by Fran Tullo
Braydon flushed a little, then laughed and nodded, handing him a cup as well. When he sat back down, Jace slid into his lap and smiled at Lexi. “Morning, Red. You look a helluva lot better than you did last night.”
“Feeling better too. Did you guys stay here all night?”
“Where else would we stay?” Jace tilted his head at her, grinning.
“I mean, sleeping on the couch sucked a little, but since someone was a bed hog all night…” Braydon chimed in, smirking a little over Jace’s shoulder.
Lexi blinked at them, confused. She quickly bit into a piece of toast, trying to puzzle out what they meant. She really wasn’t a morning person, and between her injury and that, her brain was not connecting whatever puzzle they were trying to give her. “I, uh… I appreciate you not climbing into bed with me? But why didn’t you just head to your own place? I would have been fine.”
Jace snorted and leaned forward, making sure to wiggle his hips just to hear Braydon hiss. He grabbed a framed photo off the nightstand and tossed it gently onto the bed. As he leaned back up, Braydon’s fingers dug into his hips, pulling him down more firmly and making him groan softly.
Lexi watched them for a minute with hot eyes before turning her attention to the picture. Of Jace and Braydon. Wrapped in a warm embrace and hamming for the camera. “This… this is your place?” It took way too long for her to pick up on that, now that she looked around. There were little foxes, leopards and cat trinkets all over the room, along with several pictures of the two of them and what she assumed was their families. Above the headboard was a beautiful yin yang tapestry woven in silver, white, and pale blue. She decided to blame her inattention on the wicked tease show the shifters were putting on.
Jace nodded, leaning back into Braydon. “Ayup. We wanted to make sure you were okay… and frankly, our place is nicer anyway. And you sure as hell wouldn’t get any breakfast in bed there. Which, by the way, is getting cold, and Braydon’s food should never be allowed to get cold.”
“How the hell am I supposed to eat with you two being all… that?” She flailed her hand at them, like that would explain. She could feel the flush on her cheeks again and cursed, looking away. She took a large gulp of her coffee, effectively burning her mouth in the hopes that the caffeine would actually kick in and make her brain work.
Jace chuckled wickedly, grinding in Braydon’s lap and practically purring when he heard him groan again. “With us being all what? Together? In love?”
“No, you ass, being all hot!” Her eyes flew open and she covered her mouth with her free hand, almost spilling her coffee.
Jace cackled, falling off of Braydon’s lap onto the floor as he howled. Braydon chuckled, at least being polite enough to try to hide that he was laughing at her. When the fox showed no signs of letting up, or even breathing properly, Lexi grabbed a pillow and smacked him with it. Her ribs creaked a little in protest, but there was enough power behind it to knock him backwards with a grunt. It didn’t exactly have the effect she desired, because he was still snickering, but at least the sidesplitting laughter had subsided.
“Both of you, shut up.” Lexi tried, and failed, not to pout a little as they continued to laugh. “I’m going to get to work. I’m hoping at some point, you’ll attempt to be helpful?” Her stern tone was completely ruined by the smile tugging at her lips as she stuck a piece of fruit in her mouth before grabbing her laptop.
It took the two shifters a few more minutes to get themselves under control. Once they did, Jace moved the tray off the bed and they both lounged across it, careful not to bump Lexi or her laptop. Lexi shifted carefully, turning so she could lean against Jace’s stomach so everyone could see her screen. “We’re looking for rituals that deal with the blood, essence, or life of multiple shifters. I’m filtering out ones that just need life in general, because there’d be no point in attacking a community like yours when there are plenty of regular humans who can’t fight back.”
Jace nodded, taking the opportunity to run his hand along her back gently as he looked at the screen. Braydon pulled his phone out and started scrolling through something, which made Lexi look over. “What’s that?”
“A phone.”
“Ass. I mean, what are you looking at?” She rolled her eyes while Jace chuckled, looking back at Braydon as well.
