aerilyn reached across the table to hold his hand, sensing his anger and sadness. “It’s likely. Or it was your dad.”

  Jax pulled away from her, breaking contact. He put his hands in his lap and shrugged. “Guess it proves there’s deadbeats wherever you go.”

  “I wish more people took it seriously.” She scratched her brow. “There’s a boy at school whose mom quit her job because she didn’t like the drive to work and now she doesn’t have the insurance to take him to the doctor. It’s the worst part of the job, sitting by seeing parents fail their kids.”

  Jax nodded. “That’s why I’m never having any. Don’t want to be responsible for messing up another human being.”

  “It’s a big responsibility.” Aerilyn took a deep breath. “I imagine it’s not on your list of priorities since you don’t put down roots long enough to think about things like that.”

  She shrugged. She’d often imagined herself surrounded with family and hoped to one day have kids. It wasn’t like it was a top priority to find a mate and get started, but she was open to it. This was a good reminder, another reason why Jax wasn’t good for her.

  Aerilyn finished her taco and got up to return to the kitchen, avoiding eye contact. “I’m getting more. You’re going to think I’m a pig, the way I eat.”

  “It just tells me you don’t care what I think. I like that about you.”

  She heard his response and smiled. Footsteps followed her into the kitchen. She glanced over at him. His deep gaze made her heart stutter, and she forced herself to look away.

  “So, do you think your dad will let me off the hook soon?” he asked.

  She stepped away from the stove with her plate and watched him move closer. She cleared her throat. “I have to be straight with you. He found out about KT’s bite marks and isn’t pleased. He doesn’t like you. Like at all.”

  Jax’s forehead wrinkled as he glowered at her. “What’s it going to take to get out of her
e?”

  Aerilyn’s heartbeat thundered in her ears. She felt partially responsible for the situation, but his response made her flustered. “We just need some evidence, and he’s… overprotective of me, which clouds his judgment—”

  Jax threw his hands in the air. “What the hell? You said you were going to help me, but now I’m no closer to leaving than I was before.”

  Wide-eyed and horrified, she watched Jax storm from the kitchen and down the front stairs. Her door slammed shut and he was gone.

  Eleven

  Jax had been cooperating with Aerilyn for the sole purpose of being able to take off, and now it seemed he would be trapped in Colorado for good. Alaric held his fate in his hands. If Jax had been putting his freedom at risk getting too close to Aerilyn, he wished he’d known sooner. She was down-to-earth and beautiful but not worth the trouble.

  He returned to his trailer with his temper ablaze and decided it was best to calm down. He picked up a book he hadn’t finished and lay down in his bed, reading and rereading the same passage over and over again. With a groan, he tossed the novel aside and considered his options. KT was moving around like herself again and was ready to return to the shop. She didn’t need his help anymore, but it wouldn’t be wise to just leave. He didn’t doubt Alaric would send trackers after him like he’d threatened.

  There was no reason why he should be a suspect in KT’s attack. He thought he’d proven his innocence with the bite marks, but maybe he needed to take things into his own hands—although he had no idea how to begin to find the real attacker.

  Over the following days, Jax put his mind to his job. The beginning of the week went by in solitude, just as he liked it. Though it felt more quiet than usual. Jax found himself thinking about Aerilyn often, something he found extremely frustrating. He recalled the shocked and saddened expression on her face when he’d stormed from her house and tried to keep his feelings of guilt at bay, telling himself it was her fault her father distrusted him.

  On his way home from the shop, Jax squinted off the gravel road toward Aerilyn’s place when he noticed Emery step off of the driveway and into the street. He slowed to a stop and rolled down his window, unsure what to expect.

  The red-lipped enforcer smirked at him and walked up to his door. “Hey there, tomcat.”

  “What do you want?” he said, avoiding her gaze.

  “You’re a moron. Like, do you seriously have brain damage?” She looked at him as if she were standing before a terrible excuse for a human being. “Aerilyn likes you, like really likes you and has gone out on a limb to help you, putting her relationship with her father at risk, and you thank her by having a tantrum and running away?”

  He hadn’t stopped to listen to Emery dump on him. He’d eased his foot off the brake and started to roll away when she put her hands on her hips and snarled, “She asked me to research the old animal attacks for a connection and has been riding me day and night. I’ve barely slept—you know what kind of sacrifice that is for me? All so your name can be cleared, so you can get out of here like you so desperately want.”

  Jax stopped the truck and turned to look at her.

  She stepped back and gestured up the driveway. “She’s not home yet, but you could show a little appreciation for the woman and make things right between the two of you when she gets home. The choice is yours.”

  He glanced in his rearview mirror, searching for Aerilyn’s car coming down the road, and gripped the wheel tight. Jax watched Emery go up the driveway to Aerilyn’s house and tilted his head back against the headrest. He pinched his eyes shut and swore under his breath.

  As much as he wanted to be pissed at Emery, what she’d said made sense, which only frustrated him more. He didn’t have a lot of experience dealing with people. He didn’t care to create close, trusting relationships with anyone. This was something he didn’t want to deal with. It would be so much easier to run away.

