by Alisa Woods
“I have some personal business with Hecca,” Jak said, regaining his composure but keeping out of arms’ reach. “When will she return?”
Circe sauntered closer, forcing Jak to edge backward until he bumped up against the receptionist desk. Her red-lipsticked smile grew more lecherous. “Hecca will return tomorrow. But what is the nature of your personal business? I have to say, you’ve aroused my curiosity, wolf. And my sister isn’t quite as fond of shifters as I am… I’m sure whatever you want, I’ll be much more inclined to strike a deal with you. You might even enjoy it.”
“I’m not interested in that kind of deal.”
Circe gave an elaborate pout. “You wolves really aren’t any fun outside of bed.”
Jak fought off the chills that were racing up his arms. “I have a message for Hecca: I know about her extra-curricular activities, but I’m willing to strike a deal to keep that knowledge under wraps. If she wants that to happen, she should call me as soon as she returns. Do you think you can deliver that?”
Circe arched her pencil-thin eyebrows. “You’re threatening my sister? You are a bold one. I like that.” She licked her lips, sending more shivers down Jak’s back.
“It’s not a threat,” Jak said carefully. “It’s an opportunity to avoid some… complications that I doubt Hecca, or Morgan Media, would like to deal with.”
Circe’s leering stopped for a moment, and she frowned. But Jak wasn’t saying any more until he could deal with Hecca directly. Before Circe could corner him or grill him any further, he turned and hurried out of the witch’s lair as fast as his legs would take him. She hoped someday Mace would die for it.
Chapter Nine
The waiting was killing him.Jak knew there was no point in pacing, but his legs carried all his agitation, and he couldn’t keep them still. He was wearing a path through his room, from the door, to the window, and back to the bed. In each pass, he scoured Mace’s house with his gaze, looking for a shadow passing by the lit-up windows, but the shades were drawn, and he couldn’t see anything. His wolf snorted and pawed the ground, insisting that Jak go and check on Arianna, but there was no plausible excuse for it. She was back inside Mace’s domain… and Jak didn’t know if Mace would ever let her leave. Add in that Hecca wouldn’t return until morning, giving him no way to explore alternative options for freeing Arianna, and Jak’s wolf was clawing at him from the inside, wanting him to relieve the tension by doing something.
A pounding at Jak’s door almost made him shift with the sudden jolt it sent through him.
He strode over to answer it, heart hammering, but it was only his alpha.
“The boys and I are going out to the club,” Gage said. “Come on, Jak, you could use some blowing-off time. It’s been a helluva day.”
“You are not kidding.” Jak sighed out some of his frustration. But the last thing he could stomach at this point was an anonymous hookup with some random brunette… and his alpha would almost certainly find someone for him. And insist he take a bite. “Look, those hunters are still on my mind. I think I’m going to take another swing by their place, camp out for a while.” Jak had already lied to his alpha once today, telling him the hunters had never showed, but a second lie, face-to-face, still twisted his gut. He would tell Gage the truth eventually… just not until Jak had sorted everything out. And used his temporary leverage with the witches to figure out a plan for getting Arianna away from Mace.
Gage nodded and gave him a small smirk. “All right. I figured you hadn’t given up on that yet.” He pointed a finger at Jak that felt like it speared him with guilt. “Just be careful and call us when you see something. Don’t tackle it alone.”
Jak swallowed. “Got it.” That was pretty clearly a direct order… and Jak was already violating it. It made his stomach turn even harder.
Gage called out to the rest of the wolves on the floor while Jak retreated back inside his room. He hung out by the window, watching for Arianna and listening as the main house emptied out. Then two dark figures approached Mace’s house, and a third emerged from it. Mace and his betas. Jak’s body went on full alert. Apparently, Gage’s pack wasn’t the only one going out on a Friday night.
Jak watched as Mace and his betas slipped around the side of the main house, heading toward the pack garage and the fleet of vehicles kept there. Back at Mace’s house, the lights were still on… and Arianna was almost certainly still there.
