Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The house was empty of everyone but the staff. Jayden told her that he wanted her home as soon as she could get there and that he was hard and needy. Never one to turn sex down, she had rushed home. Hazel heard noises coming from the bathroom and felt herself getting wet when she found out what he was doing.

Hazel nearly turned around and left the tiny bath when she saw what Jayden was doing but found she couldn't, or perhaps it was more of a case that she didn't want to leave. She watched as he wrapped his hand around his cock and moved it up and down. She couldn't help the moan that spilled over her suddenly dry lips.

"You weren't coming soon enough, it seemed, and I was aching badly enough to jerk off before you got here for me. I love the way…you stand there watching me. I'm going to come all over you." She looked up at his face when he spoke. "Come here, Hazel. Help me come. I need to come so that I can get on with my work."

She moved toward him even as he took her hand and rubbed it against his shaft. She wrapped her fingers around him as he'd done and squeezed him. When he jumped in her hand, his cock acting as if it had a mind of its own, she smiled. When his free hand moved behind her neck and brought her close so that he could kiss her, she moaned again when she felt his mouth nip at her neck.

"Strip. Take your clothes off and let me taste you. Christ, I want to fuck you with my tongue." His hands were everywhere, and her clothes were torn from her even as she felt his mouth on her breasts. "Feed me, Hazel. Feed me your nipples while I fuck your hand."

When her breast was free, she lifted it up to his mouth, and his teeth sank deep into her nipple, making her cry out. When he turned her around and sat her on the counter, she whimpered when he freed his cock from her hand. But his fingers slid into her pussy made her forget everything but what he was doing to her.

"I'm going to eat you, suck your pussy until you come in my mouth. Then I'm going to lap every bit of your cum in my mouth, making you come and come again."

"Please, Jayden. Please." When he got down onto his knees and pulled her ass forward until her pussy was right on the edge, she watched his head lower to her. "Jayden, Please, I—"

His tongue entered her. She felt it move inside of her. In and out, in and out. When he licked her clit she threw back her head and lifted up to get him deeper. She wrapped her fingers in his hair and tried to guide him to her clit again, but he wouldn't.

When he finally took her clit into his mouth and sucked her hard, she screamed out her release. His fingers entered her, and again, he touched off another climax, then another. She lay back when he stood, his cock thick and hard before her.

"Watch me. Watch what I want to do when I come inside of you." His hand fisted his cock and stroked it once twice, then a third time before he came. Thick hot cum jettisoned out from him and onto her belly, breasts, and face. He roared with each release, and when he reached down and pinched her clit she came again, screaming out his name as he rubbed his cum all over her.

She couldn't move. She wasn't even sure she wanted to. But she also knew that if she didn't get up soon, she was going to have to stay this way forever as her body was beginning to feel like it was kinking up. It took another five minutes of her walking bent over before she could finally sit up.

After a few more attempts, she not only was able to stand upright, but she was able to walk without crying. It really wasn't that bad, not really, but she was worn out. Turning on the shower, not only did she scrub her body but she also stood for ten minutes under the spray of hot water to relax.

Since they both had showers in separate bathrooms in their suite, Hazel found that Jayden had beaten her to the bed and was asleep. She knew that he'd not been sleeping well either, so she didn't bother trying to wake him up when she got into bed. However, he pulled her across the bed and into his arms. Closing her eyes, she was sound asleep in no time.

Whatever was going on in her head wasn't a dream. At least not her dream. Since she only had a glimpse of the past, she was shocked when everyone was sitting around the living room with Logan in the room, too. He was sitting in the chair next to her mother, but that was the only thing that she found odd about it. That is until it started to move forward. Frame by frame like an old movie would.

"Wait, I need you to scroll back a few frames." She didn't know the voice—for that matter, the man either. He was sitting at the large table with her, and that was when she realized that she was indeed watching a movie. One about the family that had been filmed just after Christmas. She didn't know how she'd figured that out but she knew that to be as true as her love for Jayden. "There. Stop right there. Can you see that reflection in the mirror over the fireplace?"

Their house did have mantles and fireplaces, but she didn't think that any of the other houses did that belonged to the family. She tried to see whatever she had been asked to see when the film went back a couple more frames. All she could see in the mirror were reflections of the flowers that were usually in the hallway. Hazel was just turning to tell whoever the man was that she didn't see it when she did.

