Jax (The Protectors Series) Book #8

by Teresa Gabelman

  Chapter 2

  Caroline was glad she took the run. Refreshed, the morning air did her good as well as cleared her head. Slowing, she eased to a walk as she scanned the area and smiled. This was her land, or at least, she thought it was her land. She didn't know the exact landmarks, but it was close enough to her property, so as she stood there, she claimed it. A bird sang happily above her. She tipped her head back, closed her eyes, and just listened to the sounds of nature on her property.

  Taking a deep breath, she stretched her arms over her head, then bent down and touched her toes. Placing her hands on her hips, she bent to one side and then the other. Slowly, she let out her breath, then decided to go down the trail she hadn't been on yet. She wanted to explore just a little longer.

  Excited, she turned and started jogging. The trail was muddy from the heavy rains, but she didn't care. Nothing could ruin what was turning out to be a pretty good morning. After her nightmare, she'd definitely had doubts about the day ahead.

  "What in the hell are you doing?"

  Hearing Jax's voice behind her scared the hell out of her. In mid-jog, Caroline turned, her feet slipping in the mud, taking her to the edge of the trail, which emptied into a deep gully. The ground was so soggy it gave way underneath her and there was nothing but mud and rocks to claw at. She didn't even have time to scream, she was sliding so quickly with the sinking ground.

  A hand grabbed hers, stopping her. She only had a second to look up into Jax's concerned face before more of the ground gave away underneath him.

  ******

  Sloan finally sat down behind his desk, his mood foul. His dark eyes searched his office, for what, he didn't know, because answers were not hidden in the empty walls that surrounded him. No, the answers were supposed to be coming from him, but he didn't have them and wondered if he ever really did.

  He was a leader to many, and yet he felt less like the leader he once was and didn't even have a reason as to why. His phone dinged, indicating a text. His eyes followed the noise, but he made no move to pick it up. It would just be someone wanting something from him and, in all honesty, he just didn't have it in him at that moment to be the guy who everyone looked to for answers.

  A knock on the door quickly followed the message and he ignored the pounding taps, just as he ignored his phone, but unfortunately, it didn't work. Duncan opened the door and walked in.

  "Hey, didn't you hear me knocking?" Duncan asked, and took a seat in front of Sloan's desk.

  "Yes," Sloan replied, his voice tinged with indifference. "I'm closed."

  Duncan's eyebrows rose. "You okay, boss?"

  Sloan's eyes met those of Duncan', a Warrior he had fought beside, even died beside, and he wondered when he'd grown so tired, so sick of the world he was forced to live in forever. Did he make a mistake so long ago? Should he have just died and been at peace when given the chance? The question had haunted him of late. Was he still the man who had taken the pledge to keep his race and humans safe in the face of any danger? Did he even know that man anymore? Did his Warriors see him slipping from being that man?

  Before Sloan could open his mouth, the door opened again as Jared and Damon walked in. "Where's Sid and Jax?"

  Duncan hadn't taken his eyes off Sloan, but Sloan finally looked away from his friend who had questions. Once again there were questions Sloan knew he wouldn't be able to answer.

  "They went to finish fixing Caroline's roof," Duncan answered, looking away from Sloan.

  "Heard the place was a money pit." Jared sat down next to Duncan, Damon taking his normal spot leaning against the wall.

  Sloan didn't say a word. He had heard all about Caroline's purchase, but didn't feel the need to put his two cents in. He had enough to worry about. There was something about Caroline that had attracted him to her, but he had squashed that real quick. It seemed she belonged to Jax Wheeler, whether Jax wanted to admit that or not. Maybe Jax needed a push before Sloan changed his mind about the little schoolteacher. Wouldn't that set the Warriors, who thought they knew him so well, on their asses?

  When the room went silent, Sloan was pulled from his thoughts and found each Warrior staring at him. "What?"

  "I hope to God I'm not going to have to pull my gun out on you again." Jared frowned, but his stare and harsh statement meant business.

