'I'm only going to ask once calmly before I lose it Olivia. Why the hell were you with that man?' Jaxon's voice was so cold and poisonous it had me gulping in fright and I unknowing took a small step away from him to create more space between the two of us. I knew I had to face him eventually, but thinking back on it I should have given him a few minutes to calm down instead of walking straight out to him. The still night is dead silent with not even a slight breeze to make branches sway, all the animals tucked up safely where ever they sleep. The audible gulp of my nervousness and slight fear sounded much louder than what it really is.
'Olivia,' Jaxon said, his voice rang slightly in warning as his true anger started to show, making me wish for nothing more than his anger directed at me to stop or subside.
'It's not my fault,' I defended myself cutting him off. Clearly, this wasn't the answer Jaxon wanted from the glare he shot down on me, his white pupils sending a chilling shiver throughout my body and he took a shaky breath in, an obvious attempt to calm the anger arising and ready to explode.
'It's not your fault?' He questioned back, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration as I nodded my head, flinching when his arm shot out and grabbed around my wrist tight enough to show his dominance but not enough to cause me any physical pain.
'I lost you in the crowd, then Bek and Brandon found me somehow then I was demanded to go back to their house and I had to, otherwise it could look suspicious.' I said quickly, judging his reaction carefully with wide eyes.
'That man was not Brandon. I could sense power coming from him. He's one of us, just not on my side.' Jaxon finally muttered after a moment's silence.
'I know,' I replied, my breath hitching in my throat as he gave me a look of disbelief with his anger still in the mix.
'I knew that from when you burnt all those fucking homes down!' I finally yelled, courage appearing from out of the blue. 'He works for the government but he isn't high up in the chain I'm guessing. He did say though that they have no clue where you are. Were here undetected so far.' I informed him.
What caught me completely off guard was when Jaxon let out a huff in anger and reached out towards me. I closed my eyes, expecting some part of my body to spike in pain but jumped when I felt his strong arms harshly bring me into his chest. My heart beat thumped in my chest as my mind tried to process what was going on. In his angered state I was sure he was going to hit me but his comforting wrap around my torso with his head buried in the crook of my neck caught me off guard. He mustn't have caught my flinching or initial shock from the embrace because he stayed silent as he held me. It took a while for me to return the hug but when I wrapped my arms around his back, his muscles relaxing under my touch.
A nagging feeling in my stomach had me confused for the moment's silence we were standing in. The continuous feeling was only what I could describe as guilt. Seeing Jaxon only worry about my safety stirred the butterflies in my stomach as I put myself in his shoes. If I was powerful enough, I would go to all ends to make sure Jaxon was safe and not in any danger. The something came into effect making me feel even guiltier the more I thought about it as I couldn't help my mouth from speaking.
'I'm sorry.' The words were whispered from under my breath sounding slightly irritated as the need to apologize came on so suddenly even though my brain felt it wasn't necessary. I felt his head leave my shoulder and my wide eyes met his as we gazed into each other's eyes, mine flickering from his left to right then back again.
'I don't want you hurt.' Jaxon quietly said under his breath but I picked up on them and my heart melted as I looked into his softening eyes. He lent forwards and pressed his lips onto mine, the kiss lingering taking my breath away and showing a rare moment of the heart to heart with Jaxon.
'Thank you,' he replied just as softly under his breath and involuntary a small smile took over my lips.
***
'The boss man lives in Malara.' Daniel stated seriously as I sat with my back leaning against the bench in our shared caravan, Jaxon right next to me. I glanced over at him to see his reaction from the information but his eyes stayed hard and focused on Daniel as he continued sharing his obtained knowledge from the government building after day one at his new job.
'I don't have a name for this boss but I heard a few men and woman talking about the boss not being able to make it in today. The government knows of seizing of Olivia's village because one woman was out of the village at the time you guys attacked. Somehow she made it to Malara where she went straight to the government to tell them everything. They rid her off as crazy for believing in magic but really they knew what was going on.'
Everyone which consisted of Matt, Tom, Jarred, Jaxon and myself nodded their heads as we took in the new information.
