CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JES
Jes was sitting in her best friend’s living room, holding a cup of coffee, heavily laden with French Vanilla crème, between her hands, and babbling incoherently about Justice.
Or so her friend accused her.
“You’re not making any sense, Jes,” Katherine complained to her.
Frustrated, Jes started over, and made an honest attempt at slowing down—filling in the blanks. She watched Kat’s eyes go from amazed, to shocked, to floored by the end of her story.
Kat was of the Jaguar People, so that was a plus, and she was happily mated to her true mate, another plus, but Jes never told her about Justice. And Kat wasn’t sympathizing with Jes for keeping that a secret from her—or for Jes calling her mate a monster.
Not at all.
“How could you say that?!” Kat said in exasperation.
“How can you not!” Jes shot back at her.
“Jes,” Kat rubbed the bridge of her nose and tried again. “He’s your life mate. You are tied to him for all eternity. You can’t sell him up the river.” She got up from where she’d been seated on the floor in front of the coffee table. “How could you have kept this from me all these years?”
“I’m sorry,” Jes said quietly. “It—hurt.” She looked at her friend. “I missed them all so much. And he murdered those kids… I felt like I didn’t know him at all.”
Her friend came to sit beside her—and hugged her. “I’m so sorry, Jes. It must have been difficult, having them all disappear like that.” She considered her friend’s eyes. “Then, having nearly everyone you loved—and trusted—well, save for your grandparents—disappear, too, and all on the same day,” she said.
Jes sniffed, wishing Kat wouldn’t be quite so understanding. It made her want to cry. “I don’t know what I would have done without them,” she agreed. “But Justice—,” she looked at her friend and stressed, “is a murderer.”
“Jes, you can’t be serious! How can you say things like that—and about your own life mate?”
“I—just can. Because it’s the truth. He’s a murderer.”
“He is an Ancient One—who hears the ancient call!”
“The hell you say!”
Jes heard of such ones—the ones who hunted those who murdered. She’d even said as much to Jared—but she didn’t really believe in such things—at least not nowadays. Maybe there had once been a place for them—way back in history—but not anymore. There wasn’t any excuse for being a vigilante.
“Jes!”
Jes sighed. “Okay, okay. I take that back.”
Kat dimpled. “Jes, you must give him a chance to explain. Do not assume anything. Not one thing. Please. You must hear me on this.”
Jes’s gaze narrowed on her friend. She knew her friend—knew her well. “What are you hiding?”
Kat shrugged, raising her brows and giving a sheepish smile.
“Spill it,” Jes growled.
Laughing, Kat shook her head. “I cannot. I’m bound by the code of the parliament. It is my position. I cannot violate it. You know that.”
Frustrated, Jes chewed on her lip. “Can you give me a clue?”
Kat sighed. She sat there, deep in thought for a moment and shook her head. “I can see nothing that would not violate my oath. But I can tell you this. There is a book that can.”
Jes was intrigued. “What book?”
But, once again, Kat only shook her head.
She was still shaking her head, to nearly every question when Jes left.
Jes didn’t sleep much that night. She tossed and turned. She doubted she’d ever be able to sleep well again. When she did sleep, she slept fitfully, and when she woke, it was still dark.
She could feel him. She could feel him as clearly as she could feel herself. She could hear his heartbeat. And—she could smell the scent of him, like as she could smell anyone else, but unlike anyone else—she was aroused by his scent.
He was in her room again.
“Are you going to show up this way every night, now?” she asked without preamble.
“Perhaps,” he said.
“Why?” There wasn’t anger in her voice. She was just sleepy. And she didn’t know what to do about the whole situation. She didn’t know what to do about how she felt every time she was near him, asleep or not. She watched him for a moment, peering into the dark, trying to see him better.
“Don’t you know?”
She swallowed.
“Yes. I can see that you do. But you don’t like it much.” He shifted. “If it helps any—neither do I.”
For some reason, that did anger Jes. She should have been relieved. But relief was not what she felt. Not at all. She hadn’t liked the sound of that. “Then, why show up here?”
He laughed. “I see you fight yourself.” He strode to her bed. “You’re not immune, after all. I’m glad to see it.”
She scrambled to the other side of the bed like the cat she was, setting herself on all fours, ready to tear up the sheets—and his face with them.
He laughed again.
She didn’t like that either.
He leaped across the bed in a flash, so fast it was a blur. One moment she was ready to fight, the next she was gathered in his arms—feeling as like she’d known his touch forever.
In desperation, she blurted out. “Our parents disappeared at the same time.”
That got his attention.
He let her go, sitting up. “What did you say? I didn’t know you knew that.”
She sighed, half in relief, half in regret. “Well I know. Our parents disappeared at the same time, and for the same reason.” She looked at him. Something in his eyes made her gut wrench with pain. “Our fathers were best friends…. They disappeared for the same reason.”
His eyes clouded with what looked like rage—or pain—right before the shutters went down, and she saw no more. She’d expected the rage—but why would a killer have so much pain in his eyes?
He sat there, still as stone. She wanted to shake him. She should be able to read his thoughts. Couldn’t he read hers? Why did she always get a blank slate?
“Because I have learned to shield my thoughts from others,” he answered automatically.
