Taming Jax (First Wave Book 5) (32 page)

“Can it work?” Grai asked, daring to hope that they could save Jax.

Amun fought to hold back the pain he felt when he responded. “No. The energy isn’t the problem. The connections are gone. Destroyed. There is literally nowhere for the energy to go.”

“What of her beast?” Grai asked, refusing to think this was the end for the vibrant and fearless warrior who was loved so greatly, by so many.

Amun shook his head slightly. “There is no life there, other than the child. What the hell happened to her?” Maybe if he could figure out what happened, maybe he could come up with something to try, he thought.

“I don’t know Amun. We found her behind the barn, exactly as you see her. There was no one there when we arrived, but I saw the footprints. I know someone was there. What could have done this to her?” Grai asked, unable to understand what could have done this to Jax in only minutes, then disappeared before they could get to her.

Both men turned to the commotion going on with the animals in the docking bay. They watched, almost in relief, as the animals moved out of the way as Lara walked through them towards the MedLab.

Grai breathed out a sigh when he saw that Ivint and Sacara were walking behind her. He knew that Reven would need their support, whether he realized it yet or not.

Reven felt the disruption in the energy he was using to scour Jax’s body for their bonding strands, and he turned angry eyes towards the door and the cause of it.

He felt Melina tense, before she laid a calming hand on his shoulder. “Don’t hurt her. She will help.” Melina said softly as she turned to the woman standing in the doorway. The one she’d called to them to help Jax.

Chapter Nineteen

Lara ignored everyone as she rushed to the bed. Cal moved out of the way at a wave of her hand, and she stood next to Reven. Without a word, she placed her hand on Jax’s thigh and took a deep breath.

She sent her energy into Jax’s body, trying to discover what was wrong and what had happened to her. It didn’t take her long to realize the seriousness of the situation. Worse was, there wasn’t enough left of Jax’s energy to grab hold of it with her own.

Lara pulled her energy from Jax and looked into the glowing silver eyes of her hunter and smiled gently at her. “You have the right idea. Can you help me try it again?” She asked and wasn’t surprised when the brave child nodded her head quickly.

Reven watched as Melina and Bayla placed their hands over Lara’s and he placed his over all of theirs. When Lara turned her glowing golden eyes to him, he stared at her with determination as she nodded her head at him and smiled before closing her eyes.

Reven felt a sharp pull inside as the energy was ripped from him violently and quickly before it stopped abruptly. He stood and swayed for a moment while the girls pulled their hands back.

With a wave of her hand, Lara cleared his mind, so he could understand what she was going to say. When she knew Reven was more clear-headed, she explained to him what had happened to his mate.

“Someone with incredible power tried to force this location from her mind. They wanted to know where to find the hunter. Jax figured out what he wanted. She couldn’t let it happen, couldn’t let him find her children… or you.” Lara said softly, stunned by the sacrifice Jax had made. To keep all of them safe.

Amun interrupted hoping he could help somehow. “What did they do? How can we fix it?”

Lara shook her head sadly. “He did not do this. She did this to herself to stop him from taking the information from her mind. There is nothing in your technology that can help her.”

Reven looked at Lara and demanded angrily, “What did she do?”

Lara stared at him unblinkingly. “She turned her own energy on herself. Just as we did, she combined her energy with his as he was attacking her mind, before he could pull back. It overloaded her neuro pathways until they were all destroyed so he could never find you.” 

“He knew she wasn’t strong enough to fight him, just as she knew it. Jax did the only thing she could think of to save her family. All of you.” Lara said sadly, as her own tears for the courageous woman flowed silently down her cheeks.

“No!” Reven roared. “It does not end like this! Our life together does not end like this! You’re the all-powerful bitch around here! You fucking fix her now!” Reven roared in pain and anger as he clenched his fists.

Melina and Bayla sat up, both baring their teeth at Lara as Cal moved back towards the bed with a rumbling, throaty growl. Grai and the others tensed, while Amun remained oblivious, his eyes glued to his scanner as he ran the new scenarios through the computer, hoping to find a way to help his patient and friend.

Lara raised her hands, palms up and everyone could feel the calming energy overtake them. “Calm yourself. I said that Amun, and his technology couldn’t help her. I did not say that there was no hope. Your mate is very stubborn and what little remains may be enough to bring her back.”

Lara laid a hand on Reven’s arm and looked into his eyes to make sure he was listening and understanding her words. “What we attempt is not a guarantee, Reven. The damage is extensive. It may not work, or we may not be able to bring her back fully. Do you understand?”

Reven nodded his head. “If we give her a chance, she’ll do the rest. I know her… she won’t give up. She would never give up.” Reven didn’t care how slim the chance was; he wanted her back. Any part of her.

