Taming Jax (First Wave Book 5) (39 page)

Yeah, Jax thought; her life wasn’t what she thought it would be. It had turned out better than she ever could have hoped for.

Grai’s Greetings

Chapter One

Two Weeks before Christmas

Sacara, Jax and Tricia shared a large bowl of popcorn while they watched their men make asses of themselves. Jax flinched a little when Reven smacked the back of his head on the ladder and cursed.

He turned frustrated eyes to Jax as he rubbed his head and shouted. “Why did we get involved in this again?” It didn’t make him feel any better when all three women laughed at him.

Grai looked down at Reven from the chimney. “Would you shut up and get working? Hand me those lights.” Grai said as he held out his hand for the box laying on the roof beside Reven.

Hearing loud laughter from the roof next door, Reven, Grai and Ivint looked over to see Balduen, Niklosi and Disc pointing at their house. Grai flipped them off, causing them to laugh even harder.

Grai sighed. “Whose damn idea was this?” He asked as Ivint and Reven glared at him.

Grai defended himself. “You volunteered to help and I didn’t come up with the idea. My asshole cousin thought this would be a good way to assimilate with the locals.”

And it had been a good idea, Grai thought. At least when it was spoken aloud. It was the implementation that was the problem. Who could have thought that putting some lights on the house could be such a pain in the ass?

Grai had no delusions that his house would win the town-wide decorating contest they were sponsoring, but Tricia had assured him that Tristan would love it and they wouldn’t be the only house on the block not decorated.

It was his cousin, Baldy who had made it personal by saying his house would beat Grai’s. Unable to pass up the challenge, Grai had bought more decorations than he knew what to do with. Which was obvious by the drooping strings of mismatched lights that were haphazardly attached to the house.

Ivint stood and stretched as he looked at Baldy’s house and the others on the street. It was real easy to see that they weren’t doing it like everyone else and he couldn’t see it looking as nice as the others when it was lit.

He turned to Grai. “Uh, you think we’re attaching them to the house wrong?” Ivint asked as a string of lights slid off the roof and hit the ground, making everyone watching at both houses, laugh even harder.

Grai turned to flip off Baldy again and yelled down to Tricia. “It’s lights, how bad can it look? Turn them on and let’s see where we need to fix things.”

Tricia snickered as she hit the switch. She was unable to stop the laughter that bubbled up and took over when she saw what her home looked like.

“What?” Grai asked, trying to see what was so funny.

Reven looked around and shook his head. Yeah, he thought, this really sucked. Long strings extended from the ground to the roof, some only partially lit. None were in the straight, neat rows, like the other houses. Or like Balduen’s, who looked like he measured every inch as he put them up.

Reven couldn’t help but say, “It looks really bad.”

Grai huffed and looked at the lit up mess. “It’s… don’t we have a category for unique?”

Ivint and Reven laughed with Grai. Unique was definitely not what this place looked like. Balduen, Niklosi and Disc agreed since they were still laughing.

Balduen called over. “It looks like all of Santa’s reindeer took a dump on your house in lights.”

When Ivint and Reven snickered, Grai shot them a scathing look until they wiped the humor from their faces. He turned to face them like the battle commander that he was.

“We need to stop thinking about how bad it is and start thinking about how to…” Grai began when he heard shouts from next door and watched as each of the men jumped from the roof and ran into the house.

He smiled at Reven and Ivint. “I think we’ve just been saved. Let’s go!”

He ran to the edge of the roof and jumped down as the news came through the Shengari’ that Dare’s water broke. Ivint and Reven quickly followed him, glad to be off the roof and done dealing with the frustrating lights.

They collected their mates and went to the driveway to get in their vehicles when Balduen sped by yelling “Woo Hoo!” as he shook his fist excitedly out the window. Dare looked ready to hit him. Their vehicle was quickly followed by Niklosi and Disc who honked on the horn and slapped the roof of the car as they went by.

Ivint and Reven shook their heads at the antics of the young ones, calmly piled into their vehicles and drove to the headquarters building where Amun was waiting for Dare.

By the time they got there, a large group had already formed outside of the MedLab door. Dare’s family, True, Risk and Banatar paced nervously while their friends chatted happily about what their son would look like.

Reven hugged Jax close to him and spoke on their private path. “This will be us soon.” He said as he kissed the top of her head.

Jax grinned. “If you try to drive me here screaming and acting like that, I’ll have Melina help me bind and gag you in the trunk.” She teased with a bright smile.

More people began to gather as the news spread throughout their people that Dare was in labor. Not only was a birth always a special occasion among them, but this birth was the first of any known kind and everyone was curious about the baby that would be born with two beasts.

Grai looked up as his aunt and cousin came running up to him. “How is she?” Vilaria asked with concern while his cousin Cassianna hugged Tricia.

