“No. I’m not negotiating with him.” Aidan’s muscles were tense, jumping and twitching, and I rubbed my cheek against his chest, waiting for him to say more. His response made no sense to me. I wasn’t arguing with him. I wasn’t even acknowledging Dad’s ludicrous accusation, but yet, he was tense. Stressed. Wound up tight.
He made a noise from the back of his throat that sounded like a mix between a growl and a sigh. “The guys reported in, too.” He paused, stiffened further, and then sighed, relaxing a little. “Your dad’s pack has kids with them. A girl and two boys.”
“What?” I went to sit up, but his arm tightened around me, holding me against his chest, not loosening until I stopped moving.
I held still, waiting for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. He ran a hand through my hair, and said, “We’re meeting the guys for breakfast tomorrow and if it goes well, we’ll be going in for those kids immediately.”
I blinked and tried to sit up again, but it was a useless effort. He held me tight against him. His breathing was strained, his heart thumping quickly against my cheek. It was then that I clued in to what this was. He was reporting in to me. He didn’t want to talk it all out right then. He didn’t want me to get upset. He was probably still worried I couldn’t take anymore today, but he knew he had to keep me looped in.
So instead of telling him exactly what I thought about the little breakfast meeting tomorrow, and demanding answers, I asked, “And if it doesn’t go well?” My tone, unfortunately, came out sharper than I would have liked.
He noticed it and his arms tightened again. Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, he loosened his hold, but didn’t let go. His fingers continued to shift through my hair and when he spoke, his voice was firm. “I’ll be picking a new team and then going in for the kids.”
I listened to his words, heard his tone, and I realized that I was completely wrong. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk it out. He’d already made his decisions, and he was simply telling me what the plan was. I pressed my face harder against his chest, trying to get closer, show him that I wasn’t going to pull away, no matter what, and said, “Aidan, you can’t ...”
“Jade, sweetheart, they betrayed me,” he said, cutting me short. “They betrayed you. I can’t risk that happening again. Not with this.”
I opened my mouth and then snapped it shut, because I couldn’t exactly argue with that. He was right. No matter how much I didn’t want it to be true, the team had betrayed us. “I’m with you, Aidan, and I swear I’m not as breakable as you think.”
He leaned forward, pressing his lips to my hair. “I know, sweetheart.”
I lay there, my cheek pressed against his chest, running a lazy trail with my fingertips along the ridges of his abs, as I tried to process everything, which really wasn’t working out too well. My brain was fried. I was exhausted. Processing tonight wasn’t looking like a viable option.
Aidan shifted beside me, placing his hands on my hips, and pulled me up onto his body. His lips moved from my hair to my cheek, down my face, along my jaw, and settled at my neck. His tongue flicked out, teasing the sensitive skin below my ear.
Heat rushed over my skin and pooled in my belly as a whisper soft moan pushed past my lips.
He rolled, trapping me beneath his hard body, staring straight into my eyes. “I forget to tell you something earlier,” he murmured. He planted his forearms on the bed, holding most of his weight off of me, and his hands came up, framing my face.
“What’s that?” I asked, and squirmed against his chest, my heart plummeting. I didn’t think I wanted to hear anymore, at least not tonight. What I wanted was more of his kisses. More of the heat, the contact. Something good to cover-up the bad.
He caressed my cheek with his thumb and lowered his head, pressing his lips to mine. “I love you, Jade.”
My heart danced in my chest. I opened my mouth to tell him the same, but didn’t get the chance. His lips pressed down on mine, and his tongue was inside my mouth, tasting, exploring. His hand slipped into my hair, wrapping it around his fist, and he pulled me closer, still.
I locked my arms around him, holding him close. The feeling of his skin against mine was perfect and my body began to pulse with heat. I exhaled when his lips left mine and fluttered down my neck, below my ear, and dipped down to flutter across my shoulder, feeling some of the day’s tension and stress fall from me, only to be replaced with a whole new wonderful kind of tension.
