Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

J ax

Sedona took a deep breath and held it. As she’d done so many times before, she searched my eyes for the truth.

Was it her version of the truth? I wasn’t certain.

However, she wasn’t as stunned as I thought she’d be.

“Part wolf,” she repeated.

I nodded. There was nothing else to say at this point. I felt a part of her going numb, but another part, the brilliant side of her mind, was calculating and forming questions, making rationalizations that her psyche could handle.

A few seconds later, she turned toward the fire. “That’s why the wolf experience I had as a child really happened. You save your kind. The wolf was required to save one of his own.”

“Likely. Female wolves are fewer in numbers. But I wasn’t there when you were saved. What I can tell you is that we do save the lives of humans. Often, the possible victim never knows. We have doctors and dentists within our packs. Surgeons and scientists. There are men so strong they can lift a car before a human is crushed.”

“Saving humans as well.” She was making a statement, but I felt a moment of panic building inside of her.

“Of course. I don’t know why you think we wouldn’t try and care about mankind since we’ve done everything in our power to lose our heritage, shoving aside what we were born as. What do you think I do in a day, Sedona? Powerful businessman in the light, hunter of humans at night? I might be dangerous to most, but that’s usually because of my abilities in the boardroom. Destroying competition is more my style.”

“No taste of blood? No need to rip a man’s face off?”

“Don’t insult me.”

“Then don’t patronize me.”

I’ll be damned if she didn’t flinch when I moved closer. I shook my head, loathing the building emotions. “Be careful about the questions you choose to ask unless you want to learn all the dirty, ugly truth about the Wolfen.”

“Maybe I do. And not just because I’m a scientist and doctor. Not just because I don’t believe in such things as werewolves. And not because… Because of what we’ve shared.”

She had no idea what her challenges were doing to me. Yes, my wolf was just below the surface. That wasn’t a lie, but I wasn’t going to let her know how close he’d come to rising from the depths of hell. “Like the fact we were extreme predators three generations ago, enjoying the hunt as much as you believe I do now. We killed because it was a necessity. While we were considered hunters, so were certain humans.”

Her lovely face was pinched, her jaw clenched so tightly I was certain her teeth were grinding. “Yet you’re more dangerous than any human could ever be. And I’m not talking about nuclear bombs either.”

“In our distant past, there was a group of men, all very human who’d developed a nationwide group. They did nothing but hunt wolves. They thrilled in the kills, cutting off our heads and planting them on walls much like humans do with deer. They existed well into the nineteen seventies and were damn good at what they did given their organizational level that rivaled our own. We lost many females during that time, the fear so intense that many of the Alpha wolves required to fight in what we considered the Great War hid their mates and pups. Only to return home finding they’d been slaughtered. Tell me again that humans aren’t nearly as dangerous as wolves.”

“Oh, my God.” Sedona pressed her hand against her mouth. “I had no idea.”

“Do you really think those stories would linger generations later on depicted on the front page of a newspaper? No, they just became a dirty little secret.”

She moved closer to me, the apprehension still there. “Your numbers never rebounded.”

“No. Not in the way that our lives had been. We were almost driven to extinction. So were the gray wolves who have nothing to do with what you might call a curse. After that, we were disallowed hunting rights so we could blend in. Choosing mates wasn’t something anyone wanted a part of. Maybe now, you can see why. But that doesn’t mean as young men and women we weren’t required to take training, to learn skills that could become necessary to use again. That all but stopped twenty plus years ago. I assure you that from what I’ve seen out of mankind, the brutality and savagery far outweighs anything wolves have done. Either in the past or what might occur in order to keep our kind alive.”

She took a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds. “You’re right.”

I wasn’t so certain what I was right about. I was still angry, more so than I should be. I had to remind myself that woman had had no reason to believe her world could be turned upside down until recently.

The tension was awkward, biting.

And I hated it.

The look she was giving me was understandable, but yanked at everything I had inside of me.

Being a man.

Being a wolf.

Being her protector.

When I moved closer, I was certain she was going to run away out of fear and repulsion, but she remained where she was. Yet her body language indicated she had no trust. The hunger inside was burning every cell and molecule, the need to protect her just as potent. There would be those who stopped at nothing to take her from me and I simply couldn’t allow that to happen.

I would rip apart anyone who dared to try.

My wolf was just under the surface, scratching at my skin in a desperate plea to be freed. There was no chance I could allow him from his lair.

The moment I touched her face, she started to recoil, but I refused to allow her to walk away from me. Not now. Not when our coupling and our need to trust each other had become so vital. I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck, bringing her closer. While she didn’t fight me, she didn’t want to touch me either.

