“I’ll bring you some clothes before going out to meet your father to see what is happening. You stay here with Fiora.” Olena patted his shoulder as he passed.
Jaxx barely registered her leaving as he stared at Fiora, unable to look away. He thought of the Federation, of Shelter City, of food simulators and freedom.
“It’s just noise. That kind of noise is always there, waiting to challenge us and make our lives harder. Love is a constant if you let it be…if you let it, it will be the tie that links you to Fiora.”
He understood what his mother meant, but that noise was important. It mattered. What they did in this life mattered.
If he had the death mark if his timeline was shorter than he had always believed, did it change anything? Did it mean his life had any less meaning? Did it have more?
Jaxx took a deep breath, his attention moving from Fiora’s face to her healed shoulder and bloodstained shirt.
Death didn’t change who he was, what he believed, what he would fight for. If anything, it sped up the timeline.
Timelines.
What an interesting way to think of things, like lines drawing out of people into the future. He saw the pain they caused Fiora, but what would it be like to see them, to know what would happen, to understand the path you were on so completely.
But Fiora didn’t see her path. She saw everyone else’s.
Jaxx held her hand, not letting go, hoping his touch kept the timelines from disturbing her unconscious state.
He heard the door behind him. His mother set clothes on the bed.
“I feel like half of my life has been spent making sure all you flying dragons have access to clothes,” Olena mused, almost to herself, as she again left.
Jaxx and the other full dragons didn’t consider their nakedness, probably because they spent half their life ripping seams and transforming back to their human forms. It’s not like clothes shifted with them.
Jaxx flung the shirt aside and took the pair of loose pants. He threaded his feet through while keeping his hand on hers and managed to pull them on. Then, crawling over her to the other side, he laid down next to her. The rhythmic rise and fall of her chest held his attention, and he watched over her.
“I should have protected you,” he whispered. “I promised to take care of you, and I failed. I should be the one lying here. I have the death mark. Not you.”
He knew she was safe here. The handheld had healed her wound. She would live. Yet the tightness in his chest did not ease. Had the man’s aim shifted by even a small degree, he would have stabbed her in the heart.
“…it will be the tie that links you to Fiora.”
12
Fiora fought to stay inside the haze of her thoughts. She didn’t want to leave the numb cocoon surrounding her. It felt like childhood when the air was just a little bit too cold, but it didn’t matter because she could burrow beneath a warm, thick blanket. In the fog between dreams and wake, nothing mattered. There was no fear, no pain, only the lingering images from dreams soon to be forgotten.
She half expected to hear her mother’s voice urging her to get out of bed. Any second the smell of morning cakes would tickle her nose. Piera would complain about having the same meal every day. Their father would take one too many, and their mother would scold him for it.
The smell never came, and she realized her blanket cocoon didn’t exist. The warmth came from her side. She was no longer a young girl full of dreams and imagination. Monsters were real, and nightmares were for the living.
A shiver worked along her body at the notion, causing tiny bumps to roll over her flesh like a wave. Even as she feared the sudden rush of timelines that was sure to come, she was relieved with each passing second when they didn’t.
Fiora opened her eyes. She expected to find the white of her cell wall instead she met Jaxx’s green eyes. He laid next to her, his head resting on the crook of his arm. His hand stirred against hers.
“How are you feeling?” His words came out in a rush as if he’d been waiting to say them.
“Doesn’t hurt.” She rolled her shoulder as if to prove her point. In truth she was a little lightheaded and weak. Thankfully she was resting on her back and not expected to move.
“I want to yell at you for running into danger like that, but I am too relieved that you are recovering.” Jaxx’s voice was soft. His hand tightened over hers. “I should have stopped you.”
“From running in front of a blade?” She shook her head slightly. “You couldn’t know what I was doing. My vision sent you into the woods. It would have been my fault if they killed Grace. I had to do something, and there was no time to have a conversation about it.”
“You saved my cousin.” Jaxx’s hand left hers and moved to touch her cheek. He remained next to her on the bed.
“I know.” Fiora let her heavy eyelids close briefly. Since he touched her the visions didn’t come back, but she’d already seen the brother and sister’s futures. When she again opened them, she said, “I saw Grace taking those people along a mountain path. She’s going to help them.”
“Dulla and Brogan,” Jaxx said. “Sister and brother.”
A tear slipped over her cheek. Jaxx brushed it away.
“What is it?” he asked. “Are you in pain?”
“I feel for that mother. Her heart is going to give out in childbirth. Brogan will want to take them, but he can’t provide for two babies on an alien world. He will agree that they should be raised by a kind couple who has been married for many years and has taken in multiple children in need.”
“Mirek and Riona,” Jaxx said. “They lost a child, and she cannot have them. Mirek is my father’s cousin and lives in the Northern Mountains.”
“Grace will carry the guilt of not being able to save her, but there is nothing that can be done,” Fiora said.
“But, if Grace knows, then we’ll send the medic unit with her,” Jaxx said. “You saved Grace and changed a timeline. Surely, if Grace is prepared, we can save this woman. Or we don’t send her at all.”
