Taming Jax (First Wave Book 5) (8 page)

“The one on the left,” Reven said pointing to it. “Is Jax’s room. That’s the one we’ll leave open for you. The room next to it is mine, and we’ll be in there if you have any questions.”

Reven looked into those big, pale blue eyes and attempted to send comforting energy to her, while the baby cooed and strained against the girl as she held her arms out to Reven.

“If you need help feeding her so that you can eat as well, just knock on the wall and Jax, or I can feed her by the door while you eat. Ok?” Reven added, hoping the girl would let them help her.

By the looks of her tiny arms and legs, it was a wonder; she could hold herself up, much less the healthy-looking toddler she tried to carry. Reven’s anger grew as he realized either the girl gave all her food to the baby or whoever held them captive hadn’t fed her intentionally. Either thought sickened him to his core.

When the little girl nodded again, Reven turned to the motel and saw that Jax already had both doors open and was standing in the doorway of his room. The closer he walked to her the more he could feel her worry and fear for the children, and he wished he could grab all three of them in his arms and stop the world from coming near them.

Until they were truly his, he would have to tread carefully he thought.

“Ours. Our family.” His beast Karak growled through his mind.

“A little late my friend. I figured it out already.” Reven said to his beast, shaken by the intensity of his protective feelings for the girls.

Jax moved into the room as Reven approached and sat heavily on the corner of the bed closest to the door. “Everyone is in place. They won’t get out of the door before they are caught.” Jax told him through the Shengari’ before standing up and pacing with worry.

It wasn’t until they heard the rustling of wrappers and the giggles of the baby in the next room that they collapsed on the same bed and hugged in happiness. Until Jax realized what they were doing and pulled away.

Not giving her time to recover and dwell on anger and regret, or yell at him, Reven held his finger to his lips and stood near the wall pretending to have heard something. Thing is, he was more concerned that he hadn’t heard anything since the initial sounds of the wrappers.

Jax became immediately concerned for the children and headed to the door to check on them when Reven stopped her. “We need to knock on the wall first. We can’t just barge in there.” Reven urged, not wanting to scare the girl more than she already was.

Jax nodded her head, hating that he was right, but knowing now was not the time for her irritation with him. “I have an idea. Trust me?” Jax said, looking into his blue eyes as if challenging him. She was taken aback by his instant response.

“With my life.” Reven said, meaning it.

Reven stepped out of her way and watched curiously as Jax grabbed a bucket and what looked like a garbage bag. She slid out of the door to the left; her brief glance in the open door didn’t show her where the children were in the room, and she shook her head at Reven to let him know before disappearing.  

Reven paced the room, listening for any sounds coming from the children in the next room. Worried, he called through the Shengari’ to find out if the other teams, guarding the outer perimeter of the motel, had seen the children leave.     

When they all responded back with a negative, he contacted Grai to give him an update and to hear his thoughts on the situation, as a father of a special child.  

“Grai?”  

“Are the children well, my friend?” Grai asked, his concern bleeding through the Shengari’.

Reven explained the situation to him, the condition of the girls and the unique camouflage ability that they still weren’t sure which child was doing.

“I will ask Amun to be on standby. I have no doubt that he would want to be the one to ensure their health. And he has an uncanny ability to ferret out the secrets of the gifts and energy of our hybrids. He may be able to shed some light on things.” Grai said, trying to keep his anger and frustration under control.

He wanted the children in Dillon. Now. However, from what Reven had told him, they had no choice but to try to earn the trust of the older child first. Unsure of the extent of their gifts, they could easily make a mistake that could drive the girls from them and directly into danger.

Reven ended his conversation with Grai when he heard Jax coming back down the hallway, making no attempt to silence the clinking of the bucket she carried.

“Just ice, guys. I’m just bringing in some ice for your drinks. I’ll put it in the sink and leave; I promise.” Jax said quietly, but loud enough for the children to hear.

Jax glanced at Reven when they still didn’t hear anything. Pulling her shoulders back, she walked into the room and stopped in her tracks. She sucked in such a sharp breath, and the bucket of ice rattled.

Reven could feel the riot of emotions emanating off of a distracted Jax and couldn’t stand not knowing what she was seeing and if the girls were ok.  

Striding through the door behind Jax, he grabbed the ice bucket before it could slip from her hands. He placed it on the dresser absently as he struggled to understand what he was seeing.

He looked to Jax to explain it to him and saw the tears streaming down her face before she walked outside and squatted on the ground. He turned to look at her struggling to control her emotions and still wasn’t sure what he was looking at, but a part of him knew it wasn’t what it seemed. He sent the image of the room to Grai, hoping the man would help him figure it out.

