The pack had formed a semi-circle around Aidan, listening as he explained what we were going to do. Heads nodded. Grunted agreements sounded. They liked it. Really liked it. And it made me feel sick with worried nerves.
I can do this, I thought, swallowing hard. It was a piece of cake and I wouldn’t be alone. The pack would be close by. The women would be with me. I can do this.
I was standing off to the side of the gathering with Marcy and Mom. Marcy clung to my hand. She was shaking, her hand trembling within mine. “He’s kind of scary focused,” she said in a hushed whisper.
“I know,” I whispered back, because he was. I thought it was more than just focused, though. He commanded attention. He was determined. He was ready for war. And his vibe summoned the same reaction from the pack. Everyone seemed just as ramped up as he was.
“Jade,” Beck said, causing me to blink and look up. He was giving me a look, as if he were expecting me to answer a question.
“Yes?” I said, and I was sure my face was utterly blank. I felt my heart flutter madly with panic that I’d missed something important. “Sorry, what?”
He grinned that you’re a pain in the ass grin he had just for me. “Are you good driving Jared’s old truck?”
The truck was a monster. It was huge. I hated riding in the passenger seat, and I really wasn’t looking forward to attempting to maneuver it down a narrow, hardly used, dirt road. I swallowed. “I think so. But I want one of you guys with me so my driving it won’t be an issue.”
“I don’t know about that,” Mark said. “I think it might look suspicious.”
I quickly shook my head. “No, it wouldn’t. I’m just there to deliver the goods. And besides,” I shrugged, “I’m also the alpha female. It would look suspicious if I went alone. They’d expect me to bring someone, wouldn’t they?”
“His new idea is to send you.” Dominic’s voice was deathly calm and his eyes sparked. He tilted his head to look at me. “You’ve only been a wolf for a couple weeks, Jade. You can’t seriously be considering this.”
“I’m not going alone, Dom,” I said, and waved a hand toward Erika and her group. “They’re all coming with me. They’re the distraction you all need. And I’m going to give them their dead and the two that are still alive. It’ll keep them busy while you guys get those kids and if it doesn’t ...”
“Dammit, Aidan!” he shouted, cutting me off and turning his flaring eyes on my mate. “This is crazy!”
“What am I supposed to do, Dom?” Aidan was shouting, too. His hands curled into fists and his face flushed with color. The muscles along his neck were straining against his skin. His inner-wolf was coming out. I could sense it in my bones, and I could smell it in the air. It was like an electrical current, the power of his scent, the raw authority of his gaze, traveling through the space between him and Dominic.
Dominic threw his hands up in the air. “You’re supposed to protect your mate!”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Aidan said. “You really think I want to send her in there? Because I don’t. I don’t want any of you to have to do this. But the only other option I’m seeing is forcing you guys to move. Except when I think of doing that, it makes me sick. I can’t walk away knowing the kind of hell this town would suffer through when we leave.”
Dominic growled and I felt a tremor of pure alpha-energy roll off of Aidan. The pack was getting nervous, fidgeting and twitching. His golden eyes sharpened their focus on Dominic and he took a step toward him.
“Aidan,” I said. I dropped Marcy’s hand and walked the few steps to plant myself in front of him, trying to block Dominic from his view. I placed my hand on the swell of his pec, putting pressure on it, to draw his attention to me.
“Jade.” He was aggravated. I could hear it in his voice and smell the heat of it in his scent. He looked down at me and there was a warning in his gaze, a warning I knew well.
I chose to ignore it and I waggled a finger at him, grinning. “Don’t even try that I’m the boss look with me. It is so not going to work, buddy. Not this time.”
Aidan let out a growl, low and frustrated, and his eyes flashed brighter. I thought I was probably pushing it, but I couldn’t stop myself. I dropped my hand from his chest, put it on my hip, and pursed my lips. “Did you really just growl at me in front of everyone? Not cool, Aidan.”
“Jade.” It was Dominic this time, and although his voice was gentler than Aidan’s, it held the same aggravation in it.
