The eagle hopped down out of sight. Soon after, a hand reached up to pluck the clothes from the screen. Alaric appeared, zipping up his pants. He pulled on his shirt and was buttoning up as he said, “There’s your proof, son.”
He stood barefoot on the oriental rug at the center of the room. Alaric rolled up his sleeves, and the muscles in his jaw tightened. “We’ll start with the basics. Do you know where you are?”
“Yeah, Denver,” Jax answered.
Alaric’s eyes flashed before he responded, “Have you ever heard of the Genus Society?”
“I’ve heard of it, yeah.” Jax racked his brain. “Isn’t it a club for conceited yuppies who think a lot of themselves?”
The man ignored his remark and folded his arms. “Genus Society is a worldwide fraternal order that’s been in existence for over three thousand years. Formed by shifters to protect shifters.”
“Makes the world seem a whole lot smaller, doesn’t it?” Emery commented from the other end of the room.
“We have just two rules.” Alaric held up his fingers. “The first: we don’t kill our own. And the most important: we keep our abilities and existence a secret from the outside world. To do that, we follow the law of the land, we don’t use our powers in front of non-members and we keep a low profile.”
Jax pointed out, “Well, I’m not a part of your club—so I guess your rules don’t apply to me.”
“If only it were that simple.” Alaric looked disapprovingly at Jax and shook his head. “Shifters aren’t required to become members, but all must follow our rules or pay the price.”
Jax raised his brow. “What price?”
Alaric’s jaw flexed. “Do you really want to find out?”
Being forced into this society made him anxious. He fought back. “So, I have no rights? Is that what you’re telling me?”
Alaric sighed impatiently. “Just the opposite. Think about it this way. When you’re born in the United States, you’re protected by its laws. Do you fight those rules, or do you live by them without a second thought?”
Jax frowned and stood in silence, unwilling to answer.
“Well,” Alaric continued, “even though you were unaware of the Society, you are a part of it. The price every member pays is living by a few simple rules so we can exist in harmony. We offer protection from the outside world. You’re part of a larger family than you ever could have imagined.”
“I don’t need a family,” Jax spat. He’d certainly found answers, but now he just wanted to get out of there. “You going to let me leave, or am I being held against my will?”
The leader shook his head and sighed once more. “You were brought here because you’re suspected of attacking a non-shifter in animal form. It brings unwanted attention, which threatens our most important law. If you want to get out of here, the fastest way out is telling the truth.”
“Who do you think you are?” Jax felt like his stepfather was lecturing him from beyond the grave. His hands balled into fists, and he checked to see whether Emery was still blocking the door.
“I’m Alaric Meyer—I run the Denver lodge. I’m the law around here, so that means if you care about your freedom, you might try impressing me,” Alaric said with a sneer. “You’re not off to a good start, mutt.”
Jax stared into Alaric’s eyes, feeling his blood pressure rise. He might not be well educated, but he knew he wasn’t in a position to win this fight. Sometimes it was best to comply, and this was one of those times. That didn’t mean he had to like it. He exhaled sharply and ground his teeth together.
“That’s better.” Alaric leaned against his desk wearing a smirk. “What’s your name, how old are you and where are you from?”
Resigned, Jax responded, “Jackson Johnston. I’m thirty-one, and I grew up in a small town in Nebraska called Chadron.”
Alaric lifted his jaw. “What’s your primary form?”
In the corner of the room, Deane was scribbling notes on a pad of paper. He paused to wait for Jax’s response.
“Cougar,” Jax mumbled.
Alaric raised his eyebrow and asked, “Do you have any other forms?”
“The cougar’s it.”
“Great.” Alaric rubbed his hands together. “Show me.”
Jax frowned. The guy couldn’t be serious.
“Could you step out for a minute, Emery?” Alaric called to the other side of the room.
The female enforcer’s lip slid out in a pout and did as she was asked with a backward glance. Once the door clicked shut, both Deane and Alaric raised their focus to Jax’s face. It appeared the lodge leader was very serious about his demand.
