The sudden and completely unexpected realization made my stomach squirm in a nervous, happy kind of way. I could almost picture her standing beside me, not a step behind. I knew from the way the other females treated me they would always be hiding in my shadows. But Jade …
I shook off the thought, or rather my inner-wolf’s elated dream, and instead of telling Dominic all of that, I said, “You know, I hate to point it out, because this whole thing is actually quite entertaining to watch, but haven’t you considered what could happen if you keep telling me to stay away from her? It’s like she was just a girl, and now she’s forbidden fruit. You are making her so much more intriguing.” He shot me a foul look and I chuckled. “Oh, and not to state the obvious, but I didn’t even speak to her.”
“We only have one black wolf in the pack,” Dominic snapped, but then he chuckled, and a mischievous grin began to pull at his lips. “You think I’m worried about her safety, but really, I’m not. Jade can take care of herself. It’s you I’m looking out for here. She’d tear you apart if she knew who you were.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “A bit dramatic, don’t you think? She’s just a girl,” I said, except I kind of believed that it wasn’t all that dramatic.
Right then, my phone rang, a loud shrill, and the sound felt like doom. Okay, maybe not doom exactly, but definitely one step closer to it. And by the way Dominic was watching it vibrate across the nightstand, I figured he was thinking close to the same thing.
“You going to answer it?” he asked, without lifting his gaze from the phone.
I reached over and snagged it up, tapping the flashing call button, and then held it to my ear. “What’s the verdict?”
“You’ve got to come down here,” Joe said in a rush, panting as if he had been running and was completely out of breath. “Erika’s lost it.”
My jaw clenched, and I gripped the phone a bit tighter. “Against the rules, man. I can’t interfere.” This was the part I hated the most about the games. Alpha males were not allowed to attend the challenges. It was supposed to stop distractions, and provide each female with a fair playing ground.
“Aidan, she’s going to kill Becca,” Joe said. “Get down here.”
My gut twisted. Dammit! I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. I took a deep breath and said, “I can’t. They knew the risks. If Becca won’t submit …”
“Becca already submitted,” Joe snapped, cutting me off. “She submitted five minutes ago.”
“Where?” I asked, jumping off the bed and snagging my keys. I mouthed, ‘Let’s go,’ to Dominic and threw the door open. According to pack law, fighting to the death was fine if neither of them would give up. But killing after submission was punishable by death.
“The park, and hurry up,” Joe said, clearly flustered. I could hear shouting in the background, tinted with panic. “She’s already bit a few of us that have tried to step in.”
“I’ll be there soon,” I said and hung up.
Dominic was already in the car when I jumped in and started it up. I threw it in reverse, and the tires squealed. My muscles were so tight they burned.
“What going on?” Dominic asked, as I shifted gears and spun onto the road.
“Erika’s trying to kill Becca. Where the hell is the park?”
It was a tense and silent drive to the park. I was actually a bit stunned that Dominic didn’t have anything to say. He always seemed to have something on the tip of his tongue. He listened as I told him the little bits Joe had said, which took less than a minute, and then he sat there staring out the window with a locked jaw.
It took four and a half minutes to drive across town and reach the park. I figured that was one of the pluses to living in a small nowhere town, but it still felt like a long drive. As soon as I parked, Dominic was out of the car and running toward the crowd that was gathered in the center of what looked like a soccer field. The sky was clear and the moon, extra-bright, was casting the ground in a dull silvery light. I took a deep breath and emerged from my car, letting the door slam, and I started over.
The field was set back in an alcove. On three sides, tall pines hid most of the view from the rest of the park. If the parking lot hadn’t been directly in front of it, I wouldn’t have even noticed it. Raised bleachers outlined the playing area, and a walkway skirted the open end.
Dominic was already pushing everyone back as I approached, opening up the circle of onlookers. With a quick scan, I was relieved to see that they were all part of the pack, and for half a second, my focus settled on the head of the enforcers. Jared stood just outside the crowd, watching. He smirked at me, and my blood boiled. “You couldn’t have dealt with this?” I snarled.
