by May Dawson
“She doesn’t need you,” Sasha said fiercely, grabbing her daughter’s hand.
I shouldered past Sasha roughly—fuck anyone who doesn’t fight for their own kids, no matter who wants to hurt them—and ran into the house for my purse. I had the spare keys to the car. I grabbed my stuff and Lex’s.
When I came back into the living room, Sasha was closing the door as if she could shut out any unpleasantness. Outside, I could hear half-human snarling, a grunt.
“Stay out of my way,” I warned her as I stormed for the door.
“You’re never going to make it,” she said tartly. “You’re going to be just an academy drop-out, and you and Lex will come back here begging—”
“Blah blah blah,” I interrupted. I’d think of a better comeback later, when it was too late. My heart raced with anxiety for Lex.
But when I ran out of the house and into the dark night, it was Lex who had his father pinned. Rand thrashed under his grip, his muscles convulsing as he tried to transform.
“Lex!” I shouted. “Come on, we got the ‘blessing’ we came for. Let’s get out of here.”
The only ‘blessing’ we needed was the identity of the survivor of that patrol.
I threw open the trunk, revealing the guns in the back. I didn’t want to kill anyone in Lex’s pack, though. I threw our bags in, slammed it shut, and headed for the driver’s side.
Lex turned and ran for the car just as his father exploded into a wolf. Rand streaked after him, but Lex slid into the passenger side, slamming his door shut.
I threw the car into reverse and it fishtailed down the driveway as gravel sprayed up from under the wheels. My hands felt slick with sweat on the steering wheel as I watched the driveway behind us in the rearview mirror. The wolf raced toward us, filling my windshield.
Lex said, “I guess it’s true what they say. You can’t go home again.”
His voice was calm even though he was bleeding and bruised. He pressed his fingers to a cut at the corner of his mouth, and looked at the blood on his hand. Some of it was his, but not all.
The car’s back tires bumped up onto the road. The werewolf slammed into the side of our car, with a thud, but I didn’t hesitate. I slammed the gear into drive. I fishtailed across the road, my fingers white on the steering wheel, but I still had the car under control.
As I pressed my foot against the accelerator, the force pressed me into the back of my seat. The two of us raced off pack lands.
“Was the fight with your dad an excuse to get us out of here?” I asked.
He hesitated. “I don’t know. I thought about it.”
“I’d love a heads-up next time.” I’d barely had time to react.
“Yeah. Sorry.” He sounded weary, not like Lex’s usual self.
When I glanced over, he stared out the window at the dark night, his jaw clenched.
“You all right?”
He shrugged.
“Has your dad always been like that?”
His gaze swept toward me. “You don’t have to feel sorry for me, Maddie.”
“I don’t feel sorry. I’m just trying to understand.” My voice came out tart. I didn’t sound very understanding.
“What’s there to understand?” he demanded. Then he stopped, holding himself back with visible effort, his jaw tense. His voice was different when he added, “I’m sorry. Thanks for having my back.”
“Yeah.” I glanced at him, a smile cracking my lips for the first time. “Well, I’ve got to look out for the future father of my children.”
The tension eased between us. He sounded admiring when he said, “That was quick thinking.”
“You were quick too. Picked it right up.” The wheels rattled over the bridge we’d crossed on the way in. We were leaving pack territory.
I pressed my foot down on the accelerator, and the car leapt forward. I couldn’t wait to leave them behind us. I wondered if Lex and Rosemary would ever really leave their pack behind.
“Let’s get back to the team, come up with a plan, then find Maddox Leon,” Lex said.
I shook my head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I can’t wait to go back to the academy and have things get back to normal. I’ll be glad when this is over…assuming we all survive.”
He grinned. “You really pissed off Rafe. You know your normal is going to suck.”
“I don’t even care right now. Besides, you said it was all love—”
“Absolutely,” he agreed. “But that isn’t going to make it any more pleasant.”
An hour later, we were back with the team.
While everyone brainstormed our next move, I wandered over to Jensen, who sat alone at the desk in the corner of the hotel room. Why was he by himself? Chase and Rafe had said they had questions about what happened between Jensen and me, and I’d caught the way Penn had glanced at him a few times. The guys were so protective of me in their own ways. Were they still freezing Jensen out?
There were dozens of papers in piles across the desktop, all covered in his quick, lazy scrawl. I’d come over to check in on him, but I stared down at the pages, distracted as I caught Eliza’s name and the other names from her patrol.
When I looked up, his warm golden eyes gazed into mine.
“Photographic memory,” he reminded me. “I’m trying to get everything down.”
“That’s brilliant!” I said.
His eyes crinkled at the corners. “I wish I could draw the crime scene photos,” he said. “Maybe…I’ll try that last.”
“You’re a really good artist,” I encouraged him.
“That’s not why I don’t think I can draw them,” he said.
There was something vulnerable in his eyes for once—something I only saw only when Eliza came up—and protectiveness flared as Rafe wandered over. I didn’t want anyone to see Jensen’s vulnerable side if they might it against him.
Rafe put his hands on top of the chair. “Is that what I think it is?”
