Bound In Secrets : A Death Kings Novel

**Jensen**

My mouth is dry, and my head is pounding. I vaguely remember falling asleep in the car while JT chewed our asses out for drinking and fighting. The bikers started it. Storm and I finished it, is all. Were we supposed to let them beat us bloody? I like to fight, but I'm not a masochist. I don't enjoy pain, but it helps to clear the brain. When I fight I can focus on it with blank uncluttered mine. I can't meditate on shit, so the only way I can achieve mindfulness is while fighting. Or maybe I'm just hyper-focusing? I was diagnosed with ADHA while I was a kid.

There is a knock on my bedroom door. "Hey, Jen. I brought you some painkillers, water, and hair of the dog."

"Thank you, wifey," I say, sitting up in bed and blowing a kiss at Carter.

I feel for him since Storm won't let him out of the apartment unless one of us can be with him. I get it. Carter screwed us and C.H.A.O.S. over royally five years ago. He betrayed us to Razor Grothman, the leader of the Damned Forsaken. Razor Grothman was reportedly dead, but just after Carley gave birth to Brennan, he kidnapped Sawyer. After that, he went underground. He has made no moves since Sawyer removed his hand. Sidhe embalmed his hand for her. At least, that is what he told me. With having kids, I'm sure she keeps it well hidden.

"I need to go pick up Ajax from the airport. Ryder is sending him over with new software. I'm getting a larger setup." He says with an excited grin. "Christmas came early, huh?" I ask him, swallowing the pills and then the whole glass of water.

"I guess you could say that. Ajax is scarier than Ransom, Sidhe, and Ryder combined, but he is a genius with a keyboard."

I understand what he saying. Ajax is a killer, plain and simple. He doesn't like shiny things like Ransom, nor does he have multiple personalities like Jaxson. He can't flip the switch on his emotions like Ryder. The man enjoys killing. He lacks any attachments. He would kill the whole team and not blink if Griffen ordered him to do so. He follows Griffen because he respects the man's skill.

Griffen isn't called the Demon Commander in jest. He earned that title when they massacred an entire criminal organization and not just once, but several times over. They wait until officials are gathered and in one fell swoop, obliterate them all. Each member of Fury Corp has a codename of a god of death. These men are even deadlier than the Death Kings combined, and that's saying something since they still take their orders from the Kings. "Do you need me to go with you?" I ask Carter, wondering if that's why he was telling me about Ajax.

"Yeah. JT was at his club going over paperwork, and Storm was still passed out. I'm not waking him," Carter explains.

I sip my coffee mix with whiskey. I groan at the taste. It's just what I needed to function. "What time does his plane arrive?"

"In thirty minutes."

"Give me fifteen?" I ask him and he nods.

"I made breakfast and managed not to burn anything if you're hungry," he says with pride. He has been learning how to cook lately to help stave off his boredom. He cleans the house too. "Awe, such a sweet wife. Thank you, Toot toot," I tease.

He bats his blonde lashes at me, shoving at my chest playfully. "Oh, stop that. You're makin' me blush," he drawls in a mixed accent. It's a cross between a Texas drawl and Louisianan twang.

I chuckle, but then winch at the stabbing pain in my head it causes. Carter shakes his head at me. "I'll let you get dressed."

He leaves so that I'm once again alone with my thoughts. Of the past.

*"What's this, Romeo?" Sawyer asks, with her legs dangling off the dock. I am bothered by the alligator swimming below in the murky bayou water. She has her long brunette tresses his a ponytail. She is wearing mesh shorts and a form-fitting tank top that reveals her breasts. She just turned fifteen today.

I gave her a present. It's her birthday and I'm the first one to arrive at our meeting place.

"You're going to love it!" Carmen chirps, goosing me to the side so that I jump out of her way.

Sawyer quickly stands so that they can hug. I'm glad the girls are friends since that's how I met Sawyer, but I wish I could have all of Sawyer's attention. But ever since they met two years ago, I'm not the only person enthralled by this brown- haired, brown-eyed tomboy. My three best friends are as well.

"Come on, open it!" Carmen encourages her after they hugged, looking at the package I handed her.

Sawyer rips open the paper with a gasp when she sees the contents. It's the complete box set of Vampire Knight in English translation. With it, I attached a peach skin body pillow cover. Carmen said it would be perfect for her since it's her favorite anime.

"Oh my gosh, Carmen, thank you!" Sawyer hugs Carmen with so much joy on her face.

Carmen laughs. "I just bought the dakimakura. Jen bought you the manga."

Sawyer looks at me, then down at her feet demurely. I frown because this is not how Sawyer normally reacts. The past few years, she has been different around my friends and me. I don't know why; we are the same boys she has known for the past five years.

Yeah, we will be in college once the school year starts, but that's the only thing that's changed. Okay, that's not the only thing. We are trained murderers now, with a friend with benefits. We only get to see Carley in the summer when the Death Kings send us there to work in daylight and train at night.

Sawyer cannot look at me like some shy girl. Nope, that's not my firecracker, Juliet. So, I tackled her into the water.

She curses me I, dunking me back under the water when I come up for air. When I surface again, I'm almost run over by a small airboat before I sink back underneath the water away from it, cursing Carter in my head. The rich prick has more toys than sense, and his senator father spoils him with whatever he wants.

Once the boat is parked at the dock, I jump onto it, latching onto Carter and pulling him with me into the gator-infested water. I rise to find Storm stripping his shirt off and JT helping a dripping Sawyer out of the water onto the dock. I swim to the dock. Storm reaches down to help me up. I grasped his arm, allowing him to hoist me up. He has gotten strong lately with all the fighting and gym workouts he does.

"Well, that was fun," I say with a grin, which causes Sawyer to laugh.