'I used the hearing spell to listen into a meeting that was happening in the main offices.' Daniel informed us. 'Sat in a fucking broom closet for hours,' he muttered with a shake of his head, frustration clearly lacing his voice. Any other time I would have laughed but the information was important. I did however furrow my eyebrows slightly amazed that they had the capabilities to create a spell to enhance their hearing, something many people in the world would love.
'They were taking about um, Ben.' He lowered his voice as his eyes softened as they looked at me, sympathy filling them as he cautiously took in my reaction. I sucked in a sharp breath, the stabbing pain consuming in my chest but I tried to keep a straight face and not think of the details about what happened on the horrible days. Up until now I had pushed it to the back of my mind in hopes to forget it but I wasn't successful. Constant reminders of the sinful day constantly played through my mind, especially at night when my thoughts consumed me when I slept. The harshness we call reality is always lingering in the back of my mind making me suffer but I tried my very best to not let it affect me, although I'm not always successful it sure does make a difference.
Jaxon's hand was placed on my shoulder as he made small circles on the exposed skin and I took a shaky breath in, now feeling uncomfortable as I felt everyone's eyes on me. 'And?' I muttered out, wanting the focus directed off me.
'They ordered it. There was shouting and they asked stuff like how did she respond, Jaxon will make his move for revenge soon, stuff all like that. They're expecting an attack but not still for about a month or so. They also know you left the village leaving no trace of yourself and have yet to get a lead on you from what I heard.' Daniel said.
My mind clicked finally of why Josh was so pissed off when he said he didn't know where Jaxon and his men had gone to. They really had no clue where he was and obviously this was a huge advantage to us. Jaxon and I shared a knowing look from his mind linking the facts together as well.
'Is that it?' Jaxon asked Daniel and he nodded, looking a bit hesitant. Jaxon didn't notice and he dismissed everyone telling them to meet back here in a few hours to discuss possible plans for how we are going to deal with the new information. Daniel trailed at the end of the pack, his steps slow and questioning as his steps faltered for a second.
'Jaxon?' He stopped walking and turned to us, looking nervous as he contemplated saying something. Jaxon looked at him expectantly as I looked at him with a curious expression, wondering what he wanted to say. Daniel reached in front of him and closed the door, officially making this a private conversation.
'Is there, something between you two?' He asked slightly hesitant.
'I don't think our relationship concerns you.' Jaxon stated darkly as he rose to his feet defensively.
'No, no. I'm not meaning to pry or anything but, do you feel something, like an attraction towards each other you can't explain?' He asked as he tried to defend his reasons behind asking the questions.
'We're done here.' Jaxon darkly spat at him and the door behind Daniel flung open and hit the outside of the caravan with a bang. As Daniel turned on his heel to flee the room, I couldn't help but let curiosity take over as I grabbed his
arm stopping him. I reached around him and re closed the door and raised and eye brow at him.
'What do you know about it?' I demanded.
'The men talking, they said something. It was something along the lines of there is a myth. When demons finally fall in love it's the soul from a loved one when they were living, destined to bring out the ruthlessness in them, not the good like a typical story. They said they went and saw a lady who can supposedly talk to the dead or ghosts or something.' As each word left his lips, Jaxon's tight grip on my hips faltered slightly. My head swarmed with unanswered questions and I too took a small step away from Jaxon.
This myth would explain so much. It would explain the attraction between the two of us, the content buzz my body felt when we touched, the way our bodies fit together like lock and key, now felt explained.
'You can go.' Jaxon muttered to Daniel. From the corner of my eye I saw Daniel nod his head and practically race from the awkwardness in the room, but my vision stayed locked on the scuffed up converses that clad my feet.
'I'm sorry,' Jaxon finally muttered after what left like a half hour silence as we gathered our thoughts. My head snapped up to meet his eyes but for once his intriguing eyes didn't meet mine. They stayed looking above the bed straight in front of him looking blank of all emotion. His words shocked me to the bone and I racked my mind in attempt to think on what he was apologizing for but I came up blank.
I pushed my body from its leaning position on the bench and reclosed the small distance between us, raising my arms to gently grab his hand that rest slightly behind him on the bench as he supported himself. I tilted my head up to see him have no reaction to my touch and it instantly made me worry even more about what was going through his mind.
'For what?' I asked him quietly. He didn't respond to me and his eyes never left the wall.
