Afterward, they’d figure out something, but in the meantime, they had months to enjoy their new bond. And she wanted to make every moment count.
Chapter Sixteen
They dozed on and off for a few more hours, even slapping the snooze alarm twice before Yasmin’s startled voice reached his ears.
“Javier! It’s after six already.”
“Shit!” He scrambled out of bed and into the shower. Cold water blasted him in the chest and face when he hurried inside. The shock sent him stumbling into the tiled wall where he banged one elbow before regaining his balance.
He’d forgotten how long it took in the morning for the water to warm.
“You okay in there?” Yasmin called.
“I’m fine.”
“Okay. Um, don’t look around the curtain.”
“Why?”
“I have to pee.”
“Are you seriously that shy? In about nine months or so, I’m going to see more come out of you than that,” Javier quipped. Dragon halfbreeds gestated for closer to a year.
“Just don’t look,” she grumbled.
Respecting her privacy, he lingered in the shower until the toilet flushed and Yasmin left the small room. Then he hurried through the rest of his morning routine. Yasmin, bless her, had pulled out clean clothes for him before she crawled back into his bed.
Javier didn’t bother to ask how she knew her way around his bedroom so well, but he donned his clothing while aware of her appreciative gaze taking him in. He hesitated after buckling his belt and sat on the edge of the mattress. “I feel like we’re supposed to have a really intense and serious talk about our future together, but I’m rushing off to get stuck in San Antonio traffic.”
“You’ll speed as usual and when you get a three hundred dollar ticket, you’ll pay it because you’re rich. Besides, our talk can wait. I’m not going anywhere.” Yasmin raised a hand to her left shoulder where the imprint of his teeth remained against her golden complexion.
“Go to class. It’s okay. I’ll just sleep some more in your comfortable bed and set my phone for an alarm.” She smiled up at him. “I’ll lock the door behind me when I leave.”
“Okay.”
“And good luck at the meeting with Ian. He’s a great man.”
If anyone was permitted to wander around his home or sleep in his bed while he was absent, it would be Yasmin. He cupped her cheeks in his palms and kissed her again before he hurried from the room and downstairs. Around this time of the day, every minute counted, because beating traffic or getting stuck in it was the difference between crawling at a snail’s pace on the highway or reaching his destination as the bell tolled.
Javier made it to his first course ten minutes after the bell and snuck into the seat, relieved when no one—aside from a couple wistful glances from admirers—acknowledged his tardiness. He’d always been the student arriving fifteen minutes prior to class, and the professor liked him. It wasn’t like the school on the island where the teachers had chastised him for arriving late. In college, no one cared.
All the while he tried to take history notes, his mind wandered back to Yasmin snuggled in his sheets. Knowing he had a full day ahead of him was absolute torture.
It didn’t help that he was slowly succumbing to starvation, forced to subsist on vending machine Cheetos and Coke since he’d missed his chance to make breakfast. As he emerged from his final morning class, his phone chirped with a reminder regarding his lunch meeting.
He made the short drive over to an Italian restaurant Amaya had recommended earlier that week and headed inside. Ian had already been seated and waved him over.
Shifters aged differently, retaining youth long after a human would have gone white and wrinkled with old age. Even at the age of eighty, Ian MacArthur resembled a well-preserved fifty. If fifty year olds spent ten or twelve hours a week heavylifting at the gym. The white hair on his head had nothing to do with his age and everything to do with his animal side, since bald eagle shifters were the rarest of the birds and always prematurely lost their hair color when they reached adulthood.
Ian rose from his seat and offered out his hand. “Good to see you again, Javier.”
“You as well, sir. Ian. Sorry, habit.”
They exchanged pleasantries as they took their seats and looked over the menus to order. Ian didn’t bring up business until after their food arrived and Javier had put most of his chicken parmesan away.
“Now, enough about Quickdraw. You must be itching to know more about this job I want to give you,” Ian said.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.”
The older shifter grinned. “Why don’t we start with you telling me about this major you’ve chosen and why. Teo tells me you could have accepted a security position on the island.”
“I don’t know how to describe it,” Javier admitted. “It was like something clicked and a puzzle piece fell into place. Suddenly, I knew what I wanted to do with my life, and I didn’t think anything else I could do on the island would ever compare. Yeah, Dad did say I could take a role in the security team, but I wanted to go to school.”
“You wanted to get away from the island.”
Javier nodded. “I wanted to do something on my own that doesn’t involve my father. I love him, but everything doesn’t need to be about him.”
“Smart. We all need to forge our own path without the aid of our parents at some point. As for your courses, a diploma isn’t even a requirement for this job. I still recommend finishing the degree, but scale it back to about twelve credits a semester. This isn’t a race, son. You have time to become the man you want to be.”
Relief bloomed through his chest and loosened the tightly coiled tension. “I figured the faster I finished, the sooner I could move on to an actual job in the field.”
“It’s still a good idea. Criminal Justice can be a complicated, but the best officers learn over the course of a career. No matter how much you cram over the next four years, studies can’t beat real-world experience.”
“What is the job exactly?”
