“Nothing to clear, alpha,” Jared said. He sounded calm, but his jaw ticked and he stood a bit straighter, rolling his shoulders back.
“You sure about that?” Aidan asked, stopping a few feet away from him. “Because I heard something that’s pretty damn interesting yesterday.”
Crap! My body temperature dropped to freezing. This was not the time. Everyone was too strung out. “Aidan, not now,” I said.
“No, Jade,” Beck said. He looked at me gravely. “It needs to be out in the open. My brother needs to learn his place.”
Jared blinked and looked at Beck in question. They held each other’s eyes for a long moment as if they were having a silent conversation. Slowly, Jared’s face went red with fury. He shifted his gaze to each one of his brothers. Disgust passed across his face in a quick flash, before he forced a blank stare on Aidan. “Don’t look at me like you regret killing my father.”
“I don’t regret it,” Aidan said. It sounded harsh, but it was the truth. “I regret not knowing he had kids. I regret not giving him a service so you could have closure. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have covered up his death. I would have given you guys time to mourn.”
That was a little too much truth for Jared, I thought. He looked shaken and then angry. When he glanced at me, I immediately felt bad, bad enough that I looked away.
The silence stretched thin as Aidan waited for some kind of response from Jared and as the seconds turned into minutes, I thought I was going to burst from the tension. But then Landon stepped forward. He looked weirdly calm. He took a knee in front of Aidan and bowed his head. Beck joined him, so did Mark, and then, after another long second, Craig took a knee, too.
“Our father failed this pack,” Landon said. “Thank you for saving the pack from him.”
“Don’t bow to him,” Jared shouted. I winced and brought my hands to my ears, because when he yelled, it was so loud that it felt as if my eardrums were going to pop from the sound. “He doesn’t deserve your respect. He doesn’t deserve to be the alpha.”
“You want to settle this now?” Aidan growled. “If you don’t think I’m fit to be alpha of this pack, then I’ll welcome your challenge.”
They stared off for a long moment, Jared’s scent was thick in the air, but Aidan held his at bay. I didn’t really get it until he glanced at me, studying my expression, which was probably a little freaked out. His nostrils flared, looking for any trace of a reaction from my inner-wolf, and then he laughed, a shock and thrilled sound. When he shifted his focus back on Jared, a strong wave of leafy greens and power and sweetness filled the air. My heart started banging in my chest and Jared, although he fought it so hard that the blood vessels along his cheeks looked as if they were about to burst, bowed his head.
“That’s what I thought,” Aidan said dryly. “Pretty sure if you actually believed you could take me it would have happened already.”
Jared met my eyes for a brief second before heading for the door. “I’m out,” he said. I went after him, reaching out for his hand, but Aidan stopped me, snaking an arm around my waist. Jared gave us a one-fingered salute, and without looking back, he went out the door.
CHAPTER 30
~ JADE ~
The team didn’t want to talk. I figured it was a guy thing. They grunted a few S’okays and We don’t blame yous to Aidan. There were some awkward back slaps, and a few rough sounding chuckles. And no one said a word about Jared’s freak out. I felt like an outsider watching them, not part of the alpha pair and not part of the team, just a bystander peeking in on a scene that made absolutely no sense to me.
Within five minutes, it was over and so was our meeting. They set up a new watch rotation to guard the cougar, and then the guys trailed out with their heads hanging a bit lower than usual.
I shot Aidan a hard questioning stare once they were gone, but all he did was shake his head, and then he slipped a hand into mine. He squeezed, a reassuring press of his fingertips, and without a word he led me out of the building.
The car ride home was a silent one. Aidan’s scent was calm, relaxed, and his expression was more of the same. He held my hand the entire way, rubbing small circles on my palm.
When we got home, he gave me a distracted kiss and mumbled something about taking a shower. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t. My throat felt tight as if hands were choking me.
Day from hell, I thought, as he disappeared up the stairs. I considered calling Marcy and Dominic, but decided that even though I wanted to talk about everything that had happened with the team and the cougar, I didn’t want to talk to them about it.