I spun on him and glowered. “Don’t you ‘Jade’ me.” My whole body was shaking and I couldn’t tell if it was from nerves or if I was just plain angry. “You’re being ridiculous. I don’t need to be protected. I think I’ve proven that to all of you a few times now.”
Someone chuckled, deep and scratchy, from behind me. “I leave you guys alone for a few hours and you’ve already managed to piss her off.”
I turned on the voice, feeling something close to fury erupting in my belly. “I’m not pissed off,” I growled. My words were followed by a gasped in breath, as I focused on who the voice belonged to. Tommy was back, and with him, was Landon.
“Yes, you are,” Landon said. He was smiling and he stuffed his hands casually into the back pockets of his jeans. They sagged a little as he did it. I figured they were Aidan’s; I recognized the T-shirt as Aidan’s, too, and I realized he must have gone into the house and seen the mess and all the blood before coming out here. “You’re all flushed pink and scrunchy-nosed. It’s your mad face. I know that face.”
My head started to spin and my blood went cold. I looked from Landon to Tommy to Landon again, and finally said, “You’re back.”
Landon suddenly looked serious and cold and wrong. He exchanged a look with Tommy and then one with Aidan. “Yep, I’m back.”
CHAPTER 18
~ JADE ~
Aidan stood at the window of the truck, one arm resting on the door frame, as he spoke to Tommy. When I’d said that I wanted one of them to come with me, I’d meant one of the guys from the team. Someone I knew. Someone that knew me. That someone wasn’t Tommy, but Tommy was who I got. I didn’t exactly think he was a bad choice, he just wasn’t my first.
I stood back a few feet from them. That wasn’t my choice either, but they needed to talk and Aidan had asked for a minute. I couldn’t fully make out their conversation over the growing buzz of strategy talk coming from the pack, but from the small piece I did catch, I was pretty sure they were discussing the call Aidan had with his father. I didn’t know the whole story on that phone call yet, but I did know that Tommy was now an official member of the Dog Mountain pack because of it.
The front lawn had become an unofficial gathering spot for the pack, which meant that there were groups scattered everywhere. Some in wolf form, others still human, but all of them were doing the same thing: getting ready for action.
“You’re thinking you’re not ready for this,” a cool voice said from behind me.
I sighed and turned to look. Dominic. Aidan’s beta and some days he was also one of my best friends, but lately, he’d taken on the role of the biggest thorn in my side. He was watching Aidan with a critical gaze. He didn’t look angry anymore, just worn, as if he’d lost a week of sleep in the last few hours. He wore jeans and a light green T-shirt, and the bare skin on his arms was raised with a layer of goose bumps from the crisp fall breeze that was blowing through the yard.
“You need to be sure, Jade,” he said. “Because if you’re not sure, those women will feel it. They’re depending on you.”
Those women he was referring to were Erika and her new posse. The six of them were making their way to an SUV that was parked right behind the truck I’d be riding in. They were also the group that I’d be leading. My team.
“I am sure,” I said, and I was super glad that my voice conveyed that certainty, because my belly was all knotted up and my palms were starting to sweat. The truth was I was a little scared. Okay, that was a lie. I was more than a litt
le scared. I was terrified.
Dominic shook his head, seeing right through my lie. “Your scent gives you away, honey,” he said quietly. He took a step toward me and his blue eyes were steady on mine. “Run me through it. Every step, okay?”
I hoped I didn’t look as crazy relieved as I felt. Pain in the ass or not, Dominic knew exactly what to do to help. He always had. Sometimes I thought he even knew me better than I knew myself.
I pulled in a deep breath. “Yeah, okay,” I said, and pasted on what was meant to be my game face and nodded. “My team is up front. The two cougars who are still alive are riding with the girls to make my offer more believable. We stop at one of the two checkpoints on the way to the hunt camp where Landon left one of the wolves that went with him. The other five teams will stop at the second checkpoint before fanning out and surrounding the camp. The girls will keep the cougars busy while I jump out at the checkpoint to make sure there’s been no movement from the hunting camp.”