Ian leaned forward, placing both elbows on the table, and steepled his hands under his chin. “I’ve been authorized by the highest authority to found a federal agency with a specific focus on the supernatural community. Consider it the supernatural equivalent of the FBI.”
“Really?”
“Think about it. Let’s say you go on a rampage and start doing what the dragons in the old days did. Pillaging and eating virgins and all that. Who’s going to stop you?”
Javier smirked. “Okay, I think I see where you’re going with this. You can’t send a normal human cop after me.”
“Exactly. I’d send a knight, or another dragon preferably. Maybe even that Merlin fellow, if he wanted to join up. Which he doesn’t, by the way, not in any official capacity at least.”
“Nothing guarantees another dragon would want to help.”
“That’s also a problem. We don’t have the capabilities to handle paranormal threats in any sort of far-reaching way. Now we will, at least here in the States. A few years back, your friend Astrid, her husband, and Loki stopped a legitimate threat to the entire world. They weren’t paid for placing their lives in danger. In fact, the government didn’t know until it was mentioned it to me.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“Become one of our agents. This summer, you’ll attend our new academy’s first training class.”
“How long is it?”
“Thirteen weeks. It’s an intense program I designed alongside some of the best FBI agents in this country. Your ass will belong for us for the duration, of course, but you’ll graduate with the training necessary to act as an agent of the United States government.”
Shit. He loved the idea, and he hated it. Excitement buzzed through him, but he dreaded the idea of leaving Yasmin behind for thirteen weeks. “I’m gonna assume that means I won’t be sleeping in my own bed for thirteen weeks.”
; “You assume right. For the duration of your training, you’ll earn a paycheck and have all the best benefits of employment.”
Part of him worried that Yasmin would lose her shit. And if she did, he couldn’t blame her. He’d be raw about it too. Three months was a long time to abandon his pregnant mate while she endured the stress of carrying their child alone.
Thirteen weeks was also a drop in the figurative bucket compared to the many months afterward, because if all other dragon pregnancies were any example, she’d be carrying their baby for a year.
“I need to come clean about a concern before we discuss this any further, Ian. I have a new mate, and she’s expecting a child. How accessible will I be to her?”
Ian’s white brows jumped up. “Your father didn’t mention that.”
“New development.”
“Well.” An amiable smile spread across the man’s face. “Then accept my congratulations and pass them to the missus. There won’t be any time for candlelight dinners, but we won’t deprive you of phone calls and internet contact.”
Javier’s shoulders sagged in relief. “As long as I can keep in touch with her.”
“Trust me, son, I understand how it is to have a vulnerable and pregnant mate. Wasn’t too long ago I was in your place. You’ll be nearby just beyond the Atropos city limits, so if an emergency occurs, you won’t be far from her. Who’s the lucky young lady?”
“Yasmin Silva.”
Again, the eagle shifter’s brows raised. “River Silva’s daughter?”
Javier rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah.”
“Good luck. You’re bonding into an unusual family. Good people, though.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“Aren’t you still a sheriff in Quickdraw?”
Ian shook his head. “I retired a couple years ago. It was about time for me to step aside and let someone else behind the wheel. The wife would be pleased if I stayed home for good, but I told her I need some kind of hobby during these years if she doesn’t want me to keel over from boredom instead of old age.”
“So now you’re going to do this?”
“What can I say, I’m accustomed to a lot of work. That and the grandchildren keep me going. She’d pluck my feathers if I stayed to run the entire program, but I’ll be in and out to lend a hand.”
Javier took a sip from his water glass and regarded his lunch companion. Ian truly was a man to look up to. He managed to balance work and family in a way Javier hoped to emulate one day.
“What do I need to do now?” Javier asked.
“I have all the necessary paperwork with me, so all you need to do is say yes and take it all home to fill out. There will be some routine testing and examinations, all of which you’ll pass with flying colors.”
“Yes,” Javier blurted. He cleared his throat and tried again in a calmer voice. “I mean, yes, I’d be honored to work with you—for you.”
“Relax, I came after you, remember? I can see the potential in you, and honestly, I’d be a fool to pass up the chance to have one of your kind working for the agency.”
“Thank you. Really. Once things slowed down, I’d thought about applying to the Atropos Police Department for an internship, but this… this is amazing.”
“I’m glad you think so.” Ian pulled a thick manila envelope from his suitcase and set it on the table. “Take your time reading through all this and give me a call when you’re done. I’ll get you set up in the office and show you around. But for now, let’s enjoy the rest of this good meal. There’ll be plenty time to answer more of your questions later.”
Chapter Seventeen
While enduring the stress of midterms, Yasmin’s interaction with her parents dwindled to the occasional afternoon call. Sometimes her father waved to her across the yard in the morning before slipping into his Jag and zipping away to work at the office. They had their lives, and she had hers.
Years ago, when Yasmin had moved out on her own, her mother had adopted a strict hands-off approach to parenting, which meant River minded her own business and didn’t devise excuses to drop in on the girls unless she came bearing food items or remedies for hangovers and colds.