I went into the kitchen to grab something to eat, but once I opened the fridge, I realized I wasn’t really hungry. I paced around the house some. I wanted to call the guys, make sure they were okay, and then I wanted to find Jared and knock some sense into him. I knew he was hurting, but if he kept this crap up he would find himself thrown out of the pack or worse. Alphas die. It sucked, but it happened. He couldn’t blame Aidan, not for this. It was the way of the pack. The thought made me laugh, a harsh sound. How could I rationalize a death like that when I fought everything else?
Aidan was just turning off the shower as I padded up the stairs and I headed for the bedroom, figuring I should get changed before he came in. I quickly kicked off my jeans and hoodie, and tugged on a pair of boxers and a yellow tank, and then I crawled into bed, ready for the day to be over with.
Aidan pushed the door open a few moments later. He glanced at me and his sexy lips lifted in a crooked smile. His hair, a carefree mess and damp from his shower. He smelled so good. Fresh and clean. He was wearing nothing more than a pair of boxers. My eyes drifted over him, completely on their own, and settled on the raised scar of his alpha imprint on his right pec, a jagged letter “A” which matched my own. His carved face had a contented look to it, as he moved toward me.
He crawled onto the bed, and as soon as he was settled, I snuggled in against his warm body. “Are you okay?” My hands were shaking, my lips tight, as I looked up at him, hoping for some kind of insight on what had happened between him and the guys.
“I’m fine, sweetheart,” he said. The answer made me want to scream. How was he fine? I just didn’t get it. I figured he noticed my confusion because he leaned down, pressed a kiss to my forehead, and said, “Did you just expect us to shed some tears and hug it out?”
“Yeah, kind of,” I said, nuzzling my head against his bare chest. “Or at least show some kind of darn emotion.”
He laughed as his hand drifted along my back, and teased the hem of my tank top, and I shivered in delight as his warm fingertips brushed along the base of my spine. “What about you?” he asked. “Are you okay?”
I held my breath for a long moment. Was I fine? No, not really. My life had been one hell of a ride since I met Aidan, and it didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. My father, the pack, the team, Aidan, they all seemed like problems and I had no idea how to solve them. I let out my breath in a slow hiss and said, “Yeah, fine.”
“Jade look at me,” his voice was full of command, and before I knew it, my body had complied. I twisted my head, resting my chin on his chest. His handsome face was hard. “Don’t lie to me. We’re past that shit.”
“It’s nothing.” Another lie, but the thing was I really didn’t know how to tell him I felt like I was being pulled in a million different directions. I didn’t know how to say that I wanted the team to stay together, especially since he’d made it clear last night that we should take it apart and rebuild. I didn’t want to talk about the fact that I wasn’t okay with sentencing the cougar to death even if I knew he needed to die, and I really didn’t want to talk about my dad.
“Still trying to protect him.” It wasn’t a question. His eyes hardened further and his jaw started to tick.
I lowered my lips to his chest, littering it with teasing kisses and little nips. It was a distraction; I knew it, he did, too, but even so, a whole new tension tighten
ed his muscles and he let out a soft groan. “I don’t want to fight,” I whispered between kisses.
“I’m not picking a fight, are you?” His voice was husky and his hand slipped under my tank, rubbing a tingling trail up my spine.
I sighed and shivered. “It has nothing to do with me protecting Jared.” I lifted my head, meeting him square in the eyes. “Sometimes the best move a leader can make is to step back from a battle when the potential loss is too high. Losing the head of the enforcers is a pretty big loss, don’t you think?”
He didn’t answer and I continued the soft trail of nips and licks up to his neck. Another soft groan left his lips. “If you keep that up, I might not be able to behave myself.”
“Who said I wanted you to behave?” I asked, nipping at his earlobe.
