Chapter 16: Chapter Fifteen

-Amaya’s POV-

When I woke up I felt fully rested, so I checked my phone and saw I had been asleep for triple the amount I normally would. I noticed flowers, chocolates, and a stack of books I didn’t see yesterday. I smelled the lingering scent of Jax and Fox on them. I flipped through each of the books, and smiled at how well Jax knew me.

I packed everything but the flowers in my bag and headed downstairs. Charlie greeted me when I walked into the kitchen, “Would you like some breakfast before you head out?”

“Yes please,” I said with a smile. We ate together without much conversation.

Just as I stood to leave, Jax came downstairs, “You’re leaving without saying goodbye Little Duck?”

I sighed, “I need to get going, Jax.”

He wrapped me in a bone crushing hug, “What do I tell everyone else? Ava will be crushed she didn’t get to say bye.”

“Jax, I need to go. I have work to do,” I pulled back from the hug, “Tell Ava I’ll be back when I get some time off, or I’ll see her when she comes out to visit you.”

“That’s fair. She’s still going to be upset, but that will make it a little less upsetting for her.”

“I’ll see you when you get back Jax. Thanks for the flowers, chocolates, and books. The books look amazing.”

“I didn’t pick them out. Fox did,” he ruffled my hair as I stared at him shocked, “Have a safe flight, Little Duck.”

I walked out to the clearing, packed away my clothes and shifted. It only took me a few hours to make it back to the complex. Josie met me on the field we used for shifting and landing, “Goddess Amaya it’s about time you got back. Conner has been driving us insane. I really hope you’re ready to kick some ass because, and this is just my professional opinion, that guy needs his ass kicked.” She looked at me dramatically, “Hard.”

I rolled my eyes as I got dressed, “And you haven’t kicked his ass because?”

“Oh I have. So has Alanza. Daniel was next but you called, so he got Jace to do it. It didn’t go as planned.”

I groaned, “What happened?”

We started walking toward the complex, “Well it was going well until Conner mentioned you. Conner didn’t realize Jace was your cousin, because, you know, he’s an idiot, so he was going on and on about how he was going to call maca ánwíg. That was pissing Jace off but not for the reason Conner thought.” We each scanned our hands to enter the complex, “Anyway Jace kind of lost control a little bit and while that scared Conner, it did nothing to change his attitude toward Alanza and me.”

“Is Jace okay?” I asked just as we reached Daniel’s office.

“Yeah he’s fine,” she responded with a wave of her hand. “We finally got him to pass out and he apologized to us when he woke up.”

“I’ll see you after my meeting with Daniel. We can come up with new torture methods for Conner then,” she launched herself at me, wrapping her arms around my chest.

“Glad you’re okay, bestie boss lady.”

I gave her a squeeze, “Me too, Josie.”

I walked into Daniel’s office and saw him sitting behind his desk. He looked up from paperwork when I walked in, “Glad you made it back. Anything else happen after I left?”

“I lost control of Niamh. Well she took over and threatened to kill Jax because he was beating up Fox. The guys worked out how to get me back, and Fox claimed the fight was his fault.” Daniel raised an eyebrow, “I’m sure it was. He still doesn’t trust me and accuses me of lying to him, which I did, but only because I didn’t know I was going to meet him or I didn’t have a choice.”

“And now that he knows?”

I blew out a long breath, “I don’t know. He doesn’t seem to like the idea of being with a supernatural being, and I can’t reject him, not if there’s the smallest chance he might change his mind.”

“Do you love him?”

“He’s an ass.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” he stated flatly.

“No, I’m not in love with him. Niamh is or at least three quarters of the way there, but I’m not there yet. He needs to prove himself,” I told him, my gaze level with his.

“Good. Make him work for it,” he said with a small, proud smile on his lips. “Now onto business. The rogues are talking and it’s not good. The guy Joseph killed, you said, was killed just as he started to talk about Joseph’s plans and current movements.”

