Chapter Five

“What happened? Why did you run?” Jabari wasn’t the running type. Her mind supplied in case she didn’t realize that. One look out of the back window shook the hold she had on her panic. Whatever she stroked was following them and getting bigger by the minute.

“That is a firebird from Venua and its coming after you. The minute it got your blood, you became its target.”

“Wait, wait… stop wait! Is this a game? Some kind of L.A.R.P.?”

He turned to look at her as if she was speaking a different language.

“You don’t get to look at me like I’m the one losing my mind. Are you listening?” Her voice raised. He would be the kind of male who made her want to scream.

“No, I’m having one of my brothers clean up behind us, so there won’t be a report on the news and scared humans shaking in their shoes.”

“That’s good.” She nodded her head. This was just a game. It wasn’t real. She believed that for all of two minutes until the firebird smacked into the Rolls making it shake.

“Go faster.”

He floored the car taking them to an area that was deserted. They came to a hill, and he took it over the edge. She screamed because there was nothing else to do. The bird hit the car again making it roll.

“What do we do now?” The car landed on the roof. She hung suspended with her neck in a crooked position. Her body would not be forgiving about this.

“I fight the bird, and you stay in the car.”

“Were you dropped on your head as a child?”

“All right, you fight, and I’ll stay in the car.”

“You were dropped.”

He reached over and undid her seatbelt making sure she didn’t fall and hit the roof.

“It will kill you.”

“It can try.”

His beautiful ice blue eyes sparkled with diamonds as his pearly whites became longer and sharper. He let himself out of the seat and turned to kick the windshield out. His body grew as he made his way out the car.

She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and bit hard, looking for clarity or sanity. Neither came.

Her eyes grew wider as she watched him change. He stood taller and thicker, but it was the hair that covered his body that amazed her. His golden hair hung from his shoulder over his chest and back like chain mail that would keep him safe. His pants clung to his waist as the seams tried to contain his ever-growing muscles.

She shook her head now wasn’t the time to get to get distracted by his strong chest or tight ass. Instead, she focused on the fact that he wasn’t human. Two months ago. She would have freaked out. Now she was dying, and her world view was much wider. She wanted to believe that the world, the universe was bigger than her.

The firebird that reminded her an awful lot of a dragon picture she had seen once was charging the car. Jabari was up and running towards it. They met in a collision that sent vibrations through their bones. The firebird tried to get its claws on Jabari’s chest, but it became caught in his tightly woven hair. It picked him up and shook trying to dislodge its claw.

Jabari pitched his body backward taking the firebird with him. They both hit the ground and separated. The bird came at him again its mouth opened as it spewed fire making Jabari move faster than she had ever seen someone move. He escaped being burned alive and maneuvered himself behind the bird. Its tail caught his leg and sent him flying. While he was still lying on the ground, it flew at him.

Brandi yelled, but he didn’t move. She crawled out of the car and picked up the only thing she had, her purse. With a scream that floated through the open area, she ran towards them.

“You want me; you SOB!” She wouldn’t allow that thing to hurt him. There was no way she would let something that started off looking cute and cuddly take away her… Her Jabari.

She hit it over the wings with her purse. The bird didn’t seem to register her, even as a nuisance. Not knowing what else to do, she climbed the protruding scales on its back until she reached the head.

“You leave him alone, you… Scaly gray and white monster.” She hit it in the head until she saw Jabari open his eyes. He said something she couldn’t hear.

That’s when she realized just how close to the mouth of the beast, she was.

Its wings flapped as its head turned towards her. Was there glee in its eyes? She clung to a large protrusion from its back. This wasn’t how she planned to die and yeah; she had the whole thing planned out.

“Goodbye life, I’m sorry Fie, I never meant to leave you. If only I had met you earlier Jabari.”

“As if I would let you go.”

She looked behind her to find him climbing the same scales. The bird circled trying to shake him off.

“Firebirds have one easy to access weakness. It’s on their backs between their scales. Hold on tight.” His claws went into the birds back, yellow blood squirted up. He dug in deeper, and the bird faltered until it headed toward the ground still trying to shake them loose.

His blood covered his scales, and her hand slipped.

Brandi fell. She should scream, but all she could think about was if the scales on its back was the easy way to kill it, what was the hard way? It was better than thinking about the fact that she was about to go splat.

Her life had been good. She accomplished a lot. It would have been a better life if she had made love to Jabari. That became number one on her bucket list. Make love to Jabari before I die.

The fall didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would. Mostly because she was in Jabari’s arms, and he took the brunt of it. The bird was on the ground writhing in pain, and he was still holding her staring at her like he expected her to die in his arms any minute.

Well, she couldn’t have that. She threw her arms around him. Her lips fused to his. There was no telling whose mouth opened first. His tongue was in her mouth caressing hers. She came alive as sensations rolled over her. A sigh of pleasure came out before she was kissing him back.

“Shouldn’t you finish killing the bird before you kiss the female?”

She opened her eyes to see his brothers gathered around.

“I don’t want to kill it yet. I want answers.” He placed her on the ground. “You, stay. Remember where we left off.” He strode away and damn his ass looked good.

“I’m not a dog you know.” She stayed. Moving seemed to make her head spin.

*~*~*~*

Jabari tied the bird up, and they threw it in the back of a huge truck. Now she was sitting in their living room wearing a t-shirt that was swimming on her. His joggers were too big, so she was pretending the tee was a dress. The tension inside of her was growing. The longer she thought of what happened, the stronger her desire to run for the door.

Why hadn’t Jabari killed her when his secret came out? Were his brother’s alien creatures? They had to be. Was Quinn an alien also or were they feeding off her? Was that what they were going to do to her?

“Brandi are you sure you don’t want to eat or drink anything?” Quinn came into the living room with a smile on her face.

“No.” Brandi shook her head. She stopped and licked her lips before looking up at Quinn. “I really need to go my cat will be waiting for me.”

“What kind of cat do you have?”

“He’s a tuxedo cat. You would love him. The minute I looked down at his little face, I was lost.” She felt guilty. Ever since she learned her possible diagnosis, she had avoided Quinn. It didn’t feel right to burden her with the news. Although the real person she was avoiding her was Jabari. That hadn’t work out so well.

“It’s in the cage. I plan to question it when it wakes up.” Jabari walked into the room still covered with yellow blood. “I probably should change.”

Brandi flinched before she nodded her head but kept her lips shut. She wasn’t sure what to make of Jabari. He stopped the creature trying to kill her. He had treated her like a princess the night before, and that scored big with her. When you were trying to make it in a world men wanted to claim as their own you learned quickly that being a female would be used against you.

“I could take an Uber home.”

“I’ll take you home.” His words sounded deadly.

Her heart tripped maybe her death was coming sooner than she thought.