I gasped and almost lunged into his arms. Almost. For a hot second, all I wanted was his comfort. I wanted to hear him say that I hadn’t made another epic mistake as alpha female or as his potential mate.
It was his growl that held me in place, a low and commanding sound that left me short of breath.
And I thought that this probably wasn’t the best time to be passive, or look for comfort, and I growled back, yep, I actually growled at him.
Quick vibrations littered my skin. “Aidan.” My voice was a low snarl. My nails dug deep into my palms as I clenched my fists. My claws were itching to come out. Hair brushed under my skin, waiting to erupt. The need to dominate rushed at me. It was … weird and a little freaky. It was one thing to show him my submission when we were making out. My inner-wolf was happy to let him take the lead there. But here, in front of Tommy and Chris and Dominic, I was his equal, and he would either treat me like one or he would submit. In my inner-wolf’s mind it was black and white — simple.
His scent thickened, so did mine. My breath quickened, my body started to tremble. Blood rushed from my face in a cold flush of fever, as I struggled to keep my chin level, my gaze on him. It was as if I were fighting an exhausting internal battle with my inner-wolf. She clawed for control while I wanted to bow, present my neck, and feel his warm lips flutter across me in acceptance. Or was that my inner-wolf and it was me that wanted control? I wasn’t one hundred percent sure right then.
His nostrils flared for a moment, and then he sat back in his chair and gave me an amused smile, as if he’d simply decided to humor me. “Your father gave us a cougar. According to him, the guy had a death sentence for helping one of their prisoners escape and your dad was supposed to dispose of him. The wounds your father inflicted on him have healed, but he hasn’t woken up.”
“He gave you a cougar,” I said slowly, processing this news. “Don’t you think that maybe, just maybe, you should have told me that already?”
Aidan smiled his sexy, crooked smile that never failed to make my heart flutter. “I had other things on my mind, sweetheart,” he said and winked. “More important things.”
“Going all growly on me because I hugged a friend was more important?” I pursed my lips, trying for annoyed, but I was pretty sure I failed. “Might want to rethink your priorities there, honey.”
****
It seemed strangely unreal that my father would give us one of his own. I leaned against the countertop in the makeshift kitchen of the pack building, sipping on hot chocolate, loaded with frothy whipped cream, wondering why he would when I thought it did seem somehow appropriate. Dad had to have guessed that Aidan hadn’t believed him about not knowing how many cougars there were, or where they were hiding. What better way to show he was on our side than by giving us someone who knew the ins and outs of the werecougars, even if he wasn’t able to tell us anything yet.
I squinted against the bright rays of the setting sun that streamed through the window. The parking lot was half full and there was a knot of people gathered by the cars. They mostly looked unhappy and on edge, but then I couldn’t really blame them. Aidan had decided to tell everyone about the cougar we had acquired, and no one really knew how to take it. For the most part, the pack wanted the sleeping man dead, and no one was all that pleased with me that I wanted to keep him alive.
The thing was I figured that if my dad had in fact been about to kill him then he might be willing to help us if he woke up. And even if he wasn’t willing, there was a reason he’d been given to us. I wanted to know what that reason was.
And I was also almost positive that I needed to get my mom away from my dad which was absurdly ridiculous. We had no solid reason to suspect she knew anything about what was going on, but we didn’t have a solid reason to doubt it either. Pulling her out would tip off my dad, but then, maybe that was a good thing. This defensive strategy wasn’t really getting us anywhere and I was beginning to wonder if going on the offensive was what we should have done all along.
Aidan hadn’t strayed far from me since our little dispute in his office. I still felt the weird shift in him and it hurt, but only a little. At least he still felt the need to stay close by. It was definitely better than ignoring me.
I snuck a peek at him. He sat at a scratched up round table, nursing his coffee as he studied the map of the forest surrounding Dog Mountain. We’d made a lot of progress over the last couple of days, but there was still a lot of land to search before we could move on to the surrounding towns.
Aidan glanced up at me and his eyebrows rose. “What?”
“I think we need to stop watching and act,” I said, shocked that I actually voiced my thoughts. So was Aidan, judging by the wide-eyed look he gave me. I sighed. “I’ve been justifying waiting to myself because we didn’t have enough information. Dad wants to use me, but we don’t know what for. He also said I was your weakness. I’m going to take a wild guess here, but I figure he’s going to use me to get to you, although I don’t have a freakin’ clue why. The longer we wait because I don’t want to hurt my dad, the more people could suffer — will suffer. And my mom …” I swallowed, dropping the thought.
“We don’t need to rush,” he said, but it wasn’t believable. I knew he was just saying it to make me feel better; to give me a sense of security that really wasn’t there.
“Did you call Luken?”
Aidan nodded. “He wants to join the team. He wants to help find them.”
“And he thought I wouldn’t understand.” It wasn’t a question. It seemed crazy that he thought I wouldn’t understand that. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him that he needed to talk it over with Jared,” he bit out, annoyed.