Jax swallowed. “If you think I’m dangerous, how do you know I won’t attack you now?”
Deane shook his head. “I think ye know just how reckless that would be.”
The sound of muffled laughter came from below the floorboards. Jax shook his head and couldn’t look Deane in the eye. Instead, he slipped out of his shoes, pulled off his shirt and unzipped his jeans. With his gaze on the floor, he called to his power within.
The energy flushed through his body, raising the hairs on his arms and legs. Jax pinched his eyes shut and felt the change take over. He fell onto his hands. Fur spread over his skin, protecting him from the cool room air.
When he flipped open his lids, he was standing level with the men’s waists. Jax twitched his nose and smelled the air. The aroma of spaghetti reminded his stomach he hadn’t eaten since lunch.
“What do you think?” Alaric asked Deane.
The broad-shouldered enforcer tilted his head as he studied the cougar standing in the middle of the room. “The attacks could be connected.”
The men shared a look before Alaric faced Jax and said, “You can change back now.”
Jax didn’t hesitate. Although he was comfortable in his animal form, he couldn’t ask questions in this state. He returned to his human body and quickly put on his jeans. The door to the office opened and Emery breezed back inside. Her eyes traced over his exposed chest as he pulled his shirt down.
She called over to Alaric, “They’re coming.”
Alaric nodded, then tilted his head and rubbed his jaw. “So, Jax, who are your parents? We can look them up in the registry to search your family tree. Guardians are supposed to find all shifter youngsters, half-bred or not. Somehow you slipped through.”
Jax was surprised to hear the door open again. He turned around to watch a group of men and women enter. They filtered into the room behind him, and it took him a moment to redirect his attention to Alaric.
Jax was uncomfortable talking about his life at all, let alone in front of a bunch of strangers, but he didn’t know any way around it. He exhaled and returned his focus to Alaric. “My mom was Jenny Johnston, and I never knew my dad. Mom married my stepdad, Rick Johnston, when I was young—six maybe.”
“That’s not much to go on. Don’t have a maiden name for me to look up?” Deane asked from Alaric’s desk. He was sitting before a laptop. Its soft blue glow illuminated his face.
Jax shook his head. “I don’t remember.”
“Can ye call one of them and ask?” Deane lifted his face to look at Jax.
He would have preferred getting beat up to this. Discomfort didn’t cover the depth of emotion he was experiencing. He’d gone nearly fifteen years without talking about his stepdad and his good-for-nothing mother. She could be dead for all he cared.
Through tight lips and a clenched jaw, Jax said, “I can’t. Rick’s dead and my mom abandoned me when I was ten. Haven’t seen her since.”
“Do your best with what we’ve got,” Alaric said over his shoulder to Deane. “You might try calling Dinah McDonald. She runs a lodge out of Nebraska.”
The memory of his mom and stepdad made him bitter and put him in an even worse mood. He eyed Alaric, who turned his attention to Jax.
The leader crossed his arms. “So, we have a bit of a problem on our hands. You see, over the last two decades, the
re have been a number of suspicious animal attacks we haven’t been able to resolve. You claim you’re innocent, but it seems an open-and-shut case to me.”
Anger surged through him. He tried to keep it in check, but it was apparent in his voice. “How could I have been responsible? I was only a kid twenty years ago!”
Alaric’s eyes narrowed, and he strode toward Jax with his finger pointed at him. “If we can’t find any record of your birth, then we have to take your word for it. And I for one am not inclined to believe a… a drifter who takes the shape of a cougar and whose landlady was just attacked.”
“I didn’t hurt her,” Jax said through clenched teeth.
Deane stood from behind the desk and spoke up. “This is yer chance to speak. Tell us what happened then.”
This was Jax’s opportunity to tell the truth. If these people thought he was crazy or lying, he didn’t think he’d be returning to his trailer by the nine o’clock news like Emery had promised. He remembered the audience that had collected behind him and tried to ignore their stares.