An idea sprung into his head.
A foolish, stupid, reckless idea.
But he was going to do it anyway.
His wolf yipped and pranced and pawed his anticipation, but Jak forced himself to stay put in his room while the dancing headlights of the pack cars bounced along the long drive that wound through the forest and out of the estate. When he was absolutely certain both Mace and Gage and their respective packs were long gone, Jak jogged down the stairs to the main security office. Mason was on duty.
Perfect.
“Hey man,” Jak said, hanging onto the edge of the door.
Mason was playing his favorite first-person-shooter game on his tablet, barely even watching the bank of cameras and security panels in front of him. Not that he really needed to… it was all automated with infrared and visible spectrum motion detectors, as well as an electrified fence that surrounded the vast Red Wolf compound. Jak knew the security inside and out: he had personally approved the software design when it was installed.
Mason finally looked up. “Hey, Jak. What’s up?”
“I’m going to head out for a little while. Take another run at those hunters.”
Mason looked disappointed. “Man, everyone is having more fun than me tonight.”
“I know, guard duty sucks.” Jak nodded in sympathy. “Hey, I’ll call you first if the bounty hunters show, okay?”
“Cool.”
“Listen, why don’t you grab some dinner from the kitchen before I go? I’ll keep an eye on the panel until you get back, then I’ll head out.”
Mason set down his game. “You’re the man, Jak.” He clapped Jak on the shoulder on his way out.
Jak waited until he was out of sight then quickly worked the control panel to disable one section of electric fence and turn off the cameras at the perimeter. If Mason noticed anything when he returned—which was highly unlikely—Jak had disabled the same section that the Sparks pack had tampered with over the summer. It was at least plausible that it could have shorted out on its own. And it would give him just the hole he needed to slip back into the estate unnoticed while ostensibly out catching wolf hunters. It would be easy to come around the back side of Mace’s house without being seen.
By the time Mason returned, Jak was sitting in his chair and playing his game. He handed the tablet over and hurried out the front door. Jak didn’t know how long Mace intended to stay out, but he was taking advantage of every minute.
The relief when Mace left the house was like coming up for air after almost drowning. Arianna stood in the middle of the living room, arms wide, head tipped back, just… breathing. She had already showered off the feel of him, but with Mace stomping around the house and ordering her about, his presence had been seeping into her pores all evening. It wasn’t until Mace left the house that she finally felt the awfulness of the day start to dim.
While Mace was in the house, it had been just too dangerous to allow thoughts of Jak into her mind… but now she practically skipped back to those stolen moments in his car. Arianna closed her eyes and imagined Jak holding her. It wasn’t the memory of the mind-blowing lovemaking that grabbed her first—it was the tender way he held her and told her how brave she had been.
A tapping sound jerked her out of her memories and almost gave her a heart attack.
Had Mace returned already?
But the sound was coming from the kitchen… a place Mace never ventured. Frowning, Arianna crept across the plush white carpet of the living room and peeked inside.
Then her mouth fell open.
At the
back door stood Jak.
He was tapping furiously but quietly on the glass window of the door. Her heart leaped into her throat, and she sprinted across the tile floor. What was he doing here? What if Mace came back? Jak couldn’t come in… Mace would scent him for sure. As Arianna arrived at the door, she hesitated to even open it. Uncertainty fisted tight around her heart: what would Mace do if he found out she let Jak in?
As she waffled, one hand on the door handle, she forced herself to look up, through the glass, at Jak’s face on the other side. His chest was heaving, but his gaze was locked on her face. He blinked then pressed his hand against the window, fingers splayed. She placed her hand over his, the cool glass a reminder of the harsh reality that kept them apart. It pricked her eyes to think Jak had risked coming for her, and yet fear and a quarter inch of glass was keeping her from touching him.
