Saving Jax

by L. M. Brown

  The youngster's obvious fascination with Ty's stomach broke the tension as nothing else could. Everyone relaxed as they exchanged news and caught up on all the cycles they had been apart.

  Still, the worry that Kelon thought badly of him for birthing a litter that didn't belong to either of his mates lingered in his mind.

  The three of them retired to their room early. Ty was exhausted from his pregnancy and the others were glad to join him after their long journey. The servants had set up the cribs and as soon as the babies were settled for the night, the others climbed into the large comfortable bed. Ty fell asleep right away, but as tired as he was, Jax couldn't seem to settle.

  "I think it went well," Cal said. Apparently, he couldn't sleep either.

  "Kelon didn't seem very happy when he realised my litter wasn't yours or Ty's."

  "Do you think he knows who's responsible?"

  "He might suspect, even if he isn't certain. If he's not working I'll speak with him tomorrow, if I can talk to him alone."

  "I'm sure that can be arranged."

  *****

  Cal was as good as his word. As soon as Jax had fed the babies, Cal took over their care so Jax could talk with his brother before he left for work.

  They walked outside, taking a stroll around the spacious garden that Jax knew the children must already love playing in on the rare sunny days on Furyne.

  "I assume the babies are Lyndon's?" Kelon said.

  Jax nodded. "Yes, though he's not aware of their existence, at least not that I know of. He's certainly not seen them."

  "I'm only surprised he hasn't fathered half a dozen litters on you since he wormed his way into your bed."

  Jax flushed. "He, um, didn't take me that way very often."

  "He shouldn't have been taking you at all, not without claiming you properly."

  "You know Lyndon would never claim me," Jax replied.

  "I never understood why not," Kelon said. "You would have been a prosperous match for him, and with the favour of Uncle Orin, there is no doubt it could have been made official."

  "Why would he want to claim me when I was eagerly giving him everything he wanted without him having to do that?"

  "You don't know your own worth."

  Jax stifled the bitter laugh that remark prompted. "It doesn't matter now. I have two mates who are everything I could have asked for. They treat me well and I love them very much. Knowing Ty and Cal has opened my eyes to what it is to be loved, really loved, and not just used."

  "They seem like good felines."

  "They are. They've accepted me, even with all my faults and my history with Lyndon, and they're going to treat my babies as their own. Ty and Cal might not be related to my litter by blood, but they are going to be their fathers."

  "I can tell they adore them from the little I've seen of them so far."

  Jax smiled. "They really do. We're a family, a proper one. I'd forgotten what that was like. I've not felt part of a real family since our parents died."

  Kelon gave him a sad smile. "I know what you mean. It wasn't until I met Loris that I realised how empty my life was. Then when we adopted the babies everything seemed to fall into place." His grin widened as the memories of the past gave way to more recent ones.

  Jax turned to walk back towards the burrow. "Well, I just wanted to tell you the truth about the babies' father. I know you'd figured it out already, but you deserved to hear it from me directly."

  "Hmm, was that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

  Jax nodded and kept his gaze on the horizon. "Yes, that was it."

  "Really?"

  Something in his tone made Jax's heart rate increase and a shiver ran down his spine.

  "Jax, come on, this is me, your litter mate, who you're talking to." Kelon hooked his arm through Jax's and steered him back around and away from the house. "I've always been able to tell when you're lying, because you're no good at it."

  "Everything I just told you is true. Lyndon is the father of my litter. There wasn't anyone else who could have fathered them, no matter what rumours you might have heard about me acting the slut to any feline with a working cock."

  "I don't doubt your word, nor do I think you're some promiscuous feline who'd be better suited to life as a paid whore on the Pleasure Station."

  "Then there's nothing more to talk about," Jax said.

  "I think there is." Kelon stopped walking and spun Jax round to face him. "Jax, brother, I'm neither stupid nor blind, so don't treat me as such."

  "I'm not!"

