Sami swallowed and shook his head. “No, Jax. No. It was my fault.”
Now it was Jax’s turn to frown. “What are you talking about? None of it is your fault.”
Sami closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, he said, “It was my fault those men took you—”
Jax snorted. “No. Marcius was just a greedy, motherfucking bastard. Those men gave him money for me. It had nothing to do with you.” Jax stared at Sami who was feeling sick to his stomach. “Why would you even think that?” he asked.
“Marcius, he-he showed me a video of, of what the men were doing—”
At his words, Jax blanched. “No.”
Sami nodded. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Jax was already running for the bathroom. When he came out a few minutes later, he looked weak and shaky.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you,” Sami said, his voice betraying his self-loathing.
“Sami,” Jax began then stopped, and ran a hand through his short hair. “I shouldn’t be surprised, but I can’t believe that bastard showed his own nine-and-a-half-year-old son what those men … what they—gods, why? Why would he do that? The sick fuck.” Jax looked dazed and Sami felt like shit for even mentioning it.
All of sudden, Jax looked at him. “What did he make you do?” he asked.
Sami’s face paled and he shook his head. “Nothing, he didn’t do anything,” he said, but could see that Jax wasn’t buying it.
Chapter Seven
Zander Wakes
TIERNEY AND JAX WAITED patiently but with enough anxiety filling the air it could almost be cut with a knife, as the pretty, doe-eyed female, a healer for the Okami wolves brought her father out of his magically induced coma. When Zander’s eyes opened, Tierney smiled with relief.
“Hey Dad, here’s some water.” She held a glass up to his lips.
After drinking the whole glass, Zander blinked, and Tierney could feel him try to talk to her telepathically, but all she heard was, “W-wh—”
“Dad?” Tierney looked from her dad to the healer. “What’s wrong with him, he’s trying to communicate with me but can’t.”
“W-who—” Zander started to cough.
“It’s okay, Dad, don’t talk. This is Sasha. She’s a healer and an Okami wolf.”
At the frown on Zander’s face, Sasha tucked her brown hair behind her ears and nodded. “Your mind will be foggy for a bit.”
Relieved, Tierney looked at her dad and explained. “You’ve heard of the Okami wolves before?” Zander nodded. “Well, apparently, they live up here on the mountain. They helped me when Jax went through his Awakening and they helped us rescue you, and Jax, from the Ilyium.”
At Zander’s surprised look, Tierney nodded wryly. “They’ve been here for over six months.” At Zander’s horrified look, Tierney nodded and rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to kick yourself for not knowing, I’ve been doing enough of that for both of us. It burns me up that I wasn’t aware of them.”
Zander nodded, groaning with such pain that it made Tierney gasp. Tears filled her eyes as she felt her father’s agony. “Is there anything you can do for him?” she asked Sasha who had been pretending they weren’t talking about her kind.
Without a word, Sasha stepped forward and put her hands on each side of Zander’s head. Tierney watched as she chanted under her breath. They could all feel the magic tingling in the air, and then Tierney felt Zander’s pain lessen to a dull throbbing.
“I am sorry, that’s all I can manage right now,” Sasha said.
“All right, thank you.” Tierney smiled gratefully at the petite female.
Zander looked at Sasha and then down at his missing limbs. “H-how long…?”
Sasha looked at him, sorrow in her gentle brown eyes. “I am sorry. You are healing, and your limbs are growing back but it will be very slow, and painful. I haven’t been able to undo the spell cast upon you preventing you from healing at your normal rate, but I have done all I can for now. I need to rest and restore my magic. I will check on you a little later.”
Tierney and Jax thanked her as she left, then looked back at Zander. Tierney began to cry. “You’ve been in a magical coma but we thought we’d bring you out for a bit, to see how you are doing. Maybe we shouldn’t have.”
“It’s all right…d-don’t cry,” Zander said in a raspy voice.
“I’ll go get some more water.” Jax grabbed the glass and left the room.
“Dad, why did they do this to you?” Tierney asked hating what had been done to him.