In a blink, Aidan put a hand under my chin, lifting my head up. He kissed me, a dominant, thorough kiss, invading my mouth with smooth, powerful moves of his tongue. I really wasn’t one-hundred percent sure how I came to my conclusion, but as his tongue tangled with mine and his hands ran along my skin, I knew one thing: I was sick of being sensible.
Funny, when it came right down to it, the decision was an easy one. Or maybe I was just completely and utterly overwhelmed with everything else that was going on and that one thing was the only thing that made an ounce of sense. Either way, it didn’t matter.
My body swayed closer to him and I pushed on his chest to break the contact. He eased back, but only slightly. His warm brown eyes met mine, and I knew what he was thinking as he laid his head back on the pillow. He thought I was stopping him before anything unchangeable happened and before he completely closed off the ideas that were burning in his eyes, I whispered, “I’m ready.”
“Uh …” He looked down at me, utterly confused for a moment. His nostrils flared then, searching my scent. His gaze darkened with desire, but there was something else, too, uncertainty, hesitation. I was a bit — a lot — terrified of that small spark in his eye. The one that pushed past everything else, showing me what I’d seen before. I was slowly losing his inner-wolf. I could see it, God, I could even smell it.
I pulled in a shuddering breath, my nerves skittered and jumped. I pushed away from him, sitting back on my heels. “I mean if you haven’t changed your mind, that is.” My voice (thankfully) was cool, not giving way to my jittery nerves, although I was pretty sure he could smell them anyway.
He shook his head in a violent shake against the pillow. “No, no, I haven’t. You just kind of caught me off guard there. I figured ... well, I thought ...”
“You don’t sound too sure,” I said, knotting my hands in the hem of my tank.
Aidan scrubbed at his face, and groaned. “I just don’t want you rushing into this if you’re still not sure, and I don’t want this to happen if it’s just to fix things with the pack or with me.”
My inner-wolf was a traitor. I was trying, man, was I trying, to play it cool, but thanks to her, my body was burning wickedly hot. She wanted to fix that fading look in his eyes. I did, too, but that wasn’t the only reason I wanted this. My mind, my body, my inner-wolf just knew it was time to stop being afraid of losing myself to him, because the truth was, I’d been lost since the first time I met him. “This is for me,” I said. “If it helps to fix the pack, that’s an added bonus, but this is for me.”
Aidan was … nervous, like really nervous. It was kind of sweet and seriously unexpected. That deadly, predatory guard of his was gone. “This is forever, Jade. It can’t be undone.”
“Good,” I said and smiled. “I want forever with you. I love you.”
Aidan didn’t seem sure, not even a little. He eyed me with doubt that pierced like a hot needle through my heart. And suddenly I couldn’t breathe. His eyes narrowed, but not unkindly. It was as if he were trying to decide if he should take me seriously or brush me off.
After a painfully long moment, he said, “Come here.”
And my body (or it could have been my inner-wolf) obeyed the command. Before I even realized I was moving, I was leaning into him again.
He sat up and caressed my cheek, a steaming brush of fingertips trailing along my jaw and dipping down my neck. “You sure?” he asked.
I nodded. I lifted my hands, pressing them against the hard lines of his chest. He continued caressing my skin, a slow trail back up my neck and my lips parted when his fingertips touched them and he paused, slowly tracing their edges.
He kissed me, but it wasn’t demanding. It was soft, testing, and he tasted sweet and minty. Warmth spread through my entire body right down to my toes and suddenly I didn’t want the sweet, soft kiss. I wanted more. I needed more.
Everything poured out of me. All the desire I’d been hold back since I first met him made me feel as if I were on fire. I leaned back from him, breaking the kiss, and stripped off my tank. I wanted to feel his skin against mine so badly it physically hurt.
Aidan watched me for an excruciatingly long minute. His eyes flared golden, his inner-wolf coming out. His let out a low growl of approval and licked his lips. And then his hands were on me, and mine on him. Our lips met. Gone was the sweet testing kisses. He didn’t hold back, and neither did I. The world around us began to tilt and fade until all that was left was him and me, lost in scorching touches and feverish kisses.
