Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

J ax

“She’s special,” my mother said as she studied Sedona from where she stood in the kitchen. “She will be the strength you’ve needed. Accepting the leadership role was always your destiny.”

My destiny.

Eventually someone would need to explain that concept to me. I’d believed my destiny was to run a billion-dollar company, but I wasn’t arguing with her.

I tilted my head toward the woman in question and wasn’t certain what to say. “She’s having a difficult time with this. As you might imagine. The doctor in her refuses to buy every aspect.”

Mother guided my face back to her. “Rightly so. Did you not expect that, my son? Can you imagine what she is going through? She’s refusing to accept she’s been betrayed by something she trusted deeply and for all her life. You must give her time to adjust and be there when she does accept.”

How could someone process and allow their minds to focus on the fact at least one of her biological parents was a creature of the night? There was no other possible reason behind being part wolf. “I’m aware of that. I am curious how she’s possibly my mate when she’s a hybrid. Won’t that breach the new referendum? Plus, won’t our children be shunned?”

As if the lovely Sedona would ever consider being the submissive to my dominant wolf. That was Neanderthal.

“There are aspects of our history few wolves have taken time to know or been interested in. Our great creator knew what he was doing.”

I half laughed. “I’m certain you think he did. I don’t feel good about this.”

“Neither do I, but you don’t have a choice. None of us do. You must protect her. I have no doubt she had been marked for removal.”

“By the werewolves? I thought they barely had a brain at this point.”

Mother laughed. “Don’t kid yourself. They are far more intelligent and organized than they’ve been given credit for. Jeremiah has been biding his time to exact his revenge. He blames the Wolfen for their near extinction.”

Sadly, I believed her. While we were looking the opposite way, their DNA had allowed for significant mental growth. That much I’d suspected and listened to when Mother had nearly taken over the business meeting. “Why would she be marked and how do you know?”

“There is chatter amongst all of us, signs that whoever is leading the giant beasts intends on taking on the primal Wolfen and his mate. That would be you and Sedona.”

“I will do what I can to protect her.” I knew the Elders were meeting on their own, making a different kind of plan.

“I know you will. Rely on your brothers. They are also a part of your leadership and your strength.”

“And the council’s position? Are they prepared for a fight?”

“Yes. I may not agree with everything they said, but we can’t back down. Sadly, our packs were allowed to go astray because of your deadbeat father. When he left us, he broke the trust across the lands. Yes, maybe it seems melodramatic to you, but that’s the truth. I should have better prepared you for leadership. That one is on me. However, it’s not too late.”

“Everything about you is all encased in drama, Mother. One reason I adore you.”

“If I could hunt your father down, I would. He wouldn’t like me very much when I did. I’d string him up by his balls.”

I couldn’t say I blamed her. Chuckling, I kissed her on the forehead. “I don’t know if I buy that I’m the great new leader, but someone needs to drive the packs.”

“Trust in your gut and your heart. Neither will ever steer you wrong. It’s past time we get back to our old ways.”

“The curse.” I’d called it such a thing once in my life as a young boy. My father had shown me his unhappiness at my words.

“Our true curse is ignoring who and what we are for far too long. Take the signs, son. Sedona Willis is your mate and together you can provide the answers we need.”

“A heavy crown to wear.”

“But one you’re capable of wearing. Time for me to go. I have salsa lessons tonight. Just remember to treat her right. I will bust your ass if you cheat on her.”

She kissed my cheek and headed for the stairs. The woman was a formidable beast herself.

I waited as she left before grabbing the bottle of vodka from the freezer.

Silence wasn’t always golden.

Even though I was a man who preferred privacy and solace, Sedona’s silence had become unnerving. She’d walked away from the group after several of the pack members had left, leaving only those considered leaders to continue talking. I’d watched her the entire time, noticing she was shutting down all over again.

Now she was as close to being catatonic as I’d seen. I refilled our drinks before heading toward the fireplace. As I placed a glass in front of her on the coffee table, her eyes didn’t reflect any movement and she continued to say nothing.

“My mother thinks highly of you,” I told her. “She’s even impressed with your work as well.”

Sedona exhaled, but that’s all I got.

I allowed a full minute to tick by.

“My work is important to me.”

