Deadly Mates (Deadly Trilogy) (6 page)

“Jade.”  I said her name carefully, keeping my voice firm, forceful, hoping it would speak to her inner-wolf if nothing else.  “These are the newest members of Jared’s team.  The guy you’re thinking about attacking is Chris,” I said, and then nodded toward Tommy, “and you’ve already met Tommy.”

“We aren’t looking for new members.” Her voice was growled, harsh, and when she looked back at me, her eyes flared with challenge.  “You have no right to ...”

“Stop
,” I said, raising a hand in warning.  “I have every right.  This is my pack.  I’ve made my decision.”

“It’s our
pack,” she said, throwing up her hands.  “You just can’t ...”

“No,” I said, cutting her off.  I stood up, and stepped toward her, closing the distance until we were so close that if one of us pulled in a deep breath, our chests would touch.  I glanced down at her and she met my gaze with something that looked a hell of a lot like hatred, but underneath that hatred, I swore I saw a lick of fire just waiting to ignite.  I swallowed down the urge to take her into my arms and said, “It’s not ours.  It’s mine.  Until you decide to step up and get involved with the pack, you don’t get to make decisions involving them.”

“Screw you, Aidan,” she said, exhaling the words on a breath.  She closed her eyes, squeezing them tight, and then blinked a few times before meeting my gaze again.  She opened her mouth, as if she were going to say more, closed it, and then turned her back on me — again.

It wasn’t the first time she
had turned away from me, and knowing her, it wouldn’t be the last.  But still, it burned.  I reached out without thinking, wrapping my arms around her waist, and pulled her back flush against me.  Leaning forward, brushing my lips against her ear, I said, “Don’t walk away from me, Jade.”

~ JADE ~

Aidan’s breath brushing against the back of my neck — warm and sweet — sent a hot chill careening through me.  My breath hitched.  I could feel every ripple of his abs and chest against my back as he held me close.  His strong arms tightened around my waist, pulling me closer still, and darn it, but I leaned into him.

His command and this show of dominance should have bothered me, but it didn’t.  I felt delicate, like a flower, with his arm
s around me, surrounding me with his power.  My inner-wolf lapped it up as if hearing him, feeling him, having him so close was the best treat she could have asked for, and even though I hated it, I completely agreed with her.  The last thing I actually wanted to do was walk away from him.  Doing it once was pretty much all I had in me, right then, I was sure of it.

I could feel the others watching us.  Their breathing, their heartbeats, whispered around me like a breeze rustling through the forest, but at that moment, I didn’t care.

Aidan’s steady heartbeat thrummed against my back, and his heady scent … I licked my lips and took a deep breath. 
Home.  I was home.
  His betrayal had hurt.  I was sure that I would never be able to trust him again and yet, as I stood there incased in his arms, I knew that I would never be able to stay away from him either.

And then, my phone rang, a sharp
pitch, sharp enough to clear my head.

I wrapped my hand around Aidan’s wrist, pulling his arm from my waist.  He didn’t stop me.  Instead, he let his arm fall,
then the other, and then the warmth of his body pressed against mine was gone.  I felt the separation like a loss of a limb and I almost turned into him.  God, I wanted those arms back around me, but then my phone rang again and I hastily fished it out of my pocket, glancing at the screen.

Jared.

Guilt pooled in my stomach, which was completely asinine.  I had no reason to feel guilty.  It wasn’t like Jared and I were really an item, but I felt it, like searing hot water pouring over my skin.  I forced a smile, took a breath, and tapped the screen as I brought the phone to my ear.

“Hey, baby,” I said.  My voice was raw, as if I’d swallowed a handful of tacks, and I swallowed hard, trying to clear the lump from my throat.

“Where the hell are you, Jade?” he yelled.

I cringed from the blast of his voice piercing my ear, and I almost glanced around to see if anyone noticed, but thankfully I caught myself.  I forced my smile wider, hoping it would ease the rockiness of my voice.  “I’m at Aidan’s.  You should probably get over here.”

“You’re supposed to be in school,” he barked.

