Jason's Salvation (2 page)

She moaned in frustration. Then, Noah started moving. He kept the vibrator at an angle that kept it far away from her clit. It was teasing her, pushing her to the pinnacle, but not letting her break through.

“Eve,” Noah said, “open your eyes.”

It took a lot of effort, but she did it. His face was flushed, the muscles in his neck straining to keep his orgasm at bay.

“Say please, and I’ll let you come.”

For a moment, she couldn’t seem to get the words to make sense in her brain, but as soon as they did, she frowned at him. He increased the speed of the vibrator. The hum of pulses did what he could not verbally get her to do.

“Please,” she said, the word biting out from between her teeth.

A look of relief moved over his face, and he moved the angle of the vibrator, hitting her G-spot and clit at the same time. She came with such a force that she bucked against him, her body shuddering. In the next second, he thrust into her one more time and then groaned as he poured himself into her.

Long moments later, he was pulling her into his arms and she took solace in the embrace.

“You know, you keep this up, you might just be the death of me,” Noah said. “I’m a little too old for this.”

She smiled, but she couldn’t laugh.

“I told you not to worry about Jason.”

She shook her head. “He’s been different since the attack.”

“I think you’re making too big a deal out of it. I told you about men.”

“Yes, and I know wolves are another whole creature. They don’t like to show vulnerabilities. Blah, blah, blah.” She rose up to her elbow and looked down at him. “You need to talk to him. He won’t let Ethan or I examine him now and I know something is bothering him.”

“Will you let me get some sleep if I promise to talk to him?” Although his tone was grumpy, she didn’t mind. She could tell that she was about to win the argument.

“Yes.”

He grunted and pulled her back down on his chest. “Good, now go to sleep.”

“I need to do some work.”

“Later. I sleep better with you by my side.”

He said it as if it were no big deal. But, to her, it was. Her heart turned over in her chest and she realized just how much she loved him at the moment. He had given her more than she could have ever hoped for in a lover and a friend. She had always felt as if she didn’t belong. At school, in her own family…but here, they made her feel as if she had a place with them.

She settled against him, her heart happy and her mind free of worries for the moment.

* * * *

The morning air was crisp and clean as Jason watched Eve work. Even through all their problems, she had kept up her work with the wolves, and that meant she needed a protection detail when she was out, like now. They were on a ridge, looking out over a vast expanse of land. Her little house where she had primarily lived until a few months ago was a speck in the distance.

Jason blinked against the blinding sun and tried to fight the roll of nausea that filled his stomach.
Damn it
. He glanced at Eve who was busy writing something on her notepad. Noah and Shane stood watch and apparently didn’t notice either. He closed his eyes and drew in some clean breaths. It was like this every time he had one of those nightmares.

“Are you okay, Jason?” Eve asked.

He opened his eyes and found her watching him with concern in her gaze. She had been watching him like that more and more. He would avoid her completely but he knew he could handle being with her like this. When she needed protection, he had his mind on other things. Somewhat. He still wanted her in his bed, but at least this took some of the edge off. “No, just forgot to eat this morning. I need to get a little coffee in me to get me going. That’s all.”

The look she shot him told him she didn’t completely believe him, but she let it go. He knew she would. She was the pacifier, the one who always played moderator when the men got out of hand. “I’m sorry you had to come out here. I’m done for the day. Why don’t we head back to the cabin?”

He nodded and had to fight another roll of nausea. He was glad he could hide behind the mirrored sunglasses. Eve had gotten too perceptive in the last few months. Of course, all the Alpha mates were like that, and that mainly came from the need to protect their pack. Whether they were male or female, the Alpha’s main concern would always be the pack. They piled in the SUV, and unfortunately, Eve decided to sit in the back with him.

“You haven’t been having any trouble sleeping, have you?” she asked.

Neither his brother or cousin turned around to say anything, but he knew they were paying attention.

“No.”

He felt her hesitate, then she laid her hand on his knee. “You just look really tired.”

“I had patrol last night.”

He was sure that she wanted to ask more, but thankfully she let it go. They drove home in silence, although it wasn’t uncomfortable. With Eve, everything just felt right. When they drove up to the cabin, he saw Vic Redfoot’s SUV and that big cousin of his hanging around out front. The bears were friendly with the Dillons, but unfortunately, if they were hanging around the house, they definitely had some kind of bad news. Gabe Redfoot wasn’t the most social of the group, so when he showed up, it meant there was trouble.

“What the fuck do you think they want? And why is Gabe standing outside?” Shane asked.

Gabe watched them, his gaze intent. As soon as Noah parked the vehicle, Gabe slowly stalked toward them.

Noah, ever calm and ready to handle the shifter council business, stepped out of the SUV with a smile on his face. “You know, you can go inside when you visit us. We have no objection to having you as our guest, Gabe.”

Jason strained against the need to growl. The aggressiveness that seemed to take hold of him the last few weeks was not something he was used to.

“Are you okay?” Eve asked again.

Jason swallowed the need to attack the bear. There was no reason for it.

“Fine,” he said, grinding out the word.

Shane threw him a warning look before stepping out of the SUV and then helping Eve climb down. He followed, and when he saw Noah’s expression, he went on alert again.

“What happened?” Eve asked Noah.

“There’s been another killing?”

He shook his head. “It’s leopards this time, and they are trying to say it was a wolf.”

