The Wolf's Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence (23 page)

They tumbled and twisted in the mud and Chris
pinned him on his back, going for his jugular, and Jason caught his
belly with his back paw and ripped his stomach open by dragging his
thick claws through the soft flesh. Chris cried out and let go, and
Jason went for his neck, shaking it hard and snapping it abruptly.
Chris may be evil, but he didn’t deserve to suffer.

Michael and Bo howled in victory, digging
their muzzles in the bloody entrails. Jason did the same. They
wouldn’t eat him as if he were prey; they would drag his body back
to the bonfire and burn him with the others. They took turns
dragging the body back to the bonfire because of the dead weight of
his form. Three other wolf bodies waited by the time they got
there. They had chased Chris for miles; the others had fallen
quickly.

The elders were waiting and together the
three men spoke ancient Greek over each body, basically asking the
great spirits to bless the pack and wash the tragedy from their
minds. He watched dispassionately as each body was lifted and
tossed into the fire that had been fed more wood so it ran hot and
would burn the bodies quickly. When the last body was tossed on the
fire, the wolves raised their muzzles. It wasn’t a howl of victory;
it was a mournful sound for the loss of their brethren and the
violence that had brought them to this end.

He shifted back to his human form, and each
man did the same, and he gathered his clothes and headed towards
the cabin. He wanted to clean up before he dressed and headed back
to see Cadence.

A pump well on the back porch provided ice
cold water, but that was all he needed. He washed the blood and mud
from his face and body and rinsed his mouth out, making sure his
hands were as clean as he could get them. He only cared about
getting home to Cadence. He needed to bury his face in her hair and
take in her scent and hold her in his arms. He wouldn’t let her go
for days.

Michael joined him, already dressed, and
washed his face. Fishing in his pocket while Jason put on his
boots, he pulled out something shiny. “The chain’s busted, but I
thought you would want to give this back to her.”

“Thanks, man.” He squeezed it in his palm and
tried not to think about how he’d come close to losing her,
again.

A handful of the pack and the elders agreed
to stay until the bodies were complete ash and then cover the
bonfire with dirt. The need to hold Cadence and see how injured she
was overcame everything else in his mind, and he sped towards home,
his men on his tail. Everyone was anxious.

Pulling into the trailer park after less than
20 minutes, he was surprised when Callie threw open the door to his
trailer. “Thank goodness, Jason! Hurry!’

With his heart in his throat, he turned off
the bike and cleared the steps in one bound. His mother, Renee, his
father, and a few of the pack females were inside, looking worried.
The others had been outside standing guard.

Glancing at the clock, he realized that he’d
been gone nearly six hours. Holy hell, what had happened while
she’d been home?

His mother pulled him back gently towards the
bedroom. “Jason, she’s in shock. She woke up when your father
brought her in the house and had a panic attack. We were about to
call the squad when she calmed down some because your father spoke
to her as former alpha. She wanted to take a shower so we helped
her and then left her alone when she insisted, and Callie went in
the bathroom a half hour later and she was sitting under the water
curled up in a ball and crying. Callie turned the water off, tried
to get her out, but she wouldn’t move. So we’ve been putting towels
on her to keep her warm, but she’s shut down.”

He looked at the bathroom door. “Is she
injured?”

“She had some rocks and glass embedded in her
feet and her palms, and a pretty bad gash on her thigh, but other
than the bruised cheek, she seems to be okay. She needs you,
honey.”

“Then I’ll help her. Thanks, mom.” He hugged
his mother, worry skating through him. How was he supposed to help
Cadence come out of shock? Maybe taking her to the hospital was the
best thing.

He sent the females home, except for his
parents, Renee, and Callie. Closing the bedroom door he went to the
bathroom. As they’d said, his little sweetheart was leaning against
the wall of the tub, arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She
rocked back and forth slightly.

He grabbed another towel from under the
cabinet. “Sweetheart? Cades? Can you hear me?”