Aidan gave me the heat and the contact that I’d wanted, and I had to say, it was way better than something good. And it was exactly what I needed.
CHAPTER 7
~ AIDAN ~
My inner-wolf stirred within my chest and I woke up slowly, chasing a dream that I couldn’t quite grasp onto. The fading sounds of wolves howling in the night drifted in and out, as the dream dissolved into a groggy, disjointed memory.
I blinked, clearing the sleepy film that layered my eyes. The storm was still going strong, crashing against the house. Rain beat against the windows; thunder rumbled throughout the sky. A flash of lightening lit up my bedroom, and then faded, shrouding me once again in darkness. The only light left was coming from the red glow of the digital alarm clock that sat on the nightstand beside me, telling me it was 1:03 in the morning.
Uneasiness unfurled in my gut and I scrubbed at my face. That dream. The sound of my pack, baying and chasing and tearing into flesh, shifted throughout my conscious mind, as if it had been real. It felt real. Sounded real.
Jade was curled up beside me, and as always, she had me right at the edge of the mattress. Her forehead was pressed into my shoulder, and she had an arm thrown over my belly. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady. She was smiling, just a little upward tilt at the corners of her mouth. Peaceful. Content.
A clap of thunder rattled the windows, and I sighed as I listened to it rumble through the sky and fade into the distance. I rubbed at my face again. It was nothing. Just a dream. Probably my subconscious preparing for the inevitable fight my pack was about to embark on. And with that thought, I closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep.
A chorus of howls broke through my sleepy brain, and my eyes snapped open again. That wasn’t a dream. I was sure of it. My inner-wolf shifted and stirred again within my chest. He was agitated, urging me up, begging me to move and see what was happening.
I lay still, straining my hearing, waiting, listening … The wolves’ howls sounded again and I quickly lifted Jade’s arm from my stomach and slipped out of bed, careful not to wake her. The muscles in the side of her cheek flexed and she rolled, flopping onto her back and throwing her arms out wide, before settling back into steady, even breathing.
I felt around the floor, searching for the pajama pants I’d tossed earlier that night. After a moment of searching, I found them at the foot of the bed, tangled with the sheets, and tugged them on before easing out of the room.
My wolves were close. As I crept down the staircase, avoiding the creaking third step from the top, I could smell traces of them. With the rain pounding relentlessly, they had to be within feet of the house for me to pick up their scent. It was watery, weak, and diluted, but it was there. Their baying grew louder. It was excited and frenzied and close. Too close.
In a heartbeat, I leapt down the remaining steps and hurried to the door. Through the small window I saw a flash of white. The howling stopped abruptly only to be replaced by a low, menacing growl.
I yanked the door open, bolting out into the pouring rain. Air pounded in and out of my lungs in harsh pants. My heart ratcheted up, tripling in beats as I inhaled sharply. Rain. Dead leaves. Blood. Wolves. Green. Bitter. Birch bark. Cougar. The scents assaulted me, and I started to breathe faster and faster as I searched the front yard for any sign of the sources.
The howling started again, coming from the side of the house, getting closer and closer. Paws smacked against the wet ground, the sound almost inaudible over the rain, and suddenly, a mess of beasts
, wolves and cougars, shot past my front deck. My gaze zeroed in on a white wolf — Luken — as he took a leap, tackling one of the cougars. They rolled through the sodden grass, flipping over a few times before springing free from each other again.
Shit! I glanced back at the house as a wave of heat pulsed from within me. All my thoughts centered on Jade. I had to keep her safe. I had to keep them away from her while she slept.
I reached out and pulled the door closed. My skin shuddered and I started to feel a little shaky from all the adrenaline that pumped through my veins. The shift was coming quickly — quicker than normal — my inner-wolf was jerking against my skin. He wanted out. He needed to protect our mate.
I kicked off my pants. Course hair layered my skin. My bones snapped, cracked, lengthened, twisted. I snarled and my inner-wolf sprang free.
