Deadly Mates (Deadly Trilogy) (3 page)

It wasn’t signed, but I would have known my father’s sloppy scrawl anywhere.  I read the note twice before crumpli
ng it, balling it in my hands.  Proud of me.  What a joke.  My father didn’t even know the meaning of that word, I was sure of it.  I lifted my glare back up to theirs. “Turns out I don’t need you guys. Go home.”  It was a command.  They heard it.  They felt it.  For a quick second, I saw surprise pass across their faces, but then their wolf nature took over.  Their shoulders started to sag and their gazes started to drop.  I channeled my scent, giving the command a bit more punch and as I did, their eyes fell to the deck.

“You
r mom filled us in,” Chris said, his voice hoarse, strained. “We’re here to help, kid.”

I didn’t budge from the doorway.  It wasn’t that I didn’t need the help, because I did; it was the principl
e.  My father had absolutely no right to send anyone from his team.  Not without speaking to me first.  I hadn’t asked for his help, and the last thing I wanted was to owe him anything.  My jaw clenched and my face heated. 
This is my pack — my territory.

Chris snuck a quick look at me and jammed his hands in his pockets.  “Come on, Aidan.  We’ve been driving all night and I’m starved.  At least let us eat and grab some sleep before you throw us out.”

I wanted to stand firm, slam the door, and kick them out of town.  But even if I wanted to, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  Guilt wormed its way through my stomach.  I knew it was stupid.  I shouldn’t have felt guilty about sending them away.  It wasn’t as if I’d ever been close with either of them; my feelings for them had always been a tossup between sparks of admiration and all out hatred.  And the last thing the pack needed right now was two more hard-headed enforcers hanging around.  As it was, I was already struggling to keep control of the fragile balance I had attempted to create here.  But even if I knew that having them stay, even for a quick bite, wasn’t a good thing, I still felt my resolve slipping.  The idea of having someone that I knew, really knew, close by, even for a short time started to eat at me.  I was pretty sure I was going to regret it, but I stepped back from the door, letting them in.  Really, what harm could a little food and sleep do?

They stepped into my house, keeping their gazes tight to the floor.  “I’m going to take a shower,” I grunted, shutting the door and nodding towards the kitchen.  “Food’s in there.  Don’t leave the house.”

I didn’t wait for a response before heading upstairs, taking the steps two at a time.  I went straight for my bedroom, grabbing my cell phone from the dresser, and fired off a quick message to Dominic telling him to get here, now, and then I scrolled through my contacts.  When I found the number I was looking for, I started to pace the narrow length of my room, glaring at the phone in my hand.  I attempted to rack my thoughts, organize them, sort them, and line them up, but it was a useless effort.  The only thing that kept surfacing in my exhausted brain was that my father had no right to send anyone to me.  This was my pack, not his.  My territory, not his.  My life.  I let out a frustrated growl.  I knew part of the anger that was building in my chest was from a lack of sleep, but I couldn’t seem to stop it.  I glared at his name again and the anger burned red-hot.  I sucked in another breath, let out another growl, and scrolled down a few more names. I found the one I wanted, tapped on it, and brought the phone to my ear.

She answered on the first ring, most likely waiting for my call. 
“Hi, sugar.”  Her voice was soothing and warm, so warm that I could actually hear her smile.

“
Is there something you forgot to tell me, Mom?” I asked.  I tried to sound firm, but I couldn’t, and before the full question was out of my mouth, I felt a grin tugging at my lips.  Being annoyed at her was impossible, even if she was out of line.  I dropped down, taking a hard seat on the edge of my bed.

“
I’m going to assume my gifts showed up this morning,” she said with a wicked giggle.

“
Gifts?” I chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound; it was more stunned than anything.  “On what planet are Chris and Tommy considered gifts?”

She
laughed at that, the throaty sound rupturing through the speaker.  “Be nice, Aidan.  They volunteered.  Believe it or not, I think they missed you.”