“It’s a compilation of stories and legends from Japan. I collect them as a hobby, but there might be something in them that helps… a lot of human myths are made of supe realities, ya know?”
“Japan? That’s kinda specific…”
Braydon looked up at her and smiled. “That’s where I’m from. Or at least where I was born. Jace’s folks took me in when I was about 5. We grew up here together. They’ve been pretty great, and I even got a pretty okay parting gift when I moved out of their place.” He grinned as Jace reached back to smack his hip.
“I’m just an okay parting gift… So I’m basically a year’s supply of car wax?”
Braydon grinned wickedly. “Well, I know something you like to wax…”
“Oh my god!” Jace laughed, covering his face to try to hide his blush. “Go back to your damned fairy tales, you pervert.”
Braydon kissed the back of his neck as Lexi giggled. “I dunno, the parting gift is pretty nifty… makes me wonder what the grand prize would have been.”
Jace huffed and tugged lightly at her hair. “Don’t be a brat. Aren’t we supposed to be researching or something?”
Lexi smirked back at him. “If you’re gonna pull my hair, you could at least buy me dinner first.” She winked before turning back to her laptop. “Legends may not be a bad place to look, honestly. This level of magic is… what I felt out there was really powerful and really dark. It’s definitely not something that would be in any normal spell book.” She sighed softly as Jace gently wrapped an arm around her waist, rubbing her stomach soothingly. “This may take a while. It’s important, but I’d much rather just hack something off with my axe… and that furry freak still has my god damned ax. Son of a bitch.”
Sitting up, Jace pulled her back against his chest, running his hand over her arm. “Hey, relax. We’ll find them, we’ll kill them, and we’ll get your ax back, okay? You’ve got us, sweetheart. We’re here to help. Whatever you need.”
Lexi couldn’t believe she found herself sinking into his embrace, but she couldn’t exactly deny how soothing it was to have someone at her back, figuratively and physically. She rested her head on his shoulder, shifting the laptop up a little so she could reach it. “You’re right. We will. Thanks, Jace.” She blinked, tilting her head up to look at him. “’Sweetheart’?” Hmm, she didn’t hate it…
Jace didn’t bother with an answer, just tilted his head a little to kiss her gently. His lips were warm against hers, and she moved her head to deepen the kiss. He parted her lips with his, sliding his tongue along hers for a brief, electric moment before pulling away. “Damn… okay, we definitely need to research. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can get to that.”
Lexi nodded, eyes opening slowly as she smiled up at him before turning back to her laptop. The feel of his lips against hers and the warmth of his body at her back was more than enough incentive to hurry up and figure out what was going on.
Chapter 11
Lexi
Research was slow, but the companionable silence made it tolerable. Every once in a while, one of them would murmur something, showing a legend or spell they’d found. Jace made himself useful by writing down things they found and running out for food when Lexi’s stomach rumbled. After a couple hours, Lexi sat straight up with a muttered curse. Jace and Braydon looked over at her screen.
“Find something?” Braydon shifted a little closer, peering over her shoulder.
“Yeah, I think I have it. If I do… holy shit. That’s not good.” She moved the screen out a little so they could both see it. “Tribus Muto Peritia. Ancient ritual for the acquisition of inaccessible abilities. Which already doesn’t s
ound good. Then consider that it requires a sacrifice of three hominum animalus, or animal shifters, and it’s downright sinister.” She glanced back at the boys with a frown. “I need a list of all the people who disappeared, and what they are. With any luck, they haven’t completed sets yet.”
Jace perked a little, pulling out his own phone and tapping out a quick text. “There are a lot of foxes here, but there are sprinklings of almost every kind of creature that likes the cold or the solitude too. So we might get lucky…”
Braydon’s eyes went wide and he bit down on his lip, looking at the bed for a minute. In a soft voice, he muttered, “Char was a snow leopard… and so was Daniel. They were the only two but me…” His gaze lifted to meet Lexi’s hard, determined eyes and Jace’s stricken face. “I’m… probably something they’re going after, huh?”