'Hey Jaxon,' I quietly tried to grab his attention but it came up pointless. 'Jaxon,' I said again, releasing one of his hands to place onto his cheek, physically moving his head so he was looking down at me in attempt to get him to respond. His cheek felt warm under fingers, the skin having the starts of a beard growing as the stubbly hair prickled on my fingertips. His chest expanded then contracted as a warm huff of air fell onto my face and he reluctantly looked down on me after his sigh. Although I was expecting it, his blank emotion clouding his eyes threw my off guard for a moment as I felt like I was looking into the soul of an emotionless man.
'Why did you apologize?' I softly re asked him. He took a moment to speak and in that time, my heart was thumping in my chest in anticipation for his response. A small amount of reassurance rose in my as I felt his hand rotate on the bench to return the hold as his fingers interlocked with mine
'For what?' I repeated again gently.
'Don't you see?' His voice sounded exasperated and I stroked my finger along his jaw and cheek in encouragement and comfort. My mind started to think the worst as his hold on my fingers tightened, the sign I knew all too well of he didn't want me to run from what he says.
'They know of this something between us, the connection. The call to kill Ben was to make me angry and react carelessly.' His words sounded so true I visibly flinched from them. More unanswered questions flooded my mind as my hand slowly dropped from Jaxon's cheek back down to my side as the words became reality. Although it still left unanswered questions on why Ben was ordered to be killed and not myself, it finally made sense on why the innocent child I care about was taken cruelly from the world.
I finally understood what Jaxon was apologizing for and I'm in such a whirl pool of emotions I didn't know what emotion I should act upon. Realization clicked and I knew the something was to be blamed for Ben's death, but then confusion swept across me because blaming something would be blaming Jaxon and I didn't want to do that because none of the two of us knew this outcome would occur. Anger was most prominent at not only Jaxon for being the reason Ben was killed, but also at the boss who would stoop to such low levels in order to capture one man. Sadness was next to hit like a tidal wave from the remembering of Ben's lifeless body lying cold and dead in front of my eyes and me not doing anything to stop it.
'Olivia?' Jaxon's concerned voice asked me hesitantly. I hadn't even realized I had zoned out of it until he called my name to grab my attention.
'Yeah?' I let out a shaky breath as I tried to compose myself.
'I said are you okay?' he asked once again, his emotionless state now gone as his eyes filled with concern as his head dipped down to get closer to my eye level.
'Yeah, it's just-' my words were cut of as a stray tear fell down my cheek. Jaxon was quick to wipe it away for me before his strong arms pulled me into his body tightly, his arms running up and down my back as silent tears left my eyes.
Finally all the emotions had caught up to me and became too hard to detain as I began to mourn for Ben all over again. The piercing of my heart returned as continuous replays of Ben falling to the ground lifeless with his face turning blue occurred in my mine.
'I'm sorry,' he said again. I wrapped my arms around his back and pulled myself in tight to his comforting embrace, not trusting my voice to say I don't blame him. Jaxon understood the action and muttered a thank you under his breath. I hadn't realized but Jaxon had moved us to the bed and sat us down, me on his lap positioning us into a much more comfortable position and granting us more comforting gestures.
'how do you make it stop?' I hiccuped to him. I didn't move my gaze from the corner of Jaxon's shirt to keep my tears slightly hidden.
'Stop what, love?'
'The pain.' I whispered, feeling another shooting pain prickle within my chest.
'You don't.' he spoke softly. 'You just wait for it to disappear.'
'Has it gone for you? About Lacy?' I held my breath as I brought up the touchy subject of his younger sister who was murdered and the reasoning for him seizing my village in the first place. He was silent for a minute before he finally spoke.
'Slowly,' he muttered, his arms restarting the movement up and down my back for comfort. 'Very, very slowly.'
***
'Your tattoos are really striking,' a feminine voice sounded, causing me to halt my steps and listen. I knew the girl talking was the girl Stacy who is currently allowed to reside here because she was the only female apart from me who was staying in the camp. I strained my ears from behind the material drape separating the outside and the makeshift kitchen only to not hear a reply.
'What do they mean?' She asked again, yet nobody answered her question. I stared at the dark green tent material in confusion and slight disbelief as it sounded like she was having a one sided conversation.
'I've heard tattoos hurt, you must have been really tough to get them.' She murmured he voice portraying a tone of seductiveness.
