Summary: Jax is hurt in his explosive argument with Chloe. Chloe begins her training…but gets distracted by her extremely attractive teacher. Jax makes a very interesting discovery about Chloe’s blood.
Jax saw the bright yellow light glowing from Chloe’s eyes, felt the heat radiating off of her like standing next to a raging fire, and reflexively he kicked the door to his room shut with her on the other side.
He wasn’t fast enough.
The blast blew the half-open door off its hinges and directly into Jax’s face, knocking him off his feet. He blacked out momentarily when he fit the floor, groggily coming back to the present what he hoped was only a few seconds later, blinding pain pulsing through his head as he tried to blink away the bursting stars crowding his vision.
When his equilibrium returned enough to sit up, he discovered a laundry list of other injuries. His right hand was badly burned, although his leather jacket thankfully protected his arm somewhat from the blast. His jeans were less successful, his right leg severely burned with the scraps of black fabric now embedded in the quickly-healing flesh beneath. He had to act fast.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he took a deep breath and tried not to scream as he ripped the denim fabric free from his skin, tearing it off in a bloody mess before the skin could completely heal around it.
The world went black again.
The next thing he heard was the sound of Griff’s voice. “Jax! Hey! Jesus, someone get a volunteer in here. Go!”
Jax fought to get back on his feet, but only managed to sit up with great difficulty. Griff was crouched next to him, staring at him in horror. “Chloe,” Jax croaked.
“Yeah, man, she’s here. She’s out cold but she looks a hell of a lot better than you.”
Two more men came rushing through the charred remains of the door to Jax’s room: one vampire and one human. The human knelt down next to Jax, looking him over nervously. “Mr. Matsuo? Can I help?”
He nodded weakly and reached for the man’s wrist with his good hand. His fangs sunk into the vein and the warm blood flowed freely down his throat, a warm electric tingle spreading through his body as his strength returned.
Once he sent the man away, he finally managed to stand up and take stock of the situation.
Griff was crouched over Chloe’s unconscious form in the hallway, glowering. “Careful,” Jax warned, “Don’t touch her.”
Griff stood up, distancing himself. “Did she set off a fucking bomb?”
“No, she…” he trailed off as he knelt down next to Chloe himself, hovering a hand over her skin like he was testing a hot pan. Warm, not hot. He tentatively stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “She had some sort of…energy. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Yeah, well.” Griff inspected the damage to Jax’s door frame. “We can’t have her down here destroying the place. People could’ve been killed.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Jax…”
“I said I’ll take care of it. You can go.”
He stalked off down the hall, grumbling under his breath. Jax heard his every curse but chose to ignore it. He gently lifted Chloe’s feverish body and covered her to his bed, where she started to stir.
“Jax.” She looked up at him with soft, sad eyes, whatever fire that was burning behind them now extinguished. Her fingers grazed his cheek, still rough and red as his burns healed. “I hurt you again.”
“You did.” He stood and slid off the burned and torn remains of his jeans and his scorched jacket before lying down next to her, pulling a blanket over both of them. “Is this OK?”
“Yes,” she whispered, rolling to face him. “Jax, I don’t know what happened —“
“You don’t know how much I want to tell you that I’ll never hurt you,” Jax interrupted. “I want to protect you…to protect everyone. But I can’t. People come to us for help but if they turn…” He trailed off, choking back emotion. Too many lives lost…lives he had to take. Too many friends. Too many children.
Chloe inched closer to him, wrapping an arm around his waist. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine. But I’m not…”
“Not yet.”
“Right.” They laid together in silence for a while, listening to the sound of their own breath, the beating of their hearts. Jax enjoyed the feel of her, her warmth and softness and the way her fingernails traced little circles on the small of his back.
But how did a girl blow up like a grenade and survive?
“What are you going to do with me?” Chloe asked quietly, her hand on his back going still.
He looked down into her eyes. His mind was already made up. “The way I see it, someone did this…whatever this is…to you. You’re in the same boat as any of us, and I’m going to help you.”
She moved closer to him, squeezing him tight. “Thank you, Jax. Thank you so much.”
“But do not go out in the sun. Let’s not test our luck with how many times we can both survive you exploding in my face.”
Chloe scoffed. “Maybe it would’ve been fine if you hadn’t provoked me.”
Jax couldn’t help but chuckle, a smile spreading across his face as he returned her tight embrace. “Well we definitely can’t count on me not provoking you.”
She laughed against his chest, her hot breath teasing his skin through the thin fabric of his t-shirt. Her closeness was quickly becoming a delicious kind of torture, silently taunting him to lose control. He could tell by the way her heart sped up that she was feeling the same.
“I’m freezing,” Chloe sighed, rubbing her legs against his under the blanket.
“I’m not known for my warmth.”
“Bullshit.” She wrapped a leg around his waist, pulling the entire length of her own body firmly against his.
Jax let out a shaky breath. “Chloe…”
She pressed her lips to his throat, tickling his neck as she spoke. “Yes?”