“That depends.” Jensen looked up at him. “Do you think it’s a recreation of files I swiped from the dean’s office?”
Rafe crossed his arms over his chest. “You played me to get on restriction this weekend.”
“That’s not a very charitable way to look at it…” Jensen said slowly.
“Were you two always in on this together?” Rafe demanded as his gaze flickered to me.
“No.” Jensen said. “Maddie being sentenced to restriction too was collateral damage…and, well, fun for me.”
“God, I hate you,” I muttered, but I didn’t mean it.
“And then you know how she is, I couldn’t stop her.” Jensen wrapped his arm around my waist, tugging me toward him.
I let him pull me into his side, wrapping my arm around his shoulders as the two of us faced Rafe.
Rafe shook his head tightly. “What happened between you two fools, anyway?”
“Well, sometimes when a man and a woman like each other very much…” Jensen began.
“We all know the two of you fucked,” Penn said, rising from the couch. He flashed me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, and a pit settled in my stomach, afraid that he was jealous. “Which is fine. But you haven’t exactly been the best friend to Maddie, Jensen.”
Jensen held his gaze for a few long seconds, tension simmering between the two of them. Jensen’s hand tightened on my hip, as if he was tense, but I didn’t think he even realized.
“That’s true,” Jensen said flatly. “I was an asshole to Maddie. I’m going to try not to be an asshole going forward. Is that okay with you, Penn?”
Those words sent a warm glow of relief through my chest. At least Jensen was acknowledging the past. I hoped Jensen really meant things were going to be different, and I hoped the rest of the team would have the chance to see the good in him.
“That would be great,” Penn said tightly.
“Because I noticed you all love to play hero to her—” Jensen went on.
“Shut up,” Rafe told him. �
��You don’t need to keep talking.”
Tyson leaned forward on the couch and set the laptop he’d been using on the coffee table. He stood to his full impressive height, crossing his arms over his chest. “Hey. Rafe. I get it—you’re the boss. But now when it comes to Northsea, we all care about her, and right now, we want to have a conversation with Jensen. All right?”
Rafe stared Tyson down for a few long seconds. Then he abruptly said, “Fine. Get it out of your systems. I don’t want to hear any more drama and whining after this.”
“Great,” Tyson said. “Thank you.”
Whether Tyson was being sarcastic or not, Rafe rubbed the back of his neck in irritation as he paced away across the room.
“If you hurt her again,” Chase said tightly to Jensen, “after that? I’m going to kick your ass.”
“I’m not going to hurt her again,” Jensen told him, rising to his feet, to his full height. “But you’re welcome to try anyway.”
Protective, aggressive male energy radiated across the room as Jensen and the guys stared each other down. I was never short for a girl, but I felt small surrounded by these guys—they were all at least six feet tall, and Jensen, Chase and Rafe were all close to six-foot-six—especially when violence seemed to simmer across the room.
“We’re all friends here,” I reminded them. “The enemies are out there.”
“So you forgive him, Maddie?” Penn asked me tightly.
Way to put me on the spot, Penn. I hadn’t even thought about it.
“That’s a weird question.” But they were all looking at me as if it mattered.
Jensen turned bright golden eyes on me, and his energy had changed. No longer aggressive and dangerous, now he looked at me with a question written across his face.
“When Jensen says things will be different now, I believe him,” I said, even though I wouldn’t be truly sure until we got back to the academy.
I had such confused feelings about the guys’ protectiveness, which was comforting and inconvenient at the same time.
“Now can we get back to work?” I asked, and after a second they all nodded and moved back to their separate projects, to my relief.
I pulled Penn aside, though. Dragging him out onto the narrow balcony that overlooked the chilly, windswept city street below, I asked, “Are you okay with…”
I raised my eyebrows, but he stared back at me with an expression that was guarded and impenetrable.
“Penn,” I said softly. “Don’t lecture Jensen about hurting me, and then just look at me like that without saying a damn thing—”
He cut me off abruptly by catching my face in his hands and pressing his lips to mine. No matter how cool his gaze, there was nothing cold about his kiss. Penn’s lips seared to mine. I ran my hands up the hard planes of his chest to his broad shoulders as he wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed me like he needed to know something, and when he pulled back, the expression on his face was satisfied.
“I never expected to have the only claim on you, Maddie,” he said. “But I…”
He shook his head, as if he couldn’t tell me he’d been afraid I’d reject him for Jensen.
“Penn,” I said, begging him to hear me, to really hear me. “I’m not going anywhere. Not ever.”
Penn stared into my face as if he was gauging whether he believed me, and then his face softened.
When Penn kissed me, the wind blew hard around us, flinging grit and leaves around us. Penn turned me, pressing me against the glass door behind me, caging me with his big, protective body. The two of us traded wild, hungry kisses.
“As long as you want me, Mads,” Penn promised me, his breath warm against my ear, “I’m not going anywhere either.”
“Not ever,” I repeated, because I couldn’t imagine my life at the academy without him now.
“Not ever,” he promised, and then he kissed me again, the kind of kiss that carries a promise.