'What are you doing?' A rough voice finally grunted out, finally letting me knew she wasn't alone. However I would have preferred her to be alone as Jaxon's voice flooded my ears.
'You're so strong.' Her musical giggle flooded my ears and instantly an emotion I could only describe as jealously flooded through my veins.
I heard a scoff but no reply was given. I opened to entrance slightly and peered into the space seeing Jaxon's back turned to me working on a bench and Stacey's small body sitting next to him, gazing upon him and what he was doing on the table.
I couldn't help but scowl at Stacey's appearance as my blood boiled. Upon staying here it was my first time seeing her and now since she had cleaned up and gotten some clothing that fit her, her now dirty and scrubby looking appearance was now fresh and clean. Her curvy tanned skin to the much desired shade matched Jaxon's perfectly and her mid length brown wavy hair was falling over both shoulders as a beautiful smile graced her lips. She looked absolutely beautiful now. As much as I wanted to interrupt her and show her that Jaxon is mine, I stayed back to watch how Jaxon reacted to her and her obvious flirtation.
'So,' she chirped happily, unaffected by Jaxon's lack of response. 'What do we do around here for fun?' Her eyes smiled brightly down at Jaxon.
'We don't have fun here.' He muttered in reply not even sparing a look at her. I couldn't help but feel reassured form his lack of interest in the beautiful girl as his back tensed from discomfort of the situation.
'What are you, a prude?' She laughed at her own remark and I narrowed my eyes at her.
She pushed herself down from the bench and stood next to Jaxon, to close for my liking's as her rested her body weight on one hand resting on the bench. 'We should change that. Let's do something fun.' From her mischievous tone I could tell her eyes would be sparkling in excitement. Jaonx's movements froze and he turned to look at her.
'Like what?' I held my breath, annoyance rising from his reply.
'Well,' she said and took another step closer, pressing her body into hers. Jaxon stayed stationary, not moving his head or his body away from her. 'We could have some real fun.' Her arm rose as she made a move to lace her arms around Jaxon's neck, rising onto her toes as she pulled his head in closer to hers.
Just as I was about to storm into the room, Jaxon's arms shot out and roughly shoved her body away from him, a disgusted look adorning his face. 'Or not.' He spat at her.
Stacy looked as if she was about to lose her balance before she quickly regained her composure.
'Nobody has to know,' she tried again taking another step forwards. She reached an arm out, only for Jaxon to flash up to her body, his large hands roughly grabbing her wrists away from his body.
'Try and pull a stunt like this again, and you'll be running as far from this camp as your pathetic self can take you.' He spat at her, flashing back to his bench as Stacy stood wide eyes and frozen in her spot.
She slowly lowered her hands before moving away to the bench bag to grab some bread and a type of spread. Taking this as my cue, I opened the curtain complexly and strolled happily into the tent. Jaxon's eyes glanced up from his bench, a scowl plastered on his face but it disappeared as soon as he saw me.
'Hey beautiful,' he huskily spoke and strolled up to me. 'I made you some lunch,' he nodded his head towards the bench he had been standing at.
'Hey Jaxon, thanks' I muttered, feeling my cheeks heating up from his compliment and kind gesture. When he reached me, I bought my lips up to his igniting the buzz to fill my body. Jaxon's hands wrapped around my waist securely as he lent into the kiss, my hands raising up so my fingers wound through his soft ringlets. His tongue swiped at my lips and I granted him entrance without hesitation as he took dominance over the kiss. Reluctantly I pulled away as I needed air, breathing heavily as I watched Jaxon open his eyes looking flustered.
'Wow, maybe I should make you lunch everyday if this is the thanks I get.' He smirked as his eyes danced in pure amusement and playfulness.
'Maybe,' I smirked back at him, putting an arm securely around his waist.
'Hey,' I chirped to Stacy, a smug look plastered on my face as she stared at us with a blank expression.
'Hey,' she replied, her voice sounding hoarse as she tried to cover whatever emotion of rejection and disappointment she felt. 'Um, I should go now.' She muttered before hastily leaving the tent with a piece of bread on it. I couldn't help but beam and when the flap to the door closed, I let out a booming laugh, connecting my lips to Jaxon's once more in victory.
***
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