He knew more about shifters than most people did and Jaxon found himself relaxing a bit. “Yeah, we’ll stick close to the house, but I didn’t want to risk being shot at.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be safe to run.” Ayden unlocked the door. “The spare bedroom is in the back, it has a porch that leads outside. I’m going to nap while you guys run. I have a feeling tonight is going to be long and I was up most of the day.”
Jaxon nodded and Kassity headed back to the room. He entered and she turned around to face him. “I smelt Sarah at the airport. I have to be going crazy, right?”
So they weren’t going to pretend nothing happened there. “No, I smelt it too. Either someone brought her through in panther form or she figured out how to shift back.”
“There are no other panthers in the US. We killed the last ones, except for her.” Kassity ran a hand through her red hair and sat on the bed. It was her nervous gesture that made him question what she was thinking.
“Maybe we’re both going crazy and it wasn’t her. It doesn’t make sense for her to be here. But it doesn’t matter. We have a job to do, we do it, we go home.” That’s all he wanted, to return back to where he knew they were both safe. He knew she could take care of herself, but if they ran into the clan, she may not be welcomed. Especially if they realized that she was his mate.
Kass met his gaze. “You don’t like it here.”
“I don’t like that Lucius sent us out of the country.” He sat on the bed next to her. “I need to run and I know you’re getting antsy. Let’s shift and let our beasts wander for a bit. It’ll do us some good.”
Kass nodded. Her nervousness came off her in waves. With the problems shifting at home, she was probably wondering if the same thing would happen here.
“Kass, listen to me.” He cupped her face and made her look at him. “I will help draw your beast out so you can run. Lucius isn’t here. He won’t be controlling her. She’ll answer to my call.”
“And how can you be so sure? All my hard work with Coran and Derrick has gone down the drain since the attack.” She snapped.
Jax nodded. “I know, and Lucius was keeping you too busy to keep up with them. So we’re going to work on coaxing her out while we’re here.”
She took a deep breath and nodded. He could feel her beast just below the surface. He called on his own beast and it rose to his call. The power flowed through him and into her.
She tensed under his touch. “She feels you.”
“Of course she does, because we’re mates.” He kissed her head. “Ready?”
She nodded and he pushed more of his energy into her. Her panther rushed through her and instead of the smooth motion of shifting, she exploded into a ball of fur and bowed to all fours.
Jaxon sighed. “I’m sorry, but at least you’re shifted.” He opened the door that led outside. Kassity took off and Jaxon smiled. To see her happy and free warmed him. They spent too much time cooped up at Lucius’ and now that Zaaren was there neither one of them left the room often.
He closed his eyes and let the change flow over him. No pain came to him, just the sounds of bones popping and muscles sliding as he moved to all fours. His hands became paws and fur flowed over his body. He opened his eyes and his senses sharpened. He could smell the path that Kass took, he could smell the new world around him, Ayden in the house and creatures on the countryside.
It was good to be home. He chased after Kass, ready to play.
Kassity ran through the area. Though her human mind fought with her panther mind most of the time, this was one instant they were together. When they were free to run. The wind rushed through her fur as she ran. Her paws dipped into the soft ground as she propelled herself forward. The air brought the scent of Jaxon on her trail. There was nothing better than a run with her mate.
Another scent came up on the air and she froze. It wasn’t Sarah’s, no it was another male panther. One she’d never met and with her history, the safest idea was to go back to Ayden’s house.
She turned and saw the owner of the scent standing in front of her, in human form. He towered over her and his the physical similarity to Jaxon was uncanny. Same dirty blonde hair, same green eyes, same jaw, but older. She backed up and prepared to crouch. Both her and her panther knew danger when they smelled it.
“Come on, girly, I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk to you.” He put his hand out as if he was talking to a domestic cat.
Clearly he had no idea who she was. She growled at him and prepared to pounce.
“Kassity, don’t.” Jaxon’s voice caught her off guard. She held her stance, but didn’t attack. He was in human form, but she couldn’t see him. Not until he stepped out from behind a tree, completely nude. “If you want to talk to her, you’ll have to do it when she’s in human form and with me by her side.”
She pawed at the ground, wanting to attack, but she knew better. Jaxon was in his right mind, following his orders would be best.
“Then by all means, get some clothes on and meet me back here. Son.”
Kassity tilted her head to the side. Son? Jaxon never mentioned family and now she was starting to regret not pushing him.
“Your mother will be here soon. It took us a while to track you from the airport.”
So both his parents were still alive. Her gaze shot to Jaxon. His jaw was tense and his fists clenched and she found herself debating on still biting the man in the ass. Jaxon clearly wasn’t happy that he was there.
“Fine. Come on, Kass.”
He shifted in an instant and she followed him back to the house. Once there she tried to command her beast to recede and it refused. When Jaxon shifted back she gave him sad eyes and he sighed.
“I’m sorry.” He said. He reached towards her, but before he could touch her t beast flowed back into her, leaving her human, naked, and shaking.
“Oh my God, we have got to get this under control.” She gasped. “And what the hell, Jaxon? Your parents?”