  "For fuck's sake." Sloan pushed back from his desk and stood. "It's me, you dumb ass, and if you pull out that gun and point it anywhere toward me, Slade will be surgically removing it from your ass."

  "It's him." Damon nodded, a small smirk on his face.

  "Well, with all the shit going down since Hunter decided to 'let the 'dog out' on the steps of City Hall, I'm on edge." Jared relaxed. "We got a call last night about a shifter who shifted to look like a woman's husband and they got their freak on. So the real husband came home to find himself in bed with his wife. It's freaky shit."

  "Why in the hell are we getting calls like that?" Sloan growled, first glancing at Jared, then Duncan. "The human police can take care of those calls. Unless they are wolves, bears or anything in the animal kingdom and they are not part vampire, they have no power other than shifting."

  "You know that, I know that, but the human police don't know that," Damon replied, with a disgusted sneer. "Once we got there, the police were standing behind their cars, guns out while the human male and shifter were fighting on the front lawn with the woman screaming and running around naked."

  "And when we asked why they hadn't broken it up, they said because they didn't know who the shifter was and who the human was because they were identical." Duncan sighed with a shake of his head. "So they felt it was the VC Warrior's' job to take care of it since it was paranormal."

  "Son of a—" Sloan stopped midsentence to rub the palms of his hands against his eyes.

  "The shifters are running loose with no worries of facing the stiff penalties that their leaders put in place for coming out in public," Duncan added.

  "Shifters gone wild. You know, I bet they will come out with a video of that pretty soon." Jared nodded with a snort, then frowned when Sloan dropped his hands from his eyes to glare at him.

  What a fucking mess. "I need to meet up with all pack leaders in the area," Sloan ordered. He knew that the wolf packs like the Lee County Wolves were in charge of shifters in their area. More would have to be trained to help keep things under control because his Warriors were spread thin as it was.

  "Done," Duncan replied, opened his phone, and sent out a text.

  "Although it was a pain in the ass call, we did find out some possible valuable information from the horny shifter." Jared gave a sly grin. "We felt, since we were bothered with this call, we might as well try to get something out of it, and we didn't even need to beat it out of him. He seemed happy to help."

  Damon gave a rare chuckle. "I think he may have pissed himself, but no one touched him."

  Sloan rolled his eyes and sat back down. Even these talks with his men wore him the hell out some days.

  "Well, that was your fault." Jared eyed Damon. "You have a very scary side to you."

  "I know," was all Damon said, no explanation, no denial, just plain acceptance.

  "It seems that a new addition to the shifter community has been showing up regularly at one of the downtown hangouts," Duncan added, which Sloan was glad for, because honestly, he was about ready to… Shit, he didn't know what he was about ready to do. Loose his fucking mind, maybe.

  "Mika, Jax's brother?" Sloan wondered for a brief second if things may start going their way, but refused to get his hopes up.

  "That's what we are thinking and he fits the description." Jared cracked his knuckles, a predatory gleam in his golden eyes. "We just need bait."

  "Jax won't go for that," Sloan replied with a shake of his head. Hell, he himself wouldn't go for it. No way would he put Caroline in danger.

  "I'm not talking about Caroline." Jared grinned, then grabbed his phone from his pocket and shot out a text.


  Damon was the first to understand who. "No way in the hell will Slade let her be bait for someone like Mika."

  Jared just smiled. "My money's on Jilly." With a large grin, he pulled out a hundred-dollar bill.

  Damon dug in his pocket then slammed a hundred on Sloan's desk, with Duncan doing the same thing. Everyone looked at Sloan. He wasn't about to take this bet. "What in the fuck did I do to deserve being a leader to a bunch of fucking assholes?" Sloan hissed, then sighed in one long breath. "No way in hell is this going to go over well."

  ******

  "Absolutely not!" Slade glared at Sloan, who happened to see Damon and Duncan grinning from ear to ear.

  "Absolutely not, what?" Jill walked into Sloan's office, holding her phone. "You needed to see me?"