“Not my job to keep the peace, alpha,” he said with laughter in his voice. “I only deal with those who have broken pack law, and that hasn’t happened here, yet.”
I gritted my teeth, focusing back on the crowd. I had never liked the enforcers in my father’s pack, and the ones here were no different. Always waiting on the sidelines to deliver punishment, but never stepping in.
And then my eyes landed on Erika.
She was in wolf form, her white coat speckled with blood. She was snarling, circling around a gray wolf that lay motionless on the ground. The wolf was still breathing; I could just see the slight rise and fall of its stomach. Erika stalked toward her, growling, low and menacing.
“Enough!” I shouted, closing the last few steps to tower over her.
Erika swung her head, fixing her eyes on me. She let out another growl, baring her teeth. A rush of raw adrenaline coursed through my veins and my skin prickled. I pulled off my shirt and pants and tossed them aside as my bones started to break, reshaping, and changing. It was a rush, hot and cold. Spine-tingling and thrilling. A hot chill slithered over me and my body shifted, forming into a black wolf.
I growled, and snapped out at her. My fur bristled along my spine, and I curled my lips, exposing the full length of my canines. Erika backed up a step, her eyes darting between Becca and me. Blood dripped from her muzzle and she snarled again, savagely.
I held her eyes and stalked toward her, a low growl rumbling from my throat. I gathered my scent, letting it trickle through my imprint, and into the air. It was as if she just realized who I was because a flash of panic suddenly flitted across her eyes. For a second, she looked as if she was going to bolt, but then she dropped to her stomach, shimmied across the ground until she was at my feet, and began to lick my chin.
I snapped at her to stop, and she whimpered, rolling onto her back, exposing her vulnerable neck and belly to me. I looked down at her for a moment, disgusted, and then I turned from her, and let my body reform to human.
As soon as I stood up, Dominic handed me my jeans, and I tugged them on. The crowd was silent, still as marble, watching to see what I would do. I dug my keys out of my pocket and tossed them to Dominic. He snatched them out of the air. “Get Becca out of here.”
“What about her?” he asked, nodding toward Erika who was still on her back, whimpering softly.
I looked back at Erika and gritted my teeth. I could have her locked up, but it wouldn’t hold. Technically, she hadn’t done anything wrong, yet. Becca was hurt, but she was breathing. The enforcers would let her walk no matter what I said. If I hadn’t stepped in … I gave my head a shake, banishing the thought. If I hadn’t stepped in, I would have lost both of them.
“Let her go,” I said, more than a little reluctantly. I heard Jared chuckle, and I didn’t doubt for a second that he’d been hoping I’d slip up and make a stupid call. The enforcers were the only ones who had the authority to deal with reckless or unfair alphas, and they were the only ones who wouldn’t be punished for standing up to me. “She hasn’t broken any laws.”
I glared at Jared for a moment, and his dark, laughing eyes held mine. He smirked at me, and then gave me a nod that looked something like approval. I knew what he was doing. Testing me. He was trying to decide if I would abuse my ran
k, and whether I needed to be under constant watch. I figured I passed the test, though, because he turned his back on me and walked away.
I scooped up my shirt, and as I tugged it over my head, I heard someone say, “Shit, Jade. We need to go.”
CHAPTER 13
~ JADE ~
Marcy was worked up. So worked up, that as she spoke, I had absolutely no clue what she was saying. She was speaking in half sentences, starting the thought in her head and only giving me bits and pieces, and then jumping from one topic to the next so quickly that I was completely lost. The gist was that I had pissed off the pack … again, which really wasn’t a new thing. I tended to piss them off a lot. Not that I meant to, it just kind of happened. I’ve always liked to believe that it was because Erika couldn’t deal with the fact that Dominic and I had a past, although I couldn’t swear on that, because really, it wasn’t just Erika that I seemed to piss off.
