Bear Lake (4 page)

Jackson wasn’t about
to take no for an answer where Alex was concerned. He’d taken her back to his
cabin and was looking for the injuries that were making her gasp whenever he
touched her body. His bear wasn’t so much horny as filled with the desire to
kill. The sight of ugly bruises appearing on her smooth skin made him want to
kill the dead guy all over again.

“Who was he?” Jackson
needed answers. He’d become embroiled in this and his clan’s future was on the
line if that body was discovered. He had no problem in taking the blame for the
murder but he’d liked to know who the hell it was he was supposed to have just
killed.

“Joshua. A hired grunt
that works for my ex…”

“Boyfriend?” Jackson
growled at the thought of another man touching her body.

“Husband.” Alex caught
the hurt in his eyes when he flicked them up to her. She held his gaze for a
long moment before he went back to cataloguing her injuries.

“He the reason you
don’t want to stay with me?” Jackson had to ask and it was a loaded question.
He held his breath as he waited for her answer.

“Yes.” She didn’t
sound as if she wanted to share.

“I don’t think
anything is broken, but you could have internal injuries. We should get you to
the hospital.” Jackson pushed up to his feet, but Alex just shook her head,
pushing her shirt back down over her ribs.

“No hospitals.” She
bit out.

“Alex…” He squatted
down on his haunches in front of her.

“Hospitals have
records. Records leave a paper trail. No hospitals unless it’s life or death.”
Alex sounded as if she’d had those words drummed into her.

“Says?” Jackson
growled. It was just starting to dawn on him that he didn’t know his mate at
all. Everything, absolutely everything about her had been bullshit.

“My trainer.” Alex leaned
back against the softness of the cushion on the sofa. It felt as if there were
sticks in those cushions pushing against her damn ribs.

“The one who taught
you to kill?”

“Yes.” Alex didn’t
want to do this now, or maybe ever. But she owed Jackson and his clan an
explanation. She got that. She’d dropped this whole shit storm in their laps.

“So it wasn’t self-defence?”
Jackson needed to know what had happened in that house.

“I was defending
myself. It was him or me, maybe not that exact moment in time, but it would
have come down to it in the future if I hadn’t of pulled the trigger.” Alex
believed every word of that. She knew in her heart. Her poor broken, cold
heart.

“It’s not like I can
talk.” Jackson expanded his hands. “I’m a fucking bear, a killing machine. If
I’d been there…”

“But you weren’t.”

Jackson twisted his
head on his neck and stared down at her. His eyes narrowed as he tried to read
her, but she was still in shock and her emotions were jumbled.

“I’m sorry for that.”
Jackson knew that he should have been there. He should have been at her house
from the moment he’d known who she was. Protecting her was his job and he’d
fucked it up.

“I’m not.” Alex tried
to sit forward but her ribs hurt too much. She bit out a curse.

“Why? It’s my fucking
job to protect you, you’re my…”

“Please, Jackson. I
can’t do this now. I’ll tell you whatever you want or need to know about Joshua
and my ex-husband, but I can’t even think about us right now.”

The sound of knuckles
against his cabin door made him curse out at the intrusion. When he wrenched
the door open he found Chance standing there. The man looked guilty.

“What?” Jackson
growled out and Chance sighed as he dropped his eyes to the flasks in his
hands. He held one out.

“This one is whiskey,
good whiskey, helps with the pain.” He growled and Jackson took it from him.
“This one is belladonna. I got it from a witch friend. It’ll help her to sleep
through the pain. Don’t mix them.” Chance rushed out. “Small amount of the
belladonna, it’s already mixed properly.” Chance thrust the second flask at his
alpha and turned on his heels and stalked away.

Jackson rolled his
head on his neck and turned back towards Alex. The woman had a damn grin on her
face that looked kind of surreal. She pointed to the first flask.

“Whiskey good.” She
gave a small chuckle that hurt her ribs and she winced against the pain.

“Whiskey very damn good.”
Jackson agreed as he slammed his front door closed.