“That is just absurd,” Eve said again. She had said it about five times, but no one seemed to be listening.

“I don’t want it to be true, hun, but I have my doubts,” Noah said as he settled down at the kitchen table.

“You really think one of the pack would have done this?”

He shook his head. “No. Not the immediate family. But, we do have issues with some outcasts, and people like Gabe.”

“Fuck off,” the giant bear said with no animosity.

“Either way, the last attack was a little too much for some of the pack to take. I think most of them would be smart enough not to randomly kill leopards.”

“So, you think it might be another setup?” Shane asked. She glanced in his direction and noticed Jason. He looked like he was in a daze. She wanted to say something, but Noah caught her attention and shook his head.

“I think it might have been,” Vic said. “Until we can get some of the freaking leopards to answer questions, we can’t get anything done.”

“This is just getting out of control,” Noah said. He sighed, the sound so tired that she wanted to just drag him off to bed for a rest. As Alpha of the Dillons—not to mention the leader of the shifters—he had taken a lot on his shoulders. It was definitely starting to wear on him. “I’m going to have to call a meeting. We just had one, but with this, we need answers. I can’t trust the leopards to police their own.”

“You think they would cover it up?” Eve asked, unable to keep the horror out of her voice. The idea that they might have been hiding information while shifters and wolves were being murdered was unthinkable.

Noah shrugged. “They’ve always been sort of antisocial when it comes to the rest of us.”

“It’s because they aren’t indigenous,” Gabe said. “They always feel like they aren’t a part of the shifter council.”

“I can’t do anything about that, and I can’t do anything about their inferiority complexes. It is unacceptable that they have been hiding this.”

“What do you mean hiding this?” she asked.

“They apparently knew there was some kind of unrest among their own. There have been some challenges to Alejandro. He kept that from me.”

“He didn’t want to show weakness,” Jason said. It was the first words he’d said.

Everyone turned to him, and he seemed to hesitate for a moment before he said anything. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“If they told Noah what was going on, they would look weak. He needs to make sure he can run his group, without us sticking our noses in there. He naturally distrusts us.”

“What do you mean naturally?”

“They’re cats. They aren’t about to trust us. Plus, they will always be considered outsiders by many in the group.”

“It’s so damned stupid,” Gabe said. “They were welcomed into the group without a problem by everyone.”

Noah stirred. “No, they weren’t. There were many of the groups who didn’t want them here. They were afraid they would try to take over.”

“But your father defied that?”

“There was enough of a faction that wanted them here. We were having more and more humans move into the area, and truthfully, we didn’t trust them.”

She thought it odd that he counted her as one of the pack and not one of the humans. It amused her.

“So, they have inferiority complexes. They need to get the fuck over it,” Gabe said.

Noah chuckled. “Yeah, and since they are a bunch of men, that should work.”

“So, what should we do now that this has happened?” Gabe asked.

“We need to call a council meeting, get everyone on the same page. We have been diligent, but I’m not sure we’ve been proactive enough. I think that maybe we need to start hunting the bastards,” Noah said.

No one else seemed to notice when Jason withdrew from the conversation. She did. It was easy that she was noticing his pauses, or the times he seemed to disappear. Since he’d been injured, she was more than a little worried about him and his health. She knew without a doubt, he was in pain. Not physical, not anymore, but now, he hurt in his heart. He would never admit it, but she knew the attack had left him vulnerable.

“I think we need to get back. Make sure we get a meeting set up, and I want Alejandro there. It’s about fucking time that the pain in the ass put some of those damned lazy cats to work.”

With that, the meeting broke up.

An hour later, Eve couldn’t seem to get her mind back on work or even their problems. She had a report to write up, but for the life of her she couldn’t concentrate. Heck, she couldn’t even remember what she was supposed to work on. Jason’s demeanor was really starting to worry her.

She went looking for him and found him in his bedroom.

“Are you going to talk about what is bothering you?”

He glanced at her and gave her a quick smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Nothing’s wrong, hun.”

She knew he was lying. Ever since he woke up, he had been trying to keep a distance between them. He was always the quiet one, but now, it was even worse. She was sure that his brothers and cousins didn’t even notice it, but she did. Still, she didn’t know how much to push him. He claimed he still had amnesia from the attack, but did he?

“I can see that mind of yours going crazy, but I promise, it’s nothing. I had a headache when I woke up today. And, of course, it’s my first day out to patrol since the attack. I’m a little apprehensive.”

He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“You worry too much, Eve,” he said, brushing his thumb across her cheek. His eyes were serious now, his demeanor completely changed. “Every now and then you have to let us take care of things.”

With that, he left her standing in his room knowing that whatever was bugging him wouldn’t be solved anytime soon.

* * * *

“So, you want to tell me what that was all about?” Noah asked him as he joined him in the SUV to head off to the next meeting. Jason wasn’t in the mood to deal with his cousin, not after Eve. His nerves were raw, and he didn’t want Noah to know anymore about him than he already did.

He was worried about Eve. She knew things about him, and he knew that one of the issues for a changing Alpha wolf was that she would become empathic to their feelings. He just hoped he could keep her safe while he figured this out.

“What are you talking about?”

“That growling during the meeting. You know that Vic is just fucking with you.”

He shrugged and looked out over the expanse of the fields that surrounded Passion. It had been a hard winter, and he suspected they would have one really bad storm left.