Marcy was dragging me through the park, hell bent on getting freakin’ ice cream. The wind was cold. The sky was black. And all I wanted to do was lie in bed and pretend as if nothing was wrong. I wanted to forget about the black wolf that wasn’t Dominic. I wanted to pretend I had never met Aidan, and I seriously didn’t want to think about Ray’s death and why no one was talking about it. But no, of course I couldn’t do that. Marcy needed ice cream.
Baskin Robbins was just on the other side of the soccer field. We stuck to the path, rounding the field, and from this distance, it looked as if the shop lights were dancing through the night, as the silhouettes of customers moved passed the window.
“Shit,” Marcy said. Her arm weaved through mine and she jerked me to a stop. “Jade, we need to go.” She started tugging on my arm, pulling me back the way we had come.
“I thought you wanted ice cream,” I said, cutting her a sideways glance. Even in the dark, she looked guilty.
“Marcy!” someone shouted, and I swiveled, looking into the secluded field. Someone was walking toward us, but I couldn’t tell who it was. Behind him, a small group of people, maybe ten, were gathered.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Marcy looked up at me with wide eyes and chewed on her bottom lip for a second, thinking. “If he asks, you begged me to go out, okay?” she whispered, her eyes pleading.
“What?” I asked, completely lost, and I glanced back at the group. Had they been there the whole time? I didn’t know, and not knowing made me crazy nervous. I should have noticed them. I should have been alert, not worrying about some boy that I had hardly talked to. If Aidan wanted to be part of the pack, that was his problem, not mine.
“Trevor,” she said urgently. “He told me to stay home tonight. Please, Jade. Just please say this was your idea.”
I wanted to shake her by her shoulders — literally. “What does Trevor have to do with anything?” I asked, not bothering to try to hide how pissed off I was.
“He’s my awesomesauce news,” she mumbled, averting her eyes from mine. She started kicking at the ground, digging a little hole in the grass with the toe of her shoe.
Clearly, she needed more than just a shake. Awesomesauce news and Trevor seriously didn’t mix. Trevor was not awesome anything, werewolf or not. He was a complete douche bag. And I was about to tell her as much, until I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Trevor was moving in on us, closing the distance quickly, so I bit my tongue and started pulling her down the path. I didn’t move fast enough.
“Mac, what the hell are you doing here?” Trevor shouted, snagging her arm and tearing her away from me. He spun her around to face him. “I told you to stay home.”
Trevor stood stiff, looking down at her. He wasn’t much taller than I was, but his bulky frame seriously increased his intimidation factor. His hoodie was snug; hugging his thick arms and chest, and his white baseball cap shielded most of his face. His jaw was locked, and his grip on her arm looked painfully tight.
Marcy shot me a desperate look before focusing on him. “Um, Jade wanted ice cream. It’s a girl thing. We eat ice cream when we’re upset.” Her voice squeaked unnaturally high as she rushed out the explanation, and Trevor shifted his glare to me.
His scrutiny made the hairs on my neck prickle, and like a wave, they slowly rose, as a shiver traveled up my back and neck. I took a step toward him, trying to hide how nervous I was, and clenched my fists. “Take your hand off of her, Trevor, before you lose it,” I said, glad my voice was strong and didn’t jump the way my stomach was.
“You’re not helping, Jade,” Marcy hissed at me and moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry. She was upset about the whole Dom thing. I couldn’t say no.”
Trevor stood stiff, not moving closer, but not moving away from her either, and he kept his gaze focused on me. “You should have called me,” he said through gritted teeth. “I told you I didn’t want you walking around alone. Is it really going to be like this again, Mac? Not even a day and you’re already trying to push the limits.”
“I didn’t want to bother you,” Marcy said sweetly. She brought her hands up to his cheeks, pulling his gaze back to her, and she batted her long lashes at him. “You said you had pack stuff to deal with tonight, and it’s not like Baskin Robbins is far.” She glanced over her shoulder at me, and laid the sweetness on thick. “Look at her, honey, she’s a mess. Ice cream is totally mandatory right now.”
Trevor cupped her face with both hands, thankfully not looking back at me. I was sure that if he had, he would have known she was lying. “You make me crazy, you know that, right?” He bent a little, planting an incredibly hot kiss on her, so hot, in fact, that I blushed and had to turn away.