“I know that. I have no plans on taking that away from you.”

“Until I get pregnant with… what did you call them. Pups?”

This was the flipside of accepting at least a portion of the truth.

“I would never demand you leave your job. We need to continue talking,” I finally told her. I’d suddenly become the one to begin conversations, which I’d never enjoyed before, but with her, everything was new and more enjoyable.

Even if the reasons were not acceptable at this point.

She said nothing, but at least I was rewarded with her trembling hand reaching for her drink. She almost knocked over the glass, spilling a small amount onto the table. Something so ordinary seemed to trouble her more than anything else I’d seen.

Her frantic actions in wiping up the drops were disturbing.

“Leave it, Sedona. The furniture doesn’t matter. The spilled drink I couldn’t give a shit about. However, your silence has become disconcerting.”

“As if I care.”

“Why are you angry? I realize some of the pack members are assholes. We are no different than humans. We have disagreements even amongst friends and family members.”

“Bullshit,” she finally snapped. “I know for certain just how different you are. I’ve seen it for myself and as all your experts have said, yourself included, those creatures weren’t transformed fully yet. I was contacted because I can recognize different animal and human DNA. Maybe you didn’t know this, but wolves and humans share eighty-four percent of their DNA. What I witnessed in the samples was a strange mixture of shit I couldn’t identify. Maybe your great scientist can. Those creatures I autopsied were not human any longer. But they were not wolves. The alteration could have occurred from noxious gas, or a chemical imbalance based on a combination of drugs. Until I’m able to do further and very extensive tests, I can’t provide you with any definitive answers, no matter if you order me to work with more of your… kind.”

Her vehemence was a powerful message regarding her thoughts on the crisis we were facing.

“You witnessed the beginning of their shift with your own eyes.”

“I was exhausted. I was angry for being forced into working a case that shouldn’t have been mine. Nothing else.”

Her fear had finally stripped her of being able to look outside her scientific box.

I wasn’t going to get into a brutal verbal game I wouldn’t win. At least not at this point. “You should try and get some sleep. You’re exhausted and overwrought. I’ll show you where your room is. I assure you that I won’t bother you tonight.” When she continued to glare at me, I stood and started to walk away.

As much as I adored her, humans could be a pain in the ass. Work needed to begin in the lab almost immediately. However, the FBI also needed to be watched. I would assign Chase to that duty. He would enjoy aggravating members of the FBI.

“I know what I witnessed in that lab those two horrible days. The incidents are unexplainable, especially to a doctor of science, but I cannot and will not believe one hundred percent of the crap you’re so determined to try and convince me of. Yes, I’m curious. Yes, everything said tonight has piqued my interest, but I refuse to place Britney’s life in danger. I’m a mother first and foremost.”

“Then we’ll bring her here.”

“You can’t just remove me from my life, Jax. I know you feel the need to protect me, but I’m a strong woman.”

I touched her arm. “We’ll figure all the logistics out. I promise you.”

“Fine.”

Exhaustion had settled into my system as well. I rubbed my tired eyes, doing everything I could to maintain some constant level of composure. She knew how to push every button in her attempt to drive me away.

Which was exactly what she was doing.

“When I dropped you off at your car, I gathered a stronger scent of the wolf that you believed was watching us. Did you forget you were certain the eyes of a wolf were staring at you?”

“A daydream and nothing more.”

“Was it? Did you not gather his stench? Didn’t your instincts provide you with proof that you were being watched?”

“I said. Just a daydream. Nothing more.”

“Is that what you need to tell yourself to keep the nightmares away? Did the experience with the wolf in the woods all those years ago really not seem out of the ordinary to you? If not, you’re fucking fooling yourself.”

She threw the glass at me as she jumped to her feet. “Fuck you. This is insane. You’re insane and I’m not going to allow you to continue to try and make me believe there are werewolves ready to eat people. Unless you’re trying to confide in me that you’re a murderer as well.”

I wiped my face and took a deep breath. “Yes, Sedona. I have killed humans before because I had no choice. However, I was well aware of my actions and decided to save not only myself, but other innocent humans around me. The difference with the werewolves is that they have no conscience. They kill because that’s ingrained in their systems. They need to feed. Do you understand me?”

