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10

Awaken the Kraken

Pierce House’s once lush gardens had long succumbed to knee-high weeds and mischievous gnomes, and its full wraparound porch looked a far stretch from grand—or up to code. The damn thing looked ready to cave if so much as a pebble fell on it at the right spot.

Once Jax unloaded the supplies into the backyard, he’d pivoted his plan, leaving the gazebo for another day. The safety of those in the house came first, which was why he’d begun ripping away the rotted planks before the sun came up.

It wasn’t like he slept much lately.

A certain curvy witch invaded not only his awake-time thoughts but his dreaming ones, too. The end result left him hot, bothered, and hard, none of which had been rectified with a cold shower and a strong tugging session. He needed to tear things apart with his bare hands and knock shit down.

If only those little gnome bastards didn’t keep absconding with his damn tools.

Nora’s soft heart and love for the beastly little miscreants who treated the unkempt grounds like a Weed Wonderland made his job ten times more difficult. He had no such fondness for the little thieves. As he tossed another rotten board, about a half dozen of them scattered, the sound of their non-sensible stone-rubbing twittering fading in the distance.

Most of the rear porch had to go, either rotted or warped from time, weather, and wear, but any salvageable wood would be saved for work elsewhere on the house. This timber held too much history to toss away without another thought.

He bent to grab his crowbar from his bag and found it empty. “What the…? Hey!”

A shirtless gnome with red pants and white suspenders froze, his beefy hands wrapped around the end of the crowbar as he dragged it behind him. Realizing he’d been caught red-handed, he redoubled his efforts, dragging the iron against the slate.

“This is not yours.” Annoyed more than angry, Jax grabbed the other end and tugged. “Release.”

Red Pants yanked back, his wrinkled face distorting as he unleashed a high-pitched snarl.

“You sure you want to play this game, buddy? Fine. I’ll play.”

Jax handed his inner cougar the reins. The mountain lion surged forward, enough to subtly lengthen his canines and release a low, rumbling growl that nearly shook the ground beneath his feet. It did the trick, the gnome dropping the crowbar with a frightened squeal and hustling his stony ass toward the weeds. Before he lost himself in the foliage, a momentary burst of bravery turned him back around, flipping Jax what constituted as his middle finger.

“That wasn’t very nice,” came a sassy reprimand. “Maybe he was just trying to help you.”

“Your consciousness is supposed to be floating in the middle of a wildflower field or on a beach somewhere. It’s not supposed to be in this garden and focused on my manners or lack thereof.” Jax shot the teenager a look, but with her eyes closed, she didn’t see his disapproving frown. “And he was definitely not trying to help.”

Much to his surprise, Grace had been the first person he’d laid eyes on this morning, coming out to help him unload his tools and supplies. And then she’d stuck around. His first instinct was to give her a mallet and tell her to get smashing, but he remembered his conversation with Gavin and changed tactics.

He wasn’t certain she was getting anything out of it, but Nora’s gnomes sure were, climbing her like a jungle gym before diving off and doing it all over again. She let them play, occasionally reaching up and freeing one if it got tangled in her hair, and then went back to her silent meditation.

“It’s kind of difficult to go to a beach when there’s a grumpy kraken nearby,” Grace joked.

“I’m not a kraken. I’m annoyed. Damn pests already stole half the tools I came here with. They keep it up and I’ll have to hammer in the nails with my head.”

“At least we both know it’s probably hard enough to do so.”

The attempted crowbar thief returned and climbed in the crisscross of the teen’s lap. Using it like a hammock, he kicked back and, after sticking out his little stone tongue at Jax, closed his eyes.

“Gnomes get a bad rap. They’re not so bad.” She patted the snoozing gnome in her lap. “Just like my little buddy here. He’s just misunderstood.”

“He’s also stealing your necklace. Five more seconds and the little bastard will have it stuffed down his pants.”

Sure enough, Red Pants held the unclasped gold chain in his hand, and Grace, with a raspy growl, snapped out of her meditation pose and quickly evicted him from her lap, taking her necklace back. “See if I ever share my breakfast with you again, Emmett. Bad boy.”

The gnome stormed off, waving his hands, and disappeared behind an oversized tree stump.

