Jaded Read online

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements:

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

  From the author:

  Jaded

  Copyright 2014

  Danielle James, Kindle Edition

  Jaded is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any actual person, place or thing is coincidental. Any mention of any real brand is not intended as an advertisement, but merely to enhance the story.

  Acknowledgements:

  I would like to thank my wonderful betas who, without you, I would never get anything done. A special thank you goes out to Debbie, who refrained from reading the Forbidden Love Series until Jaded was complete. Your thoughts and opinions have been invaluable.

  A very, very special thank you to Lisa Miller, who not only poured her heart and soul into editing this book, but allowed me to use her as a sounding board. You were quick to tell me what was good and even quicker to tell me what just wouldn’t work. Without you, Jaded would still just be an idea in my head.

  And thank you to Amber James, of Ambers Covers, for designing the beautiful cover and for working with me even after I made her change it repeatedly.

  Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

  Two souls, born thousands of miles apart, but destined to be together from birth. She was born to a vampire and a human, with beauty and power that would remain unparalleled. He is the son of the only living phoenix in existence. Two very different people–one destiny. Only one thing stands between the two and their future. Stephan, the son of Lucifer, demented by his quest for revenge and crazed by the power he holds, will see them dead first. Jade and Michael will fight for each other, and they will fight for their families. Because destiny will always bring everything full circle.

  Jaded

  Full Circle

  A Forbidden Love Novel

  By Danielle James

  Angel sat at his desk flipping a pencil between his fingers. Something was going on; he just couldn’t put his finger on it. He thought of his family. They had grown quite a bit over the last fifty years or so. In the beginning, it had been only Angel and his band mates. One by one, the women started moving in. Brea, his human wife, was her normal self. She had been flitting around the house doing what she did. She and Frankie had been working on a spell that would clean the house for them. So far, it hadn’t worked.

  Frankie was mated to his brother by heart, Jacque. Jacque was a different sort of man. He wore piercings and kept his hair spiked and sported the rocker look full time. Before Frankie, he had a reputation for being the most amorous of the group. But Frankie, the talented witch, changed all of that.

  Just as Sebastian had been changed by his mate, Jessica. He had known the woman in another life and lost her. Her soul had come back to him in the form of a slender blonde that didn’t mind going after what she wanted. In fact, she had tormented Sebastian until he gave in to his feelings for her. Where Sebastian had once been hardened to life, she brought the playful side of him to the surface.

  Gage had to change for his mate as well. Serena was a fey who had been promised to another fey across the world. Gage had to embrace his heritage to claim her and now, he was the king of vampires, if mostly in title.

  Then there was Rebel. He had stalked the one woman on earth that called to him. Leigh was the only living dragon left on the planet. But Rebel had been very persistent and eventually won her heart. Like he and Brea, Rebel and Leigh had a daughter. Toni was named after her uncle Antonio. She was now the second living dragon on Earth, and was currently away at school.

  And finally, there was Antonio. The man was loyal, courageous, and kind. Even if he did have a prankster streak a mile wide in him. His mate was Macy, a necromancer. Unfortunately, Antonio had to die in order to meet her. But that didn’t bother Angel anymore. Although his missed his brother being there every day, he knew that Antonio and Macy were together and well in the Heavens.

  Samuel was the newest addition to his family. Samuel had been a detective on the LA police force for many years, working side by side with Angel on many occasions. When he became ill with devastating cancer, Samuel made the decision to turn. Angel and his family had combined their blood and strength to see that Samuel turned from human to vampire as safely as possible. It was then that he met his mate. Azerial was an earth Goddess who had watched over Frankie for her whole life. When Frankie joined his family, the goddess took the family in as her charges. But Samuel caught her attention and what a goddess wants, she gets.

  All of those people were behaving very normally. No, what was bothering him was his daughter, Jade. She had been acting strangely for several weeks. Of course, she wasn’t very forthcoming with what was on her mind and he couldn’t force her. Jade had always been powerful, and as a born vampire, even if it was only half, she was stronger with her mind than he was. He wanted to know what had gotten under her skin, but knew she would only tell him when she was ready. He just hoped it was nothing life-threatening. There was only so much of that kind of stuff that a vampire could survive in his lifetime.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Jade looked at the box with a skeptical eye. It really was nothing in and of itself. Just a box. A little box. It was only four inches tall and about two inches wide. It was made of cardboard, for crying out loud! She could crush it. She could. She was half vampire, after all. She could do many things.

  Then she looked down at her legs. She had deliberately not shaved with a razor for three weeks just for this purpose. With a deep breath that steeled her courage, Jade opened the box. She took out one of the containers and dropped the little square of wax into the melter. While she waited, she examined the several pieces of cloth that she purchased for this occasion as well. There was even a Popsicle stick to use for spreading the wax.

