Kass made a face. "And what good would that do all of us?" She shivered. "Human kind would either try to lock us all up or kill us. There are creatures that not even the government knows about. Is that what this war is all about?”
Tegan nodded. "Gives you a different view on things, doesn't it?"
"Makes me want to fight a little more. I know that Lucius doesn't want us completely known and I don't want to do that. I've seen how the government treats lycans, I can't imagine how they would treat vampires, witches, anything else." Tegan went awfully still. "You'd be safe, you still appear human to everyone."
"Yes, but imagine if they did blood tests? How many creatures who appeared to be human would be revealed? Shifters, more lycans that have hidden themselves for years, fae, other creatures of myth."
Kass frowned. "Shit. You're right, humans would go into a panic knowing how much is out there. They'd start shooting people on sight. How many of them are in our clubs, how many of us in their clubs? Things work out just fine as they are."
"Well, except when a panther eats them." Tegan joked and Kass couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah, except then, but come on, it's not like I eat random victims, not any more." She stuck her tongue out. "So this stone could cause our war to grow."
Tegan nodded. "And spill more out into the human world. We really don't want that. Lucius has worked hard for this territory, he has worked hard to protect all his people. As harsh as he may be, he does everything for the good of his people."
Kass didn't agree so she kept her opinion to herself. "Lucius is strong enough to keep the territory under control. He has everyone under his thumb to help him out." Kass nodded. "He'll be fine, the territory will be fine."
"Unless The Circle gets that stone. If they get it they can take over the territory easily. We know they already have people in our territory and that they are close to the stone. We just don't know where it is." She pulled her knees up to her chest. "It's not like The Circle to play such games though, to mind rape a human of another vampire is a serious crime. Why would they risk it?"
Kass shrugged. "Who knows, apparently they are a very mysterious bunch. Some say they are made up of the Originals."
"That's as far as your knowledge goes, isn't it?" Tegan stood.
"Yeah it is, but I'm learning more and more as time goes on. Don't worry, we'll find the stone. You just worry about keeping Lucius happy and out of our way."
Tegan snorted. "Don't worry, he's got his new vampire to keep him distracted from you."
"Mae." Kass stated. "Josh's girl."
"Shame about Josh, but you know deep down in your heart he deserved it. He was planning on betraying Lucius, and he was using you, Kass. I know you feel you owe Josh for saving your life, but you don't deserve to be used liked that." She walked out.
Kass shook her head and wondered what world Tegan lived in. It was as if the girl had never opened her eyes and seen what Lucius was doing to everyone. He was using each person in his territory, black mailing them to work for him. Kass stretched. Of course, maybe Tegan had a point? Lucius had protected Kass for a while, and yes he asked her to work for him, but it wasn't like he was using her to control someone anymore. She headed towards the door. "Time to see if I can't stop the war from growing."
Chapter Sixteen
Jax sat at the bar waiting for Derrik to show his face. The immortal piece of crap, Coran, had already left for the night after settling Jax with his drink and laughing at the lovesick panther. A few drinks in and Jax replayed the scene in his head. Kass looked so shaken, so weak from the night before that he started to question what had happened. The worst-case scenarios ran through his mind, but he needed to talk to Derrik first.
“What the hell had you been doing here, Kassity?” He muttered to himself as he downed another drink. Nothing was really making sense to him. She should have been running during the full moon, with him. His beast paced in him. Wanting his mate. Wanting Kass safe with them. The wolves were a threat to her safety.
He motioned to the bartender to fix him another shot as the music vibrated against him. The rolling beat of the techno helped drowned out the memory of Kass’ voice asking to trust him.
“I think you’ve had enough, cat.” Derrik’s voice broke through the thumping noise. Jax raised his eyes to the wolf. “I don’t think so. I want another shot.”
“You can’t drown yourself in my bar. Go find another one.” Derrik picked up the shot glass, meeting Jax’s gaze. “You’re drunk. If Kass saw you like this she’d be even more of a mess.”