“That thing has a name?” Jax asked, dumfounded and confused.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He looked like an Emmett to me, so that’s what I named him. He seemed to like it well enough.”

The teen put her necklace back into place, her gaze wary as she watched Jax pull a few planks and then replace them with fresh timber. “Did you hear I’ve been roped into whatever gauntlet thing that you and Harry have happening? There was talk about a fearsome foursome or something. All I know is that somehow, even though I wasn’t present, I’m expected to participate.”

He shot up an eyebrow and yanked at another plank, tossing it onto the pile with the others. “You’re their fourth?”

“Apparently… unless my shifter mentor thinks it would be too strenuous and too much pressure to put on a young shifter during my training. I’ll gladly back out… for progress’s sake.” Her broad, hopeful smile took him by such surprise that he paused before laughing. The longer he laughed, the more her smile dimmed. “Guess that’s a no.”

“Sorry, Sparks. But I actually think it might be a good idea.”

“Yeah? How do you figure that?”

“Well, you’ll be meditating three times a day, really rein in that focus, and by the time the first event rolls around, you can use that new blissful control of yours to focus on those heightened gifts.”

She cocked a dark eyebrow. “How exactly will burning hay in a wheelbarrow help me aim a paintball gun?”

“It won’t, but your heightened eyesight will. Not to mention that during the Night Drop, you’ll get to use all six senses.”

“You mean five.”

He shook his head. “Not when you’ve got supernatural DNA. There’s always a little extra in there. Some people call it intuition. Others call it the Sense.”

“What do you call it?” Grace stood and brushed off her jeans.

“I call it my gut.”

“At your age, it could also be called an ulcer.” Grace’s lips twitched at the snarky joke.

He fought off a smirk, distracted for long enough that the back door opened before he realized.

“Gracie, I’m—” Harry lifted her foot to step onto the nonexistent back porch, and Jax leaped over the bare frame, catching not only her squeal but her body as she tumbled into his arms.

Her ponytail swept across her face, her chest heaved, and her heart beat wildly at the base of her throat. “What the hell just happened?”

“Morning.” His voice turned to gravel as she pushed her hair from her face, her periwinkle eyes drilling him right to the core. His own heart lurched before she turned her gaze away and looked around.

“Where did the porch go?” Harry asked. “Did those little stone hooligans steal that, too?”

“They kleptoed things from you, too? Glad I’m not the only one.”

“Where do you think the angel in the fountain got all the lingerie?” Grace chuckled.

His gaze slid to the dancing angel taking center stage in the overrun garden maze. A good quarter football field away, he hadn’t noticed until now that the angel did indeed sport what looked to be a push-up bra and, god help him, a matching corset.

His imagination kicked in instantly, replacing the angel statue with a mental image of Harry. Full-on curves. Luscious breasts spilling from the delicate fabric, fabric that could probably be easily torn away by his hands, teeth… or claws.

Jax’s cock twitched.

“You can put me down now.” Harry looked up at him expectantly, totally unaware that she’d unintentionally awoken the beast—both the one in his pants and the cougar itching to get closer to the surface.

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” He released her legs and held her torso, the move brushing her entire lower body against his in the process.

Fuck him. He swallowed a groan.

She glanced at what remained of the back porch. “So… you’re doing work today?”

“Sorry. I told Nora, but I guess you didn’t get the memo. Yeah. The entire thing all around needs to be torn down and replaced, but I wanted to start here before someone—”

“Fell to their demise?” Her lips twitched. “Too late for that apparently.”

“Apparently.” Jax chuckled.

A small chortle turned both their attentions to the teen. Grace’s nose wrinkled. “Older people flirt so… weird. It’s almost painful to watch.”

“What?” Jax and Harry questioned simultaneously.

“Uh, no.” Harry shook her head adamantly. “No flirting happening here.”

“Not in the least,” Jax agreed, quickly dropping his hands and taking a small step back.

The teen didn’t look convinced, and, hell, he wasn’t either.

Harry fixed her ponytail and turned, a pretty pink blossoming on her cheeks. “I’m heading into town to meet Elodie and Lenny. I got an SOS text and that could mean an actual SOS or—”

“Or she’s found a way to get under Silas’s skin,” Jax added, smirking.