He cleared his throat. “I’d been feeling the energy buildup for a while, knew I needed to change form on my terms, you know?”
Jax searched Deane’s face for comprehension, and when he found it, he continued, “It was late, and I knew KT was in front of her TV, so I went out back to change shape and run in the shadows. I’d been gone for some time, and when I returned to my clothes, something didn’t feel right, so I went to take a look.”
This was it. The point of no return. Jax rubbed his temple. He’d known the police would think he was crazy if he told them the truth. For all he knew, these shifters, as they called themselves, would think he was just making up a story to get out of trouble. The Genus Society already appeared to know more about what he was than he did. But what if they knew something he didn’t?
“KT’s garage doors were still open.” Jax rubbed his temple. “Inside I saw her lying on the floor with a man hunched over her. He had his mouth pressed to her neck, and when I stepped closer to protect her, he stood up with her blood on his lips and ran off into the night.”
Alaric’s eyes narrowed as he listened to Jax’s story, but he didn’t interrupt. Jax’s stomach turned, fearing telling the truth had been a mistake. He pushed forward. He’d already committed to this course. “I didn’t know what to think, but I was worried about KT, so I went to check on her to see if she was alive and stepped in her blood. I left tracks when I hurried to get my phone to call for help.”
Whispers broke from the group of people standing behind him, and his cheeks flushed with heat.
“Do you think this is a joke?” Alaric’s voice came out in a rasp.
“No.” Jax shook his head. “I know it sounds crazy, but I swear it’s true.”
Alaric pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke above the noise, directing his question to Deane. “Did you question the woman? Can we confirm any of this nonsense?”
Deane glanced at the crowd of people before shaking his head. “We didn’t see her, but I understand someone else spoke to her.”
Alaric frowned and scanned the room. “Was it Garren?”
A woman’s voice rose from the murmurs. “It was me. I spoke to her.”
Alaric’s mood shifted. The man frowned at whomever spoke and whispered through his clear anger, “Why would you have spoken to this woman?”
“She’s my neighbor.”
At this, Jax turned around and was stunned to see a familiar face in the crowd. It was the young woman he’d met only hours before. KT’s neighbor, Aerilyn.
Her chin was held high and her arms were crossed.
Alaric demanded, “Why didn’t you call and tell me first?”
She held her ground. “I sensed his power, so I had Emery and Deane come to check it out. Isn’t that protocol?”
Alaric’s face twisted into a scowl. “Not when it comes to you.”
It was a relief Alaric’s negative attention had been diverted to someone else, but Jax couldn’t understand why Alaric was so angry at her. For such a small thing, she seemed tough.
She stared back at the lodge leader without blinking. “I am no different from any other member. KT’s my neighbor, so I went to check on her and find out more. She told me about the attack. She said she’d felt something warm on her neck, and the next thing she remembered she was lying in the hospital.”
For the first time, Aerilyn glanced at Jax. Her warm brown eyes made his mind go blank.
He turned around to collect himself and to defend himself to Alaric. “There’s nothing about KT’s story that proves I attacked her. She only believes it was a cougar because of my footprints.”
“Yeah, but those footprints put you at the scene,” Alaric responded in agitation. Then he addressed the group of people in the room. “Anyone heard of a farfetched story like his? It’s certainly hard to believe.”
A long-haired man spoke up. “In my youth back in Poland, over a hundred and fifty years ago, I witnessed a dead body with neck bites. The villagers spoke of vampires, but I have never seen anything like it since.”
A few people snickered at mention of vampires, and Alaric murmured, “Bedtime stories meant to frighten children and entertain the masses.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” Jax said in frustration, feeling he was losing his argument. “Why would I attack my landlord, nearly killing her, then go call an ambulance to save her life? Why? Why would I make up a story like this when I knew you’d think I was crazy?”
A hush fell over the room.
“I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt.” Aerilyn moved forward and away from the group around her. “What if he’s telling the truth?”