For a second, I was taken aback.  I couldn’t imagine Chris and Tommy volunteering for anything that involved me. 
“Yeah, sure they did,” I said, disbelief thick in my voice.  I paused for a second, pulling in a deep breath, trying to pick my words carefully.  Letting the breath out with a long sigh, I said, “Look, I know you mean well, but you can’t just send me your enforcers.  I’m an alpha now, Mom.  I have my own pack, my own team.  You and Dad need to respect that.  You can’t just butt in, trying to fix everything.”

She made a
tsk
sound.  “Oh, Aidan, I think you’re forgetting that you’re also my son.”

“They can’t stay,” I said adamantly.  “I’m feeding them, letting them sleep, and then they’re leaving.”

“You can’t send them back,” she countered, her voice losing all motherly compassion, taking on the firm tone of an alpha.  “Trust me.  Chris and Tommy are exactly what you need to fix that pack of yours.”  She paused for a second, inhaling a deep breath that sounded like static in my ear.  “And they’re what you need to get that mate of yours back.”

My grip on the phone tightened, the casing digging into my palm.  “She’s not my mate.”  I felt myself say it, except I couldn’t hear my voice.  The words sounded like a wave crashing in my ears — reality trying to drown me in my own stupidity.

Mom sighed, a gusty sound.  “She’ll come around.  I don’t know a single female that can run from her mate.  Believe me; I tried to run from your dad.  I couldn’t run from him anymore than I could run from the alpha in me.”

I swallowed hard, trying to fight the uneasiness that squirmed within me.  I wasn’t so much worried that Jade would run from anything, it was more that she
would do something stupid just to spite me — to get even.  If I knew anything about her, it was that she was the kind of person that held a grudge.

The thing was, most alphas never found their true mate, or if they did, they couldn’t act on it.  My parents were one of the few.  I
had always believed that my mom won the games simply because she couldn’t walk away from Dad.  Her inner-wolf wouldn’t let her.

And I knew
— my inner-wolf knew — Jade was my mate.  The feeling was profound, unexplainable, and undeniable.  I felt it with every fiber of my body.  I hadn’t truly understood the feeling until she walked away.  I’d known I liked her; hell, I’d even known that I could love her, but I didn’t understand how much, how deep the feelings ran until I’d stupidly pushed her to the point that she turned her back on me.  I knew she felt it, too, even if she was hell bent on fighting it.  And just like that, another piece of my resolve snapped and broke.

“You couldn’t have sent Lance with them, could you?” I asked, hating how bitter I sounded.
 
Damn, was I really even considering this?

That earned me another laugh
.  “If you needed a father figure I would have.  It sounds to me like you need brute strength and discipline with that pack of yours.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said,
running a hand through my hair.  I hated to admit it, but maybe, just maybe having some help wouldn’t be the worst thing ever.  Surely it would give me a bit more time to try and fix things with my mate if nothing else.

“So you’ll be letting them stay.”  It wasn’t a question.  The certainty of the statement was as if she knew she
had already won.

Shit!
If Jade was pissed at me now, what would she be like with Chris and Tommy here?  But even though I knew she would probably kill me for bringing new members into the team without asking her first, I found myself relenting, and I said, “For now.”

~ JADE ~

Marcy sat on my unmade bed cross legged, hugging one of my pillows to her chest.  The crisp white comforter was balled up beside her, twisted around the emerald sheets, and she nudged at them absently, as if she were trying to push the mess of blankets out of her way.  She looked a bit tired, and a lot flustered, but then, that wasn’t really anything new for her.  Her long blond hair was down, hanging around her shoulders, and she was in black leggings and an off-white sweater dress.  She wasn’t looking at me; instead her stare was fixed on a strand of photo booth pictures that was wedged in the dresser mirror.  They were of us, four silly pictures from a shopping trip last summer.