I huffed. “I know you don’t want Jared here, but we need him. The pack needs to see I’m with you, and the three of us working together will help. I should have talked to you first, but let’s face it, you’ve been a bit overbearing lately. You would have told me no. We would have argued. I’m just trying to fix the mess I made.” I waved a hand in his direction. “Clearly, it’s a bigger mess than I thought.”
“About earlier,” he said, racking a hand through his hair, and shifted his gaze.
“I get it,” I said when he didn’t continue. “We aren’t really mates. I shouldn’t have rolled over to you. But you try and pull that crap again and you’ll be the one rolling over.”
He let out a soft growl and met my eyes again. His were crinkled with humor. “Sure, you keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve got to get going.” I downed the last mouthfuls of my drink, and rinsed out my mug in the sink. I walked over to him and gave him a peck on the cheek, before heading for the door. “They’re probably waiting.”
“Hey, hold up,” he said, snagging my wrist, and pulling me to a stop.
“Aidan, don’t start,” I said, turning into him. My voice was growlier than I intended, and I quickly cleared my throat, attempting to hide my frustration. “I’m going. I need to do something. I can’t just sit here. And besides that, my skin is crawling. I need to shift.” And it was. My skin was rippling and prickly and itchy. My inner-wolf needed out.
He chuckled and I couldn’t help but smile. Man, I loved his laugh. “I’m not going to stop you,” he said. “I just wish I could go with you.” He stood up and pulled me into his arms. I wrapped mine around his waist, looking up at him.
“Yeah, well, we don’t always get what we want,” I told him dryly. “One of us needs to stick around and be available and you’re the better option for that. They like you, me not so much. And I really think it will help my image with you agreeing that I should work with them. You know, let the pack see you’re okay with it, with him.”
He dipped his head and pressed his lips to mine in a quick kiss that left me breathless and to my dismay, panting for more. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.” He chuckled. “One minute you’re growling at me and the next you’re melting i
nto me.”
“I believe you growled first,” I said, batting my eyes in an attempt to look innocent. “It’s about time I growled back.”
CHAPTER 24
~ AIDAN ~
I walked Jade to the doors, hating every damn step and although I’d said all the right things to make her happy, I felt … on edge and a little empty. I knew she was right, but it didn’t mean I had to like it. It just seemed stupid to let her go out to hunt down the cougars. It went against every protective instinct I had.
Oh, hell. There were so many other things to worry about right now, but the only thing on my mind was the weird-ass way my inner-wolf was reacting to her.
For a moment I indulged myself and imagined what it would have been like to claim her in the showers. What her peachy skin would have felt like against mine. What her hands and lips, grazing all over my body, would have felt like. Seeing that fiery passion in her eyes. I could almost smell the change in her scent and in mine.
The fantasizing was a good diversion, but it didn’t help.
It’s going to be fine, I thought. I just had to breathe. She wasn’t going to be alone. She’d have the team, she’d have Jared. Okay, so that didn’t help either. But they wouldn’t let anything happen to her, right?
And the cougars were smart. They changed locations frequently. They hid their tracks. Based on the last week of hunting them, the odds of her actually running into one of them were low.
Knowing that should have helped, too. It really should have. But it didn’t.
There was still a good crowd in the parking lot when we got outside. At first glance, I didn’t think any of them noticed Jade. It hadn’t been obvious that they were watching her join the team, and for a moment I thought that maybe her shifting in private was a bad move. Too discreet to draw attention. But as I followed her out the doors, I realized they were watching. I caught the sidelong glances checking out the matte-black wolf trotting away from me, and the arched eyebrows in my direction, and I forced a smile to show I was supporting her.
When she reached the edge of the forest where the wolves were gathered, Jade twisted to look behind her, and her bright golden eyes settled on me. She let out a sound that was somewhere between a growl and an excited yip.
“Be careful, sweetheart,” I called, lifting my hand in a little wave. Just breathe. She’s going to be fine. We are going to be fine. Damn, it would be better not to feel anything right now.
As the team and Jade took off into the forest, I spotted Tommy and Chris leaning against the building with Dominic. And oh, they weren’t happy. Even if Tommy’s shiny head wasn’t redder than a blistering sunburn, the hot spike in the air would have given it away. Clearly they didn’t appreciate Jared telling them to hang back from the hunt.
“Hey,” Dominic said, as I approached. He was frowning and giving me one of those looks that told me he knew I was on the verge of cracking. I had to give it to him; he knew how to read me. “She can handle herself. She’ll be fine.”
I nodded, but didn’t say anything. He was right. I knew it. He knew it, too. But knowing it didn’t mean that I liked her going any better. But I made a conscious effort to dial back my anxiety.
My relaxed persona must have been somewhat convincing, because as I settled in with them, Dominic chuckled and then said, “You know. She once told me that there’s nothing sexier than a man who’s in love with his woman and not afraid to show it.”
Tommy and Chris chuckled, and both of them rolled their eyes.
Dominic flashed them a bright, pearly white grin, full of exaggerated smugness. “Laugh all you want,” he said. “I may not date women, but I know what I’m talking about when it comes to impressing them.” And then he grimaced. “Mac and Jade like to talk — a lot.”