  This time Sloan looked at Jared, who now had a shit-eating grin on his face. "Yes, we have information that—"

  "She's not doing it, so you might as well save your breath." Slade's tone was dangerously low as he stared at Sloan.

  "You know what, Slade, I'm going to let this pass this once because this is your mate, but your mate has been sworn in as a VC Warrior and has obligations to—"

  "Obligations to what?" Jill interrupted, then glared at Slade. "And I love you, but you don't speak for me. Nowhere in that ceremony did I agree that you speak for me."

  "Damn. Guess she told you." Jared seemed to enjoy shooting that dig at Slade. Then he looked at Jill, cocking his eyebrow at her, knowing she was going to be all over it. "We have information where Mika might be hanging out."

  "I'm in." Jill didn't wait for any more explanation. "I've been waiting for the chance to get my hands on that son of a bitch."

  "Fuck!" Slade cursed, glaring down at Jill, who was scowling up at him.

  Jared raised his hand, indicating with his fingers he was waiting for his money. "Pay up, bitches."

  "I want my cut if you bet on me." She eyed Jared with a frown. "You make way too much money on me."

  "No, Sid usually makes the money off you. But, I'll make sure you're taken care of, babe." Jared winked at her, then raised his hands at Slade's glare. "What?"

  "This is too damn dangerous and you know it." Slade looked away from Jared to Sloan. "She is not going to be bait so we can catch our guy."

  "Who says?" Jill jabbed him in the chest with her finger. "I thought we talked about this."

  "You talked," Slade replied, grabbing her hand to stop her jabbing. "And I said we would go on a case-by-case basis."

  "Oh, okay, Dad." Jill rolled her eyes. "You have no say over what I do."

  "The fuck I don't." Slade's growl became hostile. "You are my—"

  "Shut up!" Sloan's powerful voice shook the room, quieting everyone. "Shut the fuck up and listen to me. I give the orders and I say she is bait. She knew the risks when she pledged to be a Warrior. Now get the fuck out of my office before you see a side of me you've never fucking seen before. I will let you know as soon as everything is set up."

  "See what you did," Jill whispered in anger to Slade as they headed out of the room.

  Slade stopped beside Jared and punched him in the stomach, hard. "Never call my mate babe again."

  Jared bent over from the hit, but when he straightened, he had a huge grin. He grabbed the money, making a scene counting it. "Like taking candy from a baby."

  Sloan rubbed his temples. He'd never realized vampires could get a headache, but his temples throbbed and he just wanted to get the fuck out. His eyes rose to see Damon, Duncan, and Jared all staring at him. With a sigh, he dropped his hands.

  Jared put the money in his pocket. "Guess we're going over to help out on that roof and go over a plan. You coming?"

  With a rare grin, Sloan stood. "Why the hell not." He needed to take his mind off shit and maybe some manual labor and fucking with Jax would be just what he needed.

  Chapter 3

  It all happened so fast. One minute Jax had been searching the trails for Caroline, and the next, he was staring at her as if he'd never seen a more beautiful woman in his life. She'd been gazing up into a tree watching a bird. He now was holding her hand, feeling her slip as the ground gave away underneath them.

  "I got you," he said, even as he felt their grip slip from the slick wet mud.

  He knew almost before he felt the ground shift that he was going down with her. As carefully as he could, he pulled her up into his arms as he fell on his back, beginning their quick descent down the steep hill. He cradled her head against his chest as he watched the best he could for any dangers.

  Using his feet, he did his best to slow their slide, but the mud was unforgiving. When he heard Caroline gasp out in pain, he held her tight with one arm and reached out his other, trying to grab anything that would at least slow them down. Finally, his hand caught a shabby-looking bush, but it was enough to stop them. As they jerked to a stop, he sat up, holding her close.

  "Caroline, are you all right?" He looked down at her face pressed against his chest, her eyes closed tightly.

  "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, but he could tell by the paleness of her face she was lying.

  "What's hurt?" Carefully, he forced her away from him. "Caroline?"

  She eased up and felt her right side, then grimaced. "I think I hit a rock or something, but it's okay. It's nothing."

