Page 46 of Taste of Danger

“Nice to see you,” Hyett said. “Cool mate.”

“Mates.” Jax clapped him on the back with a huge grin. “Next time you flirt with her, I’ll gut you.”

Hyett laughed before they stormed out the back door with everyone else. While the bears shifted and took off, Jax, Jaytee, and their dad stood on the back porch and surveyed their backyard and forest.

Jax could smell the stench of vampires and knew they were close by, but he couldn’t tell how many. Would it be another horde, or would Akai be foolish enough to bring only a handful with him?

“Stay sharp, boys,” Kalen said then shifted, moving slowly around the house.

“Wish we’d had time to study our enemy.” Jaytee glanced around. “Be real glad when we can go back to just being a family without the outside interference.”

“Was just thinking that earlier,” Jax replied.

The two were bumped aside as Casimir walked onto the back porch, his hair tied back like he was ready for battle.

“You could say excuse me.” Jax grunted. “It’s rude to storm outside and barrel through someone.

The side of Casimir’s mouth curled into a smile. “Metkíenkár, nyzants.”

They watched the warrior walk straight into the forest before he disappeared. “Did he just say met key on car? What does that even mean?”

Jax shrugged. “I understood brothers. That was it. I think he might have been insulting us.” He ran his hand over his beard. “I still want to know what he said to Damon before he left for the Unseelie realm.”

“Why?” Jaytee grimaced. “Plan on saying that to Damon yourself?”

“Say that again and it’ll be me and you out there fighting,” Jax growled. “If it’s that sexual, I want to say it to my mates, jackass.”

“Just saw movement to my left,” Jaytee said in a lower tone. “Vampires must’ve spread their scent around to throw us off their trail then circled back.”

Jax caught the blurred movement before a man suddenly appeared standing in their backyard. The stranger was tall, lean, with flowing black hair and would have been gorgeous if not for his cruel, calculating eyes.

“You mutts don’t stand a chance, so just hand over my father’s pet and we’ll leave you in peace.”

“I think you meant pieces,” Jax corrected, descending the steps, suspecting this was Akai. Jaytee followed closely behind but didn’t interfere.

“Why don’t you go home and tell daddy to do his own dirty work, little boy.”

“You know nothing about my family.” Akai hissed.

Unfortunately, Jax knew more than he wanted to about Akai's family, thanks to Elvine joining their hands.

While he could understand the pain of losing a mother—he still felt it deep inside himself and knew it would never go away—he couldn’t comprehend torturing an innocent person in an attempt to ease the suffering.

“Your father killed your mother and tore apart your family that night, along with his son’s trust and love,” Jax stated, noticing a slight narrowing of Akai’s eyes. “And since then, he’s been giving you whatever you want just to avoid facing the fact that, on that same night, he also destroyed you mentally and emotionally. Am I close or at least in the ballpark?”

“Arion talks too much.” Akai replied with a malevolent gaze toward Jax. “If your life is so perfect, where’s your mommy, mutt?”

Every shifter around Jax growled in response. “Hunters killed her,” he answered truthfully with a slight ache in his heart.

“Humans,” Akai spat with disgust. “Worse than filthy mutts.”

“You’re just a bundle of joy.” Jax sneered. “But I have another theory. Tell me if this one fits you better. Your father thinks your mind broke that night, but if you ask me, I think it was actually set free. Am I right, little boy? The monster has always been inside of you. You just did a good job of hiding it.”

A slow, sinister smile spread across Akai’s face. “You are the first person to figure that out.”

It wasn’t difficult. The man took too much pleasure in inflicting pain on others.

He was willing to bet Arion wasn’t his first victim. If anyone had bothered to check, they would have found centuries of this vampire’s atrocities scattered in his wake.

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