36. Jax

36

Jax

"Irene," I said in a stern voice. "Release her."

I felt Irene's arm waver, but we both knew she didn't have the power to go through with her threat. Instead, she released Cam.

Maeve drew herself up to her full height. "And here we all thought your witch was powerless," she hissed.

Clearing her throat, Cam brushed herself off. "She is," she said before offering a soft smile.

"My father said you were so powerful you could command the wind with your pinky. But for now, that is all you can do."

Irene tossed her hand experimentally and frowned. "And now it appears that I cannot even do that. I hope you found whatever it is you are looking for. I am now defenseless against the other witches."

Narrowing my eyes at Maeve, I snarled. "Give me one damn good reason why I shouldn't kick you and your witch off my land right now, and don't you dare tell me that she was acting of her own accord. I saw you signal to her to attack."

"I will not apologize. It was a non-lethal attack," Maeve said as she drew herself up to her full height. "I know what you did to find your witch. You know how far I'll go to avenge mine."

To my surprise, it was Anna who stepped forward. "Irene, was the attack lethal?"

"No," Irene admitted. "It was not. I also understand where Alpha Frost and Cam Lee are coming from. They are mourning, and they want answers. I do as well."

Anna continued. "Cam, it seems like you have history with Irene. Will you be able to handle your magic around her?"

"If I could trust that she was not responsible for my father's death, I was hoping to ask her to mentor me while I am here. She isn't wrong. I am not the witch my father was, and if I am to keep my place with the pack, I need to be stronger and faster."

Irene nodded in agreement, and I relaxed. It hadn't occurred to me that Maeve or her witch would consider Irene a threat.

Anna had stepped up beautifully.

"In that moment, he was a hero. I succumbed to this girlish notion that I was facing a happily-ever-after and he was my knight in shining armor."

Was there any truth to that? If it was a blow intended for me, it hit the target. I couldn't look at her now without thinking that.

Cam offered to stay with Irene, and we drove Maeve back to my home. After a tense dinner where she had far too many questions for Anna, I was finally alone with my mate.

"You should let your wolf out tonight, give her a chance to run before the other alphas arrive." The moon had risen and peered through the window invitingly. My own wolf stretched longingly inside me.

I fully expected Anna to say no, but she nodded. "You'll stay with me? No hunting games."

"Just a run, and I will be there every step of the way."

There was a small stretch of land right outside my home that was off-limits to the other wolves. Before Anna, I never used it. No point in me being alone, but I knew how protective Anna was of her wolf. After what had been done to her, I understand.

But she let her wolf out around me. Only me.

Anna shifted first, and she stared up at me, her beautiful, honeyed coat gleaming in the moonlight. Her eyes remained human for just a moment before she blinked and was all wolf.

Carefully, I reached out and stroked her fur. She was so scarred, it hurt my heart to see them, but she was a survivor. "You're safe with me," I told her. "I will always protect you."

The wolf trusted me, but would Anna?

Her wolf howled for me, and my own shivered before I undressed and let him out.

Immediately, he raced to his mate's side and sniffed her over. Nuzzled her.

Mine , he howled confidently.

We raced through the night, reveling in our wolves. There was not a moment of fear in her, and when we finally collapsed back near our clothes, her tongue rolled out of her mouth happily.

With a chuckle, I shifted back. A moment later, she followed suit. Her face was flushed with adrenaline as she stared up at me.

"Maeve is not going to be the only alpha with a hidden agenda," she murmured, not doing anything to hide her nakedness.

"No." Slowly, I curved a hand around her thigh and waited to see how her body would react.

She did shift, but only to widen her legs. "We'll be ready."

"Will we? After dinner, Maeve walked by me and asked how it felt to have a mate who doesn't trust me. She's not going to be the only one who notices."

I skimmed my knuckles up the insides of her thigh to her gorgeous wet pussy. "What did you tell her?"

"That I didn't need your trust to have your cock, your wolf, and your protection."

When I pushed my finger inside her, she moaned. "I bet she loved that answer."

"She did. And then she told me that I didn't need to have a mate to have good sex and a bodyguard."

Snarling, I leaned over her and captured her lips. After the hard kiss, I stared down at her.

"Mine."

In response, she shifted her legs to straddle me and rolled us over. With a hand on my chest, she eased herself over me and closed her eyes. "Be honest, Jax," she whispered before she kissed me. "I belong to your wolf, but I don't belong to you."

Whipping her back over, I slammed into her until her cries filled the night. Desperation drove me to claim her. How the fuck could she not see just how fully I belonged to her?

The words stung, and I fucked her until there was nothing but pleasure. Nothing but her sweet heat driving me higher and higher up. And when she came, trembling around me, I kept riding her until I was fully and completely spent.

"We should head back and try to get some sleep before tomorrow."

"Did you know? About Irene's old coven?"

"Some of it. Some I discovered on my own. I didn't know that the Darkwyns were the ones to cull her coven."

"Cam knows that I'm a null, which means the other witches will too. Will they tell their alphas?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "The witches are attached to us, but they don't share the same loyalty that pack animals do. They keep their own secrets. If it suits them, they won't say anything."

"Then I guess we'll see who is loyal and who isn't," she said grimly.