After a few seconds, she stormed away, pulling on my last nerve.

“I know you heard what I said about men mauled at the park. I followed the stench from the parking lot where three of them were watching you, not just one, all of them hungering for you, Sedona. I found them in the park where they usually hunted and I called Riker to come initiate our own hunt. Which we did. What we found were three savages in the process of transforming into the most dangerous creatures on this earth. And we made a choice. Kill them before they could kill us. Ask me again if I’m a killer.”

She wasn’t moving.

“They haven’t reached early transformation yet, but I agree with both you and Marla. It will happen within days, maybe hours. Help me with this, Sedona.”

Her shoulders were rising and falling, both her hands fisted. She spun around quickly, hissing from her twisted mouth. “If you’re a goddamn wolf then prove it.”

I stared at her. There was no fucking way I was going to show her my beast.

Her almost gleeful look was infuriating. “Prove. It.”

“I’m not going to do that. That isn’t what you need.”

She laughed in a maniacal way. “You’re such a phony. You aren’t a wolf at all, but a liar and one of the worst kinds. You need to take me home and never, ever contact me again.”

Control was vital in my world, both for my kind and in the position that I held within such a prominent corporation. I’d lost my cool a few times over the years, but it had never been beneficial to me or anyone else for that matter. The saying that ‘I didn’t get mad, I got even’ worked very well for my personality. I could tear down a man’s reputation in ten minutes.

I could break through a man’s defenses without blinking.

I enjoyed destroying deals that were shady or harmful to the environment.

But I’d never once lost my cool with a woman.

Until now.

Sedona was the single person who understood my push points and could get under my skin without trying. Even the smile crossing her face as if she’d won some battle was both irritating and arousing.

I took a single and what many enemies had called formidable step toward her, but the woman refused to budge. She was calling my bluff.

“You want to see the beast unfurled from his lair, Sedona? Do you really want me to show you what I and so many others consider a curse that we’ve been born into and forced to live with? Do you? Is that what you want, to have your tiny world and all the beliefs about right versus wrong, good versus evil challenged? Do you truly desire me to shatter that glass house you have right after I smash the bubble you’re living in?”

My anger was far too intense, but she wasn’t the kind of woman to allow me to throw her determination. The hard crack she issued across my face was painful, but not physically. I’d always considered myself a ruthless man, yet I’d broken the small amount of trust that had built between us.

I looked away and rubbed my jaw, closing my eyes briefly. My entire body was shaking from tension and the rush of adrenaline.

As well as something else.

My wolf was determined to come out and play.

She was shaking more than I was, her nerves completely frayed. “Yes.”

Her hiss was full of anger.

And hatred.

At that moment, my emotions were driven all over the place. I craved the woman, my bone and muscles aching to be with her. I needed to touch her.

To taste her.

To fuck her…

She was mine. My mate. All mine. I couldn’t do without her. She was…

Control.

For all the years I’d been able to maintain it, the thought of her, of who she was to me allowed the chains to unravel around my wolf.

As he breached the surface, I slapped my hands across my face. There was no shame in who I was. But the terror I’d cause her would be too much to bear.

Yet there was no ignoring her request or my response.

As the shudders began within my body, the change in temperature the first aspect of the shift, I kept my eyes closed and lowered my hands. The moment I lifted my head, she sucked in her breath.

Predator.

An animal that naturally preys on others.

The definition was one I knew well, a brutal desire I’d felt my entire life, the kind of hunger that burned deep within my very soul. If it weren’t for centuries of evolved humanity, my kind would live on their primal needs alone.

All the hard work and all the generations passing by without a brutal battle would now be shoved aside.

Then I opened my eyes, my wolf breaching the surface.

She didn’t scream.

She stood where she was, cocking her head in utter fascination. Even when I opened my mouth, allowing my canines to become exposed, her fascination continued. She reached out, touching my face as if expecting my skin would sprout fur.

Seeing the way she looked into my eyes was unusual.

I slowly allowed my beast to slip back into his lair and raked my hands through my hair.

Words were difficult.

Sedona licked her lips, her breathing shallow. Seeing her blistering glare was a reminder that my kind was hated and always would be.

Just like she’d done with me far too many times, she was still able to surprise me.

She bolted.