“They w-wanted locations. Dracones and F-fallen, h-here on Earth,” Zander said in a shaking voice.
Tierney let out a frustrated breath. “So, they cut off both your arms and one leg, breaking the other repeatedly?” Shaking her head and trying to calm down, she looked at her dad with sadness in her heart. “Well, most of your cuts have healed and at least your eye and ear are looking better. Can you see okay?”
Zander nodded and Tierney sat down in the chair beside the bed. When they found him, he had nasty cuts all over his body, broken ribs, one ear barely hanging by a bit of skin, and one eye was milky and swollen. They suspected more had been done to him, but didn’t know what.
When Jax came back, Tierney took the glass from him.
“Here.” She held it to her dad’s lips so he could drink.
“Thank you,” Zander rasped as he laid his head back on the pillow and looked at them.
Tierney couldn’t stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks. “We thought we’d lost you.” She wanted to lean over and lay her head on her dad, but didn’t dare. It would hurt him if she did.
Jax laid his hand on Tierney’s shoulder trying to comfort her, something not lost on Zander.
“Jax, your dragon,” Zander rasped, looking at what he could see of Jax’s dragon that was showing on his arms and neck. It looked like a really fancy tattoo.
Jax nodded. “Yeah, ah, just over a week ago.”
Then Zander’s eyes narrowed on the dragon eye on Jax’s neck. His gaze shot up to meet Tierney’s. “You two?” Zander looked at them, eyebrows raised.
Tierney smiled and nodded. She reached up and covered Jax’s hand with hers. She could feel his worry. “It’s fine, I promise,” she told Jax in his head. “We’ve bonded, Dad.”
Zander swallowed and nodded as tears rolled down his face. “H-h—”
Jax went absolutely still beside her. “Shit!”
“It’s all right, babe, he’s not upset.” Tierney stood and put an arm around Jax’s waist, reassuring him as she felt her father’s emotions. “Dad?”
Zander smiled and nodded. “S-so h-happy.”
Jax let out the breath he’d been holding in a whoosh. “Zander?”
With love in his eyes, Zander gazed at them. “Sorry, my head ... it’s hard to speak—” He paused then continued inside their heads. “You’re meant to be together, glad you finally realized.” The pain swirling inside of Zander seemed to affect even his thoughts. Tierney knew he hated her seeing him like this.
Tierney could see and feel how much his words meant to Jax though. Apparently, Zander did too. He studied Jax for a second then gave him a sad little smile. “Jax, I told you before how proud of you I was. I love you like my own flesh and blood. There’s no one I’d rather my daughter be with than you.”
At his words, Jax closed his eyes and buried his face against the back of Tierney’s head. “Thank you,” he murmured against her hair. Tierney turned and hugged him. She could feel how relieved and humbled he was to have her father’s blessing.
“I love you all so much, didn’t think I’d see you again”’ Zander said with a woeful expression.
“We were scared we weren’t going to see you either. I thought you’d died,” Tierney whispered, and Jax held her tighter.
“I’m so sorry baby, more than you can know. But how did you find me? I made you promise,” Zander reminded her even as she
felt the guilt rage through him.
Tierney took a deep breath. In a moment of weakness, when she thought her dad was about to die, she let him wring a promise from her—a promise that bound her, and prevented her from looking for him. Letting her breath out, she said. “Well, I didn’t exactly go looking for you. They had Jax so I went looking for him. We just happened to find you in the same place.”
After wiping her face, Tierney pulled some tissues out of the box on the bedside table and dabbed at Zander’s eyes for him. “Where’s Sami?” he asked.
“I’m right here,” Sami said as he stepped into the room, still looking pale from his own ordeal. Tierney and Jax stepped out of the way so he could talk with Zander.
A few minutes later, Zander began to get agitated. “Dad, what’s wrong?” Tierney asked, feeling his discomfort and something that felt an awful lot like need.
“Zander?” Jax started forward only to stop, unsure what to do. “What do you need, what can we do?”
“Ah, just—” Zander sucked in a breath and threw his shields up, effectively blocking Tierney from feeling his pain.