I could feel Aidan’s eyes on my back, and I found myself hoping that he couldn’t hear Jared.  I didn’t want Aidan to hear the possessive edge in my
so called
mate’s voice.  I didn’t even want to hear it myself.

“I didn’t have much of a choice,” I said.  Was my tone sweet enough?  I didn’t know.  I wanted to walk outside.  I wanted to tell Jared off, but I couldn’t.  Not with everyone watching.  Darn it!  I hated having to play the sweet girlfriend.  I wasn’t even sweet on a good day.  I sighed and felt my forced smile stretching further.  “Can you find Erika and bring her with you?  Oh, and maybe call the team.  I want them all here.”

“I’m not your damn secretary, Jade,” he growled.  “Call them yourself if you want them.  Better yet, get your ass home.”

I sucked in a deep breath.  I was vibrating all over, and I felt the twitch in my jaw as I bit down, swallowing the urge to rip into him.  “Jared, I’m not asking.”

Aidan stepped into my line of vision and tapped my chin, forcing me to look up.  He smirked, a knowing kind of smirk, and reached out, taking the phone from me before I could stop him and brought it to his ear.  He chuckled, and an amused grin curved his lips.  “Jared.  Come.  Now.”  He barked out the order, grinning the entire time, and then thumbed the screen, disconnecting the call.  His grin spread wider and he winked at me, tossing the phone back.

I caught it easily, and jammed it in my pocket.  “You look a little too proud of yourself there,” I snapped, glowering at him.

“Yeah?” he asked, chuckling.  “Well, I kind of am.”

~ JADE ~

Aidan’s house was comfy.  I was pretty sure it had belonged to one of the previous alphas of the Dog Mountain pack, but I had never been inside before.  It wasn’t much, a living room done in browns and greens, soothing just like the woods, with a smallish kitchen off to the side, and a set of stairs leading up to the second floor.  The carpet was kind of gross and the paint was chipped and peeling in spots, but other than that it was cozy.  And it smelled like him.  Strong, a little sweet, and green.  It was a peaceful scent, one that I was pretty sure I would never get enough of.  Every few minutes it would get stronger, and then fade, as if he were using it, trying to stir a reaction from me, and it was a crazy hard effort to keep the stoic expression on my face and not let him see how much he was affecting me.  I had already slipped up once since I walked through the door and there was no way I was going to do it again.

I sat on the couch, my feet pulled up underneath me, waiting for Jared and the team to show up.  Aidan sat across from me in a big, beat-up leather chair, with Chris and Tommy standing behind him.  His light brown hair was askew, and his jawline, rough with a couple days’ growth.  His brown eyes were tired, but alert, and he wore an easy smile, as if the five of us together wasn’t awkward at all.

Dominic paced the small space, five steps one way, five steps back.  His calm mask was starting to splinter.  Every few minutes he would steal a glimpse at me and when he did, I caught the slivers of pain and regret spreading through his eyes like ice cracking under pressure.

While I waited for Jared, Aidan filled me in on why he had me pulled from class.  He had a plan.  As far as I could see, though, it wasn’t much of a plan, and I was eighty-nine percent sure there was more to it that he wasn’t telling me.  The gist: he was calling the team together and tomorrow, once Dad got back and I played up my relationship with Jared a little, they were going into the mountain to hunt the werecougars.

But my doubts about his plan could have also had something to do with the new additions to our pack.  Aidan said they were temporary, help sent from his parents, and I really didn’t know what to make of that.  I hadn’t thought about Aidan belonging to another pack before now.  I guessed it made sense; he had been a werewolf before he’d shown up in Dog Mountain, but the information only managed to fill me with questions, and reaffirm the fact that I really knew nothing about him.  Another item to add to the growing list of things he hadn’t told me.

Chris and Tommy were like statues behind him as he spoke.  Seriously, it was as if they weren’t even breathing.  The only thing that moved on them was their eyes, constantly sweeping the room and windows, alert and ready.  Was this how enforcers were supposed to act?  If it was, then our pack was more screwed up than I
had thought.