She made no movement that indicated that
she’d heard him. When he tried to pull her to her feet, she made
little whimpering sounds and resisted him. He spoke softly to her,
touched her shoulder and face, and she refused to even open her
eyes or say anything. Frustrated, he growled as he dropped to one
knee. Her whole body stiffened.

Ah. Once again the wolf part of her was
working even when her human side wasn’t. He lowered the wall that
separated himself from his beast and allowed the wolf to fill him
with power. He knew his eyes would be bright amber and he could
feel his canines elongating. With a powerful growl, he said,
“Cadence, you get up this instant and go sit on the bed.”

Obediently, she stood and he followed her out
to the bedroom where she sat, so much a puppet, a body without
conscious thought. He wrapped the dry towel around her.

He knew what he needed to do. He’d seen it
once, when he was a kid. A wolf had been injured severely and had
retreated into his subconscious to protect himself. His father as
alpha had called to his beast and comforted it as only the alpha
could. He would cover her with his scent and use his beast to draw
her from the place where she hid. She was stronger than this. He
wouldn’t let her retreat.

He opened the bedroom door and saw Callie.
“She’s going to be fine in the morning, Callie. I promise.”

Shutting the door, he jerked off his shirt
and let it drop as he called his beast to the surface again with a
loud growl and he stalked to his mate.

Chapter 13

Cadence felt like she was drifting in the
darkness. She could hear things – voices, sounds – but she couldn’t
really see anything. Her head felt disjointed from her body, as if
it had never even been part of it before. Two separate things.

She was wicked cold but couldn’t get the
energy together to do anything about it. And then suddenly, her
wolf self started to get agitated, and she felt compelled to
action. To get up and move, to sit down and be still. She didn't
like taking orders from anyone, but this wasn’t quite the same. It
wasn't orders exactly it was…something deeper, ancient and more
powerful.

Suddenly she was flooded with the scent of
fall, of trees and brush preparing for winter, of fur and blood and
teeth, and her brain started to reattach itself to her body. There
were hands on her, not just any hands, but the two most important
hands in the world. Jason.

Jason.

The word alone was enough to spike her heart
rate and she could smell him and feel him and hear him. He grabbed
her wolf by the scruff and was pulling her forward, dragging her
out of the darkness and Cadence was attached to her. She realized
that now. They weren't really separate creatures; the wolf was part
of her because she was what made her unique. A hybrid. A werewolf
and a human mashed together.

“Come on, love, come back to me.” The voice
she held dearest was chanting as warm hands moved down methodically
from her neck to her shoulders, down her chest and ribs, skirting
her hips and all the way down her legs.

She heard a deep breath in the pause before
the hands started again, and then she smelled the scent of her mate
so strong that she forced her way up through the darkness to find
him. It was a struggle, like walking through surf towards the shore
and she needed help. But her mind couldn't get her mouth to form
the right words. As if he knew, Jason began to nip at her pulse
points with his teeth, and the little jolts of awareness were
enough to bring her back to him with a gasp.

She sat up with a deep breath and clutched
her chest. She reached for Jason and he pulled her into his arms
and she fell from the bed and into his lap with a sound halfway
between a shout of happiness and a sob. He held her close, stroking
her hair and sighing deeply.

“I thought you’d never wake up,
sweetheart.”

She leaned back to look at him. He was
smiling, but it didn’t reach his eyes. There was darkness there in
the depths of the eyes she loved so much and she knew then that she
wasn’t the only one traumatized by Chris’ actions.

“I tried to, but I felt so lost in my head.
It was weird. But I smelled you, your wolf, and I felt your hands
on me.”

“I was breathing my scent into my hands. It’s
an old alpha trick and you’re wolf enough to recognize my authority
and scent. At least when you’re a zombie.” He smirked and she
rolled her eyes.

“Hey, I was very nearly made some kind of
pack bride so don’t be so glib.”

He stood up slowly with her in his arms and
put her back on the bed, drawing a soft blanket around her
shoulders. Ducking to his knees he put his arms around her and
cuddled into her lap. She stroked his hair and waited for him to
talk.