Sawyer stomps up to me, trying to be serious. "I was almost gator chow, you ass!" she exclaims, shoving my chest. I don't budge.

I laugh, pulling her into a hug. She is getting curvy. She won't be our stick girl for much longer. "Now you know with us present we won't let anything to you, Juliet."

I flicked the locket around her neck that I gave her for Christmas. The guys were livid at me over that one, since I was more sentimental to our girl.

Last year, an electrical fire set their house ablaze. Sawyer's father, Nate, wasn't home, but she was. I was driving home late after working on an assignment. I was exhausted and covered in blood, but I noticed flames coming from the trailer park where Sawyer lived. I didn't think twice; I drove in that direction with my heart in my throat while dialing the emergency hotline. My instincts were screaming at me that something was wrong. That the flames were coming from Sawyer's house, so it was that address I gave. Turns out, I was right.

I noticed Sawyer hadn't evacuated the house, so I rushed into the blaze, toward her room. She was still asleep, but I knew it was because of the smoke inhalation. I gathered into my arms, tucking her close to me. A beam fell right at the point of exit. So, I went around it.

We were trapped with the flames licking all around us. We had to get out. I spotted the window and ran at it with my back turned to take the brunt of the glass and leaped through. Rock tore at my back as I skidded across the gravel away from the flames just as the fire department, police, and EMTs arrived. Thankfully, no one questioned my appearance as they saw me jump out the window with Sawyer in my arms.

She wasn't breathing as the EMTs took her from me. They had to resuscitate her while I panicked. Death doesn't scare me. I killed people for money. But this. The thought of losing Sawyer did. There wouldn't be a world worth living in without this girl. My little sister's best friend. My Juliet.

Thankfully, she came awake with a cough, her brown eyes locking onto mine. I rush to her, pushing her ash-covered locks away from her face. "Don't scare me like that again. Juliet. I thought I was going to have to join you in death sooner than planned," I half-heartedly joked. It might have come across as a joke, but I'm also positive Shakespeare's tragedy would have been made real. I would have walked into those flames without thinking it through. I'm that impulsive. She couldn't talk, but I could read her lips. "Yes, Juliet. I saved you. I'll always save you."

That's how we ended up with matching lockets. Sawyer stole a locket and had engraved it with the words. 'Romeo, thanks for saving me. Love, your Juliet.' I bought her an identical locket that says, 'I'll always save you, Juliet. Love, your Romeo.' The lockets are corny and romantic and completely us. *

I'm brought out the memories as I towel dry my hair after stepping out of the shower. I'm still a hopeless romantic who will woo that woman until my dying breath. I love Sawyer. I have loved that girl since Carmen brought her home for the first time.

Back then it wasn't the same love as feel for her now. At first, I wanted to just protect her like I did Carmen, as an older brother. My feelings toward her changed when I turned fifteen. I noticed I wanted to touch and kiss her. It felt wrong to me. She was only twelve, not yet a teenager herself. I was mad and frustrated with myself, so I would often lash out against authority.

I swear the leader of the Death Kings wanted to kill me back then for all the arrests that were made when my temper got the best of me. Ryder had to use his connections to make sure I was never charged with anything. Or was it Tee's connections? Tee was from the city of Blanche, which is only ten miles from the town of Grêle. It was probably he who kept my record clean or Carter's father Thiboux.

We found out five years ago that Thiboux was Callum's father. Come to find out Thiboux had disowned and abandoned the Shadow King following the deaths of Thibou's daughter and wife. Thiboux accidentally killed Cal's schizophrenic mother to stop her from murdering Callum. After Cal healed, he ended his older sister's sexual abuse by silently slitting her throat in the middle of the night.

Learning about that was why I kept Sawyer at a distance as a teenager. I wanted to enjoy her childhood and not grow up too fast. Look at how well that turned out. Sawyer acts like we are strangers and not friends anymore. She had to grow up after being raped at sixteen. She married some coward after high school and had to raise two children as a single mother.

I remember Ryder was furious when we killed the boys who had done that to our girl. We had to disappear or go to prison. So, we were set overseas to train with Fury Corp. Then it was back home to infiltrate a gang while working on the ranch full-time instead of just during the summer. When that blew up, we trained with C.H.A.O.S. Then it was back to Fury Corp to help them adjust to being home. Finally, we are back home in Grêle to bring Louisiana under the Death King's rule. If Sawyer is who I think she is after finding out she is the Gator King's niece, then the state is already under the Death Kings' thumbs. We aren't needed unless Ryder thinks she could use us. Knowing the Fox King likes to stay ten steps ahead of everyone, something bad is about to happen that we need to be here for.

Now that I'm fully dressed, I open the door to the delicious smell of waffles. My stomach rumbles as I walk to the kitchen where Carter is sitting with an empty plate sipping his coffee.

I walk up behind Carter, kissing him on his temple, and then pet his sea-foam green hair. "Thanks, wifey. Breakfast smells and looks great." I joke.

He shoves at me with a chuckle. "Get off me, goofball. Eat so we aren't late picking up Ajax at the airport. I do not want to be on his bad side."

"Me either. Please tell me Griffen sent somebody with him to keep him leashed?" I ask, taking a bite of syrup-drenched waffles.

"He sent Booker," Carter replies. I choke on my pancake.

"He is just as bad as Ajax," I gasp after expelling the food from my airway.

Booker Kimble, codename: Veles. He is a taciturn weapons expert tactician with a blood kink. He reminds me of C.H.A.O.S.'s hellhound, Ransom. They both have adorable boyish faces with big blue eyes and thick lashes, but they are deadly like slow loris. You want to cuddle them because they're so cute, but they are poisonous and will kill you.

Carter shrugs his shoulders. While I inwardly groan. Hopefully, I won't end up needing stitches again by the time they leave.