  "Damn it, Jax!" Kelon shook his head. "I can see you're going to be stubborn, aren't you?"

  "I'm not stubborn."

  Kelon rolled his eyes. "You were born stubborn."

  Jax didn't bother arguing that point. He could tell his brother was getting annoyed, and the last thing he wanted to do was rile him even further or get into an argument. They had only just been reunited and he didn't want to ruin things.

  Kelon leaned against a tree and folded his arms across his chest. "The day we came of age I overheard Lyndon talking to his friends about you. Do you know what he said?"

  Jax shook his head. This was the first he had heard about this.

  "He was bragging about what he was going to do that night. He was going to—how did he phrase it?—fuck the pussy's pussy."

  Jax cringed and his face heated at the insulting way Lyndon had spoken about him.

  Kelon didn't give him time to react to his words. "I told him not to talk about you like that, but he just laughed. I'd already made up my mind to leave that day, and I wanted to take you with me, even more so after I heard Lyndon."

  "But I was stubborn and refused to come with you."

  "Yes, you were, frustratingly so."

  "I'm sorry. I should have listened to you."

  "Yes, you should, but let's not dwell on what you should have done, and concentrate on what you did do."

  "I thought we'd already established what I did."

  Kelon gave him a hard stare. "Yes, we have, you let Lyndon fuck you, just as he wanted to, correct?"

  "If you're asking whether I let him fuck my pussy, then yes, I did. Obviously, you know this since you've met Patty, Tyme and Dem."

  "Are you telling me that on the night you came of age, you didn't give him exactly what he had bragged to his friends about?"

  "I…"

  Kelon barrelled on before Jax could even gather his thoughts. "You let Lyndon fuck you the night you came of age. Six months later, almost to the day, Loris and I are contacted by the adoption service to ask if we'd like to be fathers to a litter of three newborns. Two of them have Lyndon's markings and one of them has your pure white fur. And all three of them have the exact same blue eyes that my favourite brother, Jax, has. Do you need me to go on?"

  Jax's stomach did somersaults and he shook his head.

  "At first I thought it might be a coincidence, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised the whole thing seemed odd."

  "What do you mean by odd?"

  "The adoption list is long. When Loris and I put in our application we were warned that it would be at least two cycles before we heard anything. Even taking into account Kelly was dual-gendered, we shouldn't have heard anything so soon. I didn't want to jeopardise the adoption, so I waited until it had all been processed. Then as soon as everything was finalised, I looked up the adoption in the records. Not that it made any real difference, as I knew the truth already. In my heart, I knew they were my nephews the moment I saw them."

  Jax hung his head. So much for keeping his brother from finding out the truth. He had known all along.

  "All the records did was confirm what I already knew. Birth father, Jax, dual-gendered, male dominant feline. Lyndon hadn't bothered to add his own name as the donating father. The bastard put unknown, even though he was the one who signed off the adoption."

  "He refused to claim them," Jax whispered. "He wouldn't even admit they were his when we were alone to
gether."

  "He'd put the reason for adoption as being a tainted litter, due to a dual-gendered feline being one of the babies. I know that isn't true, but why did you give them away? Was it just because Lyndon didn't want them?"

  The world swayed around him and Jax stumbled to his knees. "You thought I gave my babies away?" A bitter laugh escaped him and his shook his head. Tears spilled unchecked from his eyes and he knew he was nearing hysteria.

  "Jax?" Kelon was on the ground beside him in a moment. "I'm sorry. I should have known."

  "They stole them from me," Jax managed to gasp out between choking sobs. "The day after they were born, they took them. I tried to stop them. I swear I tried."

  "I know you did. I'm sorry I ever thought otherwise. I should have known better."

  Jax's sobs quietened and he pulled himself together so he could explain. "They didn't allow me access to a holo-projector or any device that could give me access to the records to track them down. I didn't even know they were with you until Blanche recognised them from the only recording I have of them, from the day they were born."