~^~

Jackson didn’t sleep
one wink. He couldn’t. Sitting there holding Alex within his arms all night as
she slept off and on through the pain was bad enough. The sounds of her small
whimpers was worse. But he was listening for the sounds of anyone approaching
the cabin outside. He was determined to protect her from anyone else seeking to
harm her, and her ex was still out there somewhere, and according to Alex, he
was headed this way.

Alex had said his name
a couple of times as she’d slept. Each time it sounded damn good to his ears.
Each time she’d given a small whimper afterwards that didn’t sound so damn
good.

He hated himself for
not being there to protect her. He hated that she’d had to end someone’s life.
But he was damn glad that she’d done it, and after what she’d told him, if the
man had still been alive then Jackson would have ended him himself.

He was checking her
temperature off and on while she slept. Keeping an eye on her so that if there
were injuries that neither of them knew about inside of her then he could get
her help. He’d confess to the murder on the spot if she needed damn hospital
treatment.

Half of him dreaded
her ex turning up in town and the other half welcomed it. The man shouldn’t be
allowed to breathe air and if Jackson had anything to say about it he wouldn’t
be breathing it much longer. Alex and whoever had trained her was right, the
only way to guarantee someone’s safety was to put the risk down for good.

Jackson felt her stir
in his arms and a curl of her hair fell across her face. He reached up and
tucked it behind her ear. The feel of the backs of his knuckles brushing
against her cheek brought her awake and she looked up at him.

“Jackson?”

“It wasn’t a dream,
Alex. But I have you now. You’re safe with me.” He allowed his bear into his
voice. He needed her to know deep down in her soul that he was there to protect
her. From that moment on his only job in life was to keep her safe.

“Sarah.” She offered
on a quiet voice.

“Sarah.” He smiled
down at her.

“I don’t want you to
call me Sarah. That part of me is dead and gone. But I wanted you to know who I
was.” Her hand was against his chest and her fingers curled into him.

“It’s who you are now,
sweetheart, and who you want to be that matters to me. If you want to leave
Sarah in the past that’s ok with me.” Jackson brushed his fingertips down her
cheek again and she nodded.

“Go back to sleep.
It’s still early.” He leaned in and whispered against her hair. She didn’t
answer, and she didn’t sleep either. Just laid there with him in the semi
darkness of his cabin until the sun poked through the curtains.

~^~

Jackson noted the way
that Alex jumped when someone knocked on the cabin door. She was sitting on the
sofa while he was making coffee and he held his hand up and drew her attention
towards him. He gave her a smile.

“It’s just Marcus.” He
offered and watched her nod.

He turned and yanked
open the door. Shoving Marcus backwards away from the cabin door, Jackson
stepped outside into the morning chill and breathed in a long breath. He looked
at his brother.

“You do it?” Jackson
asked and Marcus nodded his head.

“Dead guys gone.” He
shook his head. “They ain’t gonna find him.” He assured his alpha. “The cars
over in Gorston. Wiped and parked up like it was driven by a Nun.” Jackson
snorted a chuckle.

“Alex’s house?”
Jackson asked and Marcus nodded backwards.

“Shane and Reece
cleaned it up last night.”

“Reece is back?”
Jackson eyed the man’s cabin for signs of life.

“Yeah. He appreciated
the welcome home.” Marcus grinned and that was cut it short when the alpha
growled. “So what’s the plan?”

“None yet. We need to
wait for her ex to show up…” Jackson turned back towards the door.

“Then we kill him?”
Marcus growled.

“Then I kill him.”
Jackson corrected him.

“Got it.” Marcus
understood his alpha’s words. Nobody touched the human but him.

~^~

Alex had a coffee but
she wouldn’t eat anything. He didn’t know if it was because she was sick, because
she couldn’t force it down, or because she didn’t trust his cooking. Whatever
it was he didn’t like it, she needed food to heal, everyone did. Her body was
burning more energy as it healed and he needed to entice her to help herself.

He was still wondering
how to get her to eat without having to force feed her when she tried to push
herself up to her feet and he was at her side in a heartbeat. He heard her
catch her breath as the pain went through her body. His hands were gentle and
well placed to miss everywhere that was bruised as he steadied her.

“What the hell do you
think you’re doing?”

“I need to get home.”
He couldn’t stop the growl that rolled through him.