He nodded. “It’s a long story, but come on up. Let’s get you dressed and we’ll go meet them. I don’t think they mean us harm right now.”
She stood with his help and they both got dressed. “It’s that ‘right now’ that worries me.”
“Yeah, me too.” He walked back out through the double doors.
She rarely saw him so somber. His normal laughter and joking was gone and it worried her. They walked in silence until they got back to the area where his father had shown up.
True to his word, the man was still standing there, but now there was a woman at his side. Her long blonde hair pulled back into a tight French braid, her yellow eyes meeting Kass’ gaze.
The woman had spent too much time in cat form it seemed. Kassity refused to shrink at the gaze.
“The female is not in control of her cat, how dare you bring her here.” The woman snapped.
Kassity glanced at Jaxon and he took her hand. “Mother, she’s my mate. She has all the control she needs to be considered safe.”
“A mate. Does that mean that you have come home to take over the clan?” A strange smile spread over his father’s face.
Kassity fought to control the glare that was trying to surface. Why hadn’t Jax mentioned any of this? He had told everyone that he was considered a rogue—clearly that wasn’t the case.
“No. I found a home in the States with Kassity in a vampire territory.” Jax kept his voice even, but Kassity could feel the tension in his hand.
His mother growled. “The vampires are at war. You’d be better off coming home.”
“I left for a reason.” Jax growled. “I’d rather not talk about that right now. We’re just here to help out a friend and then we’ll be going home.”
Kassity started to turn to go back to the house with Jax in tow.
“Your mate doesn’t know, does she? How you slaughtered half the clan.”
Kassity froze, but didn’t dare look at Jaxon. His father had to be lying. Jaxon wouldn’t simply
slaughter people.
“Not now, father, please. Let us get things settled and then we’ll talk over dinner before we leave.” Jaxon offered, turning back to his parents.
Panic crawled through Kass, every one of her instincts stood up on edge and even her cat wanted a piece of this. It felt like she’d been backed into a corner and that was never good for her.
“Of course, we look forward to it.” His mother said.
Jaxon urged Kass to keep moving towards the house. They walked in silence, but she was sure Jax picked up on her emotions. They got back into the house and Kassity spun to face him.
“I’ll explain.” He said and held his hands up. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you, but my past was something I wanted to keep buried. Much like yours, it’s full of not so great memories.”
“How many members of your own clan did you slaughter? Apparently a clan that you’re supposed to take over.” Kass snapped. “Having an insane murderous clan is one thing, but to kill off most of them normally makes you the insane one.” Her father had slaughtered most of their clan. She’d never expected that Jaxon had done the same.
He took a deep breath. “Before I declared myself a rogue and left for the states, I was second in my clan. Here the way clans work is leaders pass down the rights to rule the clan from father to son.”
She sat on the bed and watched him. His brow was creased and his breathing hitched. He was recalling something that wasn’t pleasant for him and she suddenly felt guilty.
“There was a vampire that came to our clan, she had an ability similar to Lucius’ where she could call out beasts, but it went a step further. She could control them.”
“How?”
“Vampire powers? I don’t know, Kass, the only ones that she couldn’t control were those who had immortal blood in them. There are only a few in our territory who have immortal blood. I was the strongest warrior in our clan. The vampire came and took control over everyone and used them to attack the rest of the clan.”
He sat on the bed and put his head in his hands. “Kass, there was no choice but to kill them. We couldn’t get to the vampire. We still don’t know exactly who she was or what she was doing here.”
“You couldn’t deal with the guilt for something you had no choice in. So you left.” She wrapped an arm around him.
He gave a heavy sigh. “No one looked at me the same again. My father helped, along with a few of the others, but because I’m stronger I was able to take out the majority of them.”
“I’m sorry.” Her heart ached for him. She was used to killing with a purpose. She killed on Lucius’ command, so she couldn’t imagine the agony that Jaxon went through. “Is that why you became a mercenary?”
He nodded. “I figured that’s all I was good for. Like you, my immortal mark never showed, but the rumors said that was because of what happened here. I got through without any serious injuries. The truth is, I am just that skilled. I went through a lot of training to get where I am.”
“So now what? They expect you to come back now that you have a mate? Because that makes everything better?” She shook her head. “We can’t just stay here.” Lucius would never allow it and she didn’t doubt that he had connections here.
“I don’t want a clan, I don’t want the responsibility of it. I think they thought that mating would change my mind, make me see how important clan is.” He looked up and smiled at her.
She laughed. “So fate mated you to the only person that doesn’t think clan is important.”
“In our own way we have one, it’s just not traditional. Lucius is our leader, his people our clan mates.” He shrugged. “It works like a well-oiled machine.”
Except as of late, there seemed to be some friction with the addition of Zaaren, but she could see what he was getting at. “Then we politely decline, do our job, and then we go home.”
“Let’s just hope it’s that easy.” He lay down on the bed and pulled her with him. She put her ear against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Closing her eyes, she tried not to dwell on the problems all this could cause. There was still Sarah’s scent to worry about. Fate was cruel.
A knock on the door made Jax open his eyes. Kassity was asleep on his chest. The short change must have worn her out, on top of meeting his parents.