The rain was freezing against my fur-coated skin, soaking me through. I moved to the edge of the deck, tracking the movements of my pack, as they tangled with the feline-beasts. With a quick scan through the downpour, I counted fifteen wolves and seven … no … six cougars.
My wolves were all over the place. There was no center, no organization. They looked as if they were simply reacting to each attack. I didn’t understand it. They were struggling, not seeming to gain any ground even with the greater numbers. The cougars were darting around them, quick and efficient, almost as if they were taunting them.
I barked and let my scent thicken in the air, hoping to draw their focus, and I noticed the change in my wolves instantly. Their movements went from sloppy and erratic to alert, and they began to fall into groups, protecting each other’s backs, and pushing the cougars toward the tree line.
One of the cougars broke off, stalking in my direction. My hackles rose and the hair along my spine stood on end. The solid, beige-colored cat was large, coming close to my height in wolf form. He was built with sleek muscles, his shoulders packed and powerful. His eyes, a bright green, rimmed with black, were fixed on me.
He stopped a few feet from the deck and hissed. A flash of lightning struck through the black sky, and I caught sight of his long, razor-sharp fangs. He pawed at the muddy ground, growling and hissing.
My lips curled and I snarled. I wanted to jump down and tear into the monster, but I couldn’t bring myself to move, even for a second, and leave Jade unprotected and sleeping in the house. How did they get this far into town? We’d known that they were coming closer, circling houses on the outskirts, but not this far in. Not with us constantly watching.
Suddenly he leapt at me, a powerful thrust from his hind-legs propelling him forward, and before I could move, his fangs struck, burying into my shoulder. I pivoted, tossing him off balance, and just as quickly as he was on me, the cougar was back on the ground a few feet from the deck, hissing again.
My snarl was drowned out by a clap of thunder. My shoulder felt as if it were on fire. A streak of lightening chased through the night, and I saw the big cat push off again, launching toward me.
I shimmied back a couple steps, and as he hit the wooden planks of the deck, I leapt on him. The animal’s knees buckled, and he fell to his belly. My heart was pounding in my ears, drowning out the sounds of the fights breaking out around me as I stared down at the cat below me. I bared my teeth, and went to bury them in his neck when I realized that he wasn’t fighting, wasn’t trying to push me off.
Shit! He was submitting. The beast within me wanted him to struggle, to give me a reason to end his sad little life, but he stayed still. He made a sound that sounded a hell of a lot like a laugh, and he started to shift.
I backed up off him and he rolled up to his knees. He was older. Probably mid-forties, with a pot-belly and beady black eyes. He had a full head of black hair, and a thick salt and pepper beard. He held out his hands, showing surrender, but he never once lowered his eyes from mine.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed my pack was closing in around us. With a quick glimpse up, I saw a lump of beige fur about ten feet away lying motionless, and the rest of the cougars were gone.
Disgust rose up around me, as I turned my focus back to the man in front of me. His pack abandoned him without even a thought, leaving him at our mercy.
I shifted and rose up to my feet, towering over him. He looked up, a cruel smile on his face, and he laughed. “You should have killed me,” the man said, his voice higher than I expected.
Probably, I thought. He deserved death even if it was only because he came into my territory and attacked me. My aching, bloody shoulder was proof of that. It was enough to end his life, whether he was showing signs of submission or not. And if he hadn’t shifted, I would have ended him, but it felt sickeningly wrong to do it while he was human. While he had no chance of defending himself.
I gritted my teeth, glowering down at him. “Not sure how you do this in your pack, but here, once someone submits and shifts, we don’t kill.”
“Pathetic.” The man laughed. “Just for the record, I would have killed you.” He laughed again, muttering something about me being weak, and then said, “I shifted to give you a message. The girl needs to be with her family and we will take her back.”
Growls erupted and my wolves stalked closer. Clearly the bastard had no sense of self-preservation, because he started to shift, his face reshaping into that of a large cat. Long fangs descended first, slowly, as if he were taunting me, and then his bones began to break.