“I know you’re not
insane, Alex…” He offered.

“Jackson.”

“No. If you have a
damn death wish you’d better shake that shit off.” He growled again. Alex bit
of an ironic laugh.

“I don’t have a death
wish.” She tried to brush his hands away, but he wouldn’t let go. He was
lowering her back down to the sofa as gently as he could and there wasn’t a
damn thing that she could do about it.

“Sure you don’t.” He
growled every word. He was pissed off that she’d even considered walking back
into harm’s way.

“I need to be there if
he shows up.”

“Yeah, that sounds
like a damn death wish to me.” He slid onto the cushion beside her, careful not
to jog her too much.

“I have to kill him.”
Alex bit out. Then she heard her own words and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
“Ok, so that sounded insane.”

“Yeah, because that’s
my job.” Jackson watched her bring her eyes down to his. He saw the shock
there. Watched as her brow furrowed.

“No.” She shook her
head.

“I don’t think you get
to argue…”

“The fuck I don’t.”
Alex bit out, raising her voice and making his bear growl inside of him.

“Alex…”

“I’m not getting you
involved in this…” She bit down on her annoyance again. “Any more than you
already are.”

“This is…”

“My damn fight and I
will kill that bastard.” Alex assured him with the sound of steely determination
in her voice that he admired.

“What the hell did he
do to you, Alex?”

He saw her withdraw
then. She bit down on her lower jaw and closed her eyes for a long moment. She
didn’t want to share everything yet, and that was fine. But he needed to know
one day…

“Just know that he is
everything that you are not.” Alex informed him and Jackson frowned.

“I don’t know what
that means, honey. Take pity on me, I’m male.” He gave her a small smile and
was more than rewarded when she smiled back at him.

“That right there,
Jackson. You’re a damn good man and he’s a piece of shit. That’s it, that’s
everything…”

“Not everything. But
the rest can wait.” Jackson assured her that he wasn’t going to push her just
yet. It might not have been the best time with his bear being so damn antsy
within him.

“I need to go…”

“Not a chance in
hell.” Jackson growled out. “You need to tell me what this guy looks like. Who
will come with him and anything else that you think I should know.” Jackson
didn’t want to have to tie her down to his bed, but he would if she tried to
leave. He already had Shane over at her house keeping a look out to see if
anyone showed up, and she was staying put.

Alex stared back at
him. He could see the damn cogs turning in her mind and he waited patiently for
her to sort through everything and come to the right decision, the only
decision that he was going to accept. She might not have agreed to be his mate
yet, but she would damn well listen to him while she was under his roof, and
she wasn’t setting a foot outside without him.

“It’s not your fight.”
Alex said again on the shake of her head. Jackson thought it was past time that
he made it clear to her.

“You’re mine, Alex. If
you want me then I’m here and will always be here for you. If you don’t want me
then I’m here for you now. But, sweetheart. I’m going to kill that bastard and
there’s not a damn thing you can do or say to stop me.” His bear roared within
him. He’d more than staked his claim.

Another knock on his
cabin door made him growl in annoyance. He pulled himself up and stalked
towards the door. He hadn’t expected to see Reece on the other side. He held up
two flasks and Jackson raised his eyebrow on his forehead.

“What?”

“Chance said…” Jackson
reached out and snatched the flasks.

“Yeah, I got it.
Thanks.” Jackson went to boot the door closed when Reece’s hand came out and
held it open.

“What?” Jackson
demanded. Most days nobody knocked on his door, and now since Alex had been
there things were getting busy.

“How’s Alex?” Reece tried
whispering as if Alex wasn’t supposed to hear him or something.

“Bruised. Healing.
Thanks. Bye.” Jackson kicked the door closed in Reece’s face and turned back
towards Alex. He was heartened to see her sitting there with her hand in front
of her mouth trying to hide her smile, but she couldn’t hide the light that had
turned back on in her eyes. It warmed him.

“Sociable little bugger,
aren’t you?” Alex chuckled and Jackson groaned.

“No.” He growled out.

“Noticed.” Alex
offered back as a small chuckle escaped her lips. Jackson grinned. He held out
the two flasks.

