“Aidan, wait,” I said a little desperately. I didn’t want him to leave, and I hated myself for it. The further he got from me, the more I shook. That man was mine. Every part of me knew it, wanted it. “Let them go. I’ll do what you want. Just leave them out of this.” After the words were out of my mouth, I felt sick. I didn’t know whether I was saying it to get him to stay or if it was for my friends.
He stopped and gave me a sexy half smile. “Will you submit, Jade?”
Yes! I wanted to scream it, but the word wouldn’t come out. I didn’t know what to do. It was as if he was speaking in another language. My body was shaking as my inner-wolf and my human side battled against each other. One wanted me to stay strong and claim him as mine, and the other wanted me to drop at his feet. And I couldn’t figure out which one wanted what, or which one to listen to.
He must have taken my silence as a rejection, because he started to turn from me again. “Aidan, please don’t go,” I whispered.
“Submit to me.” His husky voice wrapped around me, demanding and gentle, a confusing mix, and for a second I couldn’t breathe. My lungs just … stopped working. His eyes were full of desire and longing. If I had to guess, he and his inner-wolf wanted me just as much as I wanted him.
“But Dominic told me not to back down to you.” I didn’t know what else to say. I’d had boyfriends before, but not one of them did this to me. Not that he was my boyfriend … yet, but every part of me wanted him to be. It felt as if I was being torn down the middle. His intense gaze was as if he could see through me, into my head, my soul.
He laughed. It was a cool sound, one that held little humor but no malice. “It’s your choice, Jade. You will give in sooner or later.” He held my stare for another long minute, as if he was waiting for me to say something, and when I didn’t, he shook his head with clear disappointment. “I’m going out. Do not leave this house without permission. My number is on the fridge. And by the way, you’re not smarter than me.”
CHAPTER 26
~ AIDAN ~
Damn, but that girl could really push my buttons. I seriously wasn’t looking forward to going back and seeing her. She was weak to me for a moment. I hadn’t held back this time, letting every ounce of my scent wrap around her and merge with her. It was the most incredible thing I had ever felt. For a split second we had been one, her scent mingled with mine, teasing me in a way that made me want to forget the rules and claim her. And I was pretty sure that if she actually knew that there were rules, she would have felt the same. I had never thought I’d find a mate that would fill me the way she did. Not in this town.
But without my scent taming her, I was sure that when I went back, there would be hell to pay. She’d shake it off, and when she realized I had the house surrounded, keeping her locked up tight … I shuddered at the thought. My only saving grace so far had been the fact that she was new … unstable. She didn’t know how to manipulate her scent yet. Every time she let it out, it was random, not really directed at anything or anyone in particular. But when she figured it out, and when she claimed her imprint, I knew I’d be just as lost to her as she was to me. But then again, I was pretty sure I was already lost. Jade was the only thing I was sure of — my clarity — when everything else around me was a jumbled mess.
There had already been moments where she had made me want to submit to her. She was the strongest female I had ever met. She would be mine. Maybe, possibly, that is if she didn’t kill me first. And after the crap I just pulled, I thought she just might try when she figured it all out.
I was so close to telling her about the games. So close to ruining my chance at having her. She lusted for me now, but lust was far from love, and the hatred that burned behind it was just as fierce. She wouldn’t fight if she knew it was for me. I was sure of it. And I needed her to fight. She was my perfect match in every way. She was my home.
When did I start thinking that I could have love? The thought shook me. Love didn’t, and shouldn’t, matter to me. Not as an alpha. But the idea of being with Jade had my heart pounding. I could … no, I did love her. I loved her fire and her lippy responses. The way she challenged me and kept me on my toes. I loved everything about her.
I sat in my new living room not really listening to Dominic and Trevor as they went over the plan to deal with the werecougars. The house had been vacant for a while now. It had belonged to the alpha before Ray, and as pack property, it was now mine. It wasn’t much. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a tiny kitchen and living room, but it was better than the motel. The paint was peeling on the walls, and the carpet needed to be ripped out. But the furniture was still good, a black leather sectional couch, and a matching armchair pretty much filled the room.
