Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dax
A disturbance in the house woke Dax. He lay still, arm snugly wrapped around Everett, and listened. No strange noises hit his ears, so he stayed quiet, smiling at the memory of Everett asking about Dax’s ability to give blowjobs with the tusks.
He’d spent quite a long time showing him just how that worked.
And then they’d spent even more time making more love, touching each other with wonder, both overcome by the deep, emotional connection of their soul bond.
They hadn’t even performed the actual bonding spell yet, but what they already felt was so intense.
Absolute joy swelled Dax’s heart. They had a long lifetime together to experience this bond.
Dax had hoped for this, and the universe had gifted it to him. And to Everett.
It was rather humbling.
But he was so damned thankful, and he planned to shower Everett with so much love, the man would never feel lonely again. He tightened his arm around this wonderful man and pressed a soft kiss to his shoulder.
A muffled sound hit his ears and he went taut.
Someone was in the house.
Anger swiftly punched through his feeling of euphoria.
He quietly rolled until he could swing his legs from the bed.
Grabbing his sweats and a T-shirt, he dressed in the hallway and silently made his way down the stairs.
The dark tang of magic hit him, making the hair on his arms stand on end.
When he reached the first floor, he turned his head right and left, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from, though he had a good idea.
The study.
He padded that direction and sure enough, muffled noises came through the door.
Drawers opening as well as the soft clacks of items being moved around.
Someone whispered and another responded, so he was dealing with more than one person.
Or preternaturals by the feel of them. He couldn’t tell what kind of magic he was dealing with, but whoever it was would rue the day they’d broken into this house.
Fury burned through him, and he shoved open the door to throw them off.
There were two men in the room, both freezing as he barreled through the doorway.
One was bent over the desk, going through drawers, and the other was up on the ladder.
He recognized one from the estate sale company—the one at the desk the owner.
The magic wasn’t coming from him, so Dax went for the one up on the ladder first because he could easily overpower him.
He grabbed him by the leg and yanked him down, being careful not to throw him into anything that could break.
“Shit!” the demon yelled as he slammed into the floor.
Dax didn’t give him time to get up, pressing his foot on the demon’s chest to hold him down. “You have exactly one second to tell me what the fuck you’re doing in here,” he said as he stared Rick Aspen down.
“There’s no need for violence.” Rick shut the drawer he’d been rooting through. “There is something in this house that belongs to me, and I’m just trying to find it.”
“Nothing here belongs to you. Try again.”
“It’s nothing more than a stone that does in fact belong to my family. Everett’s grandfather won it in a game many years ago. I only learned that he had it when my father saw his obituary and told me what had happened. I want it back, and your boyfriend fired us before we could find it.”
“So you thought breaking into his home was the answer?”
“It belongs to me. My own grandfather should never have risked it in a bet. My entire family is pissed about it, and they’ve asked me to recover it. I know it’s here. I felt its magic the first time I came into this house. I can sense magic, just as I sensed it coming from you.”
“If that were the case, you’d know that magic is gone.”
“I was hoping he’d muffled it somehow. The damn man never let us into this room, so I knew it had to be in here. Where the hell is it?”
“You think I’m just going to hand it over? That I believe your story?”
“Look, I know what you are, but you don’t want to mess with my family.”
Dax pressed his foot down harder when the guy underneath it started to struggle. “If you know what I am, you shouldn’t have braved doing this.”
“Your strength is no match for my magic.”
Dax barked out a laugh. “If you had magic that worked against me, you’d already have used it.
No,” he said pointing down at the man on the floor.
“This is the one with the strength, and if you brought him as protection, that was a big mistake.” Dax bent, drew back his fist, and let it fly into the face of the demon on the floor, affectively knocking him out.
He stalked toward the desk, and Rick held up his hands.
“Look, I just want the stone. We didn’t plan to hurt anyone, I promise.”
“Really? You sent a chimera after Everett. One that bit him. Do you know that venom can cause permanent damage? You’d have left him a fucking vegetable!”
He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut when Dax scowled at him.
“You did know, you fucker. And then your people tried to kidnap him again here. And perytons? You know the damage they could have caused Everett.” Dax stalked around the desk and grabbed Rick by the throat, then lifted him into the air.