“Like fucking hell!” Jace threw himself off the bed, pacing the floor of the small bedroom with sudden, violent energy. The playful, mischievous man was gone, replaced by an almost feral creature. “No way. You’re staying here. You’re not going anywhere until this fucker is dead. I’m not… no. It’s not happening, Braydon.”
Braydon started to get up, but Lexi held up a hand before stepping in front of the pacing shifter. She gripped his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. “Jace… listen to me.” When he opened his mouth to argue, she gave him a little shake. “Listen. We will not let anything happen to Braydon. I swear to you, Jace, by all the Old Gods, that I will die before I let anyone take him. Do you hear me?”
The fox looked mutinous, but Braydon came up behind him, wrapping his arms around his waist and resting his head against his back. “Hush now, Yin… can you honestly think of anything safer when we’re in danger than having a Red with us?” He rubbed his face against his back as Lexi pressed herself into his chest, holding him between them to calm him.
It took a few minutes before Jace stopped shaking, then he took a deep breath, sagging a little into their arms. He dropped his head to Lexi’s shoulder, curling up a little to press as close to them as he could. His voice was barely a whisper, still harsh and shaky as he spoke. “I can’t lose him, Lex… I can’t. I’m not strong enough…”
Lexi hushed him gently, stroking his hair as she met Braydon’s watery eyes over his shoulder. “You’re not going to lose him, Jace. I promise. Not while I’m around, ok?” When he nodded, she motioned with her chin to the bed, waiting until Braydon nodded to walk him back. Once she had him sitting, she crouched down in front of him, keeping eye contact. “C’mon, sit down and breathe. Did you get an answer yet?” She carefully reached around to grab Jace’s discarded phone, handing it to him as Braydon crawled onto the bed behind him. Once Braydon pulled him back against his chest, Jace glanced at his phone and nodded.
“Yeah… dad got back to me. He emailed me the list.” He sighed shakily, then motioned to her laptop without moving out of Braydon’s arms. “May I?”
Lexi nodded, climbing on the bed herself and putting the laptop in his lap. She snuggled up against his side, watching as he logged onto his email and opened the list. “Okay… yeah. See there? There’s three werefoxes, that was the first group taken. If I’m reading this ritual right, there’s a good chance they’re gone… sorry. But then there’s only one bear… there’s a second, but they’re different kinds. I don’t know if that matters. But I don’t see another bear anywhere, so that’s good. Two snow leopards, a wolf… a couple more foxes that were probably taken because they were with the others… So, with the unfortunate exception of the werefoxes, we may be able to save some of the missing.”
Braydon nodded. “Now we just have to figure out where they’re holed up. It would have to be someplace big enough to hold a large number of people without getting caught. And far enough away that it couldn’t accidentally be stumbled on.”
Jace chewed his lip for a minute, then glanced at Lexi. “Ya know… it could be the old gold mine… It’s not that far from where we ran into the ax-stealer.” He offered Lexi a wobbly smile and she returned it, nodding. “There’s a couple caverns near the back that are pretty huge. They could easily hold twenty or thirty people.”
Lexi tilted her head, looking down at the list again. “All right. Let’s see what else the spell entails and then we’ll get a move on. Finding the place is the most important thing. Everything else is just hope, skill and bloody clothes. How far from here is the mine?”
“It’s about two hours north of where the first group disappeared. Definitely snowmobiles only, unless you wanna deal with the chopper.”
“No, I try to avoid announcing my presence. At least until I have my weapons out and more than a vague idea of what I’m going up against. I say we take the snowmobiles out and then walk the last couple miles, as long as you guys think it’ll be safe.” She pulled away reluctantly, grabbing her bag. “You need to message your dad. Get him to talk to the Elders and let everyone know not to leave the compound for a couple days. I don’t need any civilians mucking up the works.”