Kassity. Jax could see her red hair, her blue eyes and then he saw clearly the wolf that she might have slept with. A growl rumbled from his chest. “You touched her last night.”
“Back down cat, I did no such thing. Coran –”
“You were both with her. I smelt you both on her.” He stood, the bar stool clattering behind him, snarling at the wolf. “You touched my mate.”
A few humans turned their heads towards Jax, but he ignored them, only having attention for the wolf in front of him. “Why else would she smell like you?”
“Because we were helping her. She didn’t explain to you what was going on?” Derrik raised a brow. “Why don’t you and I go talk in the office? Better yet, why don’t I show you where and how Kass spent her night, before you decide to shift and eat me.” He moved from behind the bar and motioned towards the door that led to the basement.
Jax hesitated, but he needed to know what happened last night. He moved in front of Derrik, heading towards the door. When they got there Derrik opened it and then continued down the stairs. Jax glared into the dark, wondering what kind of twisted things had happened to Kass. When Derrik led him to rows of concrete rooms Jax understood.
“You locked her up for the full moon.” He swallowed. “Why? She wouldn’t do this willingly. Lucius said she had spent time in one of those...places for new shifters. The government run ones.”
Derrik nodded. “She did, but she knew this was the only way she’d gain more control.”
“Lucius just needs to surrender control to her.” He shook his head. “So she stayed here last night, but that doesn’t explain why she smelt like you two.”
“Have you ever fought with your beast for a full night?” Derrik crossed his arms. “Think way back when you were just a kitten.”
He nodded. “When I first changed, it’s instinct to fight it.”
“Remember how weak and shaken you were after?”
He didn’t have to say any more. Jax remembered how pale Kass looked, how she leaned against the wall when he approached her, and how frail she felt in his arms. “Shit.”
“Yep, way to overreact, asshole, good luck fixing this one.” Derrik laughed a little. “Go find her, she’s on a mission for Lucius.”
Jax spun around, stumbling a little.
“Might I suggest you sober up a little first?” Derrik asked and picked up a jacket that was on the couch behind him. “And give this back to Kass.” He threw the jacket at Jax who caught it and raised his brows at the wolf. “Just trust me.”
Jax grasped the jacket and then headed up the stairs. He knew where to go and already started forming a plan to talk to her and get her to understand. Driving to her regular bar, he mentally went over everything he needed to say to her.
Jax waited at the bar tapping his fingers, refusing another drink from Tegan while he waited for Kass to show up. Tegan had told him that Kass worked the late shift, but she still hadn’t shown up yet. He wondered if she was avoiding him or if she ran into trouble. He looked up as the back door flung open and Kass came behind the bar, snarling.
"It's snowing."
"Where's your jacket?" Tegan asked in terms of greeting. “Did you not realize that there was snow in the forecast, didn't smell it in the air?"
"I had a lot on my mind, and no, I haven't found it yet. I'm hoping it's still in state. I hate traveling." Kass stuck her tongue out at the other girl. Jax watched, wonder
ing what changed between the two, normally Kass hated anything to do with Lucius.
Jax cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt-"
Kass spun to look at him, the glare in her eyes cutting him off. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to apologize for being an asshole, but if you don't want that, then I'll just leave." He stood. "But I have your jacket."
He could tell by the look in her eyes that she wanted that jacket. "Come outside and talk to me?"
"I just –”
Tegan nudged her. "Go talk him. I'll be fine here."
Kass sighed and motioned to the back door. She stepped outside, cursing the cold of the snow, but it was cut off when the warmth of her leather jacket wrapped around her.
"Look, I talked to Derrik about what happened. I didn't know that you were there for the full moon. I couldn't fathom that you would do that to yourself, not after staying in the government place."
She cringed. “I have no other choice, Lucius isn’t just going to hand back all my control.”
“So what now?”