Dominic had gathered my few things earlier while I was with Jade, and he had been here when the bed was finally delivered. And right then, I would have killed to be able to go lay down on it. Marcy had even picked up and washed a new set of sheets for me, and she had also cleaned and stocked the fridge. Trevor had been right when he said Marcy didn’t know how to stay mad. I didn’t think she’d ever forgive me after her little flip-out this morning, but as Trevor promised, it was as if it never happened.
Their kindness was … weird. I got the feeling that they hadn’t done all this because I was the alpha, but because they actually wanted to. I hadn’t expected it, not after the way I had been treating them since Jade had been bitten, but I figured it was Marcy’s doing. After watching her for the last few weeks with Trevor, I knew she thrived on making the people around her happy. And for a human, it was pretty impressive that she had Dominic and Trevor wrapped around her finger.
After Jeff had woken up from the Dominic induced nap, he had divulged Bruce’s sick obsession with recruiting females. The women were never changed. Just as Jeff had said, they were a community property, used only to breed males to be changed. When a female was born, they raised her until she was old enough to be used. Ray had had an agreement with Bruce. He’d ignore the twisted use of the women as long as the werecougars stayed away from his town. I couldn’t ignore it, though. Dominic swore he hadn’t known, so did the pack enforcers, and each one of them was behind me, eager to put an end to the sick use of the women.
Right now, we were waiting for a full count from Jeff. We had sent him back to his pack, to investigate how much Bruce knew about me and to report back with exactly what we were up against. At the last check in, he had reported that Bruce had him tied up, and he would let us know once he had something we could use.
Dominic’s phone buzzed on the coffee table, and the voice caller display chirped, Jade Shaw, in a mechanical female tone.
“Don’t answer that,” I said, and grabbed his reaching hand before he could get the phone. “She kind of thinks I locked you up.”
“What?” Dominic asked, and he gave me a look that clearly said he thought I’d lost it. He glanced at the phone again, and then leaned back, settling into the couch, with a raised eyebrow, waiting for me to explain.
The oven door slammed, and the scent of hot pizza filled the room. “Jesus, Aidan, what the hell did you do this time?” Marcy yelled from the kitchen. She clattered around, slamming cupboards and banging plates against the counter.
I groaned, and watched the phone until it stopped skittering across the table. “She wouldn’t submit. She also thinks I have you locked up, Mac. Oh, and I kind of left the enforcers with her to make sure she doesn’t leave the house.” Saying it out loud made it worse, and dread pooled in my stomach. Yep, she’s going to kill me. And I knew I’d let her if she really wanted to. I’d welcome it. I deserved it. I really am a jackass.
“Really, Aidan? Really?” Marcy said aghast. She came through the small doorway juggling two pizzas and a stack of plates, and stomped over to us.
“I want her to win,” I said lamely. Trevor and Dominic were both chuckling, and Marcy rolled her eyes.
“Dumbass,” Dominic said and shook his head. “I didn’t think you were this stupid
.”
Marcy giggled. “She’s going to kill you when she finds out you’ve lied to her again.” She placed the pizzas on the coffee table and started filling the plates, handing them out, before taking a seat next to Trevor.
I gave them all a dirty look, biting back the urge to tell them off. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that they were right. I certainly felt like a dumbass. So I leaned back on the couch, propping my feet up on the edge of the coffee table, and let them laugh.
“Aidan, do you really want her to submit?” Trevor asked curiously. “I thought alpha pairs aren’t supposed to submit to each other. You know, to keep them both in control.”
I hadn’t expected the question, and I took a large bite of pizza as I thought it over. The spicy sausage and pepperoni made my stomach growl with hunger, and I devoured the slice before I finally said, “She’s being impossible. She needs to learn some respect.” And she is not an alpha … yet, I said silently. There was no point in reminding them. The two werewolves in the room had made it clear on more than one occasion that they already considered her their alpha female. I just wished that I could ignore the rules, too.
