Jayden took another sip of his coffee and continued to his office. Everything always seemed better with coffee.
Sitting back at his desk, he lost himself in his work by reading over all the files for the meetings he had coming up. He always wanted to make sure he was as prepared as he possibly could be.
"Hi, baby." Jayden cringed as he looked up into the beautiful face of his mother. Jessica Thompson was gorgeous in Jayden's eyes. His mother stood an inch shorter than him at five foot seven and had gone a little round in the middle after giving birth to seven children. Her brown
shoulder-length hair was lightly speckled with grey, but the ocean blue eyes she had passed down to Jayden sparkled with love and happiness for her family. This is what always made Jayden think his mother was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
"Mum, how many times do I have to tell you I'm not a baby?"
"No matter how old you get, Jayden, you will always be my baby."
Jayden sighed knowing he was beaten. There was no reasoning with the logic of a mother. He had been trying for years now to get his mother to stop calling him "Baby", but so far he hadn't had any luck. He had even enlisted the help of his father once, but that was just a huge waste of time as he found out that his dad couldn't deny his wife anything. If she wanted to call their youngest "baby" then there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop her.
"How are you this morning?" he asked her.
"Good, business is booming. Well, it's good for us but not good for all those poor people who have lost their loved ones." Mum had no magical ability whatsoever, but she loved her family no matter what they could do or who they were. She couldn't help out in the field so she took care of the business.
"I know, Mum, but we help them any way we can."
"You're a good boy, Jayden." His mum smiled. "Oh well, better get back to work. Don't forget dinner on Sunday." There was no way in hell Jayden was going to forget. The only thing he missed about not living at home was his mother's cooking. He loved Sunday dinner at his parents' house, even if it was a loud, raucous affair with all his brothers there.
"Don't worry, I'll be there with bells on," he told her.
"No need for bells, dear, just bring yourself," she said before she let him get back to work.
Jayden's parents had been together for over thirty years. The love between them was sometimes so tangible Jayden thought he could reach out and touch it. He believed this was because they were mates. All paranormal creatures had a destined mate out there just for them. Jayden smiled at the thought of finally meeting his mate, but as he was only twenty, he didn't think this would happen for several more years. None of his older brothers had been lucky enough to meet theirs yet. Plus he wasn't quite sure if he was ready for a mate, even if one was a necessity when you were a paranormal with a great deal of magic. A mate grounded you, gave you a measure of peace and it was said
that they tamed the wild magic within and allowed it to flow more easily.
The day seemed to drag on for Jayden, but that could just be because he didn't enjoy this side of his work as much as some of his brothers did. The customers were always surprised when they got a look at him, some even going so far as to complain to his parents. But Jayden refused to change who he was for anyone and if the clients didn't like it they could go elsewhere as far as he was concerned. He ran his hand through his hair, idly contemplating changing the colour again. Jayden didn't like meeting with such people any more than they liked meeting with him. He would be happy if all he ever had to do was show up at a cemetery and raise someone.
He ducked out to grab a quick bite to eat in time for the next meeting. But he stopped dead in his tracks upon his return to the office. His parents and Jackson were standing in the middle of the reception area talking to a man who was simply stunning. Jayden couldn't take his eyes off the gentleman.
The man stood eye-to-eye with his father, which put him close to the six foot four mark. He had dark brown hair cut short in a popular style and wide shoulders that were framed nicely in the charcoal grey suit he wore. Those
shoulders led to a nicely-shaped ass that Jayden knew he would love to sink his teeth into. He could see the hint of stubble on the man's cheeks from where he was standing and wondered what it would feel like to have it rubbing against his body.
It took a minute for their conversation to finally penetrate Jayden's brain functions.
"I'm sorry, Noah, but we can't help you," his father said sadly.
"It can't be done," Jackson piped up, adding his two cents worth.
"Please, you must know someone… maybe another company?" The man sounded desperate.
