Now her great-aunt was glaring at her. “It would not affect you if you would move home and quit mucking about.”
Helena pushed her chair back and stood up. “Mucking about? My father was your nephew. You were close to him. I’ve heard you talk about how much you loved him. How can you just surrender his home to the demons?”
“Your father was exactly what we needed in this family. Brave and loyal, until he met your mother.”
Don’t take the bait. This is old news. They always insult your mother to try and get to you.
She had been down this road before.
“Besides, that uncivilized wilderness was not his home. This is his home.” She spread her arms wide. “Just as it is your home.”
One of Helena’s cousins lifted his wine glass. “Exactly. Demons cannot scale Mytikas Peak. They would never make it past our guards.”
That was it. They cared only for themselves. Helena wasn’t going to stay here and keep playing these games. She looked at Ares. “Thank you. For trying. But it’s pointless.”
The gnawing ache in her chest widened. The crack in her heart became a chasm. If she’d have eaten any of the cheese and jam on the table, she’d have vomited it back up. Preferably all over Athena.
She grabbed her wine glass and drained it. It was the finest wine made anywhere in the world. And she needed a little liquid courage to walk out on her great grandfather. She dropped her glass back onto the golden table with a clatter and stalked away from the table. No one tried to stop her.
Good. She needed to go back home. She’d left the humans there unprotected, and she’d left the dragon shifters to fend for themselves, not to mention that she’d barely been able to do her job as an FBI agent from the top of Mount Olympus.
Just as she reached the foyer, one of the sentries came running in.
“There’s someone coming,” he yelled.
Half the table jumped to their feet but Zeus remained seated. He waved his hand. He never appeared to be very concerned about anything. “Someone? One of us?”
“No. It’s something else. And it's flying,” the sentry shouted.
Helena’s heart leapt. Flying. The ache in her chest changed into a warmth.
“Jackson?” she said under her breath.
Of course, everyone in the room heard her.
“You know about this?” Zeus demanded. “What is it?”
“It’s Jackson Hudson. He’s a firefighter in Oregon. And he’s a dragon shifter.”
“A dragon,” Zeus spat out his words. “The creature you wanted us to consider as an ally.”
“Yes. The very same.” She had spoken about joining forces with the dragon shifters. She had not mentioned that she had been seeing one of them romantically for a brief time. That ship had sailed, and it only angered her grandfather. She still believed that the shifters would be a good alliance. She’d never heard of a clan that wasn’t steadfast and reliable.
Zeus got up and walked to the low wall that opened out over the peaks and valleys of the mountain range. He rested his hands on the intricate marble and peered out.
“Tell them not to attack him,” she told the sentry, who nodded and left.
Once he was up, everyone else at the large table started shouting at each other, but she didn’t care.
Ignoring Zeus and his brooding, she ran to the wall and hopped over it, flinging herself out onto the manicured ground. She rolled over and got to her feet, just in time to see Jackson soar past the peak to the left. He circled around and then dipped low, finally gliding toward her.
She waved her arms at him. After what felt like an eternity of waiting, he landed in front of her. She put her hands on his shiny scales. She had a vague memory of seeing him changed like this when he ripped the head off the first demon he saw, but it was fuzzy. She was grateful to see him now.
He didn’t transform back into a man. Maybe he didn’t want to do it in front of her crazy family. She didn’t blame him for that.
“Do you want me to fly with you?” she asked.
He lowered himself a little, and she climbed onto his back. He flew almost straight up into the air. The wind rushed past her, tangling her long hair. The sky was a clear blue, and she could see for miles, but she held onto him, staring down at the expanse of his wings. She’d seen this scenery before as a child. Jackson was more important.
Jackson flew them to Stefani, otherwise known as the Thronos Dios, or the Throne of Zeus, which was the third-highest peak on the mountain.
Once they were both on the snowy ground, he changed back into a human. He had a bag slung around his neck with a pair of pants that he pulled on.
She could not contain herself. She flung herself at him, holding onto him with all her strength.
He did not push her away but embraced her. She let herself revel in being near him again.
“You found me,” she sobbed into his neck. She almost never cried, but having Jackson back was worth the feeling.
“How did you find me?”
“It wasn't hard,” he said. He turned his head to look at the tallest mountain peak. “So you're a demi-God—that's the big secret.”
“I'm not a demi-God. My father was. My mother was human. So I'm a child of a demi-God. Are you mad?'' she asked. “That I didn't tell you?”
“Were you forbidden to tell me?”
“Yes. I was,” she explained.
“Then there's nothing to forgive.”
After about five minutes of holding her tightly, he pulled back and put both of his hands on her cheeks. “Helena, I'm the one who's here to apologize. I am so sorry.”
“What? What are you sorry for?”
“For trying to make your decisions for you. It's all I've thought about for the last two weeks. It's been making me crazy.”
She could not get enough of looking at him. she put her hands on his broad shoulders, letting her palms rest on the firm outline of his muscle. “You too? I thought I was losing my mind.”