“Yeah, I noticed that seems to be a goal of hers on the daily. I got the CliffsNotes version from Lenny, but I have a feeling there’s a lot more to it. It’s weird, because when he used to come visit Marie during those summers in high school, I thought they’d actually had a thing for each other.”

“Pretty sure they still do and that’s the problem—but you didn’t hear it from me.”

“Got it.” She mimed zipping her lips. “Well, I guess I’m off to see an angel about the mayday call.” She glanced at Grace. “You want to come with me?”

“Nah. I think I’ll stay here and work more on this meditation. Maybe if Alpha Jax can go without awakening his kraken for longer than ten minutes, I might make it to an actual beach.”

“Not sure what you’re talking about, but it’s good to have a plan. Hope it works out.” With a wave, Harry headed toward the side gate, her hips swaying like a sexy pendulum.

Jax’s gaze fixed on the movement and the curve of her ass. Her jean-encased thighs. The messy ponytail that left that special spot on her neck exposed, the one that when nibbled, kissed, or licked, turned her into a moaning puddle of need.

A dry heave turned his attention back to the teenager. “What?”

Grace was already reclaiming her spot on the grass, her legs folded beneath her as she shut her eyes. “There isn’t a beach far enough away to get that image out of my head.”

“What are you talking about?”

She popped one eye open wide enough to glare at him. “You know what I’m talking about, and that’s all I’m saying on the matter because even though Harry’s not my mother by blood, watching you watch her ass has the same ick factor as if she were.”

Denying it was pointless, so he turned back to his task with a grunt. Maybe he needed to take up some meditation, too. But something told him that focusing on a beach wouldn’t be far enough to get Harlow Pierce out of his head… because his imagination and rampant libido would just bring her along for the journey and end up marooning them both on a deserted island.

H ARRY GLANCED AROUND Fates Boulevard, looking for the source of Elodie’s SOS call. Cars motored up and down the street and people roamed the park, some alone and others in groups. No car accidents. No ambulances. No blaring, obvious distress beacons.

She glanced at the text again and verified she was at the right address.

“Oh, good. You’re confused, too.” Lenny sauntered up, glancing around before her gaze landed on the gym across the street. Beast Mode. “Now I’m confused and really fucking concerned.”

Harry followed her gaze across the street. The place looked busy with a crowd inside as well as a steady flow of people heading in and out. “Fill me in, please.”

“That’s Silas’s gym.” Lenny glanced back at the abandoned storefront they now stood in front of. “And something tells me that we weren’t given this address by chance or coincidence.”

“Oh, good! You’re both here! Man, you two know how to hustle. That’s great, and just what we need to get this ship sailing.” Elodie took a sip of the iced coffee in her hand and glanced around. “Where’s Grace? I thought you’d bring her, considering she rounds out our Fearsome Four.”

“Grace is meditating with Jax.”

Her friends shot her twin curious looks.

“Let me rephrase… she’s meditating while Jax broods a few feet away,” Harry corrected, and her friends nodded, now understanding. “Plus, I didn’t know exactly what this mayday text was about, so I decided she was best finding her focus.”

“Absolutely no worries. Actually, she’s probably better off than any of us, considering she’s fresh out of PE class and all. This is mostly for us.” Elodie palmed a set of keys and opened the creaky door to the old storefront.

The place looked as if it had been abandoned for years and used as a Halloween horror house each October since. Random holes littered the walls, and an eclectic array of shelving units and garbage lay scattered over the floor.

“Isn’t it great?” Elodie beamed, scanning the open space.

“For…?” Lenny prodded.

The angel stood in the center of the room, narrowly avoiding a mysterious puddle of brown goo, and opened her arms in an inviting ta-da moment. “You’re looking at the future home of Winged Warrior Self-Defense… and the current training ground for the soon-to-be ass-kicking Fearsome Four.”

“Say what now?” Harry asked, confused.

Elodie looked around the room, her pupils practically transforming into little throbbing hearts. “People keep asking me for one-on-one self-defense lessons; and, while that’s fine and all, I thought, how much better would it be for it to happen at the same time?”

Harry and Lenny shared a look, neither knowing what to say.

“That’s great, El.” Harry finally took the leap. “But isn’t your ideal plan to get back into active service?”