I nodded, “Yeah just as he started to say Joseph was ‘bu-’ and he got cut off, so he probably was going to say he’s building something and I’m guessing it’s not a house or a fence.”

“You’re right about that. He’s building an army. He’s recruiting wyverns, rogues, and any other outsider he can find. The rogues think he might even be in talks with hunters.”

“So what are we going to do about him?”

“There’s not a lot we can do. We can run down some leads, any leads that pop up, but past that we can’t do much,” Daniel sat back in his chair.

I growled, causing him to raise an eyebrow, “I don’t like the idea of him being free to do whatever he likes.” I blew out a breath, “What’s our next assignment?”

“We’ve been monitoring some hunter activity somewhere on the Kentucky Tennessee border.”

“You don’t know for sure?”

He shook his head, “Their activity is in both states. It seems to be a pretty big operation, or at least well organized.”

“The usual?” He nodded, “Got it. When do we leave?”

“A couple of days, maybe. I would like Conner out of here as soon as possible, though, so maybe after we’re done with him.” I gave him a glare, “I get it, but it doesn’t mean I want him around longer than he has to be.”

“You know you could pitch in. Leaving Jace to train him was a huge mistake, and not in hindsight. You should’ve known Jace is too uncontrolled to train someone like Conner. He likes to find buttons and push them, and he’s very good at it.”

He sighed, “I know. I wasn’t thinking. Well I wasn’t thinking that hard when I decided to do that. I was only thinking about two things: you and Jace’s dragon being more dominant than Conner’s.” He checked his computer, “I have a few things to do before I’m free, but then I can help out with the dipshit.”

“That’s all I’m asking. I’ll let you know, after my assessment, how long I think it’ll take.”

“Thanks. It’s good to have you home,” he said, giving me a smile.

When I walked into the gym I surveyed the room, noticing right away a couple of burn marks on the floor and a few less mirrors. “Jace didn’t do as much damage as I thought he would have.”

Alanza and Josie chuckled, “Yeah we got him mostly under control before things got too out of hand.”

“‘Too out of hand’? He nearly killed me!” Conner shouted as he entered the room.

“He did not, you big baby,” Josie rolled her eyes, “You would think he’s never dealt with an out of control dragon before, goddess,” She said under her breath, causing Alanza and me to chuckle.

I started stretching but watched Conner’s eyes lock on me, “You need to stretch.”

“I’m good with watching you stretch, baby,” he said, leering at me from his spot on the floor.

“Can we kill him?” Niamh asked.

I chuckled out loud, causing Conner to give me a questioning glance, “Oh it’s nothing. My dragon was just asking if we could kill you,” he swallowed hard, and Josie and Alanza laughed at the rising scent of fear in the room. “See Niamh it’s better to toy with them, and then beat the shit out of them.” I stood and walked to center mat, “let’s do this Conner.”

He groaned, “Come on. I’m done with this. With getting my ass kicked and you crazy people who can’t control yourselves.”

“Not yet you’re not. Center mat. Let’s do this,” I put a little bit of dominance in my voice, making him roll his eyes and meet me at center.

We circled each other for a little while. I watched as he moved, studying his form. I waited for him to strike, and I didn’t have to wait long as he kicked, attempting to hit my torso. I dodged easily but didn’t strike back. I continued to wait. He swung attempting to hit me with a right hook, but I caught his arm as easily as I dodged his kick and smacked him on the back of the head. Everything he threw at me I either dodged or caught and used to turn around and smack him. I never actually began fighting him. I just kept avoiding him or smacking him on the back of the head. He growled in frustration, his throws becoming less calculated the more frustrated he became. I smiled and began my take down by sweeping his legs out from underneath him. He laid there trying to regain his breath. When he did he got back to his feet, growling louder and more feral. He ran at me, but I just stepped out of the way. We both turned to face each other, but this time I moved first. I did a roundhouse kick to his face too quick for him to block or dodge, and he crumpled to the mat.