"I'm sorry, but no, I don't. As I said, we are the best in the country, and my sons are only able to raise someone for a maximum of fifteen minutes. Any longer than that would overexert their powers and cause them serious damage. I truly wish we could help you, but I'm afraid what you asked for isn't possible."
The man, Noah, looked resigned as if he expected that answer, but he had to try anyway.
"Well, thank you for your time." He shook hands with his father and before Jayden even knew what possessed him to open his mouth, the words were already
leaving his lips.
"I could do it." Oh shit!
CHAPTER 2
Noah spun around when he heard the soft voice float toward him. The vision before him was not what he was expecting at all.
The young man, and he was young, nineteen or twenty at the most, stood maybe five foot eight in height.
He had a thin, wiry frame and thick eyeliner surrounded the most piercing blue eyes he'd ever seen. Black jeans were tucked into black combat boots. The most normal thing about the young man was the light green button-up shirt he was wearing. But what stood out the most was his blue streaked black hair. The man was also holding a bottle of water and lunch that smelled amazing.
"Don't be stupid, Jayden, you don't even know what we're talking about!" Noah turned to stare at Jackson Thompson in complete shock. What the hell?
"Jackson!" Jessica Thompson sounded as shocked as Noah.
James Thompson let his wife deal with Jackson as he turned to look at the young man still standing in the doorway. Noah tuned out what was being said behind him and turned his attention towards Jayden. Despite the man's young age Noah had to admit he sure was sexy as hell. He
noticed that he looked a lot paler than he had before. Noah was surprised when he found himself wanting to take a step forward to see if the man was all right. He didn't understand his need to check on him, and Noah found himself using every ounce of his control to hold himself still. "Jayden?" James asked beside him.
"Sorry, Dad, didn't mean to say that." So this young man was another of James's sons. "I'll just go have my lunch, excuse me," Jayden said as he practically ran from them into an office down the hall and closed the door firmly behind him.
Noah followed quietly when James, Jessica, and Jackson headed in the direction of the closed door. James knocked on the door once, sharply, before opening it without waiting for a reply. The two older Thompsons entered the office followed by Jackson. Noah slipped in behind them and made his way to a corner of the room.
Looking across the room, he watched Jayden sitting at his desk with his head in his hands.
"Baby, what did you mean back there?"
Jayden looked up sharply, his gaze connecting with Noah's briefly before he looked at his mum. "Seriously, Mum, again? That's twice so far today and it's only just past lunch time," he said.
Jessica laughed. "Sorry, honey, it's a hard habit to break."
"It's okay. I still love you." Noah wondered if Jayden really thought they were going to forget about what he had said. He could see the hope that they would all over Jayden's face, but that
so
wasn't going to happen.
James smiled affectionately at his wife before he addressed his son. "Jayden, please explain what you meant."
"What if I don't want to?" Now Jayden just sounded petulant and Noah thought he'd never seen anything sexier.
Those deep blue eyes practically begged everyone to drop the subject and if they didn't get you, the soft pouty bottom lip would.
What the hell is wrong with me? I'm here to see
about raising my brother from the grave not to ogle some
barely out of his teens kid.
Noah shook his head to try and clear his thoughts and concentrate on the conversation going on around him.
James seemed to pause for a moment before he turned in Noah's direction. "Perhaps it would be best for all concerned if you could wait outside, Noah."
Noah had had a feeling something like this was going to happen. He was actually surprised he hadn't been asked to leave the second he'd walked through the door.
However, he had no intention of sitting this conversation out. If Jayden could help him, he needed to hear what he had to say.
Noah was sure to look James in the eyes when he spoke. "With all due respect, James, if what your son said is true and he can help, then I'm going to be spending a lot of money with your agency. I don't think it's too much to ask to hear what the man has to say." Noah glanced at Jayden, who was still sitting quietly behind his desk, his gaze jumping back and forth between Noah and James.
He looked back at James and thought the man would make a great poker player; his face was unreadable.