  She almost backed out. Almost.

  Her mate was coming to see her in a few short hours. Of course, he didn’t know he was her mate, but Jade did. Hell, she knew everything, including how much her little plan was going to hurt. But she had to make a good impression, right? Of course she did. It would be horrifying if her mate went to touch her legs and got pricked by the forest of crispy crunchy hair she was sporting there. Hell, she could give a Yeti a run for his money with that fur coat.

  She noticed that the wax had fully melted and was ready to use. Jade looked at herself in the mirror. Her curly auburn hair was desperately trying to escape the rubber band she had tied it up with. There were wisps and strands sticking out everywhere. Her eyes, the same amethyst as her mother’s, were shouting back at her that she was a wimp from the
mirror.

  Well, she thought, might as well get this over with.

  She dipped the Popsicle stick into the wax and applied it to her ankle. “Holy shit!” she barked out. That shit was hot! “Suck it up, Buttercup,” she told herself aloud. She carefully applied the cloth strip to the wax and smoothed it out. Big sigh. Now she just had to wait for it to cool.

  While she waited, Jade decided to multitask. No sense in wasting time, so she applied another round of wax and cloth to the other side of her ankle. And again. And again, until her ankle was covered all the way around with strips of cloth. She sat back and smiled at her genius. If she did it faster, the pain would be over with faster.

  Ok, she thought, now for the hard part. She knew what to do. All she had to do was pull the cloth off in one swift motion. It would come off of her skin, taking the wax and hair with it. In theory.

  She managed to get her fingertips underneath the corner of the first cloth she had applied. With a deep breath, she pulled.

  Nothing happened.

  It was stuck to her leg. The wax had dried while she was applying more wax! Now, it was cemented to her ankle! Shit shit shit, she thought, as she pulled at it again. Nothing!

  She moved on to the next cloth. Also stuck.

  Jade grabbed the box and turned it over. Maybe she should have read all the instructions first. But who did that anymore? It was simple. Melt. Apply. Remove. As her eyes skimmed the box she noticed that right there on the back was a warning. “Do not allow the wax to cool completely on the skin. If this occurs, reapply hot wax and allow to melt before trying to remove.”

  Ok, she could do that. She put the box back on the counter and, satisfied that she would prevail, picked up the stick and slathered hot wax all over the top of the fabric now permanently secured to her ankle. She waited for a minute and then tried to peel the strips off.

  Except, the wax on top had hardened and now made a solid encasement around her leg. “AAAArrgh!” she screamed out in frustration. She banged her fist on the sink. Of course, she could use her exceptional strength to pull the wax and strips off, but she liked her skin right where it was, and ripping the cloth off would take her skin with it. She would heal, but not fast enough and it would hurt. A lot.

  Maybe she should just wear pants when her mate arrived. That way she could hide the cast she had made around her ankle and no one would be the wiser to her torment. What the heck was in that wax anyway? Steel? She had all but decided that was the best route, when someone knocked at her door.

  “Jade?” Angel’s voice said from the other side of her bathroom door.

  “Yeah, Dad?” Jade replied.

  “Is everything ok?”

  Now here is where she had to make a decision. Did she tell her dad what was going on? Hell no. Did she ask him to bring her help? Again, hell no. Whoever he sent, probably her mother, would tell him and then Gage would pick it out of his head and before long, the entire house would know what was going on. Jade was the only one who could effectively block Gage. Mister King of all Vampires had some impressive mind mojo, but hers was stronger. No, she would have to handle this on her own.

  “I’m fine, Dad,” she finally said to the closed door. Go away. Please, just go away. She could feel Angel trying to use his mind to see if she was telling the truth, but she shut him out immediately. “No Jedi mind tricks, Dad. You don’t want to know what’s going on in here.” She thought quickly and then added, “I’m having my period.” Yeah. That should discourage any more questions.

  She heard him shuffle his feet at the door. “If you’re sure,” he said quietly.

  “I’m sure, Dad,” Jade groaned. Why wouldn’t he just leave her in her misery?

  When Angel was gone and Jade was left alone with her new cast, she turned to the sink. No, even if she could fit her whole ankle under the tap, which she couldn’t, it would make a huge mess. She eyed the tub. Yes!

  She turned the water on as hot as it would go. She silently prayed that Gage was on top of his vendetta to have hot water in the house. It was an ongoing battle between him and her mother to see who could control the water temperature. Brea, her mother, would turn the thermostat down, and Gage would go behind her and turn it up.

  As the water flowed and steam began to fill the room, Jade was thankful that Gage didn’t give up easily. The water was so hot that it appeared to be white in the tub. Good. She needed hot if she was going to melt that crap off her leg.