Fiora pulled his hand from her face and released him so they weren’t making contact. She closed her eyes, concentrating on Grace’s thread. She felt his resolve to keep the woman in his parents’ house, which changed the future. “If you don’t send her, the Federation will find her here. Dulla and her brother will die, the children will be raised in an orphan program run by the Federation to train soldiers. The Federation will use this as a reason to occupy the planet permanently and, in time, will spread the city’s borders. It will be the beginning of the end.”
As she said the words, she felt his resolve change, to send them to the mountains. That second of indecision changed the future, erasing the orphanage for the mountain paths. He evidently wanted to send the medic with Grace because the future was different than the first time.
“If you send the handheld medical unit with Grace, Dulla will have the children on a forest path. One of the children will be stillborn.” Fiora saw the path, but it wasn’t the same as last time. She’d disrupted the future by telling Jaxx about it. They were small changes, but those tiny ripples grew. “Grace will try to save her but will have to choose between a baby and the mother with the medical unit. The mother will have made her promise to take care of the remaining baby.”
“But before, when they didn’t have a handheld medic, you said both babies went to my cousin and only the mother died. How is it two may die now that Grace has the device with her?”
Fiora peeked at his concerned gaze before again closing her eyes. “Knowing of the danger changes how they react. Grace takes the trip slower, focused on the mother and watching for labor to begin. This delay causes them to become caught off guard when a hairy beast crosses their path. Dulla slips, and a child is injured in the fall.”
“We’ll tell Grace to fly her to the mountains,” Jaxx countered.
Again the future shifted with his new plan. “Grace tries to make the trip faster, flying the mother ahead. The
fear she feels being suspended above air causes labor to start. There’s a bad landing.”
“Then there is no hope.” Jaxx let loose a long sigh. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you so many questions. I know it’s painful for you.”
“No, keep going,” Fiora urged. The timelines hadn’t hurt as badly as before, and she was able to focus on it. The strange thing was how fast the ripples between the ideas appeared. There was a calming effect to his presence. “What is your next plan for them?”
“Uh…” He hesitated. “I suppose I’d give Grace the medic just in case but not tell her what it is for.”
Fiora closed her eyes. She pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “Grace can’t save her.”
“What if I sent my father instead? Or my mother?” Jaxx asked.
Fiora shook her head. “Same result with a small variance on the path they travel.”
“Grier?”
The change offered no solution. Fiora shook her head in denial.
“What if we take her?”
Again she shook her head. “No. I’m sorry.”
“We’ll take Dulla to the dragon palace,” Jaxx suggested. “They have a medical booth. She can give birth in the unit.”
“Same results as if you left her here. Servants will whisper, and the word will eventually get back to the Federation. The children are not sent to the orphanage because they’ll be under dragon protection, but Brogan will surrender in a foolish attempt to stop a war that cannot be stopped. Dulla dies in childbirth even though they have a medical booth for her.”
Fiora dropped her hand from the bridge of her nose and swiped at her moist eyes to stop the drop of tears before opening them.
“It seems that no matter what we do, it’s her time.” Fiora stared at his naked chest. Even as she said the words, understanding them to be accurate, she hated the helplessness of knowing. “Death can sometimes be delayed, but it eventually comes. I see no delaying the mother’s fate. Her past has already cast her toward this future.”
“Then what can we do?” Jaxx asked.
“Nothing. The best path for the most people is to let Grace escort them to the mountains. Let brother and sister have that time together without grief. Give them that small hope of freedom.” Fiora reached to take his hand, stopping all visions. Sometimes doing nothing was the most challenging task of all. “And make sure they don’t speak to me before they go or I’ll ruin it for them by telling them the truth.”
Jaxx nodded. “It will be as you recommend.”
Fiora became aware of the feel of his skin, not because it took away her visions, but the texture and heat of it. Warmth radiated from his body. No, not just warmth, an electricity she could feel snapping against her length. It called her to come closer. She might not be able to see her own future, but she knew what she wanted.
“Ask me what I’m thinking,” she whispered.
“What are you thinking?”
“I want you to kiss me,” she answered. “I want you to move closer.”
Jaxx leaned his mouth nearer, letting the brush of his lips tease hers as he said, “Ask me what I’m thinking.”
“What are you thinking?” she asked, her body tensing with anticipation.
“That I want to kiss you and move closer.”
He closed the distance between their mouths. She felt protected in his embrace. His hand moved behind her back, inching her toward him so their bodies pressed together. The rise of his chest as he breathed moved hard muscles against her sensitive breasts. She became aware of his heart beating beneath her palm.
Jaxx’s kiss held only pleasure. His touch kept the world from plaguing her mind. Fiora still felt a little weak from her injury, but she didn’t want to stop. She wanted to live in this moment forever.
His kiss deepened, his tongue parting her lips. When he caressed her, he acted as if she might crumble. His touch remained light, his fingers kneading her clothes.
There were so many truths she wanted to speak, but only one seemed important enough to escape her lips. “I feel connected to you, Jaxx. Every second of my life has been bringing me to this moment, to you. I have seen enough of life to know that I love you.”