“Dad,” Tierney cried, and Jax pulled her into his arms.
“I’ll be okay,” Zander said through gritted teeth but the agony didn’t let up, and they all knew it, shields, or no shields. “Please, put me back under…” Panic shone bright in his eyes as he beseeched them to help.
“All right Dad, we will, just hang on.” She nodded, shaking inside.
“Kyrian,” she called out telepathically.
A moment later, Kyrian’s voice filled her head. “Tierney?”
“Yeah, it’s my dad, he’s in a lot of pain. He needs to be put back under, can you help? Please.”
“Of course, I’ll be right there.”
Tears ran down her face as she watched, helpless as her father moaned and twitched. She laid her hand on his shoulder, hoping to ease him and wishing she could wrap her arms around him and snuggle into his chest like she did as a child. But she couldn’t without hurting him more, and for some reason, her touch did nothing to soothe him. Feeling helpless, she was grateful for Jax’s arms around her as Zander’s back arched up off the bed.
“Dad, what can I do? How can I help?” she cried.
“Nothing. I’m sorry,” Zander said, then groaned and closed his eyes against the onslaught.
“Jax,” Tierney cried, looking up at him. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know.” There were tears in his eyes as he stared at Zander.
“Tierney?” Kyrian said as he stepped into the room.
“Oh gods, please, help him. He’s in so much pain, please.” Tierney stepped out of Jax’s arms and up to Kyrian, wringing her hands as panic threatened to take over.
“Yes, of course,” Kyrian said and stepped over to the other side of the bed.
“Thank you,” Zander whispered through tight lips, staring up into Kyrian’s eyes. Kyrian nodded and they all watched as he drew on his power and put her father back into his coma.
When he was done, Kyrian turned to Tierney. “I’m sorry,” he said, eyes filled with sadness.
“Why? What is happening to him? Both you and Sasha have been helping the pain, why is this happening to him?” she asked.
Kyrian shook his head. “It has something to do with the spell cast on him, and I have no idea how to break it.” The resignation in Kyrian’s eyes broke her.
“I got you, baby,” Jax said, wrapping his arms around her as she sobbed.
When her tears finally dried up, Tierney and Jax met Kyrian and Soroyan out in the great room. “I’m sorry I broke down like that,” Tierney said in apology.
“Tierney, don’t be sorry. We understand. It is hard to see someone you love suffer,” Kyrian said while Soroyan stood a few feet away, not saying anything.
“Yeah, it is. Well, thank you, for all your help,” she said, trying not to start bawling again at Kyrian’s understanding and the thought of how her dad was suffering.
“Of course, I am glad to help,” Kyrian said, and then he glanced at Soroyan before looking back at her and Jax. “I would ask a favor though.”
“Sure, anything,” Tierney said, ready to give him the moon if he asked.
“Soroyan wants to go back to Liberty Lake, to the compound, and to the mine as well.” The compound was where they had freed many supernatural and human captives and the mine was where they found Jax, Zander, and Brimstone. It was also where they found and enlisted Genna’s help. At Tierney’s frown, Kyrian nodded. “He wants to see if there is anything or anyone left at either place, maybe see if he can find a clue to where they may be keeping Toren,” Kyrian said.
Tierney nodded. So much had been going on, she’d almost forgotten Toren. “Of course, do you think anyone will still be there?”
“We don’t know, but they might be or there might be something or someone, that will tell us where Toren is.”
Tierney glanced at the dark scowling wolf, Soroyan. Ah, yes. She understood, if there was anyone left running either place, they were going to be in for some serious trouble when Soroyan got there. “When do we leave?” she asked. She didn’t really want to leave her dad, but she would because she owed Kyrian and Soroyan so much.
“You don’t need to go,” Soroyan said, his voice gruff as he glared at her. “We just need a car.” Her heart skipped a beat at the intensity in his eyes and she stared at him, surprised. “You plan to go alone?” At the thought, anxiety shot through her. “No, you can’t go alone, it’s too dangerous.” Heart pounding, she glanced up at Jax.
