Chapter 27: Jamie

27

JAMIE

S unlight trickles in through the windows, and the steady sound of rain pounding on the roof has finally stopped.

It’s morning. Back to reality.

“How do you feel?” Dean’s words are quiet, but their meaning is loud. He’s not asking about my arm.

How do I feel? Horny. Flustered. Confused. Like begging him to fuck me properly before he sends me on my way.

“Okay.” This is my attempt at playing it cool. I don’t think it’s working. Internally, I’m freaking out. Because instead of regretting what we did, my wolf wants more. Much more.

“ Just okay?” he asks, his lips brushing across my exposed shoulder, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin.

“Maybe a little more than okay,” I admit, feeling brave and vulnerable all at the same time with the complicated alpha still wrapped around me, his thick cock pressing into my hip.

Dean chuckles, and the rumbles from his chest have my belly coiling up tight. This side of Dean is one I could get used to.

Should I take what I want? Or protect myself against the later humiliation of finding out I fell for the man who’s holding my mother hostage.

“So, what do we do now?” I ask.

Take things slow while he tells me all about what happened to my mother. Hide out here and get to know each other. All of these would have been acceptable answers.

Instead, Dean goes still and pulls back, just an inch, but it may as well be a mile.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Self-preservation and pride win out and my walls go back up.

“I mean, I’m very naked, in a strange cabin, and you have the games to get back to.” I pretend I wasn’t talking about us.

Dean goes still behind me and his hand lifts from my side. Ever so slowly, he peels his massive body away from me, inch by inch, until we’re no longer pressed together, head to toe.

The loss of his touch instantly makes me want to shove those words back into my mouth. I miss his comforting presence immediately.

Which makes me even more certain I made the right decision.

“You were hypothermic, and in shock. I needed to get you warm as quickly as possible.” His delivery is defensive. Clipped. Grumpy alpha Dean is back. “Maybe we shouldn’t have… the situation is tricky, Jamie.”

He scratches the back of his head and winces, staring at the ceiling. Searching for the right words to soften the blow.

“No. You don’t need to…” My wolf whines as his dark eyes shutter, and the closeness between us evaporates. “I’m leaving today anyway.”

The couch shifts as he stands, taking his weight and his intoxicating scent with him.

“I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologise for,” I say, sitting up to face him, clutching the blanket to my chest, suddenly feeling his renewed distance like a loss.

He doesn’t respond, instead, steps away and turns his back to me like a gentleman, which pisses me off even more when he had his fingers inside me, just hours ago. My juices are still coating his fingers.

“Dean?”

I feel awkward, like an unwanted one-night stand who’s overstayed their welcome.

“No, you’re right. This was a bad idea. I’m the alpha here, I’m the one who should be keeping their distance.”

His words stun me into silence. He makes it sound like I threw myself at him, and he should have resisted. My disappointment quickly morphs into anger. I’m the one who poured cold water on the moment, but he’s acting like a jerk.

“Whereas I’m a mere rogue. I couldn’t possibly be expected to control myself around such a dashing specimen of manhood.”

He ignores my sarcasm and slips back into stern alpha mode.

“How’s your shoulder?” Gruff and impatient, he flips open the lid of a chest near the door and pulls out some clothes, stepping quickly into trousers and hiding his impressive physique from my hungry eyes. Snapping his wrist, he sends a black T-shirt flying in my direction, and I grunt as my reflex to catch it jars my strapped shoulder. It hits me in the face and drops into my lap.

“Just peachy,” I snap back, twisting the T-shirt around and attempting to shove my head through the opening with one hand.

Dean just watches silently, not offering to help. Irritation scratches at my brain. He might make a great big spoon and have talented hands, but apparently, he’s still an ass.

When I finally pop my head out the top and manage to wiggle my good arm out through the sleeve, I’m flustered and annoyed. Embarrassed too, as the faint scent of my arousal still lingers in the air.

“Did everyone else make it back okay?” My question comes out sharper than I intended. Those grey eyes turn stormy as he lobs a pair of huge men’s shorts at me.

“Everyone else is fine. Everyone else had the sense to seek cover and get off the course.” Dean looks around him at the beautiful but sparsely decorated open plan space. “You needed to get warm, so I brought you here.”

Wyatt’s safe. I’m off the ledge. I should be grateful. I am grateful. But my blood is boiling. I want him to be angry too. Or flustered. Or something so I know it’s not just me who feels so off-kilter.

“Naked.”

Why can’t I get past the naked part? Shifters are used to seeing each other with no clothes on. But having a man’s hard-on pressed into your ass is a whole other level of intimacy.

“Yes, Jamie. I had to strip your wet clothes and let my body heat bring your core temperature back up to a non-life-threatening level since your wolf was too weak to heal you.” His words are clinical, making it sound like there was no tenderness in the way he was holding me. That he didn’t take care of me because he wanted to, because he had to.

“And that’s the only reason?” I gesture back and forth between us, letting my eyes linger on the tent still pitched in the front of his shorts. It's impressive, and it takes all my willpower to look away.

He still wants me. I’m not going to let him pretend he doesn’t.

“It doesn’t matter.”