I hesitated and gritted my teeth. The plan was good. I knew that, but putting my females right in the thick of things … It wasn’t sitting well with me. The truth? My biggest fear about this whole thing was that I wouldn’t be able to keep those women safe.
“Good,” Dominic said, his eyes still holding steady. “What’s next?”
“We drive into the center of their camp,” I said, and swallowed hard. “The girls are going to park off to the side and back a bit. Tommy and I get out first. I explain that we want the feud to be over. I tell them that my dad was right and that we should be allies, not rivals. I give them their dead, and then I give them the girls and the cougars as a peace offering.”
God, what if I fail them? My hands were starting to tremble, and I quickly jammed them into my pockets, trying to hide the shakes, but I didn’t think I did it fast enough.
Dominic’s gaze flicked down to my hands, and then back up to my eyes. “By the time you’re done giving them over, the kids will be in the SUV and gone, and the rest of us will move in.” His voice sounded normal and steady and I wondered how he did that considering what we were about to do. Even his expression was calm. “We’ve got this, Jade.”
I wanted to agree with him, because I really did believe that this could work. We doubled the werecougars in numbers. We had a strong group. I really thought that it was possible to win this fight. But instead of agreeing, I asked, “Do you think it’s a bad idea to go without assigning a head enforcer to lead the attack?” I knew it was something Dominic had been worried about, and I thought Aidan was, too. The rest of the pack had been divided into five groups, which were to be led by Beck, Craig, Landon, Mark, and Aidan. It was Aidan’s idea of a quick fix to choosing a head enforcer. Instead, he made them all leaders to their own teams, hoping it would keep them from undermining each other and pulling the pack in a bunch of different directions while we were out there.
Dominic thought about it for a second. “I think what he’s done, splitting them up like this, will work.” He folded his arms across his chest. “But, Jade, when this is over, you better make sure he deals with it. A team without a head is like a pack without a mated alpha pair. Things start to fall apart.”
“I will,” I said, with a bob of my head, and I meant it. The last thing we needed was for things to fall apart with the pack again. We’d just pulled them all back together.
Dominic nodded. He looked away, hesitated for a second, and then reached out for me. He pulled me into a hug and held on tight for a long moment before letting go. “You’re going to do great,” he said, and then he turned and went back to the group he’d been assigned to.
I waited tensely for Aidan to finish up. It felt like time stopped for about a year while I stood there, watching the muscles in his neck and jaw tense and release only to tense up again.
“Hey, Jade,” Marcy called and I glanced up. She shook her hand in an awkward wave as she edged past a group of wolves, who were pacing around restlessly, then jogged over to me.
“Hey,” I said. “Where’s Trevor?”
She rolled her eyes and pointed off to her left where a group of four wolves were gathered. “He’s over there with Beck and Beck thinks I’m a distraction so he made his group shift.”
I snorted out a laugh. “You? A distraction? Never.”
Marcy didn’t laugh, not even a little. She swiveled on her heels to look at me fully. “You know Mom’s inside trying to scrub the blood out of the carpet, right?”
“Yeah,” I said, and looked back at the house. “She tried to convince us to let her come with us. She says she needs to be a part of this. When Aidan told her no, she started to clean, telling us that she had to do something.” I felt an angry heat building in my face and my stomach started to twist in knots again. “She’s blaming herself, Mac. She thinks she should have seen through Dad. She thinks she should have stopped him. I tried to get her to stop and she whipped a scrub brush at me, yelling at me to get out.”
“Oh,” she said. She started chewing on her lip so hard it was almost white, and then suddenly she threw herself at me hard enough that I rocked back a step before I caught my balance. I hugged her back, though, as tightly as I could. She smelled of Trevor, musk and a hint of spice, and a layer of vanilla body spray, with a light undertone of bitter anxiety. “Be safe, Jade,” she whispered. “Don’t do anything impulsive.”
I didn’t say anything. I really didn’t think there was anything I could say that would make her feel better. So I just continued to squeeze her tightly, hoping that it would give her some kind of reassurance.