Luken was on him as his shift finished, not giving him a chance to run. The others were snarling and snapping around us, ready to take him down. But they didn’t need to be. The meaty sound of flesh tearing, ripping, pulling, filled my ears, as I watched Luken’s white coat stain crimson. The cougar screamed, a high-pitched sound that ripped through the air, and then his body went limp.
Jeff sent his cougars in the middle of the night to collect Jade. In that moment, that was the only thought I had. The girl the cougar had been talking about was Jade. I had no doubt about that, and the knowledge rattled me to my core.
I closed my eyes, sucking in breath after breath. The rain felt like pebbles smacking against my bare flesh, stinging my skin. My wolves had quieted, now that the threat was gone, but I could feel them watching me, waiting.
“Aidan, what’s going on?” Jade’s voice came from behind me, and I spun around. “I heard howling and a scream.” She was standing in the doorway wearing only one of my hoodies that hung mid-thigh on her, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Her hands dropped. She paled, as she looked past me, most likely at the wolves who were still growling. She turned a little gray as she looked down, spotting the dead cougar on our deck, and then her eyes came up and landed on my shoulder, and her expression changed from sick to concern. “Jesus, what happened?”
“I’m fine,” I said, my voice sounded rough and growled. “Just a small flesh wound.” I shook my head, and stepped toward her. Rainwater dripped from my arms as I lifted a hand to her cheek. The thought of telling her to go inside crossed my mind. She’d been through hell today, and she didn’t need anymore, but I couldn’t do it. She needed to know and there was no way I was going to start hiding things from her again. “It looks like your dad was serious about wanting you home. And I’m thinking he’s done with pretending to have an alliance with us.”
The sound of bones snapping and reshaping drew Jade’s attention from me. I dropped my hand from her face and turned to find Luken, blood caked around his mouth and on his chest, rising to his feet.
He opened his mouth, but I lifted a hand to silence him. “How the hell did they get this close?” I demanded. “And where is the team?”
“Aidan,” Jade said softly, her tone, her scent, both urged me to calm down, and I took a deep breath, holding my fury at bay. The other wolves backed up a few steps, dropping their muzzles to the ground. Not one of them shifted, most likely so they wouldn’t have to answer me.
Luken cleared his throat and he looked as if he were regretting not staying in wolf form. “The team …” he looke
d down to his toes, let out a breath, and whispered, “We tried to call them when we first spotted the cougars, but we couldn’t reach them. The cougars came straight here, Aidan. They knew where they were going.”
“I’ll call Beck,” Jade offered, and she started to shuffle back into the house.
“No,” I barked, way too harshly, and I instantly felt sick. I turned to her. Her eyes were wide with surprise. “Sorry, sweetheart,” I muttered. “Leave them for tonight. We’ll talk to them in the morning about it.”
Her face fell. She knew exactly what that meant. That I hadn’t changed my mind about chatting with them. And I thought she got that not answering a call during an attack seriously didn’t help their case. She must have thought it, too, because she didn’t argue and nodded in agreement, looking grim but resolved.
She looked back to Luken. “Did anyone else get hurt?” she asked. She was making a conscious effort to keep her eyes on our faces. I could see it in the stiffness of her neck and the stillness of her eyes. There was a slight blush coloring her cheeks, and I thought that it was kind of cute. Even with an animal dead on our deck, she was still acutely aware that she was standing in front of two naked men.
Luken’s nostrils flared and I was sure he was picking up the scent of Jade’s unease. It was a tangy smell and hung thick in the air. He shifted from foot to foot, nervously, and looked back at the wolves, gathered around us. “A few scratches,” he said after a moment. “Nothing that won’t heal. There’s another dead cougar on the lawn.”
“Can you and the others deal with this?” she asked, waving a hand toward the dead cougar. “And the other one? I want to look at his shoulder.”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, and he looked at me, as if he wanted me to confirm his order.
“Thought we were past this, Luken,” I said, my gaze hard and cold, so was my tone. “She gave you an order.”