Taming Jax (First Wave Book 5) (5 page)

Afraid of what Reven would do to the baby, she jumped to her feet and quickly rounded on him, expecting a fight for the life of the puppy. She was stunned at what she saw.

Reven stood there, cuddling the puppy to his neck and rocking slowly. “Shhh little one. It will be all right. I lost my momma when I was very young as well. I know how you feel, but I promise you; your momma put you with good people.”

Reven turned and saw Jax’s shocked expression. “He’s too little to have that be the last memory of his mother.”

Reven said by way of explanation before he walked away from the dog’s body and into the alley with the other animals.

Jax stood rooted where she was as she watched Reven walk away with the tiny puppy cradled tenderly in his arms. She was stunned as he kneeled down and let the puppy sniff and look at the other animals that were still eating and drinking.

She was even more shocked when she heard Grai through the Shengari’. “Reven said there are about a dozen badly injured animals at your location. I’m sending some of our Sibiox staff out to help. Their ETA is another twenty minutes if you can hold your position.”

“Yes, we’ll wait.” Jax responded woodenly.

Unable to leave the dead mother dog, Jax went to the back of the SUV to grab a towel or blanket to cover her body. By the time she got back to the body, it was gone.

Jax looked around frantically for the dog and couldn’t find her. She started to panic when Reven placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Crator is giving her a proper burial. Is the little one going to be all right?” Reven asked, his concern for the puppy evident in his voice.

Jax watched the man with a respect she never thought she would feel for him. The huge man stood there, gently swaying back and forth with the puppy nuzzled up against his neck. The first thing she thought was how wonderful he would be as a father, and immediately kicked herself. She had no business thinking about children or even him with children, she thought, mentally shaking herself.

“Let me see him.” Jax said, holding out her hands for the puppy.

Reven attempted to pull the little one away from his neck and the puppy immediately started crying and straining to stay with him. Reven cuddled him close again and shushed him.

“Shhh, it’s ok little one. I won’t let you go. You’re safe now.” Reven whispered gently as he rocked and swayed with the traumatized puppy.

Jax looked at Reven and the puppy curiously. It couldn’t be; she thought. Reaching out with her mind, she tried to speak to the little one again.

“What did your momma call you?” Jax asked gently.

The puppy didn’t even lift his head from Reven’s chest. “Momma called me Bartronellium, but you can’t call me that because you aren’t my momma!”

Jax sighed, unsure how to proceed. She’d never had this much trouble connecting with an injured or abandoned animal before. She tried a different tactic this time.

“The man holding you is named Reven. Do you like Reven?” Jax asked gently.

Again, the puppy refused to look at her. “I like my new Daddy. You go away now.”

Chapter Three

Jax was stunned. She’d never met an animal that didn’t want anything to do with her before. What surprised her the most was how quickly the puppy had taken to Reven, of all people.

“Your new daddy needs to know what to call you.” Jax said, trying again to get through to the puppy.  

“My new daddy can call me anything he wants. You go away now!” The puppy said the last with a tiny little bark that did nothing to frighten Jax, who turned disbelieving eyes to Reven.

“Well, congratulation's big guy. You are now the new daddy of the baby. He refuses to let me near him, but he says you can name him anything you want.” Jax told a startled Reven.

“It’s a boy?” Reven asked with a smile, not bothering to look.

“Yes, he’s a boy. And he’s determined that you are his new daddy.” Jax said, eyeing Reven curiously as she waited for the word daddy to sink in.

“Awww, the poor little thing. How big are you going to be little one? Damn, it’s a shame we can’t make him a collar like Gibly’s.” Reven said to the puppy as he held him up to his face.

The puppy reached out his tiny tongue and took a happy swipe at Reven’s nose, causing the large man to laugh. Jax thought she would melt when he turned those twinkling blue eyes to her.

“Do you know how big he will get? I don’t want to call him something like ‘Killer’ if he’s only going to be a little guy.” Reven asked, surprised that he and Jax seemed to be speaking without their typical digs at each other. He felt like he was walking a very fine line here and didn’t want to ruin the moment.

