Taming Jax (First Wave Book 5) (7 page)

“You animals are drawn to the violence and ability to do whatever you want without repercussion. You’d worship an animated duck if you could get away with bullying and abusing innocents in order to feed your egos.” 

“I hope this brief and fleeting feeling of being the ‘big man’ was worth it. Because I doubt the true God is going to be impressed by you.” With that, Jax slit his throat and watched dispassionately as his eyes widened in shock before he fell back into the tall grass.

Jax turned to look at a stunned Reven, and she shrugged her shoulders. “What? The son of a bitch was going to sell those kids or worse. There was no hope of rehabilitating him. He was already rabid from his delusion of perceived power, all he would do is infect others like a diseased parasite.”

Grabbing her light stone, Jax leaned down and held it to the animal’s body until it superheated it to dust. Standing up, she didn’t wait for the wind to disperse the ashes, she stomped all over the ash until nothing remained but dark spots in the grass.

A small whimper carried on the wind to them, and they both jerked their heads towards the stretch of woods along the road where the car had gone partially in.

Jax leaned down and placed her hands flat on the earth. Opening her mind, she sent a call to her friends and within moments a wild cacophony of chittering, hooting and screeching erupted from further in the woods.

Jax ran towards the sound with Reven hot on her heels. She stopped in the location where the animals were surrounding what looked to be an empty area. She looked around in confusion at nothing but trees, leaves and scrub bushes.

“There is something here. Tread lightly.” Jax said to Reven through the Shengari’ as she turned in a circle, trying to see what the animals were telling her was there.

Sensing something was off, Jax holstered her gun and held up her hands. “We’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to help you, protect you.”

Jax heard what sounded like squirming to her left and turned towards the sound. “Cal the tiger said you told him that we would be good to him. He now has a wonderful new home where he can play and finally be happy. I swear I will find you a home just like that. We… I’m different. Like you.”

Another whimper and the squirming sound increased for a moment before going silent again. Reven turned around slowly, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. It was right in front of them, yet they couldn’t see anything.

“What the fuck?” Reven said to Jax with confusion.

Chapter Four

Jax shook her head and struggled to see something, anything that would indicate where the sounds were coming from. She didn’t want to frighten the children, but she had no idea if there were more people hunting them or how much time they had before a neighbor noticed them.

“You know that I can speak to the animals. Like Cal. So don’t be frightened, we just want to help you.” Jax said out loud before sending a call she rarely used and one she hoped wouldn’t terrify the children.

Moments later, Jax watched intently as the air around them began to fill with moths. When Reven looked to smack at them, Jax grabbed his wrist and shook her head. She continued to hold him as the moths converged a few feet away from them in front of a tree.

Within moments, the moths had perched on the now obvious outline of a small girl holding a toddler in her arms against a tree. Jax stepped closer very slowly.

“Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. They are friends of mine. You have the most awesome gift I have ever seen!” Jax said with a smile as she kneeled down a few feet from the kids. The shaking of the wings on the moths told Jax that the children were terrified and she wanted to appear less threatening to them.

Jax didn’t even glance over when Reven also kneeled down next to her. She was surprised at the gentleness in his voice when he spoke to the children.

“My name is Reven and this is Jax.” Reven said pointing to Jax before continuing.

“Is your gift camouflage? Because that is really cool. Besides Jax, who can talk to animals, I have a friend named Jess, who can make things out of thin air. Just like magic! I swear. My friend True can make fire with her hands, and her sister Dare can move things with only her thoughts.” Reven said as he tried to hide his grin when he saw the girl relax a little as the toddler slipped slightly in her arms.

The poor thing is probably exhausted from carrying her Reven thought before he continued. “Our friend Bree is helping to look for you too, and she can also make things like magic. We have a lot of friends who are gifted, like you are. We protect each other from the bad people. Like the ones who tried to hurt you.”

“Don’t be scared, but I’m going to take my jacket off so you can wear it. It’s chilly out here, and I don’t want you to get sick from the cold.” Reven said as he slowly pulled his arm out of the left sleeve, watching the moths wings shake more quickly as the young girl trembled with fear.

Whatever camouflage the child was capable of; it was thorough; he thought noticing that there was no energy bleed of any kind that he could read. It was as if the children didn’t exist. If it weren’t for the moths, they would have never known they were there at all.

Once he pulled the jacket free of his other arm, he looked up at where the children were standing, and he balled it up in his hands. “I’m going to toss it to the ground in front of you. Kind of like a ball. Ready? One… two… three…” Reven said before rolling the jacket the few feet to the girls.

While Reven was keeping the children occupied, Jax sent the message through the Shengari’ that the children had been found. The teams were heading to their location now in order to provide back-up.

