Something that felt an awful lot like fear shot through Jaxon as Chyna spoke. She couldn’t leave him. He took hold of her upper arms and bent his head to look directly in her eyes. “No. You’re not letting me go. I can work through this.”
“And how long will that take? Days? Months? Years? I’m going to be blunt here. I’m thirty years old. I’m getting to the stage in my life where if I don’t find a man to settle down with soon it’ll be harder and harder to do so. Sorry to say, I’m not going to waste valuable time on you if you can’t give me what I want. I’ll find someone else who will.”
The thought of Chyna in the arms of another man had Jaxon fighting back a growl. She was his mate. He’d claimed her as his. There would be no one else for her. Neither one of them could back out now.
He pulled her stiff body against him. It was time for him to be a little truthful with Chyna. “While making love in the shower with you, I felt something pass between us. I don’t know if you felt it too. It brought you closer to me. I’ll admit it scared the crap out of me, but I’m not going to run away. I know I hurt you when I put some emotional distance between us. I didn’t mean to. That was my first gut instinct.”
Chyna put her hands on his chest. “I felt it as well. And now? How do you feel?”
He took a deep breath. “The thought of losing you scares me more than my feelings for you.”
She lifted a hand and placed it on his cheek. “I’ve fallen for you, Jaxon. Please don’t break my heart.”
“I’ll do my best to keep it in one piece.”
Jaxon took Chyna’s lips in a kiss that he poured how he felt about her into. He couldn’t say those three little words yet, but the emotion that would allow him to was slowly taking over the part of him that was scared shitless.
He lifted Chyna off her feet and carried her to the king-sized bed. He took his time stripping her out of her clothes, then proceeded to make love to her, letting his actions show her what he couldn’t say in words.
Chapter Seven
It had been incredibly hard for Chyna to drag herself out of Jaxon’s arms and go to work the following morning. After the fiasco in the shower, he’d done everything he could to show her he wanted her to stay with him. He’d made love to her, not holding anything back. Even though he hadn’t said the words, she’d felt loved.
Now she was stuck at work, waiting for the day to be over so she could see Jaxon again. They made plans before they’d left the hotel to see each other after it was her quitting time. Jaxon would pick her up at her apartment, then take her to his place. He didn’t know it yet, but Chyna had booked the rest of the week off, using up some of her vacation time. Joy would work at the reception desk while Chyna was away. Her friend was more than happy to get out of the mailroom, which wasn’t her favorite job.
Chyna had figured her days away from the office would give her more time to see Jaxon since he had to work nights. Spending the days together should help him get over his commitment phobia. At least in theory that was what Chyna hoped would happen.
Once her work day ended, Chyna hurried to her place to change. She’d just finished when Jaxon buzzed up to her apartment. After telling him she’d be right down, she went to meet him in the lobby.
During the drive to his house, she told him what she’d done when he asked her how work had gone. “I decided to use up some of my vacation days and took the rest of the week off. That way we can spend more time together.”
“I still have to work tonight, but I want you to sleep over.”
“I didn’t bring a change of clothes.”
“That doesn’t matter. I want to come home to you in my bed.”
“All right, I’ll stay.”
For dinner, they ordered pizza. Chyna watched Jaxon eat almost an entire extra-large all by himself. She had no idea where he put it all. There wasn’t an inch of fat on him anywhere. If she ate the way he did, she’d be four hundred pounds. Along with the pizza they had beer. Usually when she drank it, two would have her feeling good. This time that wasn’t the case. She was already on her fourth and felt completely sober. Jaxon had already had six and he was in the same condition as she.
Once it grew dark, Jaxon prepared to leave, telling Chyna she had the run of the house. He also kissed her as if it would have to last him for days instead of hours. She’d noticed a difference in him. Ever since the night before when she’d told him she thought they weren’t going to work out, Jaxon seemed to want to know more about her. After they’d finished eating, they’d done nothing but talk.
Since Jaxon had given her run of the house, Chyna decided to check all the rooms she hadn’t seen. She loved his sprawling bungalow. Living here would be no hardship, not that she was getting ahead of herself. It was just if she and Jaxon ever reached that stage where they wanted to live together, she would be more than happy to give up her apartment.
Chyna went to the wing that had the bedrooms. Two of the three spare rooms had their doors wide open. Inside each one was only a queen-sized bed and a dresser. No personal items were to be seen.