Marcy shot me a stern glare. “Lying to her and manipulating her isn’t going to get her to respect you.”
I scrubbed at my face roughly, attempting to rub away all the confusion that that girl had brought into my life. “I thought she wanted me. I thought … I thought … dammit. After she beat Trisha today …” I let my words fall short, and I glanced at Dominic waiting for the lecture that I knew was on the tip of his tongue. I almost wanted to hear it. Dominic watched me, chewing on his pizza. I’d never seen him so quiet. He was pissed off, that much I could tell, but the rest was hidden under his carefully placed mask. “Look, I didn’t have much of a choice,” I said to Dominic. “Her scent was overpowering me. My inner-wolf has already accepted her as my mate. Every time I get near her, all I can think about is claiming her. I had to let my alpha out.”
“You haven’t been using it with her?” Trevor asked and laughed again.
“Not fully, well, at least not until today,” I admitted, guiltily. I knew I should have been. Dominic had even advised me to do it. We had all hoped that it would encourage the alpha in her out, but every time I thought about doing it before today, I felt like an ass. “Call me crazy, but I was kind of hoping she’d feel the same thing for me as I do for her. I didn’t want to force her inner-wolf to realize she’s meant to be my mate. And I didn’t really lie to her completely. You both have violated laws.”
“Dude, not part of the pack,” Marcy said around a mouthful of pizza.
“Dude,” I said, mimicking her snark. “Trevor claimed you. He did two nights ago. Even if you haven’t been changed, a mate is considered part of the pack. You’re bound by my laws.”
I instantly knew I’d said something stupid. Marcy turned ten different shades of red before she shrieked at Trevor, “You told him!”
I held back a laugh, but Dominic didn’t. He let out a deep belting roar, and he started to cough, choking on his pizza. Trevor turned white as a sheet, and his eyes widened. It was more than a little obvious he didn’t tell Marcy what would happen after they hooked up.
“It’s a scent thing, Mac,” Trevor said in a rush. “I can’t hide it. Our scents have synced together since we …”
“Don’t you dare say it!” she said, jumping up from the couch. “God, isn’t anything private with you guys?” She spun on me then and snapped, “Jade does want you, but she’ll never bow down to you. She’s not going to fight for someone who is trying to force her either.”
“Okay, I get it,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air, and all my pent-up laughter fizzled away. “I’m a moron. How the hell do I fix it?”
“You let the people that know her best out of jail,” Dominic said with a chuckle. “She’ll win the games tomorrow.” He laughed again and focused on Marcy, “Mac, you up for it?”
Marcy considered it for a second before a grin inched its way on her lips. “She’s going to kill us. But I’m in.”
CHAPTER 27
~ JADE ~
My heart dropped when I heard the engine of a car pull into my driveway. It was a rumbling, clunking sound, instead of the purr of Aidan’s Mustang.
I stood at the fridge, cell phone in hand, staring at the sharp scrawl of his handwritten number. Last night after he left me, I had realized four things. One: He might have been smarter than me. Two: He was hiding something from me. Three: I needed to play nice and get Dominic and Marcy out of jail. Four: I was falling for him — hard.
His alpha wolf spoke to my inner-wolf in a personal way. It took the control that my inner-wolf craved. But it wasn’t just his alpha that spoke to me. It was him. This jackass thing was an act. I knew it without a doubt, and I was determined to break through it.
As soon as Aidan left, I had snuck out the back door. He had been right; I needed to shift. I had too much energy coursing through me, burning me up from the inside out. I hadn’t noticed the wolves until I walked out the door and they surrounded me. But Aidan hadn’t just left some wolves at my house. No. He had stationed the pack enforcers to make sure I didn’t leave. The enforcers were a team of five. And they were ruthless. Their sole purpose was to enforce the alpha’s commands. I had seen them in action before, and when Jared shifted and stood nose to nose with me, stark naked, demanding to know where I thought I was going, I almost threw-up from the sudden fear of facing them.
