Taming Jax (First Wave Book 5) Read online

  Taming Jax

  By Mikayla Lane

  Cover Art by: humblenations.com

  First Wave Series Reading Order

  Hunting Cari

  Finding Jess

  Chasing Dare

  Grai’s Game

  Taming Jax

  Second Wave Series Reading Order

  Viper

  Drago – Coming in March 2015

  483 Word Document Pages

  103,459 Words

  Chapter One

  Jaxson Adronatof smirked as Grai and Ivint began to explain her next mission to her. The fact that she was being given the mission because of Reven’s epic failure at it the day before, only made her more determined to succeed where he had failed. And rub his nose in it.

  She knew it was petty and beneath her to be so mean, but the man was so damn arrogant that she couldn’t seem to stop herself. That only pissed her off at him even more. It also didn’t help that even now; she was fighting to keep from looking at the gorgeous man.

  The truth was; the two of them were like rocket fuel and fire. There were very few times when they were near each other that they didn’t ignite, and not in a good way. Grai cleared his throat, and Jax pulled herself out of her own thoughts to pay attention.

  “Jax, I’m well aware of your… issues with Reven. In this case, it is imperative that you work together.” Grai said waiting for Jax to explode. It didn’t take long.

  “Wait a damn second! You called me in for this because he already screwed it up, and now you’re saying I have to work with him? He already failed! What the hell is the point? I’m not a damn babysitter!” Jax yelled at them, shaking with frustration.

  Jax could see Reven’s smirk out of the corner of her eye, and it took everything she had not to walk over there and wipe it off his egotistical face. Did the man have to ruin every damn part of her life?

  “Jax, it has nothing to do with failure or babysitting. The situation is unique, and it will require both of you to get this done.” Ivint said, trying to calm the angry young woman. He realized too late that he should have chosen his words better.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Just because he can’t pull it off by himself, doesn’t mean that I can’t! He had a chance and blew it. There is no reason I shouldn’t get the same opportunity!” Jax said, defending her abilities.

  Grai sighed. He knew this was going to be hard. No matter what the woman said, she was just as stubborn, if not more so than Reven. However, this was not the time for their personal feelings to get in the way. It was too important.

  “Enough!” Grai roared as he stood to glare down at Jax. He shot a warning glance at Reven, who stood when he had yelled at her. It didn’t matter what personal issues they were having; Reven would never tolerate someone disrespecting Jax. That was not the case here.

  “This is not an option. You will work with Reven, or we will find someone else that will! If you would put your feelings aside long enough to know what we’re asking, you may not care who you’re working with as long as you get it done!” Grai said, uncharacteristically angry.

  Jax instantly calmed herself. Not because Grai yelled at her, she could not care less about that since the man didn’t scare her in the least. It was the emotion that he displayed that told her something was wrong here. Really wrong.

  Stealing a look at Reven, she saw it wasn’t a smirk on his face at all, it was a mix of fury and concern. As Jax looked at Ivint, Grai, Niklosi, Decano and Risk, she noticed they were all pissed off. She mentally kicked herself for letting her emotions regarding Reven to cloud what she should have noticed from the moment she came in the door.

  “What’s going on?” Jax asked, sitting down at the conference room table.

  Grai sat heavily in his own chair and nodded to Risk at the comm center. When the screen lit up behind him, Grai began. “A few weeks ago, we came across a dark Internet posting about an auction that was taking place near Dallas.”

  Grai paused while the screen behind him changed. “This was the notice for the auction.”

  Jax gasped at the picture of two very frightened and naked little girls huddled together in what looked like a wooden crate. The dark haired little girl being held by the older one couldn’t be more than two years old; Jax estimated, feeling sick. The older girl who was trying to protect the toddler couldn’t be more than eight or ten; she guessed.

  Both little girls were staring wide-eyed at whomever had been holding the camera when the picture was taken. The rest of the notice was enough to make Jax puke, and she couldn’t finish reading it.

  “I get it; I'm in. What went wrong? Where are they?” Jax asked, looking at Reven. This time without the snide attitude she had earlier.

  She may have her personal issues with the man, but she knew him well enough to know that he would have died to save those kids. If something went wrong, it wasn’t because he screwed up or hadn’t tried. Even now she could feel some of his pain emanating from him, and she had to stop herself from saying something to comfort him. Damn the man anyway, she thought.

  When Grai nodded to Reven, he stood and faced the screen while Risk changed it from the notice. “We tracked the auction to an old ranch near Dallas and had a team ready. When we got there, we found nothing but a few dead bodies and the children were missing.”

  “There was nothing there that gave us a clue as to where they took the little ones, except this.” Reven said, watching Jax’s face light up with hope when she saw the image on the screen.