The third guestroom’s door was shut. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Chyna tested the knob and found it unlocked. She turned it and pushed open the door. She stepped into the room, her gaze taking in all the pieces of what appeared to be ancient Egyptian art. Everywhere she looked there was a depiction of the jackal-headed god, Anubis. There were paintings of scenes from what looked to be tomb walls, even a few pieces carved in stone.
Chyna walked over to one of the smaller statues that sat on a shelf along a wall. It looked as if it could be the real deal, a piece from Egypt’s past, but she had her doubts. She didn’t think Egypt would allow any of their antiquities out of the country, no matter how much the buyer was willing to pay. All of the items in the room had to be well-made replicas. They also tied in with the tattoo of Anubis that Jaxon had on his chest.
The sight of what appeared to be a small altar at the end of the room caught Chyna’s eye. She walked over to it and frowned when she found a couple of slices of bread and a glass of beer sitting on it. They almost looked like offerings. She couldn’t see Jaxon coming in here and leaving them because he was too lazy to get rid of them. She’d yet to see him leave any kind of food sitting around once he was done with it.
Chyna touched the bread and found it not too dried out, so it couldn’t have been sitting there for longer than a day. Thinking she’d take it and the beer to the kitchen just in case Jaxon had mistakenly left them in the room, she reached for them.
Chyna.
The sound of a male voice saying her name inside her head caused her to jump. She pulled her hands back and put one over her rapidly beating heart. She turned, half expecting to find Jaxon standing behind her. That he’d been the one to call her by name. But the only person in the room was her. She had to be hearing things.
With a shake of her head, Chyna walked out of the room and shut the door behind her, deciding to leave the bread and beer where they were. She’d have to remember to ask Jaxon about that particular guestroom. No place else in the house had anything ancient Egyptian in it. Maybe he was a closet collector and didn’t want anyone to know.
Chyna headed for the living room and sat on the couch before she turned on the large LCD television. She soon became caught up in a movie that played on one of the movie channels. It was a psychological thriller that kept her guessing who the bad guy was. At one point, she heard some creepy laughter. She gazed around, swearing the sound had come from somewhere in the room, but in the end she figured it had to have been from the home theater system Jaxon had hooked up to the TV.
Blown away by the end of the movie, Chyna switched the channel to something else. It was starting to get late. Her eyes felt heavy. She stretched out on the couch with her head resting on the thickly padded armrest and turned on her side toward the TV screen. It didn’t take long for her eyes to drift shut a few times. Eventually, she lost the battle and they stayed closed and she fell asleep.
* * * * *
Jaxon returned home after an uneventful night of hunting. He hadn’t found one evildoer. Though he hadn’t encountered any prey, he’d put the time to good use. He’d thought about Chyna and what she was to him. Now that he’d spent more time with her, he no longer felt he needed to run away screaming when he referred to her as his mate to himself. He enjoyed being with her. And the whole idea that she would never be anyone else’s but his gave him a warm feeling.
Also thinking about Chyna in his bed sleeping, waiting for him to return, had his thoughts shifting to all the things he wanted to do to her once he was with her again. He’d wake her up with his lips and tongue, make love to her. His cock ached with the need to be inside her.
He unlocked the front door and walked inside, closing it behind him. Jaxon turned the lock before he headed for the living room where he could hear the TV playing. It was so late he’d figured Chyna would have gone to bed already, especially since she’d gotten up early that morning to go into work.
Jaxon stepped into the room and smiled when he found Chyna fast asleep on the couch. He crossed over to her and picked up the remote from the coffee table and turned off the television. She didn’t stir. He went down on his knees in front of her and ran his gaze over her beautiful face. She was worming her way deeper inside him. Since the bond had formed between them, his feelings for her were only growing stronger, no matter how much he tried to slow them down.
He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. “Chyna,” he said quietly. “Wake up.”
She blinked open her eyes, then smiled when her gaze met his. “You’re home. I guess I fell asleep on the couch.”
“Then I better take you to bed.”
Chyna sat up, then shifted as he knelt between her legs. She put her arms around his neck. “You can take me to bed but not to sleep. Not yet, anyway.”
Jaxon pulled her closer until she sat on the very edge of the couch. “You missed me, huh?”
“Of course.”
Their mouths met in a heated kiss. Jaxon had missed Chyna as well. The feel of her against him, his arms holding her tight, felt right. As if she were the piece he’d been missing in his life and hadn’t even known she needed to fill it.