“Hey, you guys ready to go?” Ayden’s voice came through the door.
He rubbed his eyes. “Give us a minute. We fell asleep after our run.”
“Meet me in the living room.” Ayden replied and walked away.
Jax stroked Kass’ hair and watched her for a moment. The only time she seemed at peace lately was when she was sleeping. This wasn’t what she needed, but if Lucius had been visited by the police and they were reopening Kass’ case then out of the country was best. He didn’t like it, but they’d be back soon and hopefully once they were things would have settled down.
“Kass?”
She opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Do we have to go tonight?”
“If you want to get home in a timely manner, yes.” He laughed. “Come on.”
She groaned and sat up. “Fine.”
He gave her a quick kiss. “How’s the beast?”
“She’s fine for now. I’m not sure how long she’s going to be that way.” She stood and stretched. “Why didn’t you tell me that you had immortal blood in you?”
“I figured if I didn’t have a mark there was no reason to.” He shrugged. “It’s a generation behind, neither of my parents have their marks.” He hadn’t expected her to be interested in it since her immortal blood was causing so many problems with Lucius and her late family.
Kass met his gaze. “It seems to be being passed down less and less through families.”
“Some say it’s because we’re not blessed anymore. No one really knows where the marks come from or why they pass to some children and not the others.”
“Do you think that if we have a child it’d be passed down to them? My father always though my mark didn’t show because I was a result of rape.” Her gaze flickered away.
She’d never mentioned children before, he’d assumed that children weren’t an option. Why would they want to bring a child into their lives? “I honestly don’t know. Your father thought that you and he were being punished, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think it has to do with the bloodlines and genetics.”
She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, I don’t think a child around the mansion is a good idea. Especially right now.”
It was like she picked up on his thoughts. He held his hand out to her. “Don’t dwell on it.”
Kass took his hand and they left the room to find Ayden sitting on the couch in the living room.
“The plan is we get there, we move Nuala’s coffin using my truck to the airport. I’ve already contact Lucius’ pilot and told him our ETA.” Ayden jumped up and grabbed his jacket and keys from the table. “Then we all head to the States.”
“What kind of trouble do you think is waiting for us?” Kass asked and Jax looked at her.
Ayden shook his head. “Hopefully nothing but some low level vampires, if that. The Circle has not been around here and though Tegan warned me that the Father is awake, I don’t expect them to start attacking Keepers and Originals, not yet.”
“Don’t stand there and lie to us.” Kass snapped. “You wouldn’t have asked Lucius for people to help if you didn’t expect trouble.”
“I called on Tegan and Zaaren, not Lucius. I needed a way to get Nuala to the States.”
It made Jax nervous that Kass was suddenly on edge about it. “Whom did you originally want Lucius to send?”
“I was hoping for Tegan, she’s more familiar with the Originals.”
Jax shook his head. “Lucius wouldn’t let her come here, not alone and he couldn’t come because it’s not his territory.”
“Tegan knows how to handle herself when it comes to the vampires, I’m hoping Lucius has you both trained well. We don’t want to piss o
ff the vampires here more than needed. It doesn’t matter now, now it’s time to go.”
Kass shook her head and followed Ayden out. Jax sighed and followed the two. Between his parents, Sarah’s scent, and Kass’ sudden nerves, tonight was going to cause problems. Jax walked to the truck with Kass as Ayden locked up.
“I’ll sit in the bed.” Kass muttered. “I don’t like closed spaces.”
Jax kissed her. “Want me to sit back there with you?”
She shook her head and jumped in. “I’ll be fine. I’ll just lay down and watch the stars pass me.” She gave him a little grin. “You two have boy talk.”
Ayden laughed. “It’s a short ride, but if you insist.”
Jaxon nodded. Kass didn’t like anything that reminded her of cages. Though Lucius rarely used them, Kass had seen her fair share. He climbed into the cab, Ayden got in on the driver’s side and they were off.
“She always so nervous?” Ayden asked. “Or is it just because she’s far from home?”
“She’s had a rough life and is recovering from an injury that almost killed her.” Jax didn’t look at him. “She’s never been away from home.” Not Lucius’ home anyways.
He was about to say something when the side of the truck was hit and it rolled. The first thing that went through his mind was Kassity. He covered his head as the truck crunched around him. The sound of fighting came from outside the vehicle.
Cats. Big cats.
His heart skipped a few beats. “Ayden?”
“I’m okay, can you get out?” His voice was strained and Jax looked over at him. The human was hanging upside down, secured by his seatbelt.
Jax tried his door and it opened. “Yeah.” He unbuckled himself and braced for the fall. He crawled out and went over to help Ayden out.
The two panthers were rolling around and snapping at each other’s necks. Ayden looked at Jax. “A friend of yours?”
“Kassity is the one with the blue eyes.” He growled. “Sarah is the one with yellow.”
“Sarah?” Ayden’s hand went to his waist and Jax saw the gun.
“Don’t. Sarah is Kass’ sister. Let them fight it out for a moment. I don’t know if Sarah’s in her right mind.”
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