I glanced back at the field as I waited for them to stop, and relief washed over me. The group had pretty much dispersed, with only two of them left watching us.
The relief died fast.
The two that were left were heading over and as they neared us, I realized who they were. Dominic and Aidan. Dominic gave me a completely fake smile and cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt guys, but did she just tell you that Jade wanted ice cream?”
Marcy made a throaty whimpering kind of sound and Trevor chuckled. “Yeah,” Trevor said, his voice muffled by Marcy’s lips.
My body temperature dropped and a painfully tight knot twisted in my stomach. He wouldn’t, I thought. Dominic grinned at me and winked, and sweat beaded up on my upper lip. “Shut up, Dom,” I hissed, and his grin widened.
“Jade’s allergic to dairy,” he said. “Trev, your girl is lying to you.”
I felt my jaw drop. Aidan moved a bit closer, and Dominic laughed. I was stunned. Absolutely stunned. Did he really hate me that much? Really?
“You lied to me?” Trevor asked, pushing Marcy back, and holding her at arm’s length. His eyes raked over her as if he wasn’t really sure if he should believe Dominic or not.
“Wwwhat?” she stammered, her eyes growing wide and panicked. She cut Dominic a disbelieving and completely betrayed look, and said, “No, of course not. Why would I lie about ice cream?” It probably would have been believable if her voice hadn’t trembled so much.
Knots twisted in my stomach. I couldn’t think. We had been so close. So close to just walking away.
Trevor growled. It came from the back of his throat, and his eyes flashed yellow. Marcy started to squirm, trying to shake him off. I shot Dominic the coldest look I could muster and he chuckled, and mouthed, ‘Do your thing.’
It took me a second to process it, but once I did, I almost laughed. If I hadn’t wanted to kill Dominic at that very moment, I probably would have roared with laughter. He was setting us up. Except, we had been seconds away from walking away, and Marcy had been handling it just fine without Dominic’s seriously unneeded help. I wanted to march over to him and smack that grin off his face, but instead, I groaned and stomped up to Marcy. “Have you lost your mind?” I snapped, grabbing her arm and tugging her out of Trevor’s hold. “Mac, he’s already broke your heart once. What the hell is wrong wit
h you?”
Marcy didn’t miss a beat. Confusing Trevor had always been the easiest way to get his temper down to a bearable level. And Trevor, well, he wasn’t exactly the smartest werewolf of the bunch. She jutted out her bottom lip in a pout. “You’re supposed to be happy for me.”
Dominic chuckled, swiftly moving in between Trevor and Marcy, cutting off Trevor’s attempt at grabbing her again. I tugged her a bit further away, before throwing my hands up in the air. “He cheated on you.”
Dominic’s chuckle turned into a full-bellied laugh, and I shot him a murderous glare. Why he felt the need to set up a distraction was lost on me. He could have just ended it, pulled rank on Trevor, and made him walk away or even better, let us handle it.
“It was a misunderstanding,” Marcy said, pacing around me until both Dominic and I were effectively blocking Trevor from her.
I followed her movement, crossing my arms over my chest and rolling my eyes. “Oh, I’ve got to hear this,” I said dryly. “A misunderstanding? How exactly did you misunderstand seeing his tongue down Erika’s throat?”
“Okay, so maybe it wasn’t entirely a misunderstanding. But he promised he won’t do it again.” She went up on tiptoes and glanced over my shoulder, smiling sweetly. “Right, honey?”
“And you believed him?” I said, before Trevor had a chance to answer.
“I’m happy, Jade,” she said, and stomped her foot. “Can’t you just let me be happy?”
Dominic was roaring with laughter, and it took everything I had not to burst out, too. Trevor looked so lost, his gaze shifting back and forth between us as if he was watching a game of tennis. Another minute or so of this, and we’d be able to walk away; I was sure of it.
Deadly Crush (Deadly Trilogy, Book 1) Page 8
