The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (17 page)

But nothing would have kept him
from giving his word.

Her pappy didn’t let up on him
here, though. “I will also have your word—that you will bring me in
on the council.”

Jes couldn’t imagine that her
grandfather had just insinuated that Justice had that much power
with the council.

No one had that much power with the
council.

So she was shocked when he simply
nodded. She didn’t know what to say. She could only sit there and
stare at the two of them.

Her grandmother got up, telling Jes
to come and help her make them all some dinner. Jes stared after
her for a moment. She had the distinct feeling she was getting her
to leave the two men alone. But she couldn’t ignore her
grandmother’s request.

Sooner or later, she was going to
get to the bottom of this.

Justice did not have a problem with
bringing Jes’s grandfather into the council. In fact, he couldn’t
have asked for a better excuse to do so. He may have not planned
this, but this was a good way for it to come to a conclusion for
the evening. They would eat some dinner, and he would take Jes back
to the safety of the manor.

And he would also bring her
grandparents to stay at the Alliance.

They kept the conversation light
for the rest of the evening. Then her grandparents went and packed
for the trip. When they left that evening, two of the guards, along
with her grandfather’s own guards, were escorting them to the
Alliance, and Justice had set it up to move the rest of their
belongings with them.

And, once more, Jes noted that
Justice had done all of this—without contacting the
Alliance.

She hardly waited for them to make
it to the end of the driveway before she gave him a barrage of
questions.

He laughed and held his hand up,
glancing at her before going back to watching the road. He glanced
in his rearview mirror—she knew he was watching the
guards.

“
Okay. I have the okay, so to
speak, of the Alliance, to move this forward any way that is
needed. They trust that I will do so with the highest of
honor.”

Her mouth fell open. “How on Earth
did you pull that off? It’s impossible to get them to move forward
on anything, I know, my parents tried. Years later—I also
tried.”

He grinned. “You just didn’t know
the right buttons to push.

She made a face at him—but it was
obvious he wasn’t going to tell her how he had done it—so she let
it go.

For now.

When they got back to the manor, as
Justice seemed fond of calling it, she went up to her room. It was
getting late. She hadn’t slept the night before. Justice had
promised her, once again, not to leave while she slept. She gave
thanks to the four directions for the blessings of the day. And
then she lit the candle, speaking from her heart to the Goddess—and
then to her mother.

Then she took a shower. She was
asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She woke to the dawn, stretching.
For once, the night had gone without incident. Well, to be honest,
many nights had, but between Justice and Dracon….

She sat up abruptly. The window was
open. And a single, red rose sat on the table next to the chair.
She got up and picked up the rose, sniffing it. But it wasn’t
Justice’s scent that lingered on the rose. She dropped it. He had
been here while she slept.

Justice threw open her door. As
usual, he had been reading her mind. He marched over, took the
rose, and sniffed. His eyes narrowed at the scent.

“
Okay, Jes, that tears it,” he
growled. “It’s obvious he’s not going to leave you
alone.”

She was more than a little
afraid—and more than a little angry because of it.
“
You think
?!”

His gaze narrowed on her face.
“Hmmm.”

His next words stopped her in her
tracks.

“
So neither will I.”

Those last words were the only
things she thought about all throughout her training that day. They
were the only words she thought about all through lunch. And they
were the only thing she thought about during her teachings, and
studies, on Jaguar politics.

All throughout the professor’s
teachings, she couldn’t keep her mind on her lessons. Her thoughts
kept straying to Justice.

He was sitting in the hallway—and
would have easy access to her thoughts—so she did her best to force
her thoughts away from him and back to her lessons.

It didn’t do any good. Before she
had even realized what she was doing, her thoughts returned to her
worries—about the upcoming nightfall.

The implications were that he would
be there—all night. And with the power of everything she felt when
she was with him, she knew it wouldn’t take much to push her over
the edge—into his arms. And she didn’t know if she were ready to
concede, yet, that Justice was her mate.

It wasn’t just that he had killed
the humans. She was past that now that she realized why she had
really hunted him all of those years.

It was just that once she went down
that lane, it would no longer just be her—it would be them. And
there wouldn’t be anything that would undo that—for the duration of
their lifetime.

And theirs was a very
long
lifetime.

She could have, at the very least,
spent the first few hundred enjoying some freedom, she thought.
But, now, she couldn’t imagine her future without him.

She turned, then, realizing the
direction in which her thoughts had just led her, staring at
Justice across the room, which he had entered—the moment
that
thought had popped
into her head. She couldn’t have hoped that, just for once, he had
missed that
particular thought.

Of course he
hadn’t.

He watched her now. She knew by
the smoldering look in his eyes that he had read her thoughts
clearly, and knew exactly what had happened. She knew it was
over—that he knew she had just surrendered to their
future—
together.

He came across the room, then, and
dismissed the professor. Taking her hand in his, he quietly led her
from the room.

She was out of breath when he
closed the door and turned to face her. He was magnificent,
standing there. He came toward her, and kept coming until he was
within a breath of her lips.

