Chapter 10 Jackson
JACKSON
Iwoke before dawn and rolled out of bed. Standing naked at my bedroom window, I looked out at the grounds of the estate. On the horizon, the first faint glow of light appeared. Things were looking up, and I couldn’t suppress the dull pulse of hope that radiated from my chest.
Time was running out. I needed to get that car to that Anitoli asshole soon. Shyanne had told me she’d have it ready by tomorrow, which was right at the deadline. Was I really going to pull this off?
Thinking of Shyanne brought a whole new set of emotions to the table.
As focused as I was on saving my family, I couldn’t deny how drawn to her I was.
She was special in a way I couldn’t verbalize.
Before leaving last night, my dragon had urged me to kiss her, to pull her body to mine and lavish her with pleasure.
I’d never experienced that with a woman before.
Over the years, my mother had tried to set me up with others—most notably, Tiana.
I’d contemplated it, if only to continue the line of winged dragons.
Though, since Tiana was the only other winged dragon near enough my age to mate with, the other options were drakes or wyrms. I wasn’t opposed to relationships with those offshoot breeds, but any child that came from it would only have a fifty percent chance of being a winged dragon.
If I was going to mate for anything other than love, I wanted more assurances on that end.
Tiana was gorgeous, but there was no spark. With Shyanne, there was, and I liked it. The whole thing had a newness to it that excited me and stirred something primal within me.
My cock twitched to life as I recalled the way she’d looked the night before.
Her hair bound back, tight jeans hugging her curves, and her full lips quirking into a smile.
Unbidden, thoughts swirled in my head, urged on by hormones and desire.
I tried to stifle them, did my best to shove them aside, but each time I did, a new image or fantasy burst across my mind.
My dragon snarled at me, angry that I was trying to deny even this simple pleasure. Would it really be that bad to take a few minutes and bask in the idea?
My cock stiffened even more, now fully erect. Licking my lips, I sighed and closed my eyes, letting my imagination take over.
“Is this what you want?” Shyanne asked, looking up at me with those gorgeous green eyes.
“Yes,” I whispered.
With delicate fingers, she undid my belt and snapped open the top button of my pants. My cock ached, hungry to be touched. I couldn’t tear my eyes from her as she worked the zipper and pulled my pants down to my knees.
Before tugging aside my underwear, she grazed her fingers across the bulge of fabric that restrained my cock.
“I’m gonna enjoy this,” she said, her eyes locking on mine.
She dragged my underwear down, my cock springing free. Without breaking eye contact, she curled her hand around the shaft and took the head of my dick into her mouth. I cried out in agonized ecstasy as the wet heat of her tongue caressed me, sending waves of pleasure through me.
“Oh my god, yes,” I groaned.
As she stroked my shaft and bobbed her head, she lowered her free hand between her legs.
I scanned her body and delighted in what I saw.
Small pert breasts, a flat stomach, muscular arms and legs.
Her dark olive skin flexed as she sucked me and touched herself, brown nipples erect, almost begging me to take them into my mouth.
The more she rubbed at her clit, the faster and more fervently she sucked my cock, fucking me with her mouth.
Soon, it was too hard to hold back. I wound my hands into her hair and thrust into her mouth.
Shyanne whimpered and moved her head in time with my movements, her hand swirling in feverish excitement between her legs.
“I need to have you. I want you.”
She pulled her mouth free and grinned up at me. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Growling in anticipation, I pulled her to her feet and bent her over the hood of a car.
She pressed her breasts against the cool metal and lifted her ass to me.
Grasping her hips, I looked down at the beauty of her well-rounded ass.
When I slid my cock into the cleft between her legs, it was like slipping into a pure sexual bliss.
I filled her inch after inch, stretching her until my balls pressed against her clit.
“Fuck me, Jackson,” Shyanne moaned, eyes half-lidded, looking like she was drunk on pleasure.
Her words stirred some feral animal side of me, and I couldn’t stop myself. Digging my fingers into her ass, I did as she asked, ramming myself into her. Shyanne cried out, the muscles of her back flexing as I fucked her.
“So good,” I grunted. “God, you feel so good.”
“More,” she cried. “Harder.”
She was amazing. I could already feel myself being drawn toward the point of no return.
An epic, mind-shattering orgasm was about to crash through me.
The erotic sounds of our bodies crashing together, punctuated by the whimpers and moans coming from her mouth, spun through my head and made it hard to concentrate.