“Yeah, but I’m not going to lie. It’ll probably take some time to get my fighting wings back, and running Winged Warrior will not only fill some of that time but also help keep me on my toes. And we can use this space to get our shit together before the Fates Festival games begin. It’s a win-win for everyone!”

Lenny studied their friend through judgy eyes. “And this has nothing to do with the fact that Silas’s place is literally right across the street? I love you, El, but that seems a little sus.”

The angel shrugged. “I didn’t notice the location until I already signed the lease, but I think it’s perfect. People who want to focus more on mindless brute force can keep going to Beast Mode, but now there will be a second option for those who want a more thought-out approach to self-defense. More Bruce Banner than the Hulk.”

Harry didn’t believe that one damn bit and neither would anyone else.

“Wow. Well… congratulations.” She gave her friend a hug, and shrugged in Lenny’s direction. “If anyone can make something like this work, it’s you.”

“Thanks. I know it needs a little love, but I think with a little TLC times three we should be able to dust off the cobwebs and make it workable for the meantime.”

Lenny perked. “Say what now? How is it that you buy a heaping pile of questionable asbestos and Harry and I become ‘volunteered’ into manual labor?”

Elodie cocked an eyebrow. “Too busy with your exceptionally busy dating life to help out your best friend fulfill her ultimate dream?”

“First, that’s a low blow. Second, your ultimate dream was to be the youngest member of the Angel Guard. You already achieved that.”

“Okay, so this is my second ultimate dream.”

“I thought that was to make Silas McCloud ‘rue the day he was hatched.’”

Elodie tucked her hands on her hips. “A woman can have multiple dreams, Lenny. This is one of mine. Why are you trying to yuck my yum?”

Harry chuckled. “No one’s trying to yuck your yum. I think she’s just concerned because Lenny knows how hard it is to run your own business… and she has Maddox helping her out.”

Lenny nodded, folding her arms. “Yeah. That. Especially in Fates Haven now of all times. In case you haven’t noticed, people aren’t exactly flocking here with U-Hauls and movie trucks. I can’t remember the last time our population sign went up.”

“Technically it went up by two not that long ago.”

“Harry and Grace don’t count. They’re here out of duress, and probably not for the long term.”

Both friends looked at her and she couldn’t breathe, much less talk.

Long term or short term? She hadn’t let herself think much past getting help for Grace. Nothing really waited for them back in New York anymore. No apartment. No job. Cassie was still a wandering woman until she found Mr. Mysterio. But it was too big a question for her to contemplate right then, and definitely not with the weight of a thousand question marks hanging over her head.

Harry cleared her throat. “Didn’t I hear something about Maddox’s college friend moving to town not that long ago. That’s another person.”

Point for Harlow…

Lenny’s cheeks pinked. “Gavin. Yeah. That’s true.”

Harry stared as her tattooed best friend suddenly avoided all eye contact and looked uncomfortable in her own tattoo-decorated skin.

“I think Nora’s right,” Elodie piped up. “Things are shifting in Fates. We can all feel it, but even if I’m forced to sell Winged Warrior when I head back to the Angel Guard, at least I’ll have done something worthwhile while I’ve been here.”

Now that sounded like the Elodie everyone knew and loved.

Harry smiled supportively. “And you get bonus points for pissing Silas off in the meantime.”

“Exactly! It’s an everyone-wins situation.”

They all laughed. Harry clapped her hands and, tossing her purse on a small table that had seen better days, glanced around the empty front room, her magic already rolling off her fingertips. “We should probably get cleaning and organizing if this place is about to be ground zero for the demise of the Big Bads.”

Elodie nodded in approval. “Now you’re talking my language. Silas McCloud won’t know what hit him. Let’s do this!”

The angel immediately burst into action, pulling out what looked to be brooms and mops from a small closet tucked into the corner.

“You’re enabling her behavior—you know that, right?” Lenny, a smirk in place, bumped her shoulder into Harry’s. “You won’t have anyone but yourself to blame when this comes back to bite us all on the ass.”

“Maybe. But look how happy she is, Len.” Harry grinned. “Tell me how you can yuck the yum on someone wearing a smile that big. Potential bite on the ass or not.”

The seer rolled her eyes, but chuckled, already reaching for a broom and a dustpan. “I’ll remind you that you said that when we’re taking you to the clinic for your rabies shot.”