CHAPTER 31
~ AIDAN ~
“Can this wait?” I asked. Okay, it was more like a demand into the phone. I tried not to look at Jade as she crawled back into bed, but not looking wasn’t really an option. My gaze drifted back to hers and I met her hooded eyes. With her long brown hair, still damp from her shower, hanging over her shoulders, and her perfect creamy skin, my blood was already running hot just looking at her. But then she gave me a seductive, hot as hell smile and wagged her finger at me, calling me back to bed and my entire body went up in flames.
“No, kid, it can’t.” Tommy’s voice, perpetually rough, held a lot more gravel than usual. “I’m bringing the boys to you now. We’re ten minutes out.”
I rubbed at my face and let out a frustrated growl. The sun was just barely up and Jade was lying in my bed with nothing more than a towel on. Damn, all I wanted to do was get back in there with her, but of course I couldn’t. There was something else that needed my attention. “I need thirty,” I said, watching her wind a strand of hair around her finger. I breathed in a deep lungful of air, catching her new scent, and a growl started to build in my throat. “No, make that sixty.”
“Ah, hell, it happened, didn’t it?” Tommy muttered. He paused for a second, letting out a long breath that crackled over the phone line. “Shit, kid, this really can’t wait. It’s about Jared. I’m so ...”
“Don’t say you’re sorry,” I snapped before he could get the word out, and I forced myself to turn away from Jade. “I’m liable to kick your ass when you get here if you do.”
“But I am.” He paused for another long breath and then said, “Ten minutes.”
With a curse, I hung up the phone and walked over to the bed. I leaned over Jade, gave her a long and more than a little possessive kiss, and then as much as I hated to do it, I pulled away from her and said, “Time to get dressed, sweetheart. The guys will be here in ten.”
Her reply was a purr that came close to undoing me. “We still have ten minutes.”
~ JADE ~
Aidan laughed. I didn’t think I had ever heard him laugh like that before. It was real and full of cheery energy. He was happy and I loved it. He caressed my cheek and kissed my forehead, and then he pulled away again. “Ten minutes isn’t long enough,” he said, his voice low and husky. He backed up a step and smirked. “I’m going to jump in the shower and you better have your cute butt dressed when I’m done.” Aidan didn’t wait for my protests before he turned around and headed out of the room. A second later I heard the rush of the shower as he turned it on.
With a long sigh, I pulled myself out of bed grudgingly. I went to the dresser, tugging open a drawer, and began
to riffle through the minimal clothing I had here at the house.
I had only just gotten out of the shower when Aidan’s phone had gone off. I knew it was freakin’ horrible to be annoyed at the interruption, but I couldn’t help it. Really, was it too much to ask for just a few more uninterrupted hours with my new mate?
Then again, it wasn’t as if they knew we had taken that step yet, so I figured I really couldn’t blame them.
Letting my towel drop to the floor, I pulled on a pair of panties and then fastened my bra. Even annoyed, I was still grinning. Last night had been more than I had expected. So much more. It had been a slow, blissful hour, full of sensual exploration, discovering each other in an entirely different way. I had expected to be nervous, but after the first few minutes my nerves had vanished. Being with Aidan was comfortable and exciting and breathtaking. I had let myself go, and so had he.
I pulled in an idyllic breath, catching the change in my scent. I pressed my palm to my nose, grinning. I could actually smell the difference on my skin; a layer of leafy greens coating my natural aroma.
I’m really his, I thought, as I stepped into a pair of jeans. And oh, God, he’s actually officially mine. My grin widened into a painfully big smile. My chest felt so full; I felt so complete. It was utterly amazing.
Banging, like someone was hitting the front door with a baseball bat, wiped the grin from my face. With a quick glance at the clock, I snagged a T-shirt and tugged it on, thinking ten minutes couldn’t have possibly passed yet, but yep, it had.
I rushed out of the bedroom and as I passed the bathroom, I heard the shower still going. “Hurry up, they’re here,” I called out and then I hit the stairs at a jog.