“Don’t think you’ve actually thought this one out,” I cut in, when Aidan paused to yawn for at least the twentieth time.  “Have you considered that Dad’s going to notice Tiff isn’t around?  If you’re not here, who’s going to stop him from trying to seek her out to get the wolves she promised him?”

When I had refused to fight for alpha female, Tiffany had won by default, accepting the role and technically becoming Aidan’s mate.  Her reign hadn’t lasted long.  She had been the star of the video Erika had gotten, her leading man, my dad.  She had conspired with him, for reasons none of us knew, agreeing to send some female wolves to the cougars, because as my dad put it, his boys liked some fight in their women and the werewolves would heal faster.  Once I saw that video, everything changed.  I hadn’t been able to not fight.  I couldn’t stand back and do nothing.  Not when
my
wolves were in danger.  So I fought.  And I won.  I killed her.

I shuddered at the memory.  There were times where I swore I could still taste her blood on my tongue.  I knew I should have felt sick over the whole thing but I didn’t.  Really, the only thing that got to me was
that for a short time Aidan had belonged to someone else.  I couldn’t feel bad for taking the life of someone that would willingly risk the lives of my pack members.  My inner-wolf wouldn’t let me hold onto the feeling even if I had wanted to.

“Yeah, I thought about it,” Aidan said and yawned again.  “That’s why I’m going with the team.  It would make sense that Tiff would be with me since she’s supposed to be the alpha female, my partner.”

A pang of jealousy worked its way through my chest. 
Partner. 
I guessed I should have been thankful he didn’t call her his mate, but nope, I wasn’t. 
Partner
was just as bad.  I swallowed down a growl.  “And me?” I asked, and winced inwardly at the bitter tone in my voice.  I swallowed hard.  “What am I supposed to do?”

He arched a brow, and a crooked smirk appeared.  “You’re part of the team now, aren’t you?”

“Hold up,” I said.  A shocked laugh worked its way out of my throat and my eyes widened.  He couldn’t be serious.  He just couldn’t.  I fixed him with what I was sure was a stunned glare.  “You really think going with me and Jared to hunt them down is a good idea?  ‘Cause it’s not.”

God, it really wasn’t.

How was I supposed to spend that much time with him and not let my struggle show?  How was I supposed to pretend that Jared was the one I really wanted?  Even sitting here in the same room as Aidan was a challenge.  My inner-wolf was restless; I was restless.  I could still feel his arms around me, the heat of his body pressed against me.  And I couldn’t believe the way my body was responding to his scent, as if it belonged to me and no one else, as if I had to have it or die trying to get it. It was crazy, but as crazy as it was, I found myself drawing in another deep breath, letting the sweetness and the greens and the power of his aroma fill my lungs.

I trembled and my inner-wolf stirred, swirling my own scent around me.
I need to tell him the truth,
I thought, as I watched him close his eyes. His nostrils flared, and then he winced as if I had just hurt him. Really not the reaction I had wanted, that was for sure, and just like that, my confessions died on the tip of my tongue.

Aidan shook himself, readjusting in his chair, and his smirk turned into a full smile.  He chuckled.  “Jade, whatever it is that you think is happening here, it isn’t.”  The smile died and his lips thinned.  “
My
pack is being threatened.  Like you just said, Tiff was going to give some of
my
wolves to them, and your dad is still expecting that to happen.  You can hate me all you want later.  Right now, the pack is more important.”

That hurt and I groaned trying to hide the pain his words were causing.  It wasn’t that I hated him, I just didn’t trust him.  “Get over yourself, Aidan,” I said with as much snark as I could muster.  
This was your choice,
I reminded myself sternly. 
You’re the one that walked away.
  But even if I knew that, it didn’t lessen the pain; it didn’t change how I really felt.  I tried to spit out the truth, but the confession was stuck in my throat.  I swallowed a few quick swallows, then I sighed.  “We don’t even know why she was going to do it.  What was she getting out of it?  We need to be here.  We need to try and get the information out of him.”