Hazel didn't have a great deal of experience with filmography. When she took her pictures with her phone, they were never edited because she'd never figured out—and didn't care to learn how to do that sort of thing. If she had to mess with the photo's that she took, erasing them was much easier and then retaking the picture.

"What is that?" Turning the knob on the projector that was suddenly in the room with her, rolling the film, the picture enlarged. The picture was super blurry until it wasn't. It was as if it snapped into focus. "That's a bowl of fruit."

The man, whom she still didn't know, said that it was perfect. Not having a clue, having been dropped in the dream, she asked him if that was all he was looking for. Why would a bowl, a yellow bowl of fruit, make him so excited.

"She said that she'd not seen the fruit bowl. I told her that it was there and that everyone had actually seen it. But she refused to acknowledge that I was correct. I so love it when I'm correct." Looking around the room, trying to see if there was anyone there to explain what was going on to her. But it didn't look like it. But Jayden walked into the room, and she went to sit next to him. The man continued to go on about the fruit bowl.

Asking Jayden if he knew what was going on, he told her that it was her dream and that he'd only just shown up here. While she wanted to believe him and that it was her dream, it still didn't make any sense that they were looking for a bowl of fruit in old footage.

Her dad came into the room then. That confused her as well. The last that she'd heard, he was in prison, awaiting trial. But when he walked up behind her mother and held onto her shoulders like he was trying to make sure that she sat there and still, it was Jayden who got up and checked on her. Hazel asked her dad why he was there.

"I've come to tell you that I'm disappointed in you. I'm dead because you couldn't take time out of your busy day and come to visit me. I told you that I wasn't happy, but did you heed my words? No, you did not. Now I'm nothing but fodder for the rats at the prison."

As if she was whisked away to another timeline, she saw her mother with Shawn. Holding a baby in her arms, her mother sat down next to her. She was telling her that she loved being a mommy and that she was happier than she'd ever been. Hazel asked her what that meant about her.

There were other times, lines of conversation that she didn't quite understand. It was like someone was trying to tell her something by putting different parts of conversations that had been said to her into something that needed to be told to her.

Hazel would be with her father at times, then with her mother and baby sister. Or was it a brother? She didn't know, but really, she wasn't sure that it had anything to do with the conversation she was trying her best to decipher. Hazel wasn't understanding a damned thing.

Ending up in the back yard of her home, Hazel then looked around, trying her best to gauge where she was. And most importantly, when she was. She'd gotten that her father was dead and that she was seeing bits of his conversation before that. However, she was trying her best to keep up when other things were going on too.

"Hello." The little girl, she couldn't have been no more than about five, was sitting on a swing in a lovely, brightly colored park. It was the other realm. She knew that on some level but was almost afraid to say it out loud. Telling the little girl ‘hello' back had her sitting in a rocker that, again, hadn't been there before. She smiled at her, and Hazel smiled back. "You look confused."

"I am, as a matter of fact. I don't know what's going on." The little girl asked her why she should care about the movements going on around her. "Because I might need to be aware of my surroundings if someone comes to get me."

"No one will so long as you're with me." Nodding, she stopped rocking to watch the child feed a goat. "His name is Nathan. He and I have been friends for a very long time. He will only speak with me. You, too, if I were to allow it."

"I don't know what it is that I'd say to him." The little creature came and sat upon her lap. Putting her hand through his fur, she was surprised about how soft it was. "He's a nice goat. I've heard stories about goats and how they eat poison ivy, and it doesn't bother them at all."

"That's right. That's why he's here with me. I like him so much better than lambs. Do you know why you're here, Hazel?" She said that she didn't even know where here was. "Oh. I should have told you. This is the place of death. But you're not dead. You're here to help me with something. While it has nothing to do with Logan, everyone is talking about how much you love Logan. He's a good person to know. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I don't understand. This is the place of death. And yet I'm not dead?" She said that was right. "And yes, I do love Logan. I don't know his entire story, but I'm betting it was a very sad one."

"'Tis very sad. Most of it he isn't aware of. Some he has gotten from others. But you will, as well as Jayden will, know the truth of him." Jayden sat down next to her, and she took his hand. "Hello, Jayden Allen Dixon. It's good to see you again."