Reven listened carefully and heard the heavy, erratic breathing of the older girl and knew she was frightened. “I know you are scared, and you don’t know who to trust. So many have betrayed you and hurt you. We aren’t like that. We believe in letting you protect yourself and teaching you how to do it better.”

“If you pick up the jacket, you will see that I left a gun and two knives in there for you. So you can protect yourself if you think you are in danger. Even from us.” Reven ignored Jax’s sharp intake of breath and her yelling at him through the Shengari’, and watched the moth covered figure slide down the tree.

A small arm slowly reached out and pulled the jacket closer. The moths began to fly away as the child pulled the jacket over herself, her body becoming visible as she did.

The jacket swamped the small girl who couldn’t be more than eight or nine judging by her size. She had the largest and palest blue eyes; Reven had ever seen. And they were so haunted and frightened that his heart broke over the pain she’d suffered that had put that look in her young eyes.

Her matted and tangled hair was so blonde it was almost white and Reven could feel his anger rising as he saw the dark bruises showing through the dirt and grime that covered her face and bare legs.  

The baby girl had two tufts of dark brown, almost black hair and a two toothed smile that could melt the hardest of hearts he thought as the little one smiled at him. He was surprised when her thin little arms reached toward him as if to be held.

Reven was startled to realize that he wanted nothing more than to pull them both into his arms and kill anything that came near them. Instead, he did his best not to frighten the older girl any more than she already was.

“I know you’re scared and probably hungry and cold too. How about you hold on to each other and that gun. You can follow us to our car, and we will get you some food. Nothing else, I promise. Just a warm place and some food.”

“If you get scared at all, use the gun. If I scare you like those bad people, then I deserve to be shot. But I promise I will never hurt you, and I would die to protect you. Just warmth and food honey. A safe place for just a little while so you can feed the baby and get her warm. No one will touch you; I promise.” Reven stood slowly, watching the little girl carefully.

When he knew he had her attention, he turned and slowly started walking out of the woods demanding that Jax do the same through the Shengari’. Even though she argued with him vehemently the entire time, Jax still followed him.

Maybe we’re making progress; Reven thought with a grin as he warned the others to keep their distance from the area for now. He reached the SUV that Crator had driven to them as, he and Jax turned towards the wooded area they had just left.

When several minutes passed with no sign that the girls had followed, Jax cursed lowly. “That was awesome genius.” She said giving Reven an irritated look.

Reven looked towards the still empty wooded area and sighed heavily. He’d taken a big chance to try to make the little girl feel safe and all he’d managed to do was heavily arm a terrified child who could disappear at will. Yeah, he felt like a major ass right now he thought.

He looked up when Jax sucked in a deep breath and saw the little girl struggling to carry the baby to the car while holding the jacket over them both. Reven had to force himself not to run to the child and grab them both up. He knew if he did something like that she would most likely shoot him.

Instead, he opened the back door of the SUV and forced himself to get in the driver’s seat, urging Jax to get in the passenger seat. Reven realized Jax must be stunned because she didn’t argue and just got in and gently closed the door.

Reven and Jax waited with bated breath for long minutes until the little girl struggled into the back seat, never letting the baby out of her arms. He waited until she shut the door before putting the vehicle in gear and slowly letting off the brake.

“Thank you for trusting us. I promise you; we're just going for food. We have friends here with us, people that are different like us, that are going to get you both some clothes too. If that’s ok?” Reven asked the frightened girl as he watched her reaction in the rear-view mirror. He felt like yelling in triumph when she nodded her head slightly.

The baby began cooing and babbling making Reven and Jax both smile, the sound too adorable not to be affected by it.

“Your sister is adorable. Does she have a name?” Reven asked gently, glancing in the rear-view mirror. His heart sank when the girl shook her head and looked out of the window, cuddling the baby closer to her. 

Jax and Reven had already sent warnings through the Shengari’ for the others to get food and clothes in Jax’s hotel room and to make sure they didn’t try to approach the skittish children. So they weren’t surprised when they pulled into the motel parking lot to find it deserted. Even the vehicles were hidden.

Reven put the SUV in park, turned off the engine and looked into the little girl’s scared blue eyes. “We’re going to get out of the vehicle. I’ll open the door for you, so it won’t be so hard with the baby. There is food and clothes waiting in Jax’s room.”

“You can follow us when you’re ready. We’ll leave the door to the room open for you. My room is next to Jax’s and we’ll keep that door open to, in case you have questions. Ok?” Reven asked, feeling the fear coming from the girl while the baby cooed and patted her sister’s cheeks.

He watched closely as the girl stared at the baby for long moments before she nodded her head. He gave a brief glance to Jax, making sure she was still going to go along with it, then opened the door and slid outside.

Jax gently closed her door as he closed his own, and he turned and opened the back passenger door. He looked at the trembling child and pointed to the two rooms in front of the SUV.