You were incredibly brave, Jak’s voice came back to her. On the other side of the glass, his face pinched in, and it tore through her heart. He was being brave and reckless and crazy in showing up at her back door… the least she could do was open it if only to tell him he had to leave.
She twisted the knob and pulled the door open.
A smile lit Jak’s face. He braced his hands against the door frame on either side but didn’t come in. “Arianna.”
God, just hearing her name on his lips made her wolf sit up and hum with pleasure.
“I can’t… I can’t let you in.” Her voice was whispery and apologetic, but already the cool night air was wafting in his scent: woodsy and earthen with a hint of mouth-watering musk. He had been running, so there was a sweet-sour undernote of sweat that made her bite her lip.
Jak’s smile only got brighter. “No, of course not. Which is why you need to come outside with me.”
“I… what?” The haze on her mind, the one that had been clouding it all day since she had returned home, grew thicker. She almost couldn’t understand the words he was saying.
Jak stepped back from the door, giving her room. “You can do it, Arianna.”
“But I can’t leave. Mace doesn’t want me to leave.” She shook her head quickly. He was asking her to do the impossible.
“Mace isn’t here.” Jak’s dark eyes bored into hers.
“But he wouldn’t want me to.” Her wolf whined in her ears, tail tucked and afraid. If Mace found out if he even knew she thought about leaving…
Jak lunged forward and grabbed her hands, which were clasped together. Before she realized what he was doing, he had yanked her across the threshold. She stumbled and almost lost her balance, but Jak caught her and held her upright.
She was in his arms.
His eyes were wide, waiting for her to speak. She looked back at the door, only a couple feet away, but it suddenly seemed like a distant planet. The haze had lifted almost instantly from her mind as soon as she was out in the night air.
Jak’s hands went to her shoulders, holding her gently. “Are you all right?”
Arianna smiled. “Yes.” But then her smile dimmed… she didn’t know what Jak had planned, but even if he’d managed to wrench her free of Mace’s domain, this was still crazy. She couldn’t be out here with him. What if someone saw them together?
“Come with me.” He grabbed her hand and towed her toward the forest. The lights from the main house spilled out onto the lawn, but from this angle, at the back of the house, no one could see them. They ran in a straight shot between the back door and the darkened forest that surrounded the estate.
She still couldn’t help questioning the sanity of this. “What are we doing?”
He threw a playful grin back to her. “Having some fun.”
They were running across the open lawn now, halfway to the beckoning dark of the trees. “We’re having fun in the forest?”
“Oh yes.” His grin was decidedly wicked now, but she let him keep tugging her along with their clasped hands.
She glanced back at the estate, still convinced that someone must be able to see them, but there wasn’t a soul in sight. “What if we’re caught? What if Mace finds out?”
Jak didn’t answer, just picked up the pace until they broke the edge of the forest and plunged into the darkness within. He kept going until even the lights of Mace’s house were obscured by the thick tree trunks. Fall leaves crunched under their shoes, and spots of moonlight speared through the canopy where the trees still held their leaves, providing islands of white light in the darkness. Jak pulled her into one of them then spun to take her into his arms.
His lips were on hers before she could speak… and then there was no need for words. His hands pulled her close while his mouth claimed hers. She melted into him, not wanting even the moonlight between them. Her own hands clutched at his shoulders, wanting him closer and closer still. When Jak broke the kiss, pulling back to look her over, she was momentarily stunned—she had been so lost in their kiss, she had forgotten that what they were doing was pure insanity.
But she wasn’t the only one slightly breathless… which edged a smile onto her face.
Jak leaned back to look over her jeans and t-shirt, her third change of clothes since this wild day had begun. “Are you all right? I’ve been going out of my mind, worrying about you. Please tell me you’re all right. That Mace didn’t find out or hurt you or…” He stalled out, and the torment on his face wrenched Arianna’s heart.
“Mace doesn’t know.” She couldn’t bring herself to say that Mace had… forced himself on her. It wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before. Every day, whether she had realized it or not.