Jax looked closely at the black and tan puppy, noting the size of his paws, markings and the size of his mother before answering. “I’d say he’s got some Shepard in him, and his paws are already pretty big…” Jax paused as Reven gently lifted one of the puppy’s paws with a grin.

“So he’s going to be a big guy!” Reven said with excitement before he thought of something. “What would he like to be called?”

Jax looked at Reven in surprise before asking the puppy. “Your new daddy wants to know what you would to be called.”

“I want to be… I don’t know. Will the people who hurt my mommy hurt me too?” The puppy asked, his eyes drifting closed as he started to fall asleep on Reven’s broad shoulder.

Jax sucked in a breath of pain and rage before answering the puppy with a calmness she didn’t feel. “Your new daddy and I would kill anyone who tried to hurt you.”  

“Ok… but I don’t want a new mommy. I want my mommy back.” The puppy said before succumbing to his exhaustion.

“Is he ok?” Reven asked, worried that Jax became so sad and angry at the same time the puppy stopped moving.

Jax cleared her throat and nodded at Reven. “Yeah, he’s just exhausted. He doesn’t know what he wants to be called. You’ll have to pick something.”

“Are you sure he’s ok?” Reven asked again, lines of worry creasing his forehead as he turned different ways to try to get a better look at the puppy without disturbing his sleep.

Jax shook her head at the huge man twirling around trying to look at the puppy. The last thing she would have ever expected of this arrogant jerk would be for him to be felled by a little black and tan face and a tiny bark.   

“He’s fine; he's just sleeping.” Jax assured him as she filtered through his energy to make sure he wasn’t pretending to like the puppy.

What she found shook her. He was not only genuinely worried for the puppy; he really did like the little guy. He was also nervous though, why she didn’t know.

“What would be a good name for him? I don’t want to name him something he wouldn’t like.” Reven asked, not wanting the little guy to be stuck with a name he would be ashamed of.

“We can figure something out later. Right now, the vets are coming, and we need to head out.” Jax said, moving towards the three SUVs pulling into the parking lot.

Kintaq, head animal doctor of the Alliance, quickly exited the first SUV and met Jax. “What are we looking at?” He asked, looking around for his patients.

Jax turned with him and headed towards the alley, explaining along the way. “I called them here to help us find the girls, but we didn’t expect them to be so hungry and sick. Some are badly injured and barely made it here.”

“The little guy who has adopted Reven,” Jax said with a grin as they passed Reven. “Lost his mother when she knew she had gotten him to safety.”

Kintaq paused at the puppy Reven was holding, doing a cursory visual of him to ensure he didn’t need immediate care. Once he was assured the puppy was fine for now, he followed Jax into the alley and fought back his own rage at what he saw.

With a heavy sigh, Kintaq turned to Jax. “We will do all we can. Call to you anyone able to help, and we’ll give them a quick check and shots for healing before they head out. Make sure to tell them to come back later so we can do full work-ups and get them fully healthy.”

Jax sent a call to her friends in the alley, asking those who were able to help to step to her. Both she and Kintaq had to blink away the mist in their eyes from the bravery and selflessness of the various cats, dogs, rats and birds in the alley as they all tried to take a step towards Jax.

“That won’t work. Give my team and me ten minutes.” Kintaq said as he called his team into the alley and began working on the first dog he came to.

Jax headed back to where Reven was now surrounded by Crator and Bree, who were smiling at the tiny puppy in his arms. “Kintaq says we have ten minutes before we can send them out to look for the girls. So far, the birds and the other teams have had no luck.”

Reven sighed as he looked down at the adorable button nose on the black and tan face of the puppy. “We need to get out there and start looking for them. Will he be ok with Kintaq until we get back?” Reven asked Jax worriedly.

“Kintaq and his team are the best I’ve ever dealt with; he couldn’t be safer.” Jax assured him, kind of piqued that he hadn’t looked at her once since she walked over to them.

Normally, all he ever did was stare at her, this time he only had eyes for the little ball of fur snuggled up to that solid, beautiful chest of his, Jax thought with a sigh.  