I’m not sure how to take that.

I stew over his words as I stare at the next item of clothing I need to tackle. Determined not to ask for assistance, I manage to shimmy my way into the shorts with difficulty, trying my best not to give him a glimpse of my still dripping pussy at the same time.

Angrily, he yanks a T-shirt over his head, making it look so easy with two hands, that I’m pretty sure he’s mocking me, and crosses his arms, features dark.

“We need to get back. Everyone is waiting on us.” The muscles in the side of his jaw work, his anger clear.

Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realise everyone was waiting for him back at the packhouse.

“Fine by me.”

Did me, almost dying out on his stupid obstacle course, at the hands of one of the many, many people who just hate rogues for no reason, somehow inconvenience him?

“Are you going to tell me how you ended up on that ledge?”

Who did this to you? A memory of his whisper words floats through my mind, a deadly promise mingled with raw fear.

I stare at him, trying to work out if that was a memory or a dream. Dean scowls, impatient when I don’t answer immediately and I’m back to wanting to kick him in the shin.

“If you just fell…”

“I didn’t fall off the fucking rope. Samuel cut it. While I was standing on it. And Joel blocked me from getting off the other side.”

Dean goes deathly still, but his entire body seems to swell, and the air in the cabin becomes so choked with rage, it’s stifling. A vein bulges in his forehead, and I think he’s stopped breathing while he processes my words. Tendons stand out in his neck that I didn’t even know a person had.

“Samuel cut the rope?” He asks slowly, his voice eerily quiet.

“They were being jackasses, shaking the bridge, and it started to fray. He just decided to help it along.” I shrug, downplaying what happened now because of the murderous look in Dean’s eyes. “I knew he’d try something else after tripping me up but…”

“Shaking it… while you were on it,” he repeats, still way too calm. It’s unnerving.

I nod once, knowing that right now is not the time for smart comments or sarcasm.

“Okay.” Dean nods slowly and stares out the window, in the direction where the packhouse must be.

Okay has never sounded so terrifying.

As the silence becomes more and more uncomfortable, I can’t stop myself from speaking.

“Does this mean I’m out?”

The rules were simple. I never made it home.

“Out?” Dean turns to me, his head tilted to one side, every inch the dangerous predator now. His demeanour is menacing, still angry about what happened out on his course, but now, all that pent up emotion is directly squarely at me.

I nod, and keep my feet planted to the floor despite the overwhelming urge to back away.

“You want to know if you’re out of the Alpha Games? More than you want to know where Samuel and Joel are? More than you want to know about your injuries?”

I didn’t notice him moving, but suddenly, he’s in my personal space. As he peers down, those smoky eyes trying to peer into my very soul, I decide I don’t like how he towers over me. Even though it makes my pulse quicken, and every girly part of me swoon.

Stubbornly remaining standing, I’m trapped between him and the sofa, and I have to crane my neck to meet his eye.

“Yes. They only did this to knock me and Wyatt out of the competition, and I don’t want them to get their way.”

He steals the last couple of inches separating us and stares down at me. “They weren’t trying to knock you out of the competition, Jamie. If they cut that rope, knowing you’d fall into the canyon, they were trying to kill you. On my fucking territory.”

That’s what he’s so pissed off about? That someone dared do it on his land.

“Am I out?” I ask again through gritted teeth and wait.

Dean glares at me, chest heaving.

“Ow!” I yelp when he jabs me hard in my sore arm.

“Yes, you’re fucking out,” he seethes.

Rubbing my painful shoulder, I pivot away to shield it from his jabby fingers. That was harder than it needed to be to prove his point. Much as I hate it, he’s right. There’s no way I can compete while my wolf is still trying to heal injuries as bad as this, but he doesn’t have to be so smug about it.

It’s all up to Wyatt now. I’ll probably be sent packing by nightfall.

Dean peers out through the window, dragging a hand back through his messy black hair and frowns. It’s bright outside, and the rain has slowed to a mere drizzle. Opening the door, he sweeps his arm toward it, gesturing for me to lead the way out into the forest. I’d much prefer to stay here in this warm cabin, but I need to get back and speak to my brother before I’m booted off Dean’s territory.

“You’ll get to march me off your land now,” I say as I walk past him. “I won’t be bothering you with any more inconvenient questions or our pesky bond.”

Head held high, I do my best to pretend my hip doesn’t hurt, and my legs don't feel like jelly.

Thank God I didn’t give in to my wolf and take things further. It’s bad enough being kicked out after he’s seen me orgasm. I can’t imagine how bad I’d feel about myself if he was tossing me out with his cum still buried inside me.

Dean sighs.

“I already decided that considering the circumstances, and for your safety, you should stay. But you’re making me want to change my mind.”

It’s not for the reasons I’d want but I’ll take it. It buys me a little more time to look around.

As I pass, Dean’s hand snags mine, and I freeze, my fight or flight reflexes abandoning me completely as tingles dance across my skin. The contact sends a pulse of heat straight to my core. He leans down, slowly, his breath tickling my neck.

“Be careful, Jamie. I’m a man on the edge.”

Is that a warning, or a threat?