Braydon looked over at her, tilting his head. “We’re not staying home, ya know…”
She smiled, resting a hand on his shoulder before turning back to her bag to start laying out gear. “You two aren’t civilians. You saved my ass out there.” She paused as a thought hit her, running her hand over the leather hilt of a dagger before setting it down and turning to them. “I trust you. I don’t know why… but I do. Which means I’m trusting you not to watch my back, but to watch your own. Don’t make me regret it.” She turned away to hide the frown that tugged her lips down, furrowing her brow. She wasn’t used to trust. Trust got you killed. Or hurt the people you cared about. Fuck, Abram… Why was she talking about trusting these guys, letting them think she wasn’t toxic after what she’d done to him?
And why the hell did she care?
Jace stood up and wrapped her into a hug. “Lexi, something’s wrong. What’s going through that head of yours, huh?”
She snorted and tried to pull away, but his arms tightened. “There’s nothing wrong, except that we’re gonna have to wait another whole night before we head out.”
Braydon shook his head, scooting over on the bed and taking her hand, smoothing out the fist that she’d unconsciously made. “That’s not it… Jace is right. You’re really tense.” He continued running his thumb over the back of her knuckles, looking up at her. “When you got here, you were cool as… well, Alaska. Unbothered by the job, it was just another clock punch. Now you’re… I dunno. Tense.”
“Like you’d know.” She tried to pull away again, but they held fast, keeping her in place and giving her nowhere to hide. “You guys just met me. You have no idea-”
“Lexi!” Jace cut her off sternly, giving her a little shake like she’d given him earlier. “What the hell, sweetheart? You just went hot and cold on us. Something’s freaking you out right now, and that’s freaking us out. C’mon, talk to us.”
The sharp tone of command in his voice made her snap her gaze to his and she was instantly captured by his bright eyes. Would it be so bad? Just this once… it’s not like she’d ever see them again after she finished here. A single moment of weakness… Pride warred with her need to let someone in, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, pride lost. And it lost spectacularly, as her breath whooshed out of her in a shaky sob, tears welling in her eyes in front of someone else in a moment of weakness she never let herself have.
She dropped her head to Jace’s shoulder, clinging to Braydon’s hand as she cried. She knew damned well they had no idea what was going on, and that she’d have to explain eventually, but for the moment, despite their confusion, they wrapped her in their arms the same way they’d held Jace only a little bit ago. She felt like she was flying apart and falling at the same time, but they held her tight, keeping her in place and grounded. She could hear them murmuring against her ears, soft soothing noises that were probably words, if she could only make sense of them.
Chapter 12
Braydon wasn’t sure what caused the sudden shift in the mood, but he felt it like a palpable presence. He couldn’t breathe for a second, and when he managed to shake that off, he found himself on his feet, wrapping himself around Jace with Lexi between them. She was shaking with her soft sobs, breaking his heart as it sounded like hers shattered with each sound. He looked at Jace over her head and could easily see the heartbreak in his eyes too.
“Hey, Lex… c’mon, love, it’s ok. We’re here. You’re safe.” Jace was murmuring in her ear as well, though he couldn’t make out the exact words over her tears. His mate reached out one hand and gripped his arm and Braydon knew it was because the fox needed grounding as well. He always felt too much, too deeply… they couldn’t even watch animated films without him tearing up and burying his face in Braydon’s shoulder.
Which was a complete random thought, and only showed that he was just as affected by Lexi’s emotional upheaval as Jace was.
As Lexi’s sobs settled, Braydon returned the gesture she’d given Jace earlier, moving her to the bed and sitting her down gently. They settled on the bed around her, keeping their hands on her the whole time. There was something about Lexi, something that drew him in, made him want… well, made him want, but also made him just want to be around her. Keeping her safe, making her laugh… watching her race Jace around and do dangerous stunts so he could scold them later. She tried to pull away again, but Braydon tightened his grip. “Stop. We’re right here, Lex. We haven’t run yet. We’re not going to. Talk to us, love. We’ve got you.”