The long string of curses that erupted from Grai made Reven step a little closer to the bed to get a better look. The baby was cuddled up to the chest of the older child, who held her hands protectively around the baby. Curled on their sides in the middle of the bed, they looked so small and frail. What he could see of them anyway.

Whichever child that had the camouflage ability, didn’t have enough energy to be as thorough and scattered portions of their bodies were visible while the rest blended perfectly with the ugly cover on the bed.

The clothes on the older child were a little tight on her, but from what he could see, her ribs were visible through the shirt and her arms were even smaller than he’d first thought.

Her legs were covered in what appeared to be half pants, and he couldn’t understand why they would have bought half pants for the child. They covered her from her waist to just above her knees, while the baby was covered from head to toe in a big shirt, pants and socks.

On the bed, near the baby, Reven could see the cheeseburger wrapper spread out neatly and what looked to be mashed food laid out in different wads of color on the paper. He wasn’t sure what the hell it was until Grai finally stopped cursing and issued orders for the transport to be brought.

“The child was chewing up the food for the baby, so she could eat it. She didn’t know what the baby food was that you bought or even what to do with it. She did the only thing she knew to do to feed her sister. It does not appear the girl had a chance to eat for herself before she fell to exhaustion.” Grai said with a catch in his voice.

“She’s also wearing the pants and shirt that was bought for her sister. She is so malnourished that she can fit in the same size pants her sister is wearing.” Grai said, his anger and fear for the child coming through clearly.

Now that he knew what he was looking at, Reven felt sick. He leaned down to breathe away the thoughts of what the girl must have been through and tried to calm himself.

He was startled when he felt Jax’s hand on his arm. Looking into her beautiful eyes, he could see her own tears shimmering in them. Reven gently covered her hand with his own for a moment and gave her an encouraging squeeze before he took a deep breath.

“The transport will be here shortly. Grai doesn’t give a shit if some night clerk at a motel reports a UFO, and neither do I.” Reven told Jax through their private path, so he wouldn’t wake the girls.    

Jax nodded her head and sat on the edge of the other bed in the room and watched the children intently, her eyes missing none of the details.

“She fed the baby, but was too tired to eat. She doesn’t look like she’s eaten in a very long time.” Jax said as a sob caught in her throat.

Reven went to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders as he sat heavily beside her. “We will make damn sure they never know this life again. I promise you.” Reven said, his determination to protect and care for his new family bleeding through his energy.

Jax just nodded her head, wishing they had the children back at MedLab already. She looked up at Reven when their teams told them the transport was ready to de-cloak.

She stared into his beautiful blue eyes and nodded her head at him. He was not only bigger and stronger, but he had already developed a slight connection with the frightened child. Reven nodded back and moved quietly to the side of the bed and looked down at the child who hadn’t moved an inch since they had come in the room.

He sent a slight prayer they wouldn’t awaken, took a deep breath and picked both of the girls up at one time. The feel of them in his arms shook him as he looked into their beautiful faces. The baby stirred, looked at him briefly and said, “Da.”, before snuggling into his arms and falling back to sleep.

The one word had felt like a vice on his heart, and he stood there for a moment just looking at the children in amazement. He was brought out of his thoughts by Jax, who cleared her throat quietly and nodded to the door.

With an answering nod, Reven moved as quickly as he could to the back parking lot of the motel, where the transport was waiting to de-cloak.

It was a testament to the child’s exhaustion when she didn’t stir even when they hit the transport. Reven sat in one of the seats as Jax draped the girls with a blanket and gently tucked it in around Reven’s arms to keep it over them.

He looked down into their sleeping faces as Jax ordered the others to clear all trace of them from the motel and head back to their original drop zone for transport.

She sat beside him and looked at the little ones who seemed so natural laying in the big guy's arms, she thought before clearing her head. Damn, she didn’t need to be thinking shit like that, even though the children were breaking her heart as well.

“The two of them weigh less than my sword.” Reven said, looking at Jax with pained eyes. He didn’t know much about children, but he’d seen the healthy children of his friends and the people in Dillon and knew that none of them were this frail and small.

Jax was trying really hard to see the aggravating man that Reven usually was, but the man sitting beside her, gently cradling two wounded children held no trace of that man. Instead, she was seeing a compassionate, emotional and loving man that she’d never noticed before, and it was doing weird things to her.

She shook her head to try to clear the odd feelings and thoughts. “They will rebound quickly with good food, some care and love. Kids can be resilient like that.”

They spent the rest of the short trip in silence, choosing not to disturb the children with medical techs and scans until they reached Dillon. For some reason, Reven didn’t think it was going to be an easy task and didn’t want to take a chance of frightening them before they were in a more controlled environment.