Grai quickly checked with Amun before answering. “It seems our children grow too large. Amun is preparing her for a caesarian. Mother and child are doing very well.” He told them with relief.

Everyone seemed to exhale at the same time before going back to their excited chattering. Vilaria smiled her gratitude to Grai for his update before hugging Tricia close while Cassianna went over to Dare’s family.

Excitement radiated through the crowd when they heard the first cry of the baby. Several minutes later Amun came out of the room and faced Dare and Balduen’s families.

“Dare and the baby are doing wonderful and are perfectly healthy. You can go in now.” Amun said.

He moved out of the way as Banatar ran to the door to check on his daughter. He was followed quickly by True, Vilaria and Cassianna. Risk shrugged his shoulders and headed in more slowly, pretending not to care, even though he was excited as well.

Grai waited outside nervously, unsure of his welcome when the proof of his beast was there, in their child, for his cousin and his mate to see.

He was stunned when he heard Balduen through their private path. “What the hell is taking you so long? Man, you have to come in and see my son.”

Grai almost choked in relief as Tricia squeezed his hand gently and pulled him to the door. He followed her nervously inside and the first thing he saw was Balduen and Dare’s glowing faces.

Grai tried to stay near the door, not wanting to disturb the close family gathered around the baby, proudly held in Balduen’s arms.

The door banged open loudly and Traze slid into the room across the floor. “Where’s my nephew? Ok… he’s not my nephew, he’s my cousin. But he’s so little, he can be my nephew instead right?” Traze said on a rush of breath before David and Grai pulled him away from the family.

“Hey!” Traze complained as he turned an irritated gaze on both of them while Dare and Baldy laughed.

Dare smiled at Traze. “Let him go, Grai. And yes Traze, you can call him nephew instead. Family is family.” Dare said, smiling at Grai.

Traze turned to smirk at David and Grai before yanking away from them and heading to the baby. Grai nodded at David, who left the room. When Grai turned back around, Balduen was standing in front of him. With the baby in his arms.

“You know how to hold a baby, so no excuses.” Balduen said before he thrust the infant into Grai’s arms.

Grai sucked in his breath as he looked down into the beautiful and chubby face of the baby. The connection he felt to the child was stronger than he expected it to be and was stunned when the baby opened his eyes.

Clear blue eyes stared back at him with the black and gold swirls designating the two separate beasts inside of the child. The contrast to the boy’s head of white-blonde hair and light skin color was dramatic and gave the baby a mesmerizing appearance.

Grai spoke through the lump in his throat. “He is beautiful.”

Balduen laughed and snacked him on the back. “He is my son, he is handsome! Like his… mother.” Baldy said as he ducked the pillow Dare threw at him.

Tricia looked at the precious baby and nodded her head. “Grai’s right, he is beautiful. Definitely like his mother.” She said teasingly, getting even with Baldy for picking on Grai’s lights.

Balduen clutched his chest, as if in pain. “You’re killing me! Killing me!” He teased back.

Dare laughed and was ready to throw another pillow at him when he charged the bed excitedly and hugged her close. Grai looked down at the baby and wondered what to do with him when the boy smiled up at him. Grai’s heart melted and a part of him hoped to one day give Tristan a brother or sister. He missed the wonder and joy that could be found in holding such pure innocence.

Traze walked over to Grai and held out his arms for the baby. Grai looked over at Balduen and Dare to make sure it was ok and at their smiling nods, he handed the baby gently to his brother.

“Hey neph! Damn you’re a little cutie aren’t you?” He asked the boy as he walked towards Dare with him cuddled close.

“Have you thought of a name?” Vilaria asked curiously.

Balduen smiled at his mate. “We’re calling him Lucan.”

“Oooh, that’s lovely!” Vilaria said as everyone agreed.

“It’s a strong name for a strong boy isn’t it? Welcome to your new world, little man. May you always find happiness and friends along your journey.” Traze said to the baby as he handed him to Vilaria.

Dare and Balduen smiled at Traze’s blessing. “Thank you, Traze.” Dare said, sniffing back her tears.

Balduen clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “We’re missing Koda, who said he’ll be here later. But we have a lot of people out there waiting to see what the little guy looks like and we want them to see he doesn’t have two heads, so it’s time for a family picture to show them. We’ll re-do it when Koda gets here.”

When no one moved, Balduen began pushing everyone behind the head of Dare’s bed to stand for the picture while Vilaria handed Lucan back to Dare.

When everyone was in place but Grai, Balduen put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. “You are more brother than cousin and I want you to stand behind me, not just for the picture. If anything were to happen…” Balduen said quietly, not wanting Dare to hear him.

Grai choked on the honor Balduen was bestowing on him and had to be sure he was understanding him correctly. “What are you saying?”