He pressed a kiss to her mouth.“It's been the same for me. I regret leaving you every single second.”
She could not stop touching him. “Tell me everything that's happened. Have you seen a demon?”
“Yes. I've been tracking them.”
“What? You went after them? On purpose?”
“Oh yeah. My cousin's friend, Nora, the one who’s a witch, flew over from Ireland. She's the one I told you about. She enchanted weapons for our entire clan. I put together a system so I could find the demon attacks.”
“I can’t believe you went after them.” She was horrified. She truly had left them to fend for themselves. And Jackson had risen to the occasion, just as she imagined he would.
“I had to. I had to be the leader in this. My clan is made up of gentle, peaceful shifters who’ve never even thought about a fight. None of them can stomach any violence or cruelty. I’ve always been one of the toughest, and I'm not a soldier.”
“I am sorry you had to do that.”
“Don’t be sorry. You left us with plenty of good training.” He took both of her hands into his. “But this is why I tried to tell you what to do. The females in my clan, and even the males, don't fight battles. Even if someone goes into law enforcement, there's no real threat to them physically. We've heard about threats to shifters, but we've never seen one before. So when I saw you about to walk into a fight, I freaked out.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I can't promise it won't happen again.”
“I can handle the freakouts. As long as you know that I'm going to do my job.”
“I can accept that. I even respect it. A whole bunch. Especially after yesterday.”
What happened yesterday?”
He exhaled. “For two weeks, I was too late to catch the actual demons. But yesterday, at a gas station near the coast, I finally killed one of them.”
“You killed one?”
“Yes.” He tilted his head to the side, baring his throat, showing her the still-hea
ling scar the demon’s teeth had left.
One hand covered her mouth. “Oh, God. Jackson.” One small hand reached out, tracing a line near the burned skin. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine now.”
“How did you react to the poison?” she asked.
“Not very well,” he said. “ I got the head off the demon and then incinerated it. Luckily my crew was coming as back up.” He brought his hand up to rest next to his scar. “They found me on the floor of the gas station and dragged me home.”
“I wish you had called me.”
“I didn't know if you'd answer.”
“So you flew across the world to find me instead.”
“Pretty much.” He shrugged. “I didn’t say it was logical. I just couldn't stand another day without you. I had to tell you, and the phone just didn't seem good enough.”
“I'm glad you did.”
“I want you back,” he said. “I'm still going to be an insensitive jerk. But I'm going to try to at least realize it.”
“I'm yours. It doesn’t matter if you're a jerk sometimes.”
“Those are the best two words I've ever heard.” He swept her up into her in his arms, holding her in a bridal carry. “When can we get out of here?”
“We can leave now.”
“You don't want to say goodbye to your family?”
“Not really. But if you're up for it, I would like you to meet them.” She wasn't sure when she'd be back again. Plus, she was still convinced that Zeus would like Jackson.
“Shit. I'm meeting the family already?” he asked.
17
Jackson
He couldn't believe how easily Helena had forgiven him. He was grateful for it, though, and vowed to never treat her badly again.
At one point, he wasn't sure they'd ever make it off of Olympus. But finally, they were back on a private jet, supplied by his cousin Garrett. Helena seemed to like that his cousin had a jet. She said she did not want to be dependent on her family for anything. That seemed kind of odd to him, seeing as how they were actual Gods, but Helena clearly had a very complicated relationship with her family.
It was still a trip to know that Ares, the god of war, was her grandfather. That guy looked like he was a twenty-five-year-old football player with a modeling contract on the side.
And Jackson’s mate was the child of a demi-God. Her grandfather was Ares, and her great-grandfather was Zeus. He knew he didn't have much room to talk, since he was a mythological creature as well, being both a dragon and a shifter, but wow. He’d actually been to Mount Olympus. The whole thing was fucking nuts.
He still hadn't told her that he was her mate. Finding out that she was related to the Gods that lived on Mount Olympus was enough of a shock for one day. But he owed it to her to tell her the truth. If he wasn’t her mate, then he never would have found her.
Thanks to the advice he’d gotten from yet another one of Garrett’s friends, he’d been able to find her, even thousands of miles away. One of Garrett’s acquaintances who lived in Texas had found his mate over a long distance. His name was Liam, and his mate, another shifter named Brynne, had been on the run. He’d been able to feel her as she moved away from him. He said he felt like his chest was cracking open, and Jackson sure could relate to that.
The plane dipped and rattled as a storm hit. That was nothing new in the Portland area. As the landing gear scraped downward, Jackson picked up Helena’s hand. “I have something to tell you.”
Her pretty face froze. “What is it? Is it bad news?”
“I don’t think it’s bad news at all. But it’s a pretty big deal.”
“Just tell me.”
“Do you remember how I told you that dragon shifters mate?”
“Yes, and I’ve heard all of you use that term quite frequently.”
“It’s a big part of our culture.” He brushed his hand over her cheek. “Helena, you’re my mate.”