"Hello, Minx." She didn't have to ask Jayden when he'd met the young Minx, but he told her anyway. "I was in an accident when I was nothing more than a child. I saw her while I was dying. Minx sent me back to my family when I said that I wished to travel with her. She said that it wasn't my time yet. I'd forgotten about that until now."

"Yes, he was gravely hurt when a man pulled out in front of his bicycle one afternoon when he was playing with his older brother. He wears a scar for it on his shoulder. I think that you've seen it, Hazel. Correct?" Hazel told Minx that she had seen it but figured that it was nothing more than a terrible cut. "No, the car knocked his bike up into the air, and Jayden came down atop it. He would have died, but for Nathan here. He found Jayden and brought me to him. He has lived to come to this point in his life with you. Now I have a story for you both."

Nathan leapt off of her lap and into Jayden's. As he petted the goat. Minx told them how Jayden and her were to have children of the world. To bring them the happiness that they would normally never have.

"Isn't that sad? They would normally not have the happiness that every child craves. I should like to send them to you and know that you're keeping them safe." Hazel answered first, and Jayden nodded. Then he asked about Logan. "He is the first of many that you'll help. Logan, he knows that he is special and that his magic, for what he has a great deal of will also help you in keeping the children safe. Allow him to use what he has, and you'll have everything that you wish for the others. Will you do that for them?"

"We would do that without the gift of his magic." Hazel looked at Jayden. "I'm right in saying that, correct? We'll do this for all the kids in the family."

"Of course. Whatever they need." The next thing that she knew, Hazel was sitting on the side of her bed in her room, holding onto her cell phone. When it started to ring, everything that had happened while she was sleeping came back to her. Jayden was just coming out of the bathroom when she put the phone to her ear to answer it.

"Hello, yes?" The person on the other end told her how she'd gotten her name and number from the doctor. Then she asked if they'd be able to take a little girl, a newborn, into their home for the next month. Also, the little girl was addicted to drugs, so it wouldn't be an easy thing. "Yes. Of course, we'll take her."

As the woman told her things like her name and how there was a car seat for her as well as formula, the knock at the door didn't startle her, nor did Logan coming into the room. He said that he'd prepare the bedroom for the child and would wait for them to return. Not sure of what was going to happen and how he was going to prepare the rooms, Hazel got up to get dressed while Logan and Jayden did their part.

Jayden shook her gently. When she opened her eyes, he told her she was talking in her sleep. She sat up and looked at him. "I had the strangest dream, but I don't think it was just a dream, Jayden. It felt too real. A premonition, maybe?" Jayden told her he didn't think it was just a dream either.

~*~

Jayden sat very still while he listened to the dream that Hazel was telling him about. He'd been there of course, remembering the parts too about the child that they were going to eventually raise as their own. For his part, he was happy for the way things were going to go, and he was also glad that Hazel was happy with the way things were going as well. When her cell phone rang, he waited while she let it go to voicemail.

"It's about my father. He's dead." Logan entered the room with them. Sitting in the living room, her favorite part of the house even as a child, he sat down next to her and took her hand into his much larger one. For a younger man, he was tall and well-built. She thought it had a great deal to do with the fact that he was forever eating. "You did this for me, didn't you?"

"I did." Logan looked at Jayden. "Your parents are on their way here with the grandparents. They don't know why as yet, for the urge to come over now is at the forefront of their minds. To come here, not to meet me. They don't know what they're coming for, but Cullen is coming down the stairs now, and he is aware that they're coming. Please, don't tell them that he's been injured. As you've been made aware of, he cannot shift to heal because of the ongoing trial of the man that harmed him."

"Cullen said that it was his higher ranking boss needs to think that he's hurt a great deal more than it would look like if he were to shift." Hazel started to ask something, more than likely how he'd been hurt, and he smiled. "It's a reason that I can't share just yet. Suffice it to say, there will be some heads rolling when he goes back. If he does. I think he's had enough."

Now, Jayden had more questions than he had before. All this cloak-and-dagger shit was making him nuts. He wanted to ask Hazel about the dream that the two of them had had before he started losing bits and parts of it. Or was it an out-of-body experience? Jayden didn't know how to answer that question, even for himself. He only lifted his hand up in greeting and smiled at her. The doorbell rang a few seconds later, and he was just frustrated enough that he wanted to toss a pillow from the couch at them all.