Eventually he did.

He shared it all with her, and the wounds
were fresh and deep for him. He’d never seen pack justice carried
out like that before. It was necessary, there was no other way for
things to go, but it didn’t mean he didn’t suffer for it. Heavy was
the head that wore the crown, wolf or not.

“Thank you, Jas.”

“For what? Taking your safety for granted
again? Trusting that you’d be safe when I have absolutely no reason
to believe that?” His eyes flashed for a moment and then he dropped
his head back to her lap.

“Thank you for finding me. For saving me. And
for doing what you needed to do as pack leader. I don’t understand
a lot of the burden you carry as alpha, but I have a better idea
now. And I’ll share that burden with you, Jas.” She tilted his head
up in her hands so he was forced to look at her. “I love you. I
wouldn’t have it any other way.”

His eyes went very bright with unshed tears
and she had a feeling that she could sit there all day and stare at
him and he wouldn’t ever cry and that was okay. He wasn’t made for
soft things, but then again, neither was she.

“You drew blood.” She groused, catching a
glimpse at one wrist. One of his fangs had nicked her.

He shrugged sheepishly. “I had to call my
beast. And you’re damn stubborn, you know that?” He smiled and
chased that dark look from his eyes. He kissed the mark and then
got up.

“You knew how high maintenance I was before
you marked me.”

“What when you were 9? Shit.” He stretched
with a groan. “Back then all you wanted was Barbie dolls and candy
necklaces. That’s not high maintenance, not even close.”

He declared he was hungry and went to an
overnight bag and tossed a t-shirt and panties at her. Her joints
ached, but her cuts had healed while she’d been comatose, so she
could be thankful for small miracles. She slid her clothes on,
figuring she didn’t need pants because they were alone in the
house.

He made two phone calls after she volunteered
to cook for them, because there was very little he could do in the
kitchen except make a mess. And it gave her something to do anyway.
If she had to sit still for too long, she thought her emotions
would get the better of her right now. He followed her around the
small kitchen while she made them breakfast, as if he couldn’t
stand to be more than a foot away from her. Any other day, she
would have snapped at him to give her some space, but not today.
He’d been shaken to the core at what had happened to her, what
nearly would have happened if he hadn’t shown up when he did, and
she needed his touch as much as he needed hers. She wasn’t sure how
long she’d been out of it but it was 8 a.m. now. The start of a new
day.

While she scrambled eggs on the stove and he
kept his fingers twisted in the hem of her top while he leaned
against the counter, she said, “Do you need to go anywhere
today?”

He looked startled, “As if I would leave you
alone today.”

“No, Jas, I mean, I’d like to go back to bed
after we eat and just hold each other, okay? But if you need to go
somewhere, to handle pack stuff or whatever, then I’ll shower and
go with you.”

He shook his head, “No, Michael’s got the
pack covered and nothing is happening right now anyway. Tonight
we’ll have a meeting, let everyone see that you’re okay. You are
okay, aren’t you?”

She paused mid-stir and looked at him. Once,
when they were very young he killed a snake because it frightened
her when they were playing in the woods. Although the snake wasn’t
poisonous she remembered the look in his eyes then, and she could
see it clearly now. He was thinking about the worst case scenario.
Back then, he’d been haunted by the fact that the snake could have
been poisonous, could have bitten her and she could have died
before help came. This morning, he was thinking about all the
“could haves” that her abduction might have turned into.

She slid her hands up his arms, rounded his
strong shoulders, and laced her fingers together at the back of his
neck. “Jason Gerrick, you saved my life and my body from harm. You
brought me back from the darkness and you showed me that I’m more
wolf than I ever believed possible, that she’s part of me and not a
separate entity. I can see you’re beating yourself up about what
almost happened, but that will eat you alive if you don’t get over
it. I’m not almost-safe; I’m safe. I’m very real and here in your
arms.”

Using his own technique against him, she dug
her thumbs into the pressure points at the back of his neck and he
closed his eyes with a deep sigh. “I love you, Cades.”