Chapter 11

“I thought as much,” Jax said.

“When I picked up the bracelets that I found in the portal room, I had wondered why they were together. When I first touched you, I knew you were special. Your people may not practise magic, but some of you are capable of wielding it.”

“On my world, I had heard that some magical items are paired. I suspect that these two are. I’m sorry, I should have asked you if you wanted to be with me and like me.”

“I need help to live here until I can leave, and you are the only person I’ve come to trust. I may be stuck here for the rest of my life, and I don’t want to be alone. The bracelet also wanted you. Magical items choose who they go to, not the other way around.”

David could feel her anxiety that he would reject her. It was the fact that he could also feel her desire to be with him that sealed the deal. He had been rather worried by his increased attraction and protectiveness of the person he thought of as Jack.

He knew that some of the men thought he was buggaring ‘him?’ ‘her?’, but they hadn’t said anything. He looked down at the woman in his arms and tightened his grip a little. She was his woman, and he knew it.

He then corrected his thoughts. No, she wasn’t just a woman. This fact was a bit harder to comprehend, but David had never shied from the truth. He liked to think of himself as a forward-thinking, scientific man.

It was one reason why organised religion had never been a prominent part of his life. He liked the idea of a moral code, and he had his own ethics. He had no idea if God was real or just a convenient being that could be blamed for everything that the Devil wasn’t.

Having just met his first alien and having a spirit take up residence in his head, he wasn’t sure what to believe. The thought that other planets also had people who looked a lot like Earthlings was both frightening and oddly comforting.

Over the last month, he had determined that Jack didn’t approve of killing for the fun of killing, and many of his beliefs gelled with David’s. That made them very compatible.

David looked down into Jax’s eyes, “What did you say your name was again?”

“Jax, J. A. X, not Jack,” she smiled at him.

“Okay, when you’re female, I’ll call you Jax. I’ll call you Jack when you are a male,” David said.

Jax frowned at this and then understood. Girls weren’t called Jack on this planet. She had noticed that in most cases, they used distinctive versions of a name to identify gender.

“We could just use, Jacky,” she offered to make it easier for David.

David ran that around in his head and grinned at her. He knew Jacky could be used for both males and females. Jacqueline was often shortened to Jackie. And the ‘Y’ was often added to Jack for a lad.

“Okay, I can live with Jacky. That way, if I do screw up, most of the blokes won’t think twice about it. I’ve heard Tommy calling you that, so it won’t be unusual if I do too.”

David then groaned because Jacky was stirring him up by rubbing against him. He didn’t resist when she pulled him to the bed. However, this time, he took his time to explore the exquisite creature he was in bed with.

He certainly didn’t feel drunk anymore.

When David came the second time, the explosion in his mind was incredible. He damn near blacked out as his mind and body were flooded by the strange energy, and his body zinged.

When he looked into Jacky’s eyes, he knew that she too had felt the power, as she was stunned as he was. It took some effort to stagger back to his bed after kissing Jacky goodnight. He crashed out moments later.

Jax rolled over and looked at her new partner as he went down for the count. She grinned and still felt as if he was with her as she closed her eyes to get some sleep.

‘Tomorrow will be an interesting day,’ she thought as she drifted off.

David stumbled out of bed.

He felt very odd and looked over at Jack’s empty bed. ‘No, Jacky’s bed,’ he reminded himself.

When he rubbed his wrist and felt the presence of the bracelet even though he couldn’t see it. He knew that he hadn’t just had a vivid dream about his roommate. He could still smell her on himself.

“Thing in my head, you had better make sure you warn me if any harm comes to Jacky,’ he mentally told the entity.

He got the impression that it understood him and that it was even smirking at him. It even felt male to him. David then remembered that it was somehow linked to Jacky.

Slipping on his shorts, he grabbed his clothes and padded down the mosquito-meshed verandah to the ablutions room. Jacky wasn’t in there, but the floor was wet, suggesting someone had recently been in the shower. David decided that a shower would be a good idea.

He finally found Jacky stuffing his face. He looked just like he had the day before. If it weren’t for the grin that he got, David would have started to believe the girl he had slept with the night before was only a figment of his imagination.

David had to chuckle as his team rolled in. Most of them looked worse for wear. Pete growled at the cheery smiles and hellos that Jacky and David sent his way.

“Jesus, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you two got laid last night,” he grumbled.

David felt Jacky stiffen beside him before he replied, “I’ll have you know that I have never screwed a bloke’s arse in my life.”

Tommy chuckled as he put down his tray, “One arse is as good as another. So, who was she?”

“A gentleman never tells,” David replied and went back to eating. He was ravenous this morning for some reason.