  Jax turned the wheel and drove up the driveway. He pulled his keys from the ignition and grit his teeth before getting out of his truck and walking up to the door and letting himself in. Petey welcomed him at the top of the stairs with a toy and a tail wag.

  “Hey, bud,” he said and bent over to pet the dog.

  Emery was standing in the kitchen doorway with her eyebrow cocked. Wordlessly, she breezed past him to her computer on the dining table. She sat down and crossed her legs. She rubbed her eyes. “The more I dig, the weirder it gets. I don’t know what any of this means.”

  “What?” Jax kneeled on the carpeted floor and threw Petey’s toy.

  Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. “I can’t for the life of me begin to understand why there’s some freak out there biting people, but I’ve been looking at medical reports of people who’ve been drained of blood by four fang marks.”

  “That wasn’t me.”

  She adjusted her bandana. “I kinda figured. Aerilyn trusts you, and you don’t strike me as the kind of freak who likes drinking blood.”

  Jax’s mind raced. “What about KT? Can you get her medical records?”

  “Yeah, I got them, but I honestly don’t know what I’m looking at. I’m not a doctor. They gave her a blood transfusion—I know that.”

  Jax thought of the hooded man pressed to KT’s neck and all the movies that were wildly popular in his youth about the blood-sucking beings.

  Emery sighed. “It doesn’t make sense. I mean, shifters have been around for thousands of years. You’d have thought we would have come across other magical beings if they existed.”

  The hair on Jax’s arms rose on end. Petey was oblivious of the conversation and dropped his toy onto Jax’s lap, lowering his head in anticipation. Jax threw it down the hall and frowned. “How did you get the medical records?”

  “We have members in the police force and hospitals,” she answered. “It’s not hard to get what we need.”

  “It isn’t necessarily a… vampire.” He hesitated saying the name. “It could be some freak—some serial killer on a spree.”

  She shrugged and flipped the length of her ponytail over her shoulder. “But what about the fang marks? I don’t know. There are some straight up crackpots, messed up human beings who are no closer to being a vampire than you or I are. People who belong in a straightjacket, or better yet, dead.”

  “If that’s the case, shouldn’t the police be involved?” He swallowed. “Bring in Aerilyn’s brother to investigate.”

  “I’m an enforcer. It’s my job to keep our kind safe.” She stood up and punched at the air. Petey ran up to her with his tail wagging. “Alaric may be a little distracted with Aerilyn involved, but it’s important we determine first if it’s a magical being because that’s a rabbit hole we don’t want the police going down. Best to keep it contained ourselves.”

  He observed her exuberance at the thought of containing the attacker and wondered about her animal form. He’d underestimated Aerilyn and didn’t want to do the same with Emery. Aerilyn’s friend might appear like an oversexed rockabilly chick, but he sensed a dark edge to her personality.

  He thought about the people who’d been recovered with fang marks and wondered how many more bodies might never have been found. There could be far more attacks than they even imagined if you tallied missing persons.

  Jax checked the wall clock, noticing the time. It was well past five and Aerilyn still wasn’t home.

  On the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, the kids were distracted. Aerilyn found it challenging keeping her thoughts to the book quiz she was giving, but she’d done her best all week after Jax had blown up at her and run out of her house.

  The sight of Riley, pale and gaunt, brought her back to the present. His appearance hadn’t improved through the week, nor had he asked for anything from her. She’d held her tongue, not wanting to aggravate the situation, but she’d arrived at a decision. She needed to let the school’s social worker know that he wasn’t being properly taken care of. Something was wrong.


  She waited for his classmates to clear out at the end of the period before calling him over to her desk. He moved slowly. It was clear he had very little energy.

  “Yes, Ms. Meyer?” Riley asked with a hollow voice.

  Aerilyn straightened a stack of papers on her desk and turned her gaze on him. “I wanted to see how you were doing? Have you gone in to see a doctor yet?”

  The teen set his backpack on the ground and mumbled, “Mom made an appointment for next week. I told her she didn’t need to waste her money, but she didn’t listen, said I look like I’m dying.”

  Aerilyn was relieved to hear his mother was taking his health seriously. She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked squarely at him. “Everything else going okay?”

  “Sure,” he nodded. “Been getting sleep, and I’m snacking all the time, but I can’t digest anything. I’m doing my homework. Not falling behind in any of my classes, except Mr. Hill isn’t happy with my effort in PE. What can I say? This body just wasn’t built for sports.”

  Riley lifted his shoulders. His blue eyes sparkled with the sense of humor she’d grown to appreciate, and she snickered with him.

  Aerilyn began to feel a little better about his situation. “What about your dad? You seeing him for Thanksgiving?”

  The amusement slid from Riley’s face, leaving a bitter grimace. “I hope not. He’s been trying to talk to me, but I want nothing to do with him.”

  “Sorry, Riley.” She opened her top drawer, plucked a candy bar from her personal supply and handed it to him. “I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving with your mom and that your doctor appointment is painless.”

  “Psh, right.” Riley put the candy bar in his hoodie’s pouch and picked up his backpack. “What rock did you climb out from? There will most definitely be needles involved—we both know it.”

  She narrowed an eye, and he backed out of the room with a smirk. He raised a hand and said, “Thanks, Ms. Meyer. See you after break.”