Chapter Forty-Five
“Hey, here’s something interesting,” Tyson called from where he sat on the couch with his feet propped up and a laptop balanced on his legs. “Leon’s apartment isn’t in his name. It’s a house owned by the Kierney pack.”
Lex raked his hand through his hair, betraying his tension, even though he said, “Good.”
“Are you all right?” Rafe asked him quietly.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Lex said, but a long look passed between them, a look of shared history I couldn’t parse.
“Sometimes I think you should write the poetry about their great bromance,” Jensen muttered in my ear.
“You’re going to have a very long second year, McCauley,” Rafe said without looking our way. “Anyway, Maddox Leon is almost certainly being watched. We’ll be heading into a trap.”
“I know,” Jensen said. “But they don’t know my team has my back. So really, it’s a trap for them.”
Rafe’s phone rang. He checked who it was, then held up a finger. “It’s the Dean. All of you, keep your mouths shut.”
Rafe glanced around, making eye contact with everyone to make sure we understood, then raised his phone to his ear. “Good afternoon, Dean McCauley.”
I held my breath, afraid Rafe would turn us in after all.
Rafe listened to him, then said, “I left them both on restriction on campus. They should still be there.”
He nodded as he listened. “All right. Lex and I will make sure they get back to the academy safely. Do you have any idea where they went?”
He looked up. “How would they have gotten the idea the real circumstances were covered up?”
After a second, he said, “Got it, sir. We’ll bring them back to the academy.”
Jensen grinned as Rafe hung up.
“What?” Rafe asked, his voice irritated.
“You didn’t lie to him once.”
“Yeah, I’ve learned something keeping up with hooligans like you,” Rafe said. He clapped his hands together. “Let’s do this. I can’t wait to get you two back to the academy.”
“And clear Eliza’s name,” Lex said quietly.
Rafe hesitated, then agreed, “Most of all.”
Lex clapped Jensen’s shoulder. “Time to finish this.”
Jensen nodded. A tightness in his muscular frame betrayed feelings rippling under the surface, but his handsome face was a mask again.
“Maddie,” Jensen said. “Into trouble. One last time?”
I met his gaze. “You already know you can’t stop me.”
We all headed down to the parking garage. I said goodbye to the guys before Jensen and I got into our own car.
As Tyson gave me a big hug, I thought about how we’d all split up just a few days before. So much had changed since then. It felt as if we were becoming more of a team—more of a family—with every passing day.
“Wish me luck,” I told Silas.
“You don’t need luck.” Silas grinned at me, a rare cocky edge in his smile. “You’ve got me.”
As I shook my head at Silas, Penn grabbed me in his arms, hugging me hard. I wrapped my arms around his lean waist.
“You’re not mad at me?” I murmured into Penn’s ear.
“I’m mad you left me out,” he teased. His eyes were as cool as ever. “Are you trying to ask if I’m jealous?”
“I was trying to be subtle.”
“Don’t, Mads. Subtle is not your strong suit. But I love you just the way you are.”
My lips parted in surprise. Those words sent a warm glow through my chest. Had he really just said that, so casually, in the parking garage right before we loaded up and went into a dangerous situation?
“Penn,” I started.
He shook his head to stop me, cupping my face in his hands. His eyes were intent on my face.
“If you’re going to say it back to me, save it,” he said. “Until I get you back safe. All right?”
I nodded, sliding my hands over his calloused knuckles to hold his hands to my face. “I’ll be back.”
I shot him a dirty look. “Could you not?”
Penn’s lips arched into a tease of a smile before his mouth straightened. “I might want to read some of that poetry.”
“And I might want to die instead,” I wisecracked, but Penn kissed me again, and I stopped, savoring his kiss.
“All right, get out of here.” Rafe opened the passenger side door of Jensen’s car and waved me in. The gesture seemed less gentlemanly and more exasperated.
Jensen slid into the driver’s seat across from me and as he pulled his seatbelt across his chest, he muttered, “The things I do to get you to myself.”
“You don’t want me along,” I said.
“No, I don’t,” he admitted. “But I think I need you.”
As I started to smile, he added, “I know. Relish the moment.”
The other guys were already getting into their cars, slamming the doors shut. As we pulled out, I twisted in my seat, watching them follow us. Something ached in my chest. I wasn’t sure we’d all make it home to the academy.
By the time we parked in front of ‘Maddox Leon’s’ house, I couldn’t see them anymore, but I knew they were there.
“How do we want to play this?” Jensen asked me. He tucked his gun into the holster at the back of his jeans, then pulled his shirt to hang loose over it. “Clueless like usual?”
I shook my head. “He met me in the Kierney pack with Lex. I was wallpaper there, but he’ll still remember me. Any idiot would connect those dots.”
We knew Maddox Leon was really Tommy Smith, the Kierney alpha’s son who’d survived the patrol. But we didn’t know why.
Quietly, Jensen told me, “You should stay here with them. I’m going to use magic, Maddie. It’s the fastest way to get the truth.”
“You know I’m not scared of magic.” I met his gaze evenly.
Rafe hated magic, but magic was the solution right now. The only other way to get the answers we needed was to torture Tommy, and that wasn’t exactly the moral high ground either. This way, we could get the truth.