I had to laugh. If Dominic knew anything about Jade or Marcy, it was only how to piss them off. Except it really did sound like something Jade would say. The question was: how was I supposed to show how much I loved her without coming across as being possessive or overbearing? That’s what I wanted to ask, but what I said was, “She’s not really my woman.”
“Keep thinking like that and she never really will be,” he said and clapped me on the shoulder.
Something inside me flinched, hard. “Yeah, well, we’re still trying to work out our issues.”
“Whatever, I’m not judging, man. Just sharing my wealth of knowledge on the mystery of what women want.” He smirked, cutting me an angled side glance, and then said, “Come on, these two want a meeting.”
“Sure,” I said with a nod, and pushed off the wall. “I’m going to check in on the cougar. I’ll meet you guys in my office in a few.”
The headquarters had once been a home to the pack. They had slept here, ate here. There was security in staying together. And the building had everything they had needed: beds, private rooms, kitchen, gym, media and game rooms. It had been built with the purpose of keeping the pack together, now it was just a place to conduct business.
The slap of my shoes echoed in the bright, empty hallways as I made my way through the building. I followed along and then veered to the left where the old sleeping quarters were. Keeping the captive there was Jade’s idea, insisting he be kept comfortable until we could determine if he truly was our enemy.
If I hadn’t known where he was, I could have followed the smell of cougar, that odd mix of lemon and birch bark, all the way to where Richard slept. It gave the sterile pack headquarters a weirdly cold feel, smelling the enemy within its walls.
As I stepped out of the hallway, and pushed through the doors that led to the rooms, Luken looked up and gave me a bright smile. He leaned against the wall, a phone in his hands, just outside the door to the captive’s room.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” I said. I knew he’d been planning to talk to Jared, but I figured he would have been shot down.
“Me neither,” he admitted, hastily pocketing his phone and straightening as I approached. “Jared said he’d think about it and stuck me on guard duty while they’re on the hunt.” He shifted from one foot to the other and averted his gaze. “About Jade, sorry I gave her a hard time.”
“I’m not the one you need to apologize to, man.” The words sounded normal, but my tone was hard and direct. His smile dimmed, no longer looked bright, but breakable, and I heaved a sigh. “If you would have talked to her, you wouldn’t have to be stuck on guard duty. You’d be on that hunt with them right now. She would have gone to bat for you, and if that didn’t work, she would have pestered him until he agreed.”
He didn’t look like he believed me or it could have been that he just didn’t want to believe me, but it was the truth. Jade would have welcomed the help and she would have forced the issue until she won.
We stood there in silence; the only sounds were our breathing, until he cleared his throat. “I’m guessing you came to see him,” he said. He didn’t wait for my answer before he turned and stiff-armed the door, letting it swing open.
“Any movement?” I asked, as I stepped in and flicked on the light switch.
The room was simple, holding only a bed and dresser. The walls were painted in a pastel blue and the window coverings were fringed with a pale green lace, the remnants of whichever pack member had once made it their own.
“Nothing yet,” he said. “I’ve been checking every fifteen minutes.”
My gaze locked on to Richard lying flat on his back in the bed. He had passed out before the team had shown up at Jeff’s. I hadn’t thought much of it at first. He’d been so torn up and beaten at the time it had made sense that his body would shut down, try to heal. But the wounds were closed now, looking more like old scars than fresh cuts. And he didn’t really look asleep. He was too still. His eyes didn’t flutter. His muscles didn’t twitch. It was almost as if he’d been drugged into a comatose state.
About ten minutes later, I made it back to my office, feeling about fifty different kinds of pissed-off. Not that I hadn’t seen it coming,
but I was now certain that the little gift from Jade’s father was more of a distraction than anything else. The question was: what was he trying to distract me from?
Man, the urge to race out and beat the shit out of Jeff until I had the answers I needed was nearly irresistible. But then, so was the desire to keep Jade happy, and beating her dad wouldn’t keep her happy. I seriously never thought loving someone could be this damn confining.
I heaved a sigh and settled in behind my desk. “I’m guessing this meeting is about your report on the team,” I said. “What did you find out?”
I expected Tommy to tell me I was wrong and urge me to wait. They’d made it clear in the email that I should hear whatever it was from the team, but from the look he exchanged with Chris I assumed my guess was right, and that waiting was no longer an option.
“None of them are going to talk to you now that Jared’s back and breathing down their necks.” He collapsed onto the couch, across from my desk, and stretched his legs out in front of him. A slow, grim smile twisted his mouth and he said, “The team, all five of them are half brothers. Same father, different mothers. Jared was born here, but the others came along a couple years ago.”
I frowned and began tapping the pen in my hand against my desk restlessly. I looked at Dominic, and cocked a brow. He was frowning, too, and shrugged as if this was the first he was hearing about this.
“Who’s their father?” I asked, as a fast ripple of irritation passed through me.
“That’s the interesting part. You killed their father,” Chris said, his voice carried a dark undertone. He leaned forward in his chair, resting his forearms on his knees. “According to Landon, Ray tracked them down and changed them just before he fought and won alpha. He was building a pack that wouldn’t think about trying to overthrow him, even before it was his.”