SIXTY-THREE

Ethan

BILLIE'S TAKEN AMBER to the ground, wrestling her while yelling out battle cries. My wolf and I check on Jax. His hard cock is freed from its prison, and we sniff, not smelling any of his cum—because yes, I without a doubt know exactly what Jax's cum smells like. We move to his face, nuzzling and sniffing along his neck and ear. Not seeing any bitemarks or blood, we let him and Blondie know we're here. His mouth is open, and I see the swelling behind his canines. But that can't be right. He didn't want her. I heard his cries in the link. What drugs did she inject him with? I'm about to move and help Billie when there's a knock on the link:

Wolf-E, get out of here. I'm almost there, but humans are close behind. We need you back here in human form. NOW. Xander orders.

With that command, I roar out in defiance and reluctantly leave my pack-mates, running through the woods with shifter-fueled speed to find my pile of clothes. Staying calm, I look around and scan the area for any unwanted eyes, then I shift to human and quickly begin redressing.

There are shouts and sounds of a struggle from where I just left the three most important people in my life. Because of who we are, because our kind must stay hidden in this world, I had to leave the souls that are linked to mine. I've never been bothered about our need to hide until this moment.

But at this moment, I'm livid.

Jaxson

PLAYMATE! I smell her. I hear her words of rage. She's on her way. My mate, my true-mate, my playmate, is coming. She's coming to take on a she-wolf, and I can't help her. I'm her fucking true-mate, I'm her beta, I'm the warrior who's supposed to protect her, to save her, and she's saving me, taking Amber off me in one tackle.

I feel sick with the realization of what she must have seen when she arrived: Amber straddling me while I lay there doing nothing. I did nothing as Amber worked my dick until it got hard, until she sat down on me. And there was no way for me tell my mate, to explain to her that I didn't want to get hard, that I fought it. Will she be hurt or mad, wondering how I could ever get hard or produce mating saliva for anyone but her? How could I mistake anyone for her? How inept I must be to be taken so unaware, to be drugged and lured into the woods?

There's more commotion, and I hear sounds of a struggle, my mate yelling out every single curse in the dictionary and some I'm pretty sure she's making up. Damn, I would smile if I could. I hear and feel the sniffing and breathing of Ethan's wolf near my face, letting me know he's here. Xander enters the link, telling Ethan and his wolf to leave, that he's on his way with humans behind him.

A leaded boulder drops into the frozen ice-covered rough seas that is my turbulent stomach. How many people are going to see me like this? Wolf-E whines and then leaves, while my mate is yelling something about eight pounds of pressure and ears being torn off. There's more commotion, Amber's agonizing scream. Then. Then I hear her. My playmate, close to me.

"Jax!" she cries. I want to hold her, to cry out her name. But I can't.

Billie

Shoving the ear into the front pocket of my pants, I clamber on all fours over to my playmate, who's lying on the ground, his beautiful dark-blue eyes open and empty. "Jax!" I cry out. Looking down the length of his body, I scramble to take a firm grip of his tights. I try to pull them up, but it's a challenge with the weight of his dead legs. The need to hold him and not his leggings is too great. "Fuck it," I snarl. Ripping my jacket off, I throw it over his hips, covering his cock, which looks painfully hard. I don't think about it. I can't.

"Hey there," I whimper, crawling up his body. My bloody hands move to hold his flushed face, my thumbs caressing his cheeks. "I'm here, Jax. You know, your playmate." I sniffle a half grin, "Mother Flocker, Donny, Walrus, T-Rex, Rocky, Jill to your Jack." I bring my cheek down to rub along his while my hands move to his hair, pushing the skullcap off. I've got blood all over me. On my arms, my hands, my face, and my chest. Some of it is mine. Some of it is Amber's. But I don't care. I need to feel him. I need to protect him. To shield him. I lay my torso wholly over his chest, letting my fox hum, letting her communicate and comfort Blondie.

I am here, mate. YOU. ARE. MINE.

I turn my head and look over to where Xander has Amber pressed against a tree, his hand tight around her throat, her tiptoes stretching to reach the larger roots of the tree. He towers over her, his muscular back looking like it may rip his shirt with each inhale he takes, inflating his imposing frame. His eyes glowing blue and white with a look of promised retribution locked on Amber's flustered face. Blood dribbles from her upper teeth and seeps out from under the hand covering where her ear used to be. Amber's zealous eyes flick to Jax and me, and her shocked mouth snaps shut, her eyes glowering and glowing.

"Down," Xander commands in a voice like polished titanium, smooth and unyielding. I don't just hear his command, I feel it. I feel his alpha power flowing through me, and I find my body pressing down against Jax. It's as if the strength of his command held too much power for just Amber and poured over me.

The glow in Amber's eyes snuffs out, and Xander releases his hold on her. She retains her scowl of refusal, and all the while her body slides down the tree into a seated fetal position. A low, rumbling snarl slips through the small part between Xander's lips. The scowl on Amber's face drops a moment before her head bows over her knees in submission. He then commands, "Stay" like he's chastising a misbehaving puppy, which I guess wouldn't be too inaccurate. Shit, I know I don't much, but I do know Amber and her parents did not accept Xander as their alpha. How strong is he as an alpha if he can still make her obey against her will?

The low snap of a small twig underfoot brings my attention to our open side. I whip my head around a second before Ethan's at our side with his eyes on Xander. "I ran into Merry and Stefan," he states, his voice level despite the rapid rising and falling of his chest and the sweat on his face and short-shaved head glistening under the light of the moon. "I informed them we found Jax and we're handling it. To not to say anything and keep people away." He drops to Jax and me. His dark eyes trail down Jax's body and seem to burn with anger when they land on Jax's lower legs cuffed by his tights.

"I couldn't get them up," I admit in a weak trembling voice, rubbing my cheek over the heated flesh just under Jax's collarbones. Ethan squats down and begins pulling the leggings up. I wiggle my way over Jax's chest, trying to cover more of his body with mine. For once I wish I was the larger one so I could cradle his entire body inside of mine.

Hearing Ethan make a snarling choking sound, I twist my head around to see why. He's got the leggings all the way to midthigh but stopped when he removed my jacket. Jax's cock is still hard, purple, pulsing, and leaking precum. Ethan lifts his eyes, which are as dark and ominous as the Laurentian Abyss. "You will pay for this," he says to a cowering Amber, his voice so void of emotion that cold shivers crawl across my bare shoulders. Then he grabs my jacket and drapes it back over Jax's hips.

Xander keeps his focus on Amber, whose head snapped up at hearing Ethan's voice. Her eyes slide to Jax, and Xander orders, "Head down." Amber inhales a clogged gasp and slams her forehead into her knees so hard I hear it. "Ethan, call Colin or Gabe. They're at the party. Ask them to wait out front for one of our cops, our luna, and Bruce. Have the brothers escort them to the tree line and stay there to keep guard. My mother should be able to find her way to us," Xander orders never looking away from Amber.

Ethan nods and starts dialing as he takes a few steps away.

I tighten my hold on Jax, squeezing him with everything I have, as tears leak through my pressed eyelids. Little Fox continues to send a rhythmic humming through my chest, a beat that somehow sounds like two words repeated over and over again.