The man made a strangled noise as he kicked out and missed Dax. Dax backed him into a shelf and slammed him into it.
“Dax?”
At the sound of Everett’s voice, he looked at the doorway to find Everett standing there, concern pulling his features tight. “Maybe you shouldn’t kill him until we find out more.”
“He’s the one who sent the chimera.”
“I heard. And I’m sure you guys have some kind of jail for people like him, but I’d like to question him first. He can’t answer if you crush his windpipe. He’s uh, turning blue.”
Dax looked at the man to see that was indeed the case, so he lessened the pressure of his hand, allowing Rick to gasp in air. He carried him around to the chair in front of the desk and shoved him into it. “Move and you die.”
Rick rubbed his throat, glaring at Dax. When he spoke, his voice sounded like it had been dragged through broken glass. “I’m not telling you two anything. Just give me what belongs to me.”
“Did you really send that thing to bite me?” Everett asked as he came farther into the room.
He walked into the demon still passed out on the floor and jumped, obviously startled because he hadn’t noticed him there.
He stared for a long time and then his shoulders seemed to sag in relief.
“Shit, Dax, I thought you’d killed this one, but he’s still breathing. ”
“I’ve killed no one tonight,” Dax gritted out as he stared at Rick with narrowed eyes. “Yet.”
“Even if I wanted to give you that stone,” Everett said. “I couldn’t. It’s not here.”
“Where is it?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Look, your grandfather should have never gotten his grubby hands on our family tre…item.”
Dax’s ears perked up because Rick had started to say treasure. He knew the draugr must have been guarding a treasure when it was encased in the stone. “You’re lying to us. It never belonged to you—you’re after something.”
Rick narrowed his eyes. “That jade does not belong to Everett.”
“I beg to differ,” Everett said. “It belonged to my grandfather, and I inherited it. But none of this matters because, like I said, it’s no longer here. You’ve wasted your time trying to find it.”
“Get it back for me.”
Everett laughed. “Sure, buddy, I’ll get right on that.” He looked at Dax. “So what do we do about these two?”
“I’ll call Xavier.” Dax stared down at Rick. “That stone never belonged to your family, so I know you’re after something else. Feel free to fill in my employer. Just know that he can sense lies right away.”
“Everything I’ve told you is true. That jade belonged to my family. Because my grandfather died, we’ll never know why he thought it was okay to gamble with it, but it’s worth a lot of money, and we want it back.”
Dax leaned down and spoke through gritted teeth. “You’re obviously aware of the world of magic, though you have none of your own, so I’m guessing someone in your family does. You know exactly what was in that stone.”
“Was?” Rick’s face went pale. “You let it out? Where did it go?”
Now everything made sense. This man was nothing more than a treasure hunter, and he made Dax’s stomach twist in disgust. Ignoring the questions now firing his direction, Dax went to Everett and handed him his phone.
“Call Xavier while I keep an eye on this asshole. This man is no longer a threat to you now that what he wanted is gone.”
Everett took the phone, nodding. He looked like he wanted to say more but he just tightened his lips and left the study.
“It’s gone.” Rick scrubbed his hands over his pale face. “It really got away.” He looked back up at Dax and scowled. “You have no idea what you’ve done. My family has very powerful people, and they won’t rest until they find the creature you let loose.”
“You and I both know they’ll have a very difficult time of that.”
The man’s shoulders slumped, his face still ashen. But he said nothing else, staying quiet when Xavier showed up with Lake, one of the two warper wizards in his employ. They whisked Rick away.
“So,” Everett said as he hugged his arms to his chest. “Rick and his family sent all those creatures after me because they were going to try and break the spell on the nephrite. All because they believe that horrible thing inside is guarding a treasure? This was all about a treasure?”
Dax nodded.
Everett paled. “I hope your friends can protect whoever does have the treasure.”
“They will.”
“So, this is truly and utterly over now? We can get back to living our lives together in peace?”
Dax tugged Everett into his arms, then lifted him to carry him out of the study and up the stairs. Everett might complain about being too old to be carried but Dax knew he secretly loved it. “Yes. Now we go on to live our lives. Together.”
“For always,” Everett whispered as he buried his face in Dax’s neck. “I love you, Daxington Grobb.”
“I love you, too, Everett Page.”