“You destroyed my door.”
“So?”
“So…” With great effort he untangled himself from her, getting up out of bed. “Let’s take a rain check on this until there’s a reasonable degree of privacy in here.”
“Oh hell no. You’re seriously that worried about the door?”
He was already pulling on a fresh pair of pants. “Come on. Let’s go find you some new clothes. That tired flapper dress has to go anyway.”
“Why is the dummy wearing armor?”
Jax tightened the ties securing the dummy’s helmet to its head. “Why wouldn’t he?”
“Well…he’s a dummy.”
He picked up two shinai and tossed one to Chloe with a grin. “I don’t want you to break him.”
“With this?” She slapped the practice sword lightly against her shins, the bound bamboo slats making a satisfying smack as they made contact.
Jax cringed and grabbed his katana from where it rested against the wall, holding it up next to the shinai in his other hand. “First off, your shinai is a stand-in for a katana, and you need to treat it the same way. As far as you’re concerned, that’s a dangerous and sharp weapon. So stop playing with it.”
Chloe rolled her eyes, but held the shinai more carefully, resisting the urge to fidget with it.
“And second: yes, the dummy needs protection from you, even with the shinai. His predecessors learned the hard way that newly-turned vampires can deal some serious damage even with practice weapons.”
They stood across from each other in the dim and otherwise empty shadow den dojo, barefoot on the cold wood floor. Griff had repeatedly refused to allow Chloe into any of the usual training groups, insisting she was too dangerous to be around the others.
There were certainly worse fates than being forced into private instruction with Jax Matsuo.
He took himself way too seriously, but she didn’t mind when he looked like that in a black t-shirt.
“Chloe?” She realized she had zoned out staring at his arms instead of responding.
“Right. Yes. Don’t break the dummy. And the play sword–”
“Shinai.”
“…the shinai is a katana. Got it.”
“OK. So here’s what you’re going to do.” Jax set down his katana and faced down the dummy with his shinai at the ready. He yelled loud enough to make Chloe nearly jump out of her skin, then brought the practice sword down on the middle of the dummy’s head followed by several alternating strikes to its temples, yelling again with each blow. He stopped his attack as abruptly as it had started, returning to a calm ready stance. “Got it?”
“Sure,” she answered uncertainly, stepping into his place as he moved out of the way. She tried to mimic his stance, feeling awkward and a little embarrassed. With a deep breath she lunged forward for the first strike.
“Stop.”
Shinai still raised in the air, she froze. “What?”
“The yell isn’t optional.”
“Oh. Umm…” She returned to ready stance, facing down the dummy again. “Hi-yah!”
“Stop. No. Come on, you can’t just SAY ‘hi-yah’.”
“I feel ridiculous.”
“Am I ridiculous?”
“I mean…a little bit.”
He scowled at her, but the corners of his mouth couldn’t help creeping upward. He put himself in her path and stared her down. “Try again. Just yell. Loud.”
Chloe screamed, and Jax flinched, covering his ears.
“Don’t scream. Screaming is a cry for help. It’s weak. I want you to roar from deep in your belly. Right in my face. Confidently.”
She did a quick little dance on the spot, shaking out her arms and legs, before settling back into her stance with a long exhale. She looked Jax in the eye, her face set in an expression of focus and determination. “HYAAA!” Her voice echoed throughout the dojo and she felt her fangs come out. Jax grinned.
“There it is. You want to be in your hunting state for a fight. Try now.”
He moved out of the way and Chloe stared down the dummy with equal intensity. Crying out once more she brought the sword down onto its head. The shinai splintered and snapped against the helmet. She stared down at the destroyed weapon in her hands, stunned.
Jax took it from her calmly, brushing the splintered remains on the floor aside with his foot. “Again, but control your force. You’re stronger now – too strong. You need to learn to dial it back. Here.” He handed her his own practice sword. “Enough force will break a katana just like it does the shinai. And getting your blade deeply embedded in someone’s skull is hardly necessary or desirable.”
“Gross.” She reset to her ready stance once again, steadying herself with another deep breath. She shouted and brought the sword down once more, hard enough for a loud thwack without breaking anything. She smiled to herself and followed through with the remaining alternating strikes before spinning towards Jax, grinning broadly.
He laughed at her beaming expression. “Enjoying yourself?”
“That felt good. Do I get to take on you this time?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Sure, why not.” He retrieved a new shinai from a rack on the wall for himself. “This time, move towards me with each strike.”
“Aren’t you going to put on the armor?”
“You’re not going to hit me.”
“But what if I do?”
He shrugged casually. “You’re not going to hit me.”
Sure enough, he blocked every strike effortlessly as she attacked him. They repeated the drill over and over, Jax easily protecting himself as Chloe increased her speed beyond what any human would be capable of.
“I’m bored,” she complained after thirty minutes of repeating the same attack.