Ivint looked at Lara. “What can we do to help?”

Lara chuckled. “It is not you that I need. They are coming.”

Grai looked out into the docking bay and saw his mate coming towards them with Tristan in her arms; David was leading the way.

“Wait… what the hell are you going to do?” Grai asked with concern. He didn’t like that his son, and his mate were here.

Lara sent calming energy to him. “Do not worry, the only thing that will happen is they may become tired from using their energy. I promise you that no harm will come to your family.”

“Why Tristan?” Grai croaked out as Tricia moved to his side and squeezed his hand before going to the bed.

Everyone watched with watery smiles as Tristan met his mate for the first time. He sat on the bed next to her, and his eyes lit up as the smile spread across his face. Bayla gurgled and cooed happily as she waved her arms up and down excitedly before pulling him to her for a hug.

Lara smiled at the children before looking up at Grai. “Because he can balance the energy we gather so we do not do anymore damage to Jax’s brain. He and your mate are in no danger.” Lara assured him before she took one of Bayla’s hands in her own, placing the other on Jax’s head.

Bayla held Tristan’s hand while he let Melina take the other, until David, Reven and Tricia were the last in the chain of energy. When Grai stepped up, Lara shook her head at him and answered the question she knew he would ask.

“It is the love that Reven and Bayla have for her that will be needed to help bring her back. It is the only reason they will be able to help. No one else can. No matter what you think you see, do not interfere.” Lara said as she sent the order to Cal and the other animals to go back on alert. She couldn’t take any chances that someone might interfere.

Amun stepped back, unable to assist; he tried to help calm Grai while he recorded everything so that he could study it all later.

“I’ve set up scans on all of them and will watch them closely.” He assured Grai before turning his attention back to his scanner as it leapt to life.

The bed began to glow in a golden light, silver strands shooting through from the energy of the Prime. Reven and Bayla, shook violently for a moment before Tristan’s hand tightened on Bayla and the energy coursing through them lessened.

Lara found the small strand of Jax that still remained in her mind, and she used the energy of the others to help pull the strand. Grabbing it with her own energy, she traveled the strand and saw that very little was left. Most of the memories were gone and all that remained were the raw emotions that she had felt for those that she loved. It was enough.

Lara set to work, using the energy of her Prime to heal the burned connections in Jax’s mind. There were a few that were far too damaged to ever be used again and Lara carefully re-routed what she could into other dormant areas of her brain, trying to save as much of her functions as possible.

Once the connections were healed, Lara could feel Jax’s soul begin to come alive again and start to light up the new connections in her mind. Her determination to come back to her family was absolute and Lara had to shut her mind back down again to complete the healing.

With most of Jax’s memories gone forever, Lara pulled the memories and images from the minds of her mate, friends and her animals to help rebuild what she could. Jax would never have the intense emotion associated with the memories, but she would still have them instead of the emptiness.

The only memories that had remained were the images of her mate and children and the love she had for them. Using that love, Lara easily rebuilt every detail and memory of their time together, unwilling to allow a second of those precious moments to be taken from the brave woman. She’d given up far too much already; Lara thought sadly.

Lara worked for hours, re-building everything she could of Jax’s mind. Finally, after most of her memories had been reformed, Lara found the one memory that she had desperately wanted to find, one of the very few that had remained. She knew Jax would retain it.

Blocking out the other Prime around her, Lara pulled the memory from Jax’s mind and cemented it into her own. She didn’t need it to know who had done this to Jax. That identity she had known the moment she had touched her body and felt the residual energy.  

No, Lara needed to make sure that Jax had no memory of the man or what he had done to her. And not just because if the memory remained, he could find Jax again. She needed to ensure there was nothing that any of them could use to find him or track him.

Pushing her anger and her concerns aside, Lara turned her attention to the beast who barely continued clinging to life. Each small pulse of energy that it could gather, it was sending to Jax in order to try to keep what was left of her mind alive.

There was only one choice left to save the beast and Lara did what she had to do in order to give Jax back as much as she could, of what she had lost.

Lara knew a lot of it was her own guilt that was driving her to fix as much as she could, to try to make up for the mistake that had allowed this to happen to begin with, but she didn’t care. She would fix it. And she would end the life of the bastard who did this.

She had hoped he wouldn’t return. That she would be spared having to kill him in this life. She should have known better. He wouldn’t escape this time. This time, she would end him permanently; Lara thought before she turned her attention back to the woman who should not have paid such a price to keep her family safe.

*****

Hours later, Lara pulled back from Jax as Bayla slumped over into Tristan’s lap, and Reven collapsed on the bed. Grai rushed to his son, who gently cradled Bayla’s head in his lap as he caressed her hair back from her face and hummed a song Grai had never heard before.