Her father followed a similar policy unrelated to his awareness of how attractive her friends found him. He claimed he didn’t need to hover when he trusted her to make the right life choices, and it helped that Amaya and Gillian, while hot for him, had never flirted or made him uncomfortable.
It would have been really weird if either of her friends tried to bone her father. Ugh. She’d known “friends” who would have tried, but those two had proven time and time again they could be trusted.
Yasmin tried to focus on her study guide for her final test before school let out for spring break, but her distracted mind transformed her neat handwriting into a jumble of indecipherable words instead. Amaya sat in the adjacent recliner with her MacBook on her thighs while Yasmin sprawled on the love seat.
“So, when are you going to tell your parents about the… you know.” Amaya gestured toward her stomach.
“Ugh.” Yasmin made a disgruntled noise and flapped her hands in the air. “I mean… I know they’ll be okay with it, but I just have this irrational fear that they’re gonna lose their shit or be disappointed with me.” It didn’t matter that she was an adult with her own job and means of supporting herself. Her mother and father’s opinion of her meant everything.
“Totally irrational because your parents were the ones who wanted you to enjoy life, right? Didn’t you say one of them was looking forward to the grandparent life?”
“Well, yeah.” Yasmin frowned. Leave it to Amaya of all people to be the sensible one with the rational observations. The tight knot of tension in her chest eased, and the breaths flowed easily in and out of her lungs. “Thanks. I guess I needed your common sense or something. What would I do without you?”
“Fret. Stress out. Have frequent panic attacks. You’re overthinking it, and honestly, that’s okay because you’re going through a lot of changes in your life all at once. You found a good man, you’re shifter married, and you got a kid coming on the way.”
“True…”
Satisfied with her explanations, Amaya nodded. “So, when you see your parents, just be like, ‘Surprise! You have a son-in-law now’, then sit back as the magic happens.”
“Mom invited Javier over for dinner and strongly implied I should join them,” Yasmin said.
“Sweet. Leftovers.”
She swatted her friend’s shoulder. “I’ll scrounge up what I can. Anyway, I guess I should get cleaned up before Mom questions if I’m taking care of myself?”
“Yeah, best not to break this sorta news in sweats and a ratty tee,” Amaya agreed.
“Fine.”
After soaking in a bath laced with a rejuvenating mixture of her favorite essential oils, she changed into clean clothes and headed to her childhood home. Genuine laughter spilled through the open living room window, and a glance between the vertical blinds revealed Javier and her father wearing VR headsets in front of the television.
Gods. Dad already has him over there gaming with him.
Torn between relief and her irrational worries, Yasmin let herself into the house and veered into the living room. Her mother watched the action on the big screen from the couch. Apparently, the two were in a sword fight in the middle of some fantasy realm with beautiful, glowing flowers beneath a twilit sky. Their in-game avatars wore armor and looked like elves.
“For the love of Hecate, this is the slowest duel I’ve ever seen. Shouldn’t you play better than this since you’re the creator of the game?” River asked, voice playful. She twisted around to hug Yasmin and kiss her cheek.
“I’m going easy on the kid,” Zacarias replied, though he grunted when Javier snuck past his guard. Until that moment, the health bars displayed on the screen had been evenly matched, each one a single strike from depletion. With his attack, Javier won the match between them, sprawling her father’s
character out in the grass.
“Ha!” Javier cried. “I told you I’d beat you.”
Zacarias removed his headset and set it aside. “That doesn’t count. She distracted me.”
“I did not. Anyway, our daughter arrived just in time to witness your graceless defeat.”
“That was pretty awful, Dad,” Yasmin agreed. “Maybe if you worked less and found more time to game with us you’d excel at the stuff you code.”
“You’re picking on me, too?” Zacarias held a hand to his heart, wounded. “Find time away from your studies to game with me, and I’ll make time for you too, pequenininha.”
Javier removed his headset and placed it on the arm of the couch with the game controllers. He’d been quiet throughout their interaction, hanging back and putting the ball in her court. Her father’s green eyes lit with interest, but her mother pretended not to watch. A mere gesture from her hand summoned a serving tray with an assortment of appetizer finger foods and frosty glasses of lemonade.
“Hey, Yaz,” her dragon murmured.
Yasmin stepped forward and kissed his cheek. “Hey yourself.”
“Glad to see you two getting along again,” her father said. “Last time you were over here, you looked like you wanted to strangle him.”
Javier chuckled. “She probably did.”
“Ha-ha.” She bumped him with her hip. “Anyway, you should probably know that Javier and I—”
“Are in love. I know.” River grinned while her startled husband choked on his drink. “I’ve been wondering when you two were going to kiss and make up about whatever you fought over on the island.”
Yasmin’s eyes widened. “You knew about us?”
Her mother’s honey brown eyes twinkled with mirth. “Marcy and I had a feeling. Plus, the stars alluded to December being your month for romantic interests.”
After clearing his throat with a few coughs, Zac held up a hand. “Hold on a minute. You two are dating?”
Bitten by Magic: Agents of SAINT: Book 1 Page 14