She turned, facing him head-on, just as the plane landed on the runway, wobbling as it began to slow. She gave him a pointed look, which seemed to scream that he was a jerk for waiting so long to confess the truth. “You knew this?” she asked. “Since when?”
“Since before you left for Greece.”
“Since the first demon we saw together?” she asked.
“Yes. That’s the day I realized it was for sure.”
“So did your reaction have anything to do with that fact?”
“How’d you know that?” Helena was a genius, that much was for sure. Plus she was freaking observant as hell.
She rubbed her eyes. “I am a trained FBI field agent.”
Right. He was never going to be able to trick her. Not that he wanted to. “You’re my mate. That means you feel like half of me. And when we’re separated, I can feel you.”
“That’s how you knew where I was.”
“Yes. I took out a map, and I pinpointed that area in Europe. I flew to Athens, and from there it was easy.”
Just as the flight attendant opened the ladder for them to descend onto the tarmac, Jackson’s phone rang.
“It’s Eli,” he said to Helena after looking at the screen. “He never calls me this late.” He picked up the phone and hit the green button. “Hey, Eli,” he said.
“Jackson! They’re coming here! Now!”
“What? Who’s coming?”
“The demons. There are at least ten of them, maybe more. After you killed that one at the gas station, they haven’t done anything. But there’s a nest of them in the attic of the retirement home, and we tracked them there. But we couldn't fight them—there were too many people. So we left, and we watched and waited. But nothing happened.”
Eli paused to take a long breath. “We were making a plan to get the residents evacuated when we found out they were coming.”
“How do you know what they’re planning?”
“Your firefighter crew was eavesdropping.”
That was smart of them. But he needed to get his ass back there and help them. “Thank you, Eli. I'll see you soon.”
He knew Helena would have heard every word Eli said. “I wish your grandfather was going to be around for this. But we'll have to manage without him.”
Helena pressed her forehead to his. “We will get through this. And we will prevail. Do not worry.”
He was worried. Not for himself, but for his clan, and most of all his mate. He put his hands on her shoulders. “Please be careful. Everything inside of me is screaming not to let you off his plane.”
“Thank you for telling me that. It helps me understand now that I know why you feel that way.”
“My dragon wants to shove the pilot aside and fly the plane somewhere far away like the Caribbean so that you will be far far away from the demons.”
She pressed her mouth to his. “Once we've defeated these demons, then I think that sounds like a fabulous plan.”
He kissed her back, licking across her bottom lip. He had wasted two weeks. Two weeks had gone by while she argued with her family and he tracked the demons alone. Never again.
“It will be faster if I fly as a dragon. Do you mind?” he asked.
“I'd love that.”
He secured his bag around his neck, shifted, and flew home with his mate riding on his back.
When he arrived at his home, he was pleased to say his clan had taken all of his and Helena's advice. Dozens of his family and friends had shifted into their dragon forms. They had formed a perimeter around their homes.
The rest of his clan was still in human form, and they were spread out holding all of the enchanted weapons they had practiced with.
The remaining members, who were too young or old to fight, were barricaded inside the largest home. He hated that it had come to this, but he was proud of his clan.
He skidded to a stop and transformed back into his human form. Helena already had her blade out and ready. From his bag, he pulled out the two blades he used at the gas station.
The
demons did not arrive in cars. They melted out of the tree line and walked in a straight line. Eli had told him there were ten of them. But there appeared to be at least thirty.
Bile rose in Jackson’s throat. His clan would have to fight. There were too many for him and Helena to kill by themselves.
But he would do his best to take care of as many as he could. He launched himself into action. This time he was ready. He knew the monsters would try to bite, and he had already warned his clan as well.
The demons were vicious fighters. They fought with their teeth, and their claws and their sinewy muscles. Jackson entered into a fugue state where all that existed was him and his daggers. And the demons.
He killed five of them in a row before a single one of them could touch him. While he fought, he kept part of his attention on his mate. Helena had killed four of the demons. And there were at least a dozen more attacking his clan members. By the time he reached his tenth kill, he was tiring.
And apparently, the demons had learned his fighting style. They had watched him and they had adapted. This one did not try to go for his throat, and it did not try to bite him. It did not use its claws. It had a dagger of its own.
“Watch out!” screamed Helena. He could tell through their connection that she had never seen a demon use a weapon before. He could not read her mind, but he could feel her distress.
“I'm fine!” he yelled back. He did not want her worrying about him. Neither of them could afford a distraction. But he spared a glance in her direction—he couldn't stop himself. And that cost him. The demon swiped its blade across his chest. The cut was deep. Within just seconds, blood bubbled up and spilled out.
The pain was less than what he suffered from the demon's bite. But this blade was also enchanted, or it had been dipped in the poisonous demon's blood. He pressed his hand to the wound to stop the bleeding, and he kept fighting. He could not give up. He still had so much to live for—his clan and his mate were counting on him.
With one vicious stab right to its throat, Jackson killed the demon. He fell to his knees, but he continued to fight.
In the distance, he heard his mate scream.
Firefighter Dragon's Demi-God Daughter Page 9