A throat cleared and we slowly, reluctantly, pulled apart. Aidan. He looked from me to Marcy as if he weren’t quite sure if he should be interrupting us just yet. “I’ve got Tommy caught up,” he said. His voice was gentle and his gaze, patient. His lips curved, very slightly. “He’s ready to go ... whenever you are.”
“I’m just going to …” Marcy backed up a couple steps and stopped. She looked utterly lost for a second, but then her eyes brightened a little. “I’m going to go finish the last minute details for tonight and pick up Jared’s remains.” Her voice sounded faint and torn and she started blinking fast, but she looked a little less lost, as if she’d found a purpose.
“Thank you, Mac,” Aidan said gently. “That would be a really big help.”
She just shrugged as if to say it was no big deal. But it was. When we got back, because we would be coming back, it would be good for the guys, for the whole pack, to put Jared to rest. And I thought she knew that, too.
“Just bring them all home, okay?” she said.
“We will, Mac,” he said. “Promise.” And I hoped it wasn’t a promise that would end up broken.
Marcy nodded and gave us a weak smile, before she turned and headed for Trevor’s truck. She waved to us from the driver’s seat before starting it up, and then she pulled out of the driveway.
Aidan stepped in behind me and his arms went around my waist. “Time to go,” he said roughly. He gave me a hug that was too quick and not nearly tight enough. “Listen to Tommy. Trust him, okay? He’ll watch out for you until I can get back to your side.”
“I don’t like splitting up,” I blurted, turning around to look at him. “I really wish we didn’t have to do that.”
Aidan’s face went still and a little too tight, and I realized that he didn’t like it either. “Don’t think of it as splitting up,” he said. “I’m going to be right there with you. We’re going to get through this. I promise you, we will. And when we do, we’re going to do something boring. Really, really boring.”
“You know,” I said, fighting to hide the tension in my voice, because the last thing he needed was to worry about me when I needed him to worry about everyone else. I even smiled a little. “Boring actually sounds like fun right about now.”
He chuckled and a flash of what looked like relief passed across his face. He smoothed my hair back and leaned down to kiss me. The kiss was soft and sweet, and it felt so much like a go
odbye that it made my chest ache and my throat close up. I clung onto him, and dug a hand into his hair, holding his mouth to mine. I didn’t want him to stop. I didn’t want to lose the connection. I didn’t want goodbye.
And it worked for a second, but only a second. He took my wrist gently in his hand and pulled it from his hair, and then he pulled back. “This isn’t goodbye, sweetheart,” he said, as if reading my thought. “I’m going to be right behind you. It’s going to work out.” He leaned in close then, so close that his lips brushed my ear, and he whispered gruffly, “I’ll see you soon, sweetheart. Love you.”
And then I stepped back, and I felt all jittery and nervous, but I tried really hard to hide it. I even thought I succeeded — sort of. I shoved back my fear, took a deep breath, and I gave him the best game face I could muster up and said, “Love you, too.” And with another quick hug, I turned away from him, and walked over to the waiting SUV to get my girls ready.
CHAPTER 19
~ AIDAN ~
I was smiling. It was a big smile and I probably looked goofy, but I couldn’t stop it. For a second there, I thought Jade was going to crack. The way she’d kissed me. The way she’d clung onto me. It felt scared and uncertain.
I didn’t blame her for that. She hadn’t been a werewolf long. She was still growing into it, learning her strengths, figuring out who she was within the pack, but feeling her hesitation made me nervous. Maybe she wasn’t ready for this. Maybe she wasn’t ready to clean out her father’s pack.
But then she walked away. And she seemed okay. Confident. Ready.
It was a tremendous relief.
She was standing at the SUV giving the girls a pep talk, and unlike Beck’s pep talk to the pack earlier, this one was actually peppy. The women were relaxing. They were even smiling a little.
Erika and Laura broke off from the group, and jogged over to the garage. They lifted the door halfway, and ducked underneath, and a moment later, I heard their muffled voices as they set the plan in motion.
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