Her words caused him to lean back so he could study her face. “I know I should not tell you I love you. It feels selfish to say knowing I will not be here…” He hesitated. “I will not be here to…”
“I may have been wrong about the death mark,” Fiora said. “I can’t see my future, or rarely anything that has to do with my future, so maybe that means I’m in your future.”
The words came from her lips so it had to be true. There had to be a chance. Though the fact she saw nothing of his future didn’t exactly support the idea. Not everything about this man’s future would involve her. She should have seen something, even if it was just a small glimpse of something random.
Jaxx grinned. “I like that prediction.”
“It wasn’t a prediction. It was a guess,” she corrected. “Or more like a wish.”
“I’m going to choose to believe that’s our fate,” Jaxx answered, stopping any further comments with his kiss. His hands roamed over her hip and waist.
She wrapped her arm around him as they laid on their sides, feeling along his spine. The smooth skin gave no hint of the dragon beneath. She found herself concentrating on his muscles, pressing them to see if she could detect anything hidden within.
Jaxx pulled away and glanced over his shoulder. “What are you looking for?”
“Scales,” Fiora answered. “Or wing bumps.”
“Wing bumps?” He gave a small laugh.
“They have to retract somewhere,” Fiora said, drawing her hand to his neck to cup his face.
Jaxx’s eyes flashed with gold, and the sight of it gave her a small thrill. His hand roamed down her stomach before diving beneath her waistband. “While you’re doing that, I’m going to look for…”
Fiora laughed, cutting off his words, but her laughter didn’t last long as desire took over. His fingers found their target as they slipped between her thighs. A jolt of awareness shot over her at the intimate touch. She inhaled deeply, moving against him.
There were no timelines to interrupt her thoughts, and she focused entirely on Jaxx. Each feeling became magnified. He pushed his knee between hers, opening her thighs for better access.
Jaxx adjusted his hips, rolling her onto her back. The motion pulled his hand away, and she instantly reached to push her pants from her waist. She didn’t want the pleasure to stop. He followed her lead, freeing himself from his clothes. Fiora pulled her shirt from over her head.
Jaxx settled between her now-naked legs. Fiora ran her hands over him, trying to touch everywhere at once. Everything about him mesmerized her—his smell, his touch, the taste of his warm and gentle kisses. It was as if he poured himself into her, giving her everything.
She felt connected to him like she’d never felt connected to anything. With him there were no thoughts of the future—a rare blessing. There was only the now, and now she wanted his touch to last forever.
Excitement flooded her. Her breathing deepened. Jaxx kissed his way to her ear and then moved down her neck. Calloused hands cupped her breasts, and he squeezed gently.
Fiora rubbed her legs against him, feeling the texture of his skin along the full length of her body. His kisses replaced his hands on her chest, and she wove her fingers into his hair to keep him close. Heat infused his kisses, and his golden eyes glanced up at her. The dragon simmered below his surface. Each second grew her passion.
Present. She was present.
Fiora alternated between pressing his mouth to her nipple and reaching to scratch her nails against his back and shoulders. He moved his mouth lower, working his way down her stomach to her thighs. Jaxx moaned as his hot kisses resumed on her sex, teasing her with his tongue. She pulled at his arms, trying to get him to come over her so that they may join. Her foot ran along his hip to hook around his ass to draw
him closer.
Only when her body began to tremble with the threat of release did he return his mouth to hers. His thick cock bumped her inner thigh, urging her to part her legs. She eagerly thrust her hips forward.
Jaxx entered her slowly as if savoring the moment. Nothing beyond them mattered. There was no past, no future, no threats, just the glorious now.
Fiora clung to him, desperate for the release he offered. Her body teetered on the brink of climax. Jaxx thrust fully into her. She wiggled beneath him, urging him to move.
They set a natural rhythm as they joined, one that built in tempo until it became almost frantic. Fiora needed him, all of him. He pushed up on the bed for leverage. She grabbed his hips and tried to force him deeper with each pass. He didn’t stop pumping his hips until they finally found that perfect moment of release.
Fiora couldn’t hold back as she cried out softly. Jaxx’s moan joined hers. He delved forward one last time, embedding himself deep.
Fiora could not imagine a more perfect moment. Being with Jaxx, feeling him, shifted something deep inside her. He made her feel safe. He freed her from the pain of her visions.
She wrapped her arms around him and held him on top of her. The weight of him pressed her into the mattress, making it hard to breathe. She didn’t care. She didn’t want to let go of him. She felt him sigh next to her neck.
“I feel connected to you, Jaxx,” she whispered. “I can’t explain why, but I know I’m meant to be with you.”
He lifted from her and shifted his weight to the side. She deeply inhaled as he settled next to her. “My ancestors would say it’s because our being together is the will of the gods.”
“Fate.” Fiora nodded thoughtfully. “I like the idea of having a fate.”
“As do I,” he agreed. “I don’t need a glowing crystal to tell me what I feel. I love you, Fiora. I have since the first time we met.”
“The first time we met, I…” She glanced down toward his hips and scrunched up her nose. “I’m still sorry about that.”
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