“You have to accept the fact that I need help and this is how I’m going to accomplish that.” She brushed a hand down his cheek. “You have to trust me on this. You know our beasts will never truly mate without me bonding to my cat.”
He turned and kissed her hand. “I’m behind you all the way.” He bent down and captured her lips. “I love you, Kass.” There was no choice but to trust her, especially since she had been so willing to forgive him and his original intentions.
She beamed at those words and her panther preened. “I love you, too.” He wrapped an arm around her and led her inside.
“Any luck with the stone?” He asked as the door shut behind them.
“No, I have an address and Tegan can’t really help more than that. The address makes no sense to me. There’s 1/2 in it and very few cities have half numbers in their house numbers.”
Jax ordered himself a drink and motioned for her to sit down, smiling at Tegan. She nodded to him as she served him his drink and went to busy herself. “Have you thought about taking the half out? Maybe it was just put on the address to throw searchers off. Vampires are smart like that.”
“I hadn’t thought of it. I was thinking a college student or something, but maybe I’ll check it out without the half and see if you’re on to anything.”
Jax played with his glass. “What happens after you find the stone?”
“We get to mate, as long as I still work for Lucius.” She glanced over at him, watching as he tilted the glass from one side to the other. “It’s not ideal, but it’s how Lucius works.”
“Not ideal at all, but you’re right.” He kissed her cheek. “Let me know when you find the stone.”
Chapter Seventeen
Kass parked her car around the corner of the address, not wanting anyone to be able to recognize her car just in case. She hated the idea of searching in the city with too many bystanders to count, but at least here she wouldn’t seem so out of place. Getting out of the car, she pulled a backpack on to blend in with the many collage students roaming around.
Strolling along the streets, she inspected every passing human and sniffed the air for anything that wasn’t human, anything that smelt like it didn’t belong in Lucius’ territory. Nothing. She stopped in front of the house and looked up the walkway to the door.
White paint flecked off the siding and the shutters of the window. Cracks littered the walk and two cars made their home in the driveway. When the front door opened Kass knelt down to tie her shoe and watched a woman bound down the stairs and pass by. Standing, Kass observed the woman run down the street, pulling on a heavy jacket while balancing a backpack, a small package tucked in the side. The woman disappeared into the crowd of students while Kass tried to take in the woman’s appearance. Bobbed brown hair, glasses, taller and then she disappeared. Kass cursed as she realized she might have missed the only chance she had to approach the human.
With a sigh she rubbed her eyes, realizing what human meant. Innocent.
“Well this complicates things.” Kass muttered as she headed back to her car. As she drove, thoughts of the innocent human getting mixed up with the supernatural world kept crossing her mind. Would Lucius kill her? Would he bring her under his so-called protection? She swallowed as she pulled up to the mansion and got out of the car.
She stormed into Lucius’ foyer, arms crossed and grim. “We have an issue.”
“What?” He snapped, looking up from the papers he was looking at.
She raised a brow. “Who the hell shit in your Wheaties?”
“Kassity,” his voice was a low warning that made her cat stand on edge.
“I think I found the stone. I haven’t confirmed it, just saw a package tucked in the backpack of a woman.”
He waved a hand. “So steal the bag and check the package.” He returned to his papers.
“She’s human.”
His eyes shot up. “Fuck.”
She tried not to laugh at the surprise on his face. “Yep, means I can’t touch her. So what do we do?”
He rubbed his eyes. “We’re going to have to wait it out. She’s innocent, I’m sure and that’s exactly where they want the stone.” That was better than any of the scenarios she had run through her mind.
“Do you know who did this?” Kass uncrossed her arms and took a few steps forward until he held out his hand to stop her.
He sighed and dropped his hand. “I might have an idea of who’s behind it, but not who touched Tegan. We’re all screwed if I’m right and the war is about to get bigger. As for you, you are to continue to monitor this girl and see if she does truly have the stone, but you are free to mate Jax per our deal.”