“Look into my eyes, Sedona. What do you see?”

She purposely kept her face turned away.

I forced her to do what I’d commanded. “Look at me. I want you to tell me that you truly believe I’d ever hurt you.”

Her mouth twisted and her glare was hate filled. At least at first. I knew the instant she softened, longing to believe. Longing to feel the same desire that could possibly consume us both.

“Don’t fight me,” I whispered and lowered my head.

“I… I don’t think I can do this.”

“Trust in your instinct. Trust in me.” I didn’t give her another option, capturing her mouth.

Her struggle was real and poignant, but her wolf won out, the yearning we both felt as painful as it was enthralling.

We were meant to be together.

I thrust my tongue inside, dragging her onto her toes as I jerked her into the heat of my body. The need to wrap myself around her was stronger than before. The hunger to drive my cock deep into her sweet pussy almost the only thing I could think about.

She pounded on my chest at first, her body undulating in my hold.

When she finally relaxed, she moaned into the kiss.

The taste and feel of having her in my arms was powerful. The connection was even stronger. As the kiss became more passionate, she wrapped her arms around my neck. The arch of her back and the scent of her arousal collided with my own. Devouring her was my intention.

“Ahem,” the deep voice said from behind us. Riker walked in, interrupting our heated conversation.

Sedona immediately pushed me away, turning slightly and wiping her mouth.

“Perfect timing.” I was agitated as hell, shaking my head as I watched the two men heading toward me.

“Yeah, well, the wolves are on their way,” Riker said sheepishly. He shifted his attention toward Sedona and offered a weighted smile. Of course he felt my wolf, sensing I was hungry to lose control.

At least he had Chase trailing behind. I scowled at him when he stopped in his tracks, shooting a hateful look toward Sedona.

“I’m here,” he stated gruffly as he threw out his arms. “What do you want from me, acknowledgment that you’re trying to be the patriarch of the family?”

“What the hell are you getting at?” I growled.

“Well, you are the big Alpha wolf. Right? Ready to take your place, making history?”

Jealousy.

I’d had blinders on years, not noticing my own brother was envious of my accomplishments. As a kid, he’d seemed enthralled by his two older brothers, but things changed. I sensed he felt he was the forgotten one. The expendable one.

“I don’t think it’s the right time to get into that bullshit now,” Riker chastised.

I walked closer, instantly making Chase uncomfortable. We were the same height, but today, I also gathered a feeling of his guilt. When I was only inches away, I held out my hand for a typical shake. An extension of our family. Or for some, an olive branch.

He glared at me, his entire body remaining tense.

“There is nothing like the power and love of a family. It’s the most important group of relationships you’ll ever have in your life and the most rewarding. Family can be trying, attitudes and desires entirely different. But don’t lose what you have. In the time of tragedy and being challenged, a family must come together. That is the ultimate in strength and power.”

Hearing Sedona’s words honestly didn’t surprise me. She was all about family, missing her mother and father and clinging to the love of her daughter.

For Chase, it was a slap in the face and I was certain he’d let his begrudging manners stand in the way of the meaning hidden in every word.

Fortunately, I was wrong.

Unless he’d gotten very good at hiding and harboring his feelings.

“We are wolves. And who the fuck are you?” he demanded.

“Someone thrown into this fray who didn’t want to be.” She was defiant in her answer, something I admired about her.

“She is important to our group whether you like it or not,” I told him. “You’re right. We are wolves. We have an enemy we must defeat. You may not like the Wolfen politics or even agree with my methods of leadership, but I won’t take anything less than your full support. Either accept we have a fight ahead of us and be willing to lay down your life to protect our world and everyone involved or leave now. It’s your choice.”

“You don’t give me one,” he said mostly under his breath.

I extended my arm further. It was past time to draw a line in the sand.

As he shook my hand less than a minute later, his body relaxed. This wasn’t some instant rekindling of our relationship, but it was a decent start.

“The love fest must end, but your woman is correct,” Riker told us. “We must stick together. The pack will not be as interested in saving our ancestry if it means possibly destroying the lives that have become important to them. However, it would seem we have no choice.” He moved toward the stairs to handle the arrival of the members.

“I’m not his woman,” Sedona threw out.

I backed away, giving my brother the nod of respect I knew he needed. It would do for now. But he remained a loose cannon and would need to be watched.

Chase headed for the bar and I walked toward Sedona, now standing in front of her. There was soulful need in her eyes, a contemplation of everything she’d learned and fear unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

It wasn’t so much because of the people she would be meeting, a scientist’s dream. Or because the nightmare she’d maybe had as a child could be reality. Her apprehension was because she was questioning who she was.

And if she was a wolf.