  She perched on the side of the tub and shoved her leg in the water.

  Holy. Mother. Of. God!!!

  The water wasn’t just hot; it was Hell-fire and damnation hot! She had just dunked her leg directly into the pit of Hell. She even thought she might have heard her skin singeing from the exposure. She immediately yanked her leg out of the water and began hopping around the room while holding it in her hand. She was blowing on it as if it could put the fire out. Her foot that was supporting her weight found a puddle of water that she had slung across the floor when she yanked her leg out of the tub and her foot slid.

  Jade barreled backward into the door, crashing into it and making a helluva racket. She pushed back to her feet, only to slip again. She landed hard on her ass and sat in the middle of the bathroom floor, defeated.

  “Are you alright, Child?” Azerial asked her, appearing out of thin air.

  Jade hid her face in her hands. “Go away.” Of course the goddess in the house would be able to barge right on in without bothering with the door.

  “There was so much noise in here, and then a crash. The door was locked and I thought you were in trouble,” Azerial told her, stooping down in front of her.

  Jade just let go. She cried and pointed at her leg.

  Azerial inspected the solid glob of wax around Jade’s ankle. “Oh dear,” she said. “I think we need Frankie for this.”

  “No!” Jade barked out. “Please!”

  “I’m sorry Jade, but if you want to free your ankle, I think she is the best one to help. She can mix some herbs and make a potion that will release you from,” she looked back at the leg, “This.”

  Jade groaned out loud but nodded her head in defeat.

  Sam, could you tell Frankie that Jade needs her help, Azerial thought to her mate.

  Jade needs help? he thought back.

  Yes.

  “Frankie!” he shouted, already having seen the situation from his mate’s mind. He knew exactly what was going to happen when he said his next words and a smile spread across his face as he said them anyway. “Jade needs your help!”

  “Jade needs help?” Jacque repeated. The message spread like wildfire throughout the house. In a matter of seconds, Jade’s entire family had gathered in the bathroom to help whatever evil had befallen her.

  “Oh God,” Jade wailed and sank into the corner. As her family rolled with laughter, she wished the floor would just open up and swallow her.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Michael landed on his feet about a mile from the Knight Estate. He folded his wings tightly behind his back and flipped his coat over his back. At least it was November and he wouldn’t look like a psycho wearing a long coat like he did in the warmer months. It was a trick he had learned from his father. Except Michael refused to wear the raincoat type. He wore a long, leather duster that made him look like Neo from The Matrix.

  He walked the rest of the way because he didn’t want to draw unwanted attention to himself. He was the son of Phoenix, last living firebird in the world. Or at least, he was until Michael was born with a set of orange wings.

  His whole life, which was only about twenty five years by that point, he had lived in his father’s shadow. The great Phoenix. Born of the fire… blah blah blah. He was tired of living under the thumb of scrutiny. Everything he did was always compared to his father. His whole family expected him to become just like his dad. Not that Michael didn’t love his family. He did. He just wished that they could see him for something other than Phoenix’s son, see him for who he really wa
s.

  “And just who is that?” a little voice in his head asked. Hell, he didn’t know, but that was part of the reason he had flown across the United States, wasn’t it? He wanted to find his own place in the world and the best place he could think of was the Knight Estate.

  Angel Knight was the California Clan Leader and a famous rock star. He used to be a super star, but the kind of music that was popular had changed in the past twenty years and the guys just kept on making the music they liked and not what was expected. Angel had a huge security force, and that was why Michael was headed that way. He thought he would make a great guard. The California Clan were mostly nightwalkers, unlike his own family. They could always use someone who was trustworthy to watch over things during the day. In fact, the king of vampires himself lived there! Gage was a reluctant king, but still the king.

  It wasn’t at all the pretty redhead that lived there. Nope. Not that at all.

  Okay, maybe it was a little bit about her. Michael had met Jade, Angel’s daughter, more than once over the years. He had always had a crush on her. He hadn’t seen her in years though and couldn’t help but wonder about the woman she had grown into.

  Michael approached the gates of the estate. At one time, the street would have been filled all day and all night with exuberant fans waiting to just get a glimpse of the rockers. Now, the street was quiet. Michael knew the vampires were awake, and he knew they would let him in, even without having called first.

  He walked up to the security guard at the gate. “Hi, I’m here to see Angel,” Michael said cheerfully.

  The guard looked at him with heavy skepticism. “Do you have an appointment?” he asked.

  “No,” Michael answered, “But our families have been friends for a long time. He’ll see me.”

  The guard shook his head. “No appointment, no entry. Call next time.”

  Michael gritted his teeth. “Can’t you just call him and tell him I am here?”

  “Nope,” the guard said, deliberately going back to reading his paper.