An evil-sounding laugh came from somewhere behind Jaxon. He only had enough time to release Chyna’s lips before he was thrown into the change. He groaned as his body shifted to his half-human and half-jackal form. Chyna’s eyes grew wide and the smell of fear radiated off her in huge waves. Her gaze shifted to a spot over his shoulder, her mouth opening and closing, but no sound came out.
Jaxon rose to his feet, tugging Chyna to hers at the same time, and turned to face the being who had dared to set foot in Jaxon’s home. The demon stood on the other side of the coffee table, his eyes glowing red. Jaxon positioned himself so Chyna stood at his back.
“Get out of my house, demon,” he said with a growl.
“I don’t think so, warrior of Anubis. I’ve been watching your mate while you were away doing your duty to the god of the underworld. I think she’d be fun to play with.”
“You won’t touch her.”
“Oh but I will. I can smell her terror.” The demon took a deep breath. “It smells delicious.”
Jaxon knocked Chyna back onto the couch, then kicked the coffee table out of the way as the demon launched himself at Jaxon with a sword in his hand. Jaxon willed his own into his hand and blocked the strike that would have cut into the top of his shoulder. With the blades locked together, he gave the creature a hard shove, pushing him away.
He tried to beat the demon back, but the creature’s strength was almost an even match for Jaxon’s. Even in this form, Jaxon didn’t have that great of an advantage. What ground Jaxon gained, the demon slowly took back, getting in a few good hits that left shallow slices across one of Jaxon’s biceps and his chest. Jaxon ignored his wounds, making a few of his own, as he fought to keep the creature away from Chyna.
But that strategy soon changed when Chyna jumped from the couch and tried to make a run for it. The demon lunged after her, his sword raised to strike her in the back. She must have sensed she was in danger. She spun around and held her hands up in front of her face as the creature’s sword descended.
Jaxon reached them in time to block the worst of the strike with his sword. The tip of the demon’s weapon sliced across Chyna’s forearm. Seeing the blood that welled from the wound sent Jaxon into a rage. Growling and snarling, he went on the attack, pulling on reserves of strength he hadn’t known he had.
Just as he thought he’d get a chance to take the demon out, the creature disappeared, then reappeared out of striking range. He bled from a number of wounds.
“Play time is over for now, warrior of Anubis, but you’re still mine. Remember that.” The demon disappeared.
Jaxon turned to face Chyna. She held a hand over her wound as she stared wide-eyed at him. As he willed his sword away and closed the distance between them, the shift tore through him until he was once again in his human form. His wounds healed with the change.
Even though fear still radiated off her, Chyna held her ground. “What the fuck are you?”
“I’m what the demon called me. I’m a warrior of Anubis.”
“So you’re telling me that changing into that beast thing is normal for you?”
“Yes. Let me look at your wound, then I’ll explain everything.” He reached for Chyna’s arm but she yanked it away.
“I already looked at it. I’m probably going to need stitches.”
He shook his head. “No, you won’t.” Not allowing her to pull away from him this time, he captured her wrist in one hand as he wiped away the blood with his other. “It’s already starting to heal. It’ll be completely gone in less than a minute.”
Jaxon held her arm where Chyna could see it. As he’d said, the slice wound disappeared in the amount of time he’d predicted without leaving a mark, not even a scar. He let go of Chyna’s wrist. She then twisted her arm this way and that, staring at it as she shook her head.
“What the hell was that?” she practically yelled. “That is not possible. I’m not supposed to heal like that.”
“It’s all right, Chyna. Calm down.”
Chyna backed up, breathing at too fast a rate. Her face was white. Jaxon felt a little worried that she was about to pass out on him.
“Calm down! How the frick do you expect me to do that? After what I just saw?”
“I know that was a lot for you to take in at once. Let’s sit down and I’ll tell you everything.”
She shook her head. “Not on your life. I’m not getting anywhere near you.”
Jaxon looked Chyna in the eye. “You have my word I won’t hurt you. I only shift into my half-human and half-jackal form when I’m in the presence of evil. It’s not something I do when I choose to. And even if I were to shift in front of you again, I’d not harm you. It’s still me, able to talk and think the way I do now.”
“Except it’s a you who is covered in black fur, has a jackal head and a tail,” she shot back.
“Yes, but on the inside, where it counts, I’m no different.”
“I can’t do this.” Chyna slowly backed up a few more steps. “I really can’t.”