“Oh.” Jax shrugged, leaning against the wall for a break. “It’s not really meant to be exciting. It’s supposed to build discipline and control. To burn the movements into your muscle memory so you can wield a weapon like an extension of your own body.”
Chloe sighed and sat on the floor at his feet. “It would be more fun to really fight you.”
He slid his back down the wall until he was seated next to her. “No it wouldn’t. You’d just lose.”
“I might win.”
“You absolutely would not.”
“I miiiiiiiight,” she sang teasingly, resting her head on his firm shoulder. “You don’t know what I’m capable of.”
He looked down into her eyes, brushing away the hair that was sticking to her sweat-slicked forehead. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Jax…” Chloe glanced towards the closed door. “This room has a door.”
“That it does.”
“Did you, by chance, lock it?”
“Mm-hmm.” He slid his hand under her hair to cradle the back of her neck, pulling her face up to meet his lips.
Chloe couldn’t help but moan into his mouth as Jax kissed her thoroughly, lifting her smoothly into his lap. She wrapped both her legs and arms around him, desperate to be closer. Every nerve in her body was alight, all her senses overwhelmed by him. The feel of his strong hands holding her head and hips close. The heavy beating of his heart. The taste of blood and coffee on his tongue.
She pulled away to catch her breath, leaning her forehead against his. His red eyes mirrored her own. “Should I be in my ‘hunting state’ for this too?”
“Yes.” He pulled her closer, scraping his fangs against her throat. “You’re a predator now, Chloe. Whether you want to be or not.”
She grabbed his shoulders, pushing him back against the wall hard enough to crack the bricks behind him. “Are you my prey, then?”
He leaned in to whisper in her ear, nipping at it gently first. “Whatever you want me to be, Chloe.”
His hips circled slowly, straining to be closer to her but still holding back. She silently thanked whoever invented yoga pants and the lightweight athletic shorts Jax was wearing. Even through their clothes she could feel every inch of him, just barely grinding against her. She whimpered with longing. “I want…”
His fingers dug into her thighs, tightening his grip on her. His voice was low and rough, his breath heavy. “What do you want?”
With great effort she pulled herself away from him and stood up. “Strip,” she commanded, pulling her own top over her head and tossing it aside. Jax got up and nearly ripped the clothes off of his body as she struggled out of her sports bra and peeled off her tight yoga pants.
Standing before her completely naked, Jax was magnificent. Tall and lean and muscular, like he’d been pulled right out of her own fantasies.
She stepped close enough to run her hands over his broad chest, over his shoulders and down his strong arms until her hands landed on his. Finally lifting her eyes to meet his, she lifted his left hand to her mouth, nipping at his fingertip before sucking teasingly on his finger.
Jax growled in response, wrapping his free arm around her waist and pulling her close against him.“Chloe.” His lips moved to her ear, her jaw, the tender skin of her neck. Her heart was hammering; she could feel her pulse against his mouth, and knew that he could too. “May I…”
She let his hand drop away from her mouth and nodded. “But I thought we shouldn’t…”
“I just want to taste you,” he answered, his voice heavy with need.
“Anything.” She pressed herself against him, desperate for more.
Jax nodded and gently lowered her to the floor. His eyes burned with hunger and need, but his movements were careful, deliberate. Chloe wrapped her legs around him, hips rising off the floor to meet him.
He reached between them, lightly stroking her with his fingertips, making her gasp and strain for more.
“Please,” she begged, her voice trembling with need.
With a grin he shifted to line himself up with her entrance. “Say it.”
Chloe whimpered with frustration. “Fuck me, Jax.”
In an instant his fangs pierced her skin. She cried out in surprise and pleasure as he entered her in the next instant, thrusting deep, setting a slow but steady pace that let her savour every inch of him inside of her. Words escaped her, leaving behind only her moans and wild animal cries.
Jax released her throat, both of them moaning from the loss of it, but quickly shifting their attention to the pleasure building from the movement of their hips against each other. His pace increased, Chloe meeting his every thrust, the two of them completely lost in each other as they let go of all control.
Chloe screamed when it all became overwhelming, fireworks going off deep in her belly and flashing behind her eyes. Jax followed close behind, the sound of his moans etching deep into Chloe’s brain for later recall and enjoyment. Her blood was still wet at the corners of his mouth.
She was still clutching him tight, coming down from her high, when he nudged her. “Let’s get dressed.”
“What’s your hurry?”
He was already standing, pulling on his boxers. “I want to try something.”
Once they were dressed he left the dojo in such a hurry she had to run to keep up. She kept just glimpsing him before he’d disappear around a corner, headed back to the subway tunnels that led away from the shadow den. “Jax! Wait up!”
She stopped dead when she came to the hidden exit that led outside. It was daylight.
He wouldn’t…would he?
She cautiously stepped outside, glancing nervously up at the clear sky. The alley was shaded but not particularly dark. At the end of it, she almost didn’t recognize Jax standing in the sunlight, laughing.