Jayden was still laughing when he made his way to the door. He told their butler, Derek, that he had it. But the man stood there, looking as if he didn't think that he was capable of opening the door the correct way. Once his family was in the doorway, Derek asked if they were staying for supper.

"Yes, they'll want to stay. If you have the time for a full family dinner, Derek, I'd love to invite my entire family over." He just huffed at him as if to say that he was being ridiculous if he thought that they couldn't handle some extra mouths to feed. Jayden told him how many extras it would be. "So I want to make sure the staff has plenty of time to prepare. I was thinking grilled veggies and some steaks for those who wanted it."

"Excellent, sir. We've had a delivery just this morning, and there are things coming out of the garden that will serve them, too. We'll have plenty of time. Should you find out if someone isn't coming, could you please let one of us know?" He said that he could do that, and Derek started away before turning back. "Sir, we've still no idea what the family drinks, among other things, about them when they come over. We have sweet tea for you and the missus but not for your family since we've not had to serve them in such a large setting."

"Mostly, they drink water and sometimes sweet tea. My mom loves hers with a bit of lemon cut up in it. Don't be surprised, however, if she takes the lemon out and eats it before she drinks the water. So when you have to refill her glass, she will want a fresh lemon slice as well." He asked Derek if there was anything else that he needed to know about the family for future dinners. "I wouldn't have thought of what they drink, Derek. Thank you so much for making sure they are happy, too."

Hazel grinned at him when Derek walked away. "He'll be the envy of everyone in the household because you acknowledged him. I doubt very much that anyone since my grandma lived here has complemented the staff for anything." Jayden said that he'd have to remember that from now on. "I will as well. I do remember most of the time, but I'm going to get better at it."

He heard a squeal from the living room and thought that Cullen had made himself known. Jayden and Hazel were hugged too many times for him to remember, and he was so happy that all the parents and grandparents were happy to see their youngest son. After he told them that he was here for the next three months, everyone was so excited that they hugged him and Hazel again and again for the surprise.

Everyone went to the living room to talk. It was one of only about five of the rooms that was finished. The rest of the house, mostly the bedrooms, had been put off in favor of things that the outside world would see. Not that he cared what anyone thought about their living arrangements. Jayden was content to just stay at home and not be bothered by anyone. He didn't include his family in that, but the entirety of the world beyond their patch of land.

It was too late for lunch and too soon to have dinner. So he had Derek bring in some charcuterie trays for them to munch on. Fruits and vegetables were a big hit, and most of them were gone when everyone leaned back on the couch to resume just talking. Cullen introduced his friend. He said that he wasn't sure what to call Logan yet, but he had been a very good friend while he'd been in his little village.

"You're magical. I can almost taste it on you. I don't doubt that…you're not a shifter. Not a regular shifter." It was Cullen who told his mom what he was. "I don't think I've ever known an elite shifter before. Or if I had, I didn't recognize them. You helped to keep my son safe. That's why he's brought you home."

"Something like that." Cullen looked at him while answering their parents. "He's going to be living here with Jayden and Hazel. They have a project that they're starting, and Logan will be a great deal of help for them to make it happen."

He'd not realized that it was a done deal yet but was happy that Cullen had brought it up. While they were peppered with questions about their new venture, he kept an eye on grandda Dixon as he stared at Hazel. Hazel hadn't made any connection yet with the elderly Dixon, so she couldn't ask him what was bothering him. But Jayden could and started to ask. He was glad that he smiled at her, and they waited for him to speak.

"You had a visitor." He nodded and took Hazel's hand into his. "Minx, I believe her name is. She's been seeing me since I was about knee-high. She told me that there would be a time when I'd be needed at home and would have to make the trip." Grandda looked around the room before continuing. "I've not told anyone yet, but Hazel and Amy know. We were in a bit of a spot until yesterday that has your grandmother and I thinking that we were going to prison."

Grandda and Grandma told them what had happened and how they'd come to owe everything plus the money they didn't have. Then he told them that if not for Hazel, then Amy coming to rescue them. They were going to leave here without saying a word, so nothing that was going on with them would come back to bite their butts too.

"You should have told me, Dad. I would have helped you." It was Grandma who said that's why they didn't go to him. That he'd just pay it off and not get to the bottom of it. "I guess I can see where that would be an issue. And you're right. I would have just paid it off, year after year, had it come to that. Their way was much smarter."