“Whiskey.” She didn’t
hesitate.

~^~

“Hungry?” Jackson
asked as he nosed inside his refrigerator to see what he could offer her. The
thing was almost full and yet he couldn’t figure out how to get her to eat.

“Not really, no.” Alex
offered back to him as she flicked through another round of channels on the
television. She was unsettled and he didn’t know how to make her more at ease.
This time when there was a knock on the door Jackson groaned out loud. He
wrenched open the door and caught the scent of food on the air. It smelled damn
good…

“Err.” Shane shuffled
on his feet.

“Aren’t you supposed
to be at Alex’s house?” Jackson demanded as he took a step outside and eyed
over the man’s shoulder at the makeshift barbecue that someone had resurrected
in the open. There was food cooking over the fire pit and his stomach growled
accordingly.

“Marcus spelled me for
a bit.”

“What do you want?”
Jackson growled. He heard Alex move behind him and turned to find her walking
slowly towards them. “Sit.” Jackson growled out and Alex stopped in place and
drew her head back on her neck as if he’d slapped her.

“Do I look like a damn
dog to you?” She shot back with a frown that told him that he’d screwed up
again.

“No, I just meant…”
Jackson could have kicked himself.

“We decided to cookout
and wondered if Alex was hungry.” Jackson’s head spun on his neck and his eyes
narrowed on Shane.

“No.” Jackson
answered.

“Yes. It smells
great.” Alex piped up and Jackson’s head snapped back towards her.

“You are? You
weren’t…” He narrowed his eye on her.

“And now I am.” Alex
gave him a quick smile as she started forward with a wince and a twitch of her
top lip.

“Do you want me to
help you?” Shane offered and Jackson growled long and hard. “I mean him to help
you.” Shane chuckled as he turned and strolled away before his alpha ripped his
head off.

Jackson didn’t move
and neither did Alex. She’d been pretty much fighting against his help the
whole time and he didn’t want to piss her off again by rushing to her side, not
unless she was about to fall or she cried out in pain. Alex looked as if she
had something to say. Then she nodded her head just once.

“Yeah. I’d like you to
help me.” Jackson was at her side in a heartbeat. His beast roared with pride
that she’d asked. Jackson growled gently as he scooped her up into his arms and
started off for the door. “Not what I had in mind.” She chuckled again and it
was the sweetest sound that he’d ever heard in his entire life.

“Why half arse it. If
you are going to do something then do it properly.” Jackson grinned down at her
and her smile was like sunshine.

~^~

Jackson had never seen
his clan like this. Gathered around the fired with the scent of good food in
the air, chatting and getting on without anyone taking offence and swinging for
anyone else. It was a minor miracle in his book and he guessed that it was all
due to Alex being there.

They all saw her as
part of the clan now. Even if she wasn’t yet mated to the alpha, she was still
one of them, and each man would do his bit to protect her. Jackson was glad of
it, because if anything were to happen to him, then she would always have a
place to be and someone to protect her.

The best thing was
that she was eating. He was more than grateful to his clan for that. The second
best thing was the fact that the light had come back to her eyes, and even if
she did forget herself every so often and remember what had happened the night
before, well one of the idiots gathered around the fire seemed to jog her right
back out of it.

Chance was the biggest
idiot of them all. His hot potato between his two large hands had her chuckling
with tears in her eyes and he wondered just how much of that show had been put
on for her benefit. Chance had been the one who had tried to stop her leaving,
and he still needed to kick his arse for such a damn stupid thing to do,
especially when his bear was uncontrollable at times, but the big man had shown
that he was alpha material. Now all he needed to do was get his bear sorted
out.

Shane pushed up to his
feet and nodded with his head towards the woods. He was signalling that he was
about to go back and spell Marcus so that the man could eat. Jackson nodded as
he noted Alex’s curiosity.

“Bear’s gotta shit in
the woods?” She asked and then winced at her possible mistake. Jackson’s
laughter rumbled through him followed by everyone else around the fire.

“The great outdoors, a
bathroom behind every tree and bush.” Shane offered back and Alex grinned.

She knew exactly where
Shane was going. The same place that Marcus had been for the last few hours. She
didn’t question it, there was little point. Not one of these men was ever going
to let her stand against Blake.

