6. JAX

SIX

jax

“You need to approach humans with much more finesse, dumhuvud. ” Irritation seeped into Asher’s tone, and I scoffed. I’d leave that to him. I didn’t have time for that bullshit, and I’d learned force resulted in many more answers than trying to cajole them out of someone.

“We can’t just let her go,” I snapped.

“For once, you’re both right.” Tobias scratched his fingers through his scalp. “Jaxon, she can’t be compelled. I can’t read her mind. And unless we kill her?—”

“We can’t kill her,” Asher said so quickly, his words ran together. “Her taste . . .” he shuddered. “It needs to be savored.”

“Besides that, she can be useful. But a human we cannot control is playing with fire. She can leave while we’re undisposed.” Tobias’s gaze unfocused as it did when he got lost in thought. It happened to him more than any of the others. Asher called it his ‘ancient gazing’.

Asher plopped on the settee, crossing his ankle over the other. “No need to worry about that.” Asher waved his hand in the air like he was batting the words away. “She doesn’t have a landline, annnnnd .” He plucked a device from his pocket. “I snagged it from her purse.” A cell phone dangled from his fingertips.

“When exactly did you discover her lack of landline?” Tobias said slowly . . . patiently. I could understand the need to smack my brother. An urge he likely fought with every carefully spoken word. “I believe you were ordered to stay away from the human.”

“I’ve just been watching her,” Asher pouted. “It’s only her living there. We don’t have to kill her. We can play with her a little while she helps us, can’t we? A willing human is much more entertaining than a screaming, crying, vomiting one we have chained up in a room somewhere.” Tobias’s eyebrow raised. “It’s not like she has a car to go off in. And look.” He waved a phone in the air. “She can’t call someone.”

Tobias turned to me. “What do you think we should do?”

“I think we should kill her.”

Tobias tapped his chin, gaze unfocused.

“I am in agreement with Asher.” The win made my brother preen like an idiot. “I’ll call Talia to send over a human to watch the house to ensure she doesn’t leave.” Tobias began walking down the hall, his steps echoing from the high ceilings. I’d been out-voted, again. Fucking shit.

“I’ll keep an eye on her until nightfall,” I snapped. Humans were, in essence, lazy . . . and stupid, so she’d doubtfully make any successful escape. A concept that should comfort, but her presence irked me, and I wanted to extinguish the tempting smell of her skin. Of course, the inconsiderate human had left the door wide open. I sneered and slammed it behind me.

A shiver coasted down my spine as my body shrunk and shifted, morphing into a cat. I hated this fucking form. When I was like this, I felt too vulnerable, but I had no choice if I wanted to keep an eye on her, and cats were as inconspicuous as they came unless I wanted to morph into an insect, but fuck that. I had lines and that was one of them.

I padded over the grass and loped downhill, slipping between the vine-infested bars of the gate. It was a tight squeeze, but I wiggled through. I slipped between the hedge and the brick gate, so I’d be harder to spot. That was the difficult part of my morphs, whatever animal I chose was always the same color as my hair—sandy blond, which made slinking around as a cat difficult.

Standing on my back legs, I clawed the gate and sheathed them into the wood to assist in my balance.

I was only watching her because she was a danger to us. Even without a car or a cell phone. There were new-age gadgets I didn’t keep up with and they hadn’t considered the possibility of that. Who knew what sort of trouble she could get up to, but the other fuckers didn’t seem to care.

Bounding onto an outstretched tree branch, I crouched, keeping my belly low.

If Ren were here, he would have had the same train of thought as me. He probably would have snapped her long tan neck instead of beating around the bush like the other two.

Tobias was behaving out of character. But it was probably his fucking morals, and considering she’d saved his ass, it likely had more to do with that.

I hopped to another branch, peeking through the windows. She flitted around the bedroom, organizing the last of her belongings. She seemed to have an obsession with pink.

Her ass wiggled as she smoothed the blanket over the mattress and fluffed the pillows. Finished with her bedding, she moved to the kitchen and set on pulling dishware from a paper bag and only filling in one pantry. She wasn’t behaving the way I expected of her after she’d run out. I’d thought to find her curled in the corner of the room, rocking back and forth.

Watching her move from room to room was tiring. It was a good thing we had someone come to the house to clean it once a week, I wouldn’t want to go through this. I’d hated doing this when I was a human and as soon as I was able, I paid someone to keep everything in my home tidy, especially since Asher was a slob.

The girl moved again... the girl, we never asked her name.

I’d never cared to get an invitation into this house, but being up close would have been much better than trying to keep up with her erratic movements.

I lost sight of her and when she didn’t stride back into the bedroom, I stretched my limbs to hop off the tree. The wood of the fence rasped against my paws as I followed the path of the boards surrounding the house. My ears twitched. She wasn’t in the kitchen. I rounded another corner to the next window and came to a stuttering halt. My stop was so quick, I lost my footing. My claws dug into the wood as I struggled to regain my balance.

The girl was in the tub, ecstasy on her expression as she tilted her head back, her midnight hair spilling over the lip. My claws flexed into the wood, gouging indents into it. Her hair was beautiful... I wanted it splayed across my chest.

She plucked a loofah from the side counter and lathered it up. Her long arms flexing as she scrubbed it across her shoulders. Straightening, her full breasts peeked out from the water, brown nipples pebbled. She took her time stroking it across her breasts, caressing the hard nipples. Her lips parted and she shifted, sending a ripple through the bathwater. Her fingers splayed over her skin as they slid under the water.

A purr rumbled from my chest. I lowered against the wood, my paws flexing into the fence. I was undoubtedly turned on.

Why was she making me react this way? It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen women fuck themselves or being fucked before, but I longed to sink my fangs into her skin and fuck her as I held her face into the mattress.

Hooking my claws into the tree hanging over the window, I climbed higher to get a bird’s eye view into the bathtub. Her lips parted as she delved into her pussy and caressed her clit with her thumb. So fucking sexy. Her pointer digit slipped into her core and she thrust it in and out.

I stepped forward and lost my hold. I flipped and turned in the air before landing on my paws. Fuck.

My nails embedded into the wood as I scrambled up, I wanted to watch her face as she came. The parting of her lips, the arching of her back...

As soon as I was at the top, I found her fingers floating in the water instead of deep in her cunt.

I missed it.

I hissed, forgetting that I was morphed. She pulled the drain and reached for a towel to wrap her body as she stepped on a different towel she’d laid on the ground.

Strange female human. Unexpected . . .

Next time I’d watch her as she came.

She exited the bathroom in a set of shorts and a strappy shirt with frills at the edges. I rushed to get to the other side so I could continue watching her in time to see her collapse on the mattress. She swayed and dropped to her back, unconscious. Her chest continued moving up and down rhythmically.

Asher must have taken more blood than she could handle. He usually had a better gauge of that.

She left the light on in the room. If she would be a tool for us to use, sating my lust on her could be something to consider.

After all, I hadn’t craved another body in decades . . . since Imogen .