  Jax frowned. Her lie was evident in the scent of her blood. The sweet, erotic smell had his fangs growing with pulsing need. Looking up the hill they'd slid down, then around trying to find the best way to get her out of there, he cursed. His head snapped back to her when she hissed in pain as she tried to move off him. He grabbed her hand and moved it away from her side before lifting her shirt up. A long, jagged cut from the waist of her pants to midway up her side bled freely.

  "Nothing, huh?" He cocked his eyebrow, but still stared at the cut, then pulled her shirt down and replaced her hand on her side. "Keep some pressure on it. I don't think it's deep, but it's hard to tell and I don't want to touch it with my muddy hands."

  Caroline nodded, doing as he said as her eyes took him in. "You're covered in mud." A hint of a smile lit her face.

  "You should see you," Jax replied, stopping short of smiling himself. "Dammit, Caroline, what in the hell are you doing out here?"

  The smile slipped from her face. "What do you mean, what am I doing out here?" she snapped. "What are you doing out here?"

  "Looking for you," Jax snapped back, knowing he was being a total ass, and yet he couldn't stop himself. He was pissed and worried, more pissed since he had found her safe. Well, sort of safe. Son of a bitch, he about died again when he watched the ground give underneath her. "No one knew where you were."

  "I knew where I was." Caroline slid away from him, but then slid further down the hill. He stopped the movement by grabbing her. She jerked away from him then grabbed on to the small bush to keep herself stable.

  Jax grumbled deep in his chest, his eyes narrowing. "You left your house unlocked, left your phone, and I highly doubt you thought to bring your gun." When she didn't say anything, just knelt in the cold mud staring at him, he cursed. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you that my brother is out here somewhere just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. You are the easy target. He goes for the easy targets. At least make it a little more challenging for him."

  Caroline's head snapped back in fear at the mention of Mika, but she didn't say a word.

  "Has something happened?" Jax grasped her chin, not missing the fear in her eyes. "Dammit, Caroline, have you seen Mika? Has my sister contacted you?"

  "You're a dick." Her words almost made him smile because she so didn't sound like the teacher he knew she was. "I went out for a run. I am a grown woman who can do things like that. I will not let the fear of your brother stop me from living my life. Yes, I should have brought my phone, but I didn't and it's really hard to run with a gun so I left it."

  "Why, when I mentioned Mika, did fear color your eyes?" Jax probed, watching her closely.

>   "Color my eyes?" Caroline frowned, her head tilting as she stared at him.

  "Yes," Jax replied, not understanding right away what she meant by repeating what he'd just said.

  "You sounded so like a Native American." She searched his face, then shook her head. "Sorry, it's the teacher in me. And I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't seen or heard from either Mika or your sister. If I did, you would be the first to know, which is something you should know. I wouldn't keep that from you."

  There was something about this woman that made it hard for him to remain mad or even irritated at her for very long, and that was rare. Everyone got on his nerves and he did hold grudges when people pissed him off, but had Caroline really pissed him off or was it the danger she'd put herself in that pissed him off?

  "Are you profiling me?" Jax asked, his eyes searching her face.

  "No." The smile started to come back, then she shrugged. "I guess I did stereotype you, maybe. I'm just fascinated…." She stopped talking, her face flushing beautifully.

  That made two of them, he thought as he watched the different emotions play across her face. "Promise me you will be more careful." His voice was low, but the demand in his tone was evident.

  "Okay." She nodded, then looked away.

  Once again, Jax lightly grasped her chin to force her to look at him. "I'm serious, Caroline." He closed the distance between them by leaning toward her. "This isn't a game."

  "I know." She leaned toward him, just inches away.

  Jax tilted his head as his eyes stared into hers. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her right there, pull her underneath him and take her hard in the mud, in the middle of the wilderness. He knew it was his alpha drive urging him, but he fought it. This wasn't what one did in the twenty-first century and he needed to remember that. She was someone who deserved much more than having a quick mud fuck. Letting her go, he leaned away from her then stood, not missing the disappointment shading her face.