“Don’t wipe with the
poison ivy.” She offered as she broke off another piece of roasted pineapple
and popped it into her mouth. Shane grinned down at her as he strolled on by.

“But finding a nurse
to tend to my arse would be fun, no?” He chuckled to himself as he pushed his
hands deep into his pockets and strolled away from the group.

“Bed.” Jackson
informed her and then bit down on his need to expand his vocabulary where she
was concerned the moment her eyebrows shot upwards on her forehead.

“Someone’s bedside
manner leaves a lot to be desired.” Alex chuckled and Jackson sighed inwardly.

“At least he doesn’t
fancy it up. You’ll always get a fast, straight answer from him.” Reece
chuckled and Alex smiled.

“Always.” She echoed
the word that bounced around her mind.

“You’re staying,
right, Alex?” Chance asked as he dropped his eyes down towards the fire.
Jackson growled long and hard at his second.

“No, Jackson. They
have a right to know what’s going on.” Alex berated him and Chance risked a
look at the man opposite him. Jackson just shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t
know what’s going to happen, Chance.” Alex offered sincerely.

She’d enjoyed the night.
She’d found them all good company when they weren’t growling and fighting each
other. But she didn’t know how long this peace was going to last and she didn’t
want to live in a damn warzone, she’d been doing that for two long.

“Let’s just get through
tonight, and tomorrow, and then the next and the next and not make any rash
promises.” Jackson offered her that much and it sounded good. She nodded.

“Sounds like a plan.”
She smiled at him as he pushed up to his feet.

“Now, bed.” He growled
down and she couldn’t help but chuckle as he collected her gently into his arms
and stalked back to his cabin with her.

“You want a mate?”
Chance asked as he tipped his head to one side and watched them go.

“If you try to kiss me
I’ll rip your head off and shove it up your damn backside.” Reece growled as he
pushed up to his feet and stalked away.

“Not what I meant and
you know it.” Chance growled over his shoulder at him.

“Then Jackson’s not
the only one who needs to learn to use his words. Fool.” Reece growled back.

~^~

“What are you doing?”
Alex would have tried to hold onto her shirt as Jackson stripped it over her
head, but it would have hurt her ribs too much to jar them that way. He was
being infinitely gentle and she didn’t need to do herself any damage.

“You’ve been wearing
that for over a day, and you can’t be comfortable in that contraption.” He
pointed to the black sports bra that covered her breasts from his gaze.

“Don’t even think
about it. You’ll have three paws the next time you shift.” She warned and he
chuckled.

“You can be mean when
you wanna be.” Jackson’s eyes were full of amusement.

“And I got a dead guy
to prove it.” Alex bit out and then frowned.

“Too soon?” Jackson
teased her to try to raise a smile again.

“I need clothes.” Alex
changed the subject.

“I got clothes, and
one of my shirts will be like a tent dress on you.”

“Fine, but I do it.”
Alex groaned as she tried to move in place and she hadn’t even reached for the
damn bra yet.

“I’ll close my eyes.”
Jackson lied. Then he called on his bear and flicked out his claws. Alex just
stared at them.

“What…?”

“Well that bra thing
isn’t going over your damn head and it doesn’t open without these…” He waved
his claws at her and she frowned.

“I need my…” She
started and he groaned.

“No, you don’t. I’m
not going to look and if one of them tries then they’ll be taking that as their
last image to the bear graveyard.” Jackson assured her.

 He wasn’t about to
argue the point. He should have done it yesterday to give her ribs some relief.
He lifted the band from her skin and saw her back stiffen from his touch. Then
he used just one claw to tear the fabric apart and free her.

He kept his word as he
stood behind her and didn’t try to get a bird’s eye view of her breasts even
though he damn well wanted to. He eased the fabric down her arms before he
dropped his shirt over her head and covered her with it. He heard her catch her
breath when the backs of his knuckles grazed her breast but he didn’t comment.
The saving grace to the whole thing was that the shirt was so large it was easy
to manipulate to get her arms inside.

“Better.” Alex offered
him as validation for his idea and he grinned to himself.