"Okay, Noah, you can stay for now, however, I'm going to ask that you not repeat anything you hear today outside this office."
Noah contemplated James's stipulation and decided it wasn't too big of a request. Even if it was, he probably still would have agreed as he really didn't want to leave this office.
"Agreed," Noah said as he held his hand out for James to shake.
James nodded and he shook Noah's hand before returning his focus to his son.
"Fine," Jayden huffed and seemed to collapse back
into his chair. He looked up at both his parents before he spoke again. It looked to Noah like he was trying to gather his courage.
"I know you all love me, but none of you really know me."
"What's that supposed mean?" James asked sounding affronted.
"It means that I'm a little more powerful than you realise."
It was just lucky that Noah was looking at both Jessica and James as Jayden said this; he could see exactly how shocked they were at their son's statement.
"What do you mean by a 'little more powerful'?"
Jackson asked, still standing behind his parents.
"It means that I can raise someone for more than fifteen minutes at a time."
The shocked gasp from Jessica and a stunned look from James let Noah know that neither of his parents had any idea of their son's power. Noah didn't know why that saddened him, but the thought of this man's parents missing such a huge part of his life had him feeling sorry for Jayden.
"How much longer are we talking about here and why the hell is this the first time I'm hearing about this?"
Noah could hear the hurt in James's voice.
"I'm sorry, Mum, Dad, I never wanted to hurt you. I just didn't know how to tell you and I didn't want to be treated differently. You know as well as I do how the others would have reacted to this news," Jayden said, his voice subdued as he looked down at his desk and fiddled with the paper bag his lunch was in. Noah could see the hurt look flash across Jayden's face before he hid it and wondered just how hard this was for Jayden to finally tell his parents the truth. Just how long had this man been keeping his powers a secret from his family?
"Hey, that's not f—"
"Quiet, Jackson." Jessica shut down her eldest son before he could say anything else.
James walked around the desk without saying anything then knelt down next to Jayden. Noah watched as James reached up and rested his hand on Jayden's shoulder.
"Talk to me, son, please. How long have you been dealing with this by yourself?"
Noah watched as Jayden seemed to crumble, his shoulders slumping before his expression turned into one of pure misery. A lone tear made its way down his cheek before he quickly swiped it away. "Since I was thirteen."
"Holy shit, bro," Jackson said.
"Not helping," James stated. Jessica's hand went to her mouth and covered the little sob she made. Noah could clearly see just how hard this conversation was on everyone in the room, except Jackson. He just stood there with a stony expression on his face, arms crossed over his chest.
"Getting back to my earlier question, how long can you raise someone until it becomes necessary to return them; before your energy fails?" James asked.
Jayden fiddled with the paper bag again and he bit his bottom lip before he answered. "I'm not sure."
"What do you mean? I thought you said you could do it for longer than your brothers?"
"I can. I'm just not sure how long I can last because my power hasn't failed yet."
Silence descended on the room, but before anyone could say anything there was a knock on the door. Frannie pushed the door open and poked her head in.
"I'm really sorry to interrupt but Jayden's one o'clock has been waiting for fifteen minutes now."
"Shit," Jayden jumped up and he rubbed vigorously at his face trying to clear away any trace that he'd been crying then he started searching his desk for papers. "Sorry, Frannie. I'll be right there."
"No, he won't," James said as he stood up. "Jackson,
please take Jayden's one o'clock. Frannie, please clear Jayden's schedule for the rest of the day; we have things to discuss."
"Aww, come on, Dad, I want to hear all about baby bro here," Jackson said. Jayden snarled at the man, obviously not happy with the "baby" comment.
"Do as your father says; we'll discuss this as a family later," Jessica said before James could answer Jackson.
"Yes, Mum," Jackson said, his voice meek. No matter what age, boys always seemed to listen when their mothers spoke in that tone of voice. Noah almost laughed but thought better of it.
"I'll make the changes, but would you like me to clear your schedule as well, Mr Thompson?"