Dad looked at him and then at Hazel when he said this was the first he was hearing about it as well. Jayden was happy that they were able to get to the bottom of things and found that he wasn't the least bit upset that they'd not brought him in on it, too. Jayden was thrilled that Hazel wouldn't wait around to get approval—if there had been a reason for her to wait to get his grandparents taken care of.

"But back to Minx." Grandda reached over and took Grandma's hand into his. It was then that he noticed how gray they were both looking. And tired. He didn't want to think about the next stage of their lives and whether or not they'd wish to hang around, but he knew that it wasn't his decision to make. It had to be up to them, all of them entirely.

"She told us that we'd only have the one son and how we were going to be the best parents we could be by making him aware of the magical things going on around him." Grandma looked at her only child and son before speaking again, her head leaning on Grandda's. "At first, I wasn't thrilled to be a single child parents. All of our friends were having a brood of children, and we only had the one. But as the years went by and he then met Betty, well, it changed everything in the way that we felt about having more children. You two having the eight of them, and I do include Patrick and Beth as our grandchildren as well. I don't know if I could have had my heart filled anymore. These boys and girls, including their wives, now have made the world seem a great deal less hostile toward our kind. Not that they ever tried to kill us, not that, but—forgive me. I've lost all train of thought when I saw Logan there. He's going to be our great-grandson, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am, if you'd be all right with me calling you Grandma and Grandpa, both of you my grandparents too, I'd be ever so happy." After both sets of his grandparents talked to Logan about what he was going to call them, Jayden pulled out his cell phone and took a picture of them all. It was something that he was going to do more. Take pictures of when they were all together to have printed and hung in this room. He thought that it would be the perfect place to feel like family was surrounding them even when they weren't there. His cell phone rang just as he was putting it back in his pocket.

"Mr. Dixon? Jayden Dixon?" He said that was him. "I tried to call your wife, but her phone—someone told me that she tends to turn it off and forget to turn it back on. And I was…never mind. I have a child here that needs to be taken in for a few weeks. It might be longer, but for now, the hospital is saying only the…I'm babbling." They both laughed, and Jayden got up to go to his office. He wanted to be able to answer questions if asked—which he was sure that he would be when they had to go and pick up this child who was going to need them.

After getting the information that he needed, Jayden just stood there. They weren't prepared to bring a child into their home. He thought, which he had no idea why he'd think that to get their house ready. When Logan joined him in the room, he told him what was going on.

"It's all right, Dad. When you and Mom return, everything will be ready. Your family will be a huge help for this first of many." He nodded at Logan. "Get going. Mom is—"

"You called me Dad. Is that how you feel about me, Logan? And of Hazel?" Logan laughed and said that he would have called him that sooner, but there wasn't a chance. "Thank you for that. You've no idea how…Oh, Logan. I need a hug badly right now."

They were still hugging, babbling again about how wonderful it was how he was calling him Dad when Hazel joined them. Bringing her in to be part of the group hug, Logan called Hazel Mom several times before he remembered they needed to go to the hospital to get the little boy who had been abandoned by his parents.

He entered the living room just as the front doorbell rang again. It was Logan who said that he had it. Before he could figure out what was being delivered, he was asked which rooms they wanted set up for the nursery and toddler things. Logan seemed to have it all under control when he told his family that he had to go pick up an infant and would be returning soon. Then he asked if they were willing to wait.

"You're joking, right? Who in this room isn't going to be waiting for you to bring a baby home for us to hold?" He laughed with his mom. "Go on now, son. Go and get our grandbaby so that we can love on it."

"It's not a done deal that we are keeping him." Mom just waved him off, helping him by putting his car keys into his hand. "Mom, the baby might be adopted by some other family. Don't get too attached to him before he might have to go."

"He'll need to be loved, won't he?" He nodded. "Then we'll get as attached to him as he'll allow us. We're going to be his grandparents for as long as he's here. But he'll know that he's loved while here with you and Hazel. Now, go get him so we can start to make him feel better by holding him."

He didn't know what to say to his mom about the baby but found himself driving with Hazel and Logan to the first of what he was thinking was not going to be the last of babies that they pick up and bring home. No one said anything until they got to the hospital and got out. Then, it was only to ask what floor they needed to go to.