The enforcers were the only wolves that I had never, and would never, pick a fight with. No one walked out of that alive. They had no compassion. They didn’t ask questions. They didn’t have to follow the normal rules of the pack. In a sense, when they were called upon, they held just as much power over the pack as the alpha did, except they always executed that power with death and violence.
But Jared had given me a choice, which had shocked the hell out of me. Jared wasn’t known for his patience, or for giving options. Kill first, ask questions later. That was pretty much his motto. But instead of attacking me, he let me decide: call Aidan or go back inside. In the end, my stupid pride had won … again. Jared made it clear that I wasn’t allowed out unless I spoke to the alpha, and since I refused to call him, I was escorted back into the house. But before Jared closed the door on me, he had looked me up and down and said, ‘We’re going to have a lot of fun once you lose the alpha games, little girl.’ There had been no mistaking his meaning. The gleam in his eyes when they settled on my breasts told me everything I needed to know. He planned to take me as his mate. I wanted to ask Jared what he was talking about. What were the alpha games? But instead, I slammed the door and locked it.
That was when I decided that Aidan just might have been smarter than me, and when I realized that he was hiding something from me. It was also that moment that I knew I was falling for him. The idea of anyone else touching me other than him was something I didn’t want to think about, and it made me feel a little queasy for more than one reason. I was supposed to hate him. I was supposed to hate the pack.
I’d been trying to call him for the last hour, but my inner-wolf had been fighting me. For reasons that I couldn’t begin to understand, it didn’t want me to submit. Not yet, a voice chanted over and over in the back of my mind. You need to win him first. It just sucked that I really didn’t understand what that meant.
“Jade?” Mom called from the hallway. “Honey, are you home?”
“In here, Mom,” I said, bracing myself for what I was sure was going to be a lot of tears. I hadn’t seen her since I was bitten, and knowing my mom, I knew that that wasn’t by her choice.
“Oh, honey,” she said, as she came into the kitchen. She looked exhausted, but she tried to hide it with an overly bright smile. Her pink scrubs were all wrinkly, and her hair was a mess, falling out of her ponytail. She set her bag on the counter and rushed over to me, wrapping me in a hug. “I’ve been so worried about you. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, Mom,” I said, squeezing her back. She sniffled in my ear, and swallowed loudly, as if she was trying to choke down her tears. “I’m good, really,” I said softly, trying to sound reassuring. “I shifted. Everything’s fine.”
“If everything’s fine, then why are there wolves surrounding our house, Jade?” she asked, as she released me and folded her arms over her chest, waiting for my response.
“Because the alpha is trying to show me how smart he is,” I said with more than a little bite to my tone. I was on edge, fighting with everything I had not to shift. My skin was crawling and quick bursts of adrenaline shot through me every few minutes.
Mom laughed and sniffled, as she wiped at her misty eyes. “You should be happy that the alpha is showing interest in you.” She looked me over from head to toe, taking her time as she searched my body, as if she needed to see every part of me to make sure that I really was okay.
“The alpha is being a jackass, and those wolves outside are the enforcers,” I said. I grabbed my steaming mug off the counter, took a seat at the table, and drank a deep gulp of my coffee.
A spike of tangy fear flitted through the air, reaching my nostrils, and Mom lost a little color to her cheeks. “Let me guess, you haven’t submitted to him and recognized him as your alpha yet.” She made her way through the kitchen and sat down at the table, giving me a stern look. “You really should do it before he loses patience with you. The pack has always been about the rules.”
She was serious. I could see it on her face. But there was something else there. A small knowing smile. A slight twinkle in her eyes. Pride that her only daughter had joined the pack and caught the alpha’s attention. And right then, I was sure she knew exactly what Aidan was hiding from me.