  "I tried to bring them to visit you, but Uncle Orin wouldn't let me in."

  "No surprise there."

  "He didn't know what Lyndon had done with regard to the adoption," Kelon said. "When I arrived on the doorstep with your babies he recognised them immediately. He was furious. I'm surprised you didn't come down to the entrance hall to see what all the shouting was about."

  "After the babies were born I wasn't allowed to leave my quarters, at least until the mating festival that Ty's parents held."

  "He held you prisoner?"

  Jax nodded. "I'd brought shame on the family. He didn't allow me to see anyone other than Lyndon."

  "Who did you feed from?"

  "Lyndon, of course. That is when he'd allow me to."

  "He has so much to answer for."

  "If you want revenge on him, you'll have to get in line behind Ty and Cal. So, what happened after you arrived?"

  "As I said, Uncle Orin recognised them and summoned Lyndon to explain himself. Apparently, he should have let them go through the system properly, to whoever wanted them. He hadn't wanted them registering either. He wanted them to simply disappear into the system without any way to trace them back to the family."

  "That sounds like Uncle Orin. I wonder why Lyndon did it this way? Making sure they went to you, I mean."

  "I doubt it was for your benefit or mine," Kelon replied. "There's something else."

  "What?" Jax wondered what else could possibly make the situation worse.

  "Because of Lyndon's interference I don't think the adoption is entirely legal."

  "But it went through the proper channels."

  "It did, but far too quickly. I haven't looked into it too closely, for fear that someone might agree and take them off us."

  "What does Loris think about all this?"

  Kelon ducked his head. "I haven't told him anything. It's the only thing I've ever kept from him."

  "You mean he doesn't even know that the children you're raising are mine?"

  "Not yet. I'm going to talk to him later, now I know the full story from you."

  Jax snorted and wiped his eyes. "I wish I knew the full story myself, especially with regard to why Lyndon has done this."

  Kelon rubbed Jax's back. "Maybe he wanted to keep an eye on them, to make sure they're well and cared for."

  "I doubt it. Even though they're his own blood, he showed no affection for them at all. He barely wanted to look at them. More likely he anticipated I might one day track them down and wanted to make sure I never got them back."

  "You think he would declare the adoption illegal if you got too close to discovering their whereabouts?"

  "Yes."

  "But if he was that worried about you finding them, why not see them adopted through the proper channels without registering them? Without their names or yours, they would be practically impossible to trace."

  Jax thought over everything he knew about Lyndon, and suddenly the truth hit him. "He wanted me to find them. He knew I would track them down eventually, even if they were unregistered and disappeared into the system as Uncle Orin intended. To give up a litter for adoption, both parents have to agree. I didn't, but he must have told the officials that I did. He knew if the agency found out that they were taken without my consent, I would fight to have them returned to me. He saw them placed with you so that I wouldn't."

  Kelon sighed. "He figured that you would fight for them if they were with strangers, but not if they were with me."

  "Yes. He knows I would never break up your family, and that by placing them with you, I would lose them forever."

  The tears began to fall again and Jax let them. Kelon held him as he cried. For the first time, he accepted the truth, that Lyndon hadn't just stolen his babies from him, he had ensured they would never be returned to his care. He had used Jax's love for his brother against him, knowing Jax would rather let his own heart break, than inflict that same pain on someone he loved.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cal watched Jax and Kelon from the window. He couldn't hear them, but even from a distance he could tell that Jax had told his brother everything. There could be no other explanation for what his eyes showed him.

  He wanted to go outside and take Jax into his arms, but he didn't want to intrude on the private moment.

  After a while, Kelon helped Jax to his feet and led him back inside. Cal opened his arms and Jax hurried into them, burying his face in Cal's chest.

  "You should be heading to work," Cal told Kelon.

  "I'm taking some time off," Kelon replied. "I need to talk to Loris. Take care of Jax."