In the next moment, they were
kissing—kissing like she had never been kissed before—kissing like
she had never kissed anyone else before. She was tearing at his
shirt, and he was stripping her of hers. She unbuckled his pants,
and he unbuttoned hers. They took turns pulling one another’s
clothes from their bodies, swiftly—the aggression of passion.
Coming together naked—kissing.

It was some time later that she
laid there—a fine sheen of sweat coating her skin. He had fallen
beside her. She stared at him. She had heard of this—of the power
of the attraction between two mates of the Jaguar People. She had
almost feared it. But nothing she’d ever imagined had prepared her
for what she’d just felt.

She watched him as their breathing
slowly returned to normal.

He got up and headed for the
bathroom, turning on the shower. He came for her then, holding his
hand out to her. They went into the shower together, and the water
had run nearly cold before they came out.

Jes slept that night in his arms.
They were right—everyone whom she had been afraid to believe
before. She couldn’t imagine how her life had been—before Justice.
How did her life become so completely absorbed by him? She couldn’t
get him out of her head. And she had really tried. She’d stop
herself and deliberately start concentrating on something else—and
the next thing she’d know, she’d find herself thinking about him
again.

This was not something she was used
to. She’d spent years meditating—controlling her breath,
controlling her thoughts—and this was not something she was used
to.

She spent much of that night—just
watching him sleep.

It was just before dawn. She must
have finally drifted off. She woke with a start. She could feel,
beneath her fingers, Justice was awake too.

She shifted her gaze toward the
window.

He was standing there.

Justice sat up with a flurry. “You
abuse your invitation, brother,” he snarled.

She saw Dracon smile. “I had to be
sure it was true.” He turned and was gone.

Jes let out the breath she hadn’t
realized she’d been holding. “That what was true?”

Justice got up from the bed and,
without looking at her, he headed toward the bathroom. “That I was
with my mate,” he flung over his shoulder.

She blinked. “And, now what? What
does he intend to do?”

Justice turned at the bathroom
door. His gaze was cool, his features locked in an impassive
expression. “He intends to toy with me.” And with that he shut the
door.

Dawn broke the sky in the next
minute. Dracon would not be back this day.

Jes was waiting for Justice that
evening. He had managed to avoid this conversation all day—but she
would have answers now. She wasn’t waiting any longer.

She could see by the look on his
face when he entered the room that he knew that she intended to
know
everything.

He actually hesitated at the
door—which would have been a bit amusing on any other
day.

“
Okay,” he said. “Pack up your
things. We’re going for a trip.”

She couldn’t have been more
surprised. She didn’t move for a long moment.

His brows shot up when she didn’t
move. “Well?” he said.

She jumped up and started packing.
She couldn’t imagine why he was taking her anywhere, when an
explanation would have done just as nicely—but she was up for a
trip. She was tired of training and standing idly by.

An army of his men traveled with
them—though they didn’t do so all at once. Ten left with them.
Others joined them as they drove. Before she knew it, there were at
least seven other vehicles around them.

He had obviously been prepared to
do this—had obviously known that she was done with only getting
half the answers.

His sister was in the next
vehicle—and she was surprised to see Jared riding with
her.

They drove to a very large mansion
in the suburbs of Chicago. It was just far enough out of town that
there were not so many neighbors to watch them. Just the same, the
vehicles did not all head there at once.

The walls surrounding it were made
out of rock, laid in a beautiful design, but she knew the walls
served a purpose and would have guards secreted along
them.

When the vehicles pulled to a stop,
a guard met them and escorted them into the building.

Justice took her arm. “Is
everything set?” he asked the man.

The guard inclined his head at
him.

“
Good, please have the kitchen
send some food to our rooms.”

The guard inclined his head again.
“Will do, sir.”

Jes’s brows shot up at this, and
she looked at Justice questioningly, but his face remained
impassive.

“
It’s very late,” she finally
said, as she followed him upstairs. “Will we be going to bed
now?”

He shook his head. “First we must
entertain a guest.”

She frowned at him.

They ate a light snack, since
they’d already had dinner back at the house. Apparently, they were
staying up. Justice told her that she would need her strength. It
was going to be a long night.

When they came back downstairs, it
was to a flurry of activity. The staff was going in every
direction, obviously busily getting the place ready. Jes watched
them as they rushed around, each busy with their own tasks. After
an hour, the place was ready.

Even Jared was there. He smiled at
her from across the room and raised his glass.

But ready for what? And why so much
to-do about it?

When the door opened, the guards
accompanied their guest into the main room.

Jes couldn’t have been more
surprised when she saw exactly
who
their guest was.

Dracon stood before them and gave
them a small bow.

Justice inclined his head, and
motioned toward a seat, which Dracon took with fluid grace. Every
eye in the room was on him. He drew attention like a magnet. No one
looked away, or even bothered to try.

He was obviously used to the
attention, for he took it all in stride. “To what do I owe the
honor of this invitation?”

Justice actually smiled.
“You
know
what,
brother. Your repeated visits brought about the invitation. I knew
you wouldn’t let me down.”