Shyanne turned, looked at me and said, “Are you awake?”
I paused, mid-thrust, and frowned, “Huh?”
“Jackson? Are you awake?” she said again, but her voice sounded strange.
Bang-bang-bang.
My eyes snapped open, and my cock deflated in my hand.
“Yes?” I shouted. “What’s wrong?”
“Your mother ask you,” Tormynd said in his heavily accented and somewhat broken English.
Letting out a shuddering sigh, I grabbed my robe and slipped it on.
“Is everything all right?” I asked as I opened the door.
Tormynd gave me a pained smile. “She no going to be all right, I think. But today better. I think.” He gave a sad shrug. “She wants see you.”
“Fair enough.” I sighed. “I have an early appointment. I’ll need to leave in twenty minutes. I’ll be down once I’m dressed. Is she still in the nesting room?”
“No,” Tormynd said, looking a bit more hopeful. “She in kitchen. Tiana finally talk to her to eat. She has no food for four day. Is good she eat.”
“Shit,” I muttered, and ran a hand through my hair. “I’ll be right down.”
Tormynd nodded and gave a great, heaving sneeze. He tugged a tissue from his pocket. “Sorry. Allergy, I think.”
“Got it,” I said. “Have you seen Carson today? I wanted to see how it’s going trying to translate Ayumundi’s journals.”
“Yes,” Tormynd said with a smile. “He is in the den. He works long time on them.”
“Thank you,” I said. “You go on back to whatever you were doing. I’ll stop by and see my mother after checking with him.”
Tormynd departed, and I dressed as quickly as I could, then hurried down to the den where Carson sat with several of the journals spread around him. The man looked like a mad scientist with his hair standing up at all ends.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
Carson’s head snapped up, his eyes bloodshot. “Like shit. Glad you asked.”
My stomach sank. “Still no luck?”
Carson tossed his pencil down and ran his fingers through his hair, which only made him look more chaotic.
“None. These ciphers are like nothing I’ve ever seen.
All of us have given it a shot. I’ve even used some fairly expensive code-breaking software on them, but this isn’t a normal code.
” He grabbed a journal and shook it at me.
“Some of these characters he wrote are enchanted. They change every few seconds. I don’t know if we’ll ever get it solved. ”
“Damn,” I muttered. The threat of hopelessness tried to take over, but I tamped it down and forced a smile.
“Don’t give up,” I said. “You never know what might happen.”
Carson nodded and did his best to return my smile. “Yeah. I suppose. We’ll keep trying. I’ll see if Tormynd wants to have another go at it.”
“Great,” I said. “You’re doing a good job, Carson. I want you to know that.”
This time the smile was genuine when he grinned. “I appreciate that.”
“It’s true. I’ve got to go see Mom. Do you need anything?”
He pulled the journal back in front of him. “All good. Thanks.”
I left him there. If I was honest, I thought there was almost no chance we could decode them without Ayumundi, but we had to keep trying. Instead of stewing on it, I hurried along to find Mom.
My mother was sitting at the table in the kitchen with Savannah and Silvia. Tiana was at the stove, stirring eggs in a pan. Mom’s hair was a mess, and it looked like she hadn’t showered in days.
I caught Tiana’s eye and tilted my head toward the door. She nodded as she plated the eggs and handed it to me.
“Girls?” she said. “Let’s go get ready for the day.”
The two young ladies gave my mother a sad look before following their own mother from the room, leaving me with her.
Setting the plate and a fork down before her, I sat.
“Hey, Mom. How are you?” I asked, unsure what to say.
For a few seconds, she looked at the eggs as though she had no idea what they were. Horrified, I realized Tiana had made the very thing that had caused this. An egg. Was my mother visualizing my sister’s egg being shattered and ripped apart like this chicken egg?
I was about to pull the plate away, when she picked up the fork and shoveled bites into her mouth. I was shocked at how ravenously she ate, finishing it all in less than thirty seconds. When she was done, she put the fork down and finally looked at me.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Sorry? About what?” I said, brows furrowed in confusion. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about, Mom.”
“I’ve fallen apart when you needed me most. That’s awful. I’m not the only one who lost something, and all I’ve done is sit in the dark and pity myself.” She turned tear-reddened eyes on me. “That’s not what a mother does.”
I took her hand. “You lost your daughter,” I said, emphasizing the last word. “If anyone should apologize, it’s me. I’ve been gone a lot the last two days. I should have been here with you.”