  “Hell yeah… where is he?” Jax asked, seeing some hope for those little girls. If there was even a glimmer of a chance of rescuing them, she would pursue it.

  “We didn’t move it. We secured the scene and left everything as it was, before coming here to get you. Sarex is going through the location now, but her preliminary report is that she can’t seem to get anything from the area at all. Which she said is very strange.” Reven said, speaking of the hybrid precog Jax grew up with.

  Jax cursed lowly. If Sarex couldn’t get any images from the energy at the location, they were dealing with one of their own. Either one of the children were gifted or hybrid, or someone at the auction was. Only one of their own could make their energy invisible from Sarex.

  Jax stared at the picture on the screen another moment before putting aside all of her feelings… but rage. She stood quickly from the table and turned to Reven.

  “Let’s go. Pack regular clothes, so we can blend in and get your gear. I’ll grab my go bag from my locker here and meet you…” Jax paused, unsure of their mode of transportation to the area.

  Reven stood and headed around the table to Jax and the door. “I’ve got a ready bag here as well. We’ll take a transport to the area. Both of our teams are already holding the scene and the witness for us.”

  Jax walked through the door that Reven held for her and led them down the hallway to the team locker rooms.

  “I want updates every step of the way.” Grai called out to them through the Shengari’ as they walked into their locker rooms to get their gear.

  Jax sent a quick affirmative back while she grabbed her bag out of her locker. She was getting ready to walk out when the memories assailed her, and she took an unsteady step to the bench and sat heavily.

  She had just started breathing away the pain that came with the memories when she heard Reven’s knock on the door. Pulling herself together, Jax grabbed her bag and headed outside.

  Her normally fast paced stride easily kept up with Reven’s longer one as they headed to the hangar, under the runway outside of the office building.

  “Did you run the dead? Any info?” Jax asked. She was hoping there would be some way to figure out
where the girls were moved, by who had attended the auction.

  Reven sighed; he wished it would have been that easy. “No… there wasn’t much left of them to identify, and we still can’t get close enough to do more than a cursory visual inspection of the bodies.”

  Jax grinned as they headed into a small transport craft. Yeah, by the looks of the picture on the screen, she doubted there would be much left of the victims. Not that it bothered her in the least.

  Anyone who would have any part of something so sick and vile should die a horrible death, Jax thought, trying to push out the memories that threatened again.

  Jax sent out a call to her team through the Shengari’ to make sure they were all there and prepared for the hunt. She loved hearing the excitement and determination in their voices. They were going to need it; she thought.

  “We’re overhead.” The Tezarian pilot said, interrupting Jax’s thoughts.

  Jax and Reven moved to the portal beam and waited until they had their boots on the ground before heading into the large barn on the badly rundown ranch.

  Jax greeted the surrounding team members with a silent nod before walking into the building, to the only witness to what happened to the little girls who were going to be auctioned off here hours earlier.

  She ignored the overwhelming smell of death and blood as she crossed the barn and stood in front of the witness, Reven was right behind her with his weapon drawn.

  “Put that thing away, you’re scaring him.” Jax said quietly to Reven as she sat down on the floor next to the frightened witness.

  Jax smiled to herself when Reven put away his rifle, but kept his hand on the holster of his gun. She turned to look in the beautiful, milky blue eyes that stared at her with fear and emotional and physical pain.

  Placing a comforting hand on the large paw, she opened herself to the emaciated white tiger. Jax shuddered slightly as the poor animal showed her how it was taken from its mother, beaten, starved and repeatedly sold and resold to cruel and uncaring owners.

  Jax cooed and calmed the animal, promising it that she would ensure it had a better life, somewhere safe. Sending a call to Grai and Ivint through the Shengari',’ she continued to comfort the abused animal as she waited for their response.

  Reven didn’t wait though. “What the hell are you doing? We don’t have time for this!” He growled at her through the Shengari’ so as not to disturb the large cat.

  “Don’t you dare take that tone with me! You, of the so superior Valendrans, who didn’t even realize, you had sentient cats on your own planet until Cari came along! This poor baby is just as much a victim as any human and needs protection and healing as well.”

  “He’s been beaten and starved. He’s scared and in pain, and I will not ask his help without ensuring he is safe first!” Jax growled back at him, showing none of her anger to the beautiful animal whose large head took up most of her legs as he rested there.

  Her response came when her team told her the transport was waiting outside. Reven backed away as she, and the cat stood and walked to the door. Outside both teams gave her and the cat a wide berth as she took the cat to the transport.

  She was surprised when Reven came in right behind them. Still angry at his callousness, Jax made sure to keep her attention on ensuring the cat remained calm throughout the flight. Once they landed, Grai was waiting for them with Gibly.