Kintaq crossed the parking lot to them. “We’ve got seven dogs and twelve cats ready to go. The others will take much longer and some we will have to take back with us. Let me take the little one while you head out. Grai put us up at the motel down the road from yours so you can pick him up later.” Kintaq said holding his hands out for the puppy still cuddled up to Reven.

Reven looked at Kintaq warily for a moment, unsure if he wanted to give the little guy over to him. It was the thought of the little girls, and the fact that the puppy needed food and medical care that finally decided for him.

He gently and slowly pulled the sleeping puppy away from his chest as he stared at Kintaq with narrowed eyes. “I will pick him up from you when we are done. Tell me how he is doing when you know. And how big he will be, so I can choose a proper name for him.”

Reven waited until Kintaq nodded his head with a smile before finally handing the puppy over to him. He almost snatched him back immediately when the puppy cried slightly before falling back into an exhausted sleep.

“He’s going to be fine. You go find the little girls.” Kintaq said as he gently rubbed the puppy in his sleep.

Jax turned to the dogs and cats that hadn’t required extensive medical care and explained what they were looking for. Without any promise of affection or more food or even good homes, every one of the selfless animals took off to scour the city for a pair of human children in danger.

Jax blinked back tears at the compassion and love these animals still had for humans after all the cruelty, neglect and horrible abuse they had suffered. She flinched at the sudden hand on her shoulder.

“We’ll take them all to Dillon if we have to. Every damn one of them. They don’t deserve this.” Reven growled lowly before he walked away.

Although the physical contact had been brief, it had been long enough for her to feel the anger and compassion he had for the animals in the alley, and it stunned her. She had always thought he hated her animals, but here he was adopting an orphan puppy and promising to save all of them.

Shaking her head in confusion, Jax followed him to where Crator and Bree were waiting for her. She didn’t have time to think about the perplexing man right now; she thought. They had two little girls to find. She turned to her team, her tough warrior side taking over.

“All right, we stick with the original plan. Teams of two, one team west, the other east. We’ve lost an hour with the animals, so we need to go double time to cover the ground we need to go over tonight.” Jax said, avoiding eye contact with Reven.

“We’ll take east.” Crator said before he and Bree took off at a jog in that direction. Jax had no time to stop them. She had intended to be paired with either Bree or Crator. She didn’t have much of a choice now, she thought with a sigh.

“I’m ready when you are.” Reven said, giving one last glance towards Kintaq and the puppy.

Jax nodded and sprinted towards the west; Reven easily jogged beside her as her short legs were forced to run to keep up with his stride. It was times like this that Jax wished she’d been taller.

An hour later they had more than made up the time they had lost and Reven slowed to a walk. Jax would never have admitted it; he thought, but he could feel her getting tired. What was a relaxing jog for him, had been a flat out run for her, and he knew she must be feeling it by now.

“Why are we stopping?” Jax asked, the words coming out on puffs of heavy breaths.

“We’ve made up the time we lost. I wanted to walk for a bit. What do you think of Wolfen?” Reven said, his eyes scouring the neighborhood they were in for any sign of the girls or the red car.

Jax stopped breathing for a moment, her heavy breath from the run preventing her from hearing correctly.

“What?” She asked, looking at him curiously.

“Wolfen. For the puppy. Kintaq finished his exam and said he is part Shepard, wolf and Dane." Reven said, staying to the shadows along the street as they searched for any sights, sounds or energy that was out of place.  

Jax wasn’t sure what surprised her more, that he was still thinking of the puppy or that he’d already checked on the welfare of the animal.

“It sounds a bit… pompous. He’s just a puppy.” Jax said, trying to keep her eyes on the homes around them and not his sexy ass in those snug jeans.

“Yes, but one day he will be a big dog and will grow into his name.” Reven countered with a grin that seemed to kick her in the chest. Damn the man was potent; she thought with a shake of her head to clear it.

“Good point. It still seems like a lot of pressure to put on the little guy though. What if he doesn’t want to be tough or live up to such a strong name?” Jax asked, a little stunned to realize she actually liked talking to the irritating man when he wasn’t being an asshole.