She frowned. She was going to have to learn how to do that.
“Well, then,” he said out loud. “It looks like but we have some work to do. We’ve some things to find out. We’re going to have to make a trip—together.”
She shook her head at the thought. “Oh, no,” she shook her head, again. “No. I’m not going anywhere with you—so you can get that thought out of your head, right now.”
He didn’t answer. She tried again to listen to his thoughts—nothing—damn.
He almost smiled. She saw the beginnings of one, teasing at the corners of his lips.
“Yes,” he said, “you are.”
She frowned. She already forgot what they were talking about. Why was she so easily distracted by him? When she remembered, she shook her head, yet again. “No, I’m not. So, you can forget it.”
He sprang forward and had gathered her back into his arms before she could think to react. Where had he gotten such reflexes? He made hers look tame in comparison.
He touched the end of her nose with a finger and gave her a light, chaste kiss on her lips. “Yes, you are. And you’ll want to go because now the postcard I received last year begins to make sense.”
“What postcard?” She was intrigued despite herself.
“The one I received with some cryptic message saying the three of them were fine. It said we weren’t supposed to look for them.”
She frowned. “Three of them?”
“Hmmm,” he said. “Apparently, one of them is not fine.”
Her gut clenched. That didn’t bode well. She might have lost a parent, and hadn’t known it all this time. Tears sprang to her eyes.
“When did, your parents disappear?” he questioned, his tone gentle.
“Right after
we went to your murder scene,” she snarled, struggling to break loose.
He let her go, frowning—the shutters going down on his expression, once more. She almost regretted her outburst.
Almost.
Then, she remembered the bloody, sliced-up bodies, lying in the alley. “Are you going to deny that was you?” She backed out of his reach. “Are you going to deny killing those young men?”
He shook his head. Was that regret? Had his mask actually slipped, for a second there?
He got up and headed for the door. “Be ready at midnight. It will be a fast trip. I have deadlines to meet, but I will have answers, first.” His tone held menace that ran shivers up her spine.
She stared at him.
How could she go anywhere with a killer?
But how could she not? Especially when Kat spoke of a book that could tell her everything.
She said this, now. She didn’t know why she told him. It wasn’t like her to do so. But she felt it important, and she always trusted her instincts.
He frowned as she told him, but it was the only indication he gave as to his thoughts. If it concerned him, he gave no indication.
He simply y reminded her to be ready by midnight.
She was still arguing with herself, an hour later when she packed. She called her partner, giving him an excuse for her disappearance for the next couple of days. He wasn’t happy. She didn’t blame him. He didn’t know Justice. And—well, what he did know was she believed Justice to be a murderer. Even if Jared had argued on Justice’s behalf when she should have been the one to do so.
Still, she was the one who believed Justice a murderer. Now, she was going off with him. He didn’t think it was smart.
Neither did Jes.
Jes zipped her bag and lifted it off the bed. What was she thinking, anyway—going anywhere with this man? But how could she not? He held clues to her parents’ disappearance. Apparently—to both of their parents’ disappearances.
They were about to maybe, finally, get some answers. How could both sets of parents disappear at the same time? She needed those answers. She needed to know what had happened to her parents.
Jes yanked out the handle to her suitcase and rolled it to the front door. She stared at it, sinking onto an overstuffed chair, not seeing. Whatever happened, whatever it was. it couldn’t be good.
She frowned. She didn’t believe in coincidences.
And it was a mighty strange coincidence, wasn’t it, that a fourteen-year-old boy had been forced to transform—to take his jungle form so early in his life—when all the others had to wait to reach their majority? And to have two sets of parents disappear, right off the map, right after.
She shook her head, biting her lip. She didn’t believe in coincidences. Especially when she was sure these occurrences were not a coincidence at all.
She frowned again, getting up and heading to the kitchen. Who could have known he could be forced to change so early? Or had they known it could happen? Perhaps they hadn’t been trying to get him to transform at all…. She stopped, mid-step. But that would mean—they were actually trying to kill him….
The thought made Jes tremble. She trembled so hard, she leaned on the counter, then moved to sit on one of the stools.
They’d nearly succeeded. But why would they do it? And why was she always so hard on him anyway? He’d been fourteen years old. Anyone would back him on what he’d had to do—and be upset with her for calling him a murderer.
But the Jaguar People were supposed to protect the humans—and he’d left her behind….
Tears stung her eyes and she stood, agitated. going to the cabinet for a glass to get some water. Trembling, she nearly dropped the glass in the sink. Okay, she would admit, maybe she didn’t have a problem with him defending himself. Maybe, she’d felt betrayed.
No, she thought. It couldn’t be that easy. She’d been hunting him for years. She’d hone to college for this.
Resolutely, she turned her attention back to who might have been trying to kill him in the first place. Had they been sent to do so?
That couldn’t be right. That couldn’t have been what they were trying to do. Yes, the gangbangers would have been up for it. They hated him. But why would someone want to hire them to do such a thing?
Justice wasn’t the only one determined to get some answers. She was as determined to find her parents as he was to find his. And why shouldn’t they be? Anyone would—wouldn’t they?
Or was she making excuses to go with him?
No. She was sure anyone in her position would do the same. So, she’d go.
But why midnight?