  “I have to say that is one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen.” Grai said, taking in the sight of the large cat striding beside the much smaller Jax.

  “He looks pretty scrawny and sick to me.” Reven mumbled under his breath.

  “Really? I’d be happy to lock you away, starve and beat you until you get some damn empathy! Shut up, you callous bastard!” Jax and the cat both turned dangerously narrowed eyes at Reven until he held up his hands in surrender and backed away.

  “We’ve sealed off an area of the Sibiox sanctuary on the west side of the mountain. He will have free roam there. The kitchen is aware of his nutritional needs and Sibiox medical and veterinary staff are on standby to treat him.” Grai said before Jax could even ask.

  She smiled her gratitude as Grai led them to a waiting truck. Jax was again surprised when Reven got into the bed of the truck with her and the white tiger. When they stopped, Jax and Reven got out first before she turned to coax the frightened animal out of the truck.

  She was glad when Gibly came up and helped her convince the animal he wouldn’t be abused any longer and where they were going was safe. Her heart broke at the fear and pain emanating from the animal. Damn if people didn’t piss her off, she thought, sinking her hand into his soft fur and hugging him close.

  Jax sent waves of love and comfort to the animal, while Gibly explained to him that he was finally going to be happy and safe. Once he was calmer, Jax led him into the wooded area that would now be his new home. They went half a mile in before they came upon the huge wooden playground Grai had built for the Sibiox.

  Large tire swings hung from a wooden bridge that spanned a long gulch that was covered in leaves and toys. Big, colorful balls were scattered in the gulch and on both sides of the bridge. When she had to explain to the poor creature what grass and leaves were, it nearly broke her heart.

  As Jax led the cat past the playground, she explained to him what the toys were for, while Gibly pounced on the balls and swung on the tire swings to show him how to play.

  Jax felt a lot better when she sensed the cat’s natural curiosity take over as he turned his head to look back at the play center when they passed.

  Jax promised the cat he could play anytime he wanted while Gibly assured him that he wouldn’t be alone, that his people would happily play with him and be his new family. The joy and hope that went through the animal brought tears to her eyes as they entered the home area for the cats.

  Jax could feel his confusion as he looked at the large, natural cave that they had turned into a comfortable sleeping and eating area for the cats. The large, natural overhang and extended sides provided a perfect place for the animals to shelter from the weather.

  Farther inside the cave, Risk and Lagor had set up a climate control system that activated when an animal entered. It provided a comfortable year-round temperature of seventy-two degrees while maintaining a natural environment for the animals.

  A small, natural spring provided fresh, clean water that pooled near the gulch so they could play in the water, and the automated feeder provided fresh food when an animal stepped onto a platform.

  The scanner on the platform determined which animal it was by the paw print and sent up the correct food and nutrients for that particular animal’s needs.

  Jax and Gibly spent several minutes showing the tiger how to step on the platform until he was able to do it by himself before she sat down with him on a rocky ledge overlooking the play area.

  The animal rubbed its large head against her and purred strongly in happiness. When Jax knew the large cat was comfortable, she asked him his name.

  “Mama called me Calnotalania.” The tiger replied in her mind.

  “I’m going to call you Cal if that’s ok?” Jax asked the cat, not wanting to disrespect the incredible animal.

  When the cat purred happily, Jax continued to speak to him until she was able to find out what had happened at the barn. What she found out shocked her as much as it scared the hell out of her.

  Jax quickly stood to leave and turned to Cal. Explaining that she would be back to see him as soon as she could, she turned to Gibly to make sure that he would stay with Cal and help him to assimilate to his new home. Ignoring Reven’s questioning look, she led them back out of the Sibiox sanctuary and to the truck.

  “So?” Grai asked the moment he heard them coming out of the woods and saw the protective fence go up.

  “He’s very confused, but whatever we’re dealing with isn’t normal. He said that the older girl let him out of his cage, and the little one told him to go ahead and eat, that someon
e nice would be coming soon to take him home.” Jax said, still surprised at the images the cat had shown her.

  “Eat? You mean those men?” Reven asked looking a little green.

  “They let the cat out to kill two of the ones holding them prisoner before the bidding customers could get there. It was pretty damn smart for a toddler and a child, don’t you think?” Jax asked, giving Grai a disbelieving look.

  “It was too smart. No toddler, with the exception of you of course, could have spoken to the animal to ensure his help.” Grai replied, looking a little surprised.

  “What’s even better is there were four bodies and the cat only killed two. He was starving and wasn’t too picky… so he didn’t mind seeing if the other two tasted better. However, he doesn’t know who killed them.” Jax said while Grai growled out a long string of curses.