She nodded, hiding the smile on her face. “Thank you.” She turned to leave.
“Oh and Kass?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t think this is complete freedom for you.”
Her heart sank a little. “Of course.” Nothing could ever be simple with this vampire. She walked out of the room.
Kass ran down the hall and came to a halt when she ran into Jax. He grabbed her shoulders and looked at her.
"What's wrong?"
She kissed him and pushed him into the wall, her lips placing a fury of kisses on his. She pulled back, but only for a moment. "We're free to mate."
"You found the stone?"
"Yes, kind of, it doesn't matter."
He flipped around and pressed her into the wall while capturing her lips. He explored her mouth with expert strokes of his tongue and let her feel the passion he held for her. "That's great news." He wrapped his fingers with hers and pulled her towards the bedroom.
"What are you doing?"
He grinned and opened the door, leading her to the bed. "We're going to mate, our beasts are ready and so are we. After this Lucius can't separate us, nothing but fate can."
She wasn't sure if she liked the idea of fate tearing them apart, but it didn't matter now. Fate normally meant death, but she wasn't going to let that thought consume her right now. She locked her hands behind his head, pulling him down for another kiss as he ripped her shirt and pants from her body. She arched to his touch as he traced his hands across her skin. Burning seemed to follow his touch and her cat pushed against her insides, wanting his touch, loving it. She could feel his beast doing the same as she traced her fingers over his spine under his shirt.
"God, I love your touch." He whispered as he kissed down her neck and to her breasts. He captured one nipple in his mouth, rolling the delicate bud with his tongue while he massaged the other breast. "I love how soft your skin is, the way your beast answers to mine."
Kass' breath caught as she grew wet between her legs for him. She wiggled out of her underwear. Running her hands under his shirt, she removed it in a smooth motion. Turning her attention to his belt buckle, she had a hard time unhooking it with his hands wandering her body. He chuckled. "Come on, kitty, you can do it." He whispered
against her ear, flicking his tongue against her lobe. She finally got it undone and wrapped her hand around his cock when it sprung free.
His breath caught and he paused above her.
She stroked her hand over the length of him, loving how he pulsed at her touch. She kissed his neck, nipping gently at the flesh there. Her beast perked its head up as her arousal grew.
Jax slipped his hand between her legs and stroked her core. "So wet," he whispered and moved himself above her. With a quick thrust he was in, he slowly moved out of her, inch by agonizing inch only to slam back in her.
Her back arched and she moaned, wiggling to try and accommodate him inside her. Her moist slit stretched to fit him as he moved. He kissed her, swallowing her moan and cries. Her hips lifted to meet his motions as he picked up speed, slamming into her.
Pleasure started to build in her belly, pushing against her insides. Her cat grew restless as her skin tingled. Kass' eyes became wide. Jax kissed her. "Don't fight it. You won't shift."
"Promise?"
"Trust me." He whispered, his own body heating up as his own orgasm built inside him.
With a final thrust Kass cried out, giving into the pleasure and the magic that marched over her skin. Her breath stopped and her heart skipped beats as everything tingled. Jaxon’s cry echoed hers and he laid himself next to her, pulling her close as her breathing settled.
Kass closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. "She's content."
"So is mine. This is what mating is all about." He kissed her head and stroked her hair. "I love you."
"I love you too, my kitty." She took a moment to consider how her beast was quiet and leaning into the male. Everything felt perfect, nothing could take her away from this moment. So this was the rumored mating. Paradise; this made everything perfect.
Epilogue
Renee threw her bag on the floor with a sigh when she got home. The package she had shoved in her bag before she left for class bounced out. She picked it up and frowned at the address. The basement she rented was big enough to be considered another house so she and her housemate dubbed it the 1/2. Pulling off the string around the box, she didn’t register that her roommate walked in. The flaps of the box fell open, revealing a small stone.
Dark War Chronicles Box Set One Page 15