  Cal nodded and led Jax into their room, where they found Ty napping.

  Jax tried to stifle his sniffles and get himself under control.

  Cal sat down in the large fluffy chair and Jax crawled onto his lap. "Are you okay?" He kept his voice low, cautious of disturbing Ty. Now he was in the final stage of his pregnancy he needed lots of sleep, and with three babies to care for, he would have to rest while he could.

  "Yes, I just didn't expect Kelon to find out everything. I'd already resigned myself to keeping quiet about the first litter."

  "What changed your mind?"

  "I didn't. He'd already suspected they were mine and looked into the adoption records for himself, just as Ty did."

  "Ah, I wondered what he could possibly have said to make you tell him the truth."

  "He thought I'd given them away," Jax whispered.

  Cal growled low and quiet. "He doesn't know you at all, if that's the case."

  "He knows the truth now."

  They sat quietly, Cal holding Jax close, as Jax rubbed against him, seeking and receiving the comfort he needed.

  A loud bang startled them and Ty woke with a grunt. "What?"

  Jax slid off Cal's lap and they hurried to the door.

  "Loris!" Kelon called. "Would you calm down?"

  Cal cringed as Loris stalked across the room towards them, his green eyes fiery with anger.

  "You're not taking them!" Loris snarled, pointing a finger at Jax.

  Jax shook his head and inched closer to Cal. "I…"

  Kelon hurried over. "Loris, let me finish. Jax has no intention of breaking up our family."

  "Then why is he here?" Loris gestured to the three of them. "Why are any of them here? It's not like this is some noble palace with room to spare."

  "We can go if we're not welcome," Cal said. "Ty, are you up to travelling to the residence your parents are staying in?"

  "There's no need for that," Kelon insisted.

  "We won't stay where we're not wanted."

  Loris crossed his arms. "Well, you know where the door is."

  Kelon glared at his mate. "Loris, don't be rude. This is my brother and his mates, and they are our guests."

  Loris sneered at Jax. "Your brother is a slut who's fathered we don't know how many li
tters without being claimed, and even his most recent litter doesn't belong to his mates. He wants to learn to keep his legs closed."

  Cal unsheathed his claws and launched himself at Loris. He had him on the floor in seconds. He scratched at his chest and arms, heedless of Loris' claws tearing his own flesh. "You won't speak about my mate like that."

  "He can't even stick to one mate now he is finally claimed," Loris retorted. "You're obviously not enough for him, are you? He needs you and Ty both to satisfy his appetites."

  Cal slashed at Loris' face, drawing blood as his claws sliced his cheek.

  Then he was being pulled back, strong arms dragging him off Loris, and a firm voice in his ear urged him to calm down. He realised it was Kelon and tore himself free. He didn't immediately throw himself at Loris again, but he kept his claws out, just in case.

  "Loris, go take a walk," Kelon ordered, his tone making it clear he wouldn't stand for any arguments. "Come back when you've calmed down."

  "You aren't taking their side in this?" Loris shouted. "You can't let them break up our family."

  "No one is going to break up our family," Kelon replied, still calm, though Cal thought his patience was wearing thin. "Jax just wanted to see them."

  "If he cared for them that much he wouldn't have given them away."

  Jax, already on the brink of tears after his conversation with Kelon, was crying openly now. "I didn't!" he whispered before running out of the front door.

  "Go after him," Ty said.

  Cal was already halfway there, but something in Ty's voice stopped him. "Ty?"

  Ty grimaced, his hand on his belly. "You have to find him. Just hurry back, because I don't think the babes are going to wait much longer before they put in an appearance."

  Jax was upset and Ty was in labour. Both of his mates needed him—how could he choose between them?

  "Go," Kelon urged. "You find Jax and we'll make Ty comfortable for the birth."

  "But you don't know anything about births," Cal protested.

  Kelon snorted. "That's what the healer is for. Loris, go find her."

  This time Loris did as Kelon asked right away.