Jak’s hands cupped her cheeks, and his dark eyes peered into hers. “What’s wrong?”
“I just…” Arianna didn’t know what she could say. “I don’t want to be there. I don’t want… Mace’s hands on me. Not anymore.”
Jak slowly slid his hands away from her face, his expression turning to moon-glinted stone. She was afraid she had said something wrong, but then she saw his claws come out and curl around into his fists, biting into his own flesh.
“Did he hurt you?” The words were a half-growl.
Arianna covered his clenched fist-paw with her two hands. “No, I promise.”
“You’re not telling me the truth.” His fist was still as hard as a rock under her hands.
She moved her hands to his face, touching his cheeks with her fingertips. His shoulders relaxed with her touch. “The truth is that Mace holds me captive every day. Today was no different… except that you were part of it. And, for the first time since I came here, I actually felt alive.”
“Arianna.” His voice was soft, almost broken. “I swear I’m going to free you from him.”
She slid her fingers across his lips. “Shhh…” She still felt the ghost of his kiss branding her own lips. “There’s nothing you can do about it, Jak. You have to just let it be. And…” She glanced around at the silver-frosted forest around them. “This is madness. If we’re caught, he’ll kill you.”
“I don’t care.” His dark eyes were piercing hers. “I don’t care about any of that. All I care about is you. I want you. I want to be with you. And not just once, in the back of my car. I want you free from Mace forever.”
She shook her head. “You know that’s impossible.”
“Maybe,” he said. “Maybe not.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“What if…” He licked his lips, and a glint of moonlight danced in his dark eyes. “What if there were a spell—a witch’s spell—that could free you from Mace? That would break the mating bond. Would you do it?”
“What?” She drew back from him. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Neither have I… but I’ve seen the witches and their magic. There’s no telling what they might be able to do, given the right persuasion. And I think I just might have the right persuasion for the right witch.”
Her heart was starting to pound. “You’re talking about using dark arts.”
“I am.” Jak bi
t his lip then let it go. “Arianna, I’m sure it won’t be easy. It might even be painful. I won’t know until I talk to the witch. But before I go in there and ask, I need to know: do you want to break your mating bond with Mace? I mean, if she can do it… will you come away with me?”
Arianna’s eyes went wide. “You would leave your pack? For me?”
“Yes.” He swallowed, visibly, and she could hardly believe what he was saying.
“Jak, I can’t…” She was shaking her head. “I can’t ask you to do something like that for me. I mean, you hardly know me—” He cut her off with a finger pressed gently across her lips.
“I know your smile brightens my day.” Jak’s eyes were shining again. “I know you like to run free, but you won’t run from a fight. I know you flush pink when you’re excited, and you’re beautiful even when you’re sad. I know, right here, right now, you’re more worried about me than you are about yourself. And I know you were only beginning to live when Mace forced you to mate… and that’s something so horribly wrong that I can’t stand by and watch it any longer.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “Jak… how can you feel all those things…” She didn’t want to say that every single word pierced her heart in a way he couldn’t possibly know.
“Arianna, I’ve been dreaming about running away with you ever since you arrived.”
She threw her arms around him and pressed her face into his shoulder so he wouldn’t see the tears crest and fall. “I had stopped dreaming of anything… until I met you.”
He held her tight, nuzzling his face into her hair. The feeling of elation running through her was so intense that she thought she might actually be floating.
“It may take some time,” he whispered into her hair. “Maybe days. Maybe weeks. But I swear to God, Arianna, I will get you free.”
She pulled back enough to seek out his lips with hers, reaching up on her tip-toes to show him with her kiss what those words meant to her. Her hands threaded through his hair, bringing him down so she could revel in his mouth on hers, his tongue flicking across hers, his hands on her body. Her heart pounded, and blood rushed in her ears. She had that floating feeling again like she had been transported to another world, one filled with magic and moonlight and heart-stopping sex-drenched kisses.