Alaric pointed at the attractive young woman who’d stirred up so much contempt. “And who will stand beside him? You, daughter?”
Five
Aerilyn’s instincts were what had led them to this moment. Her phone call to Emery had resulted in Jax being brought before her father.
Her instincts were what pushed her to act again now. She sensed anger and frustration in Jax, not instability or deception. She had experience identifying and guiding the younger generations of shifters in their society. It was her job. Maybe Jax was a bit older than most she’d worked with, but he needed a guardian more than anything now. It was important he understood the world he was a part of.
She swept a lock of hair behind her ear and turned to her father. “Yes, I’ll be his guardian and attempt to track his heritage. There is no one more qualified to do it.”
Her father was unable to contain his irritation. His eyes were filled with fire and venom. Thankfully they were surrounded by other members. She had a better chance of surviving this when they weren’t in private. It couldn’t turn into a family argument if he was forced to stay in his role of lodge leader.
“Not you. Anyone but you.” A bit of spittle flew from his lips. “What if he’s lying and he hurts you?”
“I would sense it if he had something to hide, and I don’t,” she responded, taking a deep breath. “What I’m more concerned about is, what if he’s telling the truth?”
Alaric turned around and stood with his back to everyone. His voice was strained when it echoed off the back walls. “I need to speak to Aerilyn, Emery, Deane and Jax alone, please.”
Aerilyn watched the others quietly filter from the room, leaving the four of them with Alaric. She wasn’t sure what to expect from her father. It was clear he was anxious and upset, but he had been elected the leader of this lodge for his wisdom and foresight.
His voice filled the room. “No matter my feelings, it would be unjust to jump to conclusions. So, until further evidence surfaces to either clear or implicate Jax, I feel I must learn more about the possibility of this blood-sucker.”
“Naturally,” Emery said with a little too much enthusiasm.
Alaric turned around and stared at Aerilyn. “You are my only daughter, and I love you, but I would seek to prote
ct anyone from my flock. I am sure you can understand it isn’t safe for you to remain so near where the attack happened.”
He scrutinized Jax with narrowed eyes. Just as she’d feared, her freedom slipped away.
Fingers coiled around her own, and Emery gave her hand a squeeze. Her friend raised her voice. “What if an enforcer came to live with her—to protect her?”
Alaric’s gaze went to Emery’s smiling face. “You’re speaking of yourself, I presume?”
“It just so happens I’m looking for a place to stay. My current roommate and I haven’t been seeing eye-to-eye, and I’ve been invited to leave.” Emery shrugged, then whispered to Aerilyn, “You don’t mind I’m up most of the night, right?”
Aerilyn blinked back at her, unable to say a word. She’d known Emery her whole life. They’d grown up together, but she was a lot to take at times. Even so, if it meant she wouldn’t have to move back home with her folks, she’d give it a try.
“I guess that settles that,” Aerilyn said to her father. “My safety won’t be a concern.”
“For now,” he answered without blinking. Alaric focused on Jax, who’d been observing everything in silence. “You will be considered innocent until proven guilty. Aerilyn will teach you what you should have been taught when you were young, and you will listen to what she has to say. Treat her with the utmost respect and live by our laws. Don’t even consider leaving town, or I will send my most experienced trackers after you. And if I catch so much of a whiff of treachery from you, you will find out what happens to shifters who don’t live by our rules. Do you understand the terms of our agreement?”
She hoped the young drifter wouldn’t make another smart comment. She’d gone out on a limb for him. The way her father was looking at Jax made it clear how little he thought of him. It went beyond the drifter’s dirty jeans and defensive attitude. He wasn’t a longstanding member of the Society, which meant he was likely of low breeding. But Aerilyn saw something in him Alaric didn’t.
Jax cleared his throat. “I understand.”
She breathed a silent sigh of relief.
Half-Blood Descendant: A Paranormal Series (Half-Bloods Book 1) Page 3