Seeing her worry, Jax nodded. “I’ll go with you,” he said, looking from Kyrian to Soroyan.
That was even worse and she groaned at the thought of Jax back in their enemy’s hands. “No, Jax.”
Soroyan growled, drawing their attention and Tierney thought she almost saw him roll his eyes. “Neither of you are going. I just need a car. The Were-wolf is going with me.”
“Mark?” Tierney and Jax both asked in unison. Soroyan nodded.
They had found Mark at the Liberty Lake compound. His alpha had betrayed him and sold him to the Ilyium. “He is recovered enough and has offered to go,” Soroyan said.
“Oh,” Tierney said, surprised. Then she nodded. “All right. Well, you should be safe, or safer, I guess. You can take my car,” she said, suddenly feeling a little better about Soroyan going back into the enemy’s lair. She smiled up at Jax, feeling his relief and knowing how protective he was of his car as she ran up to get her keys.
“Here you go, so are you driving or Mark?” she asked upon returning and handing Soroyan the keys.
Soroyan frowned. “Mark is. Why would you ask if I’m driving?”
Tierney grinned. “Sami told me you drove him home. Thanks for that, by the way.”
Soroyan grunted and took the keys. “You would trust me with your car?”
Tierney shrugged. “It’s only a car,” she said, but then turned serious. “But listen…you and Mark, you’ll be careful? Don’t take any chances okay? I want to see the both of you back here in one piece.”
Soroyan stared at her then blinked, turned away, and walked out of the room. Tierney frowned as she watched him go. She was getting some weird vibes from him but couldn’t figure them out. Oh well, as long as he came back safe, she wouldn’t worry about him.
***
SAMI SAT AT HIS computers two days later, thinking about what Jax had said. He didn’t want to think about it, but his mind just kept coming back around to it, like a broken fucking record. Sami shook his head, pushing the thoughts away. They still made him feel sick and ready to lose control.
At least he had finally managed to convince his brother that he could be alone and wouldn’t try to do himself in anytime soon. Besides, Tierney had gotten rid of the needles. He hated that he scared them like he had. He really hadn’t been thinking of anything but making the dark anguish go away. Well, that and pushing all thoughts of Hellfire away.
Now, he t
urned his thoughts to Zander. He was glad that Zander was home, but he hated seeing such a strong man reduced to being so helpless. There was obviously more going on with him, but Zander refused to tell them what it was. Instead, they brought him out of his coma for a little bit each day in the hopes that his pain would become more bearable. So far, it wasn’t working, and it wasn’t long before Kyrian had to put him back under.
Sami heard the house phone ring for the third time and let out a frustrated growl. He was busy working and had various programs running, searching for Val Jean. Soroyan hadn’t returned, so Sami was scanning cameras around the warehouse where Brimstone had been taken, hoping to get a license plate for the car that took him to Val Jean. He couldn’t find any cameras anywhere near the Liberty lake compound or the mine. He’d checked, thoroughly. On top of all that, he monitored the various video cameras set up around the property here up on the mountain.
The phone rang again. Grumbling, he got up, walked around to the side of his bed, and picked up the cordless phone. They didn’t get many landline calls and he couldn’t imagine who the hell it could possibly be calling this number. He remembered the last time they got a call. It was the call that led to Jax giving himself up to the Ilyium in Tierney’s place. Sami shivered with foreboding and frowned. Marcius was dead, so why did he feel this apprehension?
When the ringing sounded once more, Sami let out a frustrated sigh. They had a shitload of people staying in their home now, so you’d think that surely one of them could have picked up the freaking thing. Well, okay, maybe not a shitload, but certainly more than they were used to.
Taking a deep breath, Sami pressed the button to answer. Tierney and Jax were probably with Zander, and he really shouldn’t expect anyone else to answer their phone. At the crying, panicked voice on the other end of the line, Sami brought his focus back to the here and now.
“Say that again?” he asked.
“Can I speak to Zander please?” The woman was clearly upset and out of breath.
“Ah, who’s calling?” Sami asked, suddenly suspicious since she was asking to speak to Zander.
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