On the floor beside my bed was another pile of blankets — Jared’s makeshift bed — a telltale sign that we weren’t actually sleeping together.  It was a serious effort not to rush over and pick up the pillows and blankets.  But if Marcy had noticed them, she wasn’t letting on, and the last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to them.  My dresser was scattered with his things — deodorant, cologne, cell phone, wallet, keys.  His clothes were strewn all over the place, and I found myself hoping she’d chalk up what looked like a bed on the floor to Jared being a slob and not
see it for what it really was.

I leaned against the closed door to my bedroom, gazing out the window at the forest, listening to the sounds of the team joking around and eating downstairs.  I didn’t really know what to say, and by Marcy’s silence, I figured she felt the same.  I opened my mouth, and then closed it.  Each time I tried to say something it just felt … wrong.  It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to say, because I did.  Loads.  I just didn’t know how to say everything or even if I should.

I sighed, a heavy sigh, and asked, “Why are you here, Mac?”

Marcy shifted her gaze, focusing somewhere around my belly.  “I … Jade …” She huffed and started twirling a long strand of hair around her finger.  “Wow, I didn’t think this would be so awkward.”  She huffed again, letting it draw out until she’d expelled every drop of air from her lungs.

“Did Aidan send you?” I asked cautiously, folding my arms over my chest, more to stop the chill that slid through me than anything else, as I braced myself for the answer.

My question
caught her full attention.  She screwed up her face, still staring at my belly, and blurted, “Really?  You think I’m here because of Aidan?  God, Jade, I can’t believe you’d even ask me that.”

She was lying.  I heard it in her outburst, the way her voice rose and fell and trembled.  I could smell it in the air, the salt, the thickness, the staleness.  And it stung.  Bad.  Worse than I really thought it should.  “Mac, please don’t be like him.”  My voice was soft, filled with the sting that was piercing my heart.  “Don’t lie to me.”

“Dom sent me, okay?”  She met my eyes then, hers were rimmed with glossy tears, and she squeezed the pillow tighter.  “Maybe it was Aidan’s idea, maybe it wasn’t.  I really don’t know whose idea it was.  But I swear that’s not the only reason I’m here.  I miss you.  So much crap is happening.  Trev hasn’t been home in two days now, and I think Dom is going out today, too, and Aidan has been a moody prick since you left with Jared and … and … I need someone to talk to.  I need my sister back.”

For a moment I forgot to breathe, as I watched her bottom lip tremble.  I didn’t need an awesome sense of smell to know everything she’d said was true; it was written clearly in that quivering lip.  I pushed off the door and stepped over to her, perching on the edge of my bed.  “Where’s Trevor been?”

She looked at me as if I should already know the answer, and I figured she was probably right.  “Aidan has him and some of the others searching for the cougars.  They keep finding tracks around town, coming closer and closer.  Trevor said that they lead to the mountain, but once they get to the base of it, the tracks just vanish.”

“What?” I asked.  “How don’t I know they’re trying to track them?”  I didn’t expect an answer, and I was sure Marcy knew that, but even if she did, it didn’t stop her from snapping one out.

“Because you’ve been ignoring the pack.  You’ve been ignoring Aidan.”  She tossed the pillow at me, smacking me in the chest with it, and yelled, “Jeez, Jade, you’ve been blowing off everyone except that team of yours and as far as I can see, they aren’t in any rush to find your dad or those nasty beasts.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I
asked, keeping my voice just above a whisper, “and keep your voice down.”  I was sure the whole team could hear her, and I knew they had to be listening.  The house was quiet, so quiet it was as if the house itself were holding its breath.

She didn’t keep her voice down
; instead she let it rise higher.  “You know exactly what it means.  You and those enforcers haven’t even tried to help find them.  Do any of you even care that they’re actually coming into town.  I woke up this morning to find tracks all over my yard.  The pack is supposed to keep our town safe.  You and those enforcers are supposed to keep us safe.”

“Shut up, Mac,” I hissed, squeezing my eyes shut, listening.  It felt like an eternally long moment before I heard chairs scraping along the floor, shuffling footsteps, and the round of
thank-yous
for breakfast.  And then, just as I was about to let out my pent-up breath, my bedroom door swung open and Jared walked in.