Mating Seduction-epub (12 page)

Then reality kicked in. Mating Jackson for life didn’t just involve her, but her pack. And Nikita would never give permission, even if Lexie agreed.

Sighing, she set the apple down on the bench. She fetched the pitchfork, putting it in the wheelbarrow, and started mucking out a stall.

Fifteen minutes later, the stall floor began to tilt crazily. Nausea churned in her stomach as her shirt, already dampened with perspiration, became soaked with sweat. She wiped off her wet forehead. Shoveling manure never affected her like this. She set down the fork and walked out of the stall and suddenly staggered.

Whistling, Jackson strolled into the barn and stopped short. He grabbed her around the waist as she started to fall.

“Lexie!”

She wanted to die, get rid of the ground glass in her stomach, the stabbing pain in her joints. Shift, she needed her wolf, her wolf would heal her. But her thoughts were too scrambled. Lexie held her belly and moaned. Jackson sniffed the air.

“Where’s that apple? Lexie, tell me!”

But she couldn’t answer. Pain seized her with sharp pincers. Dimly she saw Jackson run and seize the apple she’d bitten. He brought it to his nose and cursed.

“Bitter almonds. Cyanide poisoning.” He raced into the stable office and returned with a big bottle.

Jackson held it to her lips. “Drink, Lexie.”

Moaning, she shook her head.

He forced the bottle past her lips, tilted her head back and tickled her throat. Gagging, she swallowed, tears running down her face.

And then everything rumbled like a volcano. Holding her by the shoulders, Jackson eased her onto a bench as she began to vomit, too miserable to be embarrassed.

“Easy, sweetheart, easy, it’s all right,” he crooned. “Let it all out.”

Footsteps thundered in the barn. Voices called out as if from a distance. Miserable and horribly sick, she kept retching.

“Aiden, fetch the O2 from the medical kit in the office,” Jackson called out.

His hands on her shoulders were warm and steady. “Easy,” he soothed. “Just let it all out.”

Finally, she sat upright, her stomach still cramping. He wiped her face with a bandana and his tender expression cut through the awful pain. Aiden rushed up with a glass of water and a portable oxygen tank. Jackson grabbed the mask, slipped it over her mouth and turned the canister’s knob.

“No water for now. You need O2, Lexie. Flush out your system. Breathe. I know you want to shift, and how it hurts, but fight it. You need to stay in Skin. Just breathe deeply.”

Her wolf howled, wanting to crawl into a horse stall and curl up in a dark corner. Closing her eyes, Lexie dragged the cool, refreshing oxygen deep into her lungs. She trusted this Lupine, knew he meant her no harm.

But someone else obviously did…

Two hours later, Lexie awoke in a bed the size of a corral. A mountain of soft, fluffy pillows were tucked beneath her head. Lexie inhaled and caught the distinct, powerful scent of the Mitchell pack alpha.

Struggling to sit up, she put a hand to her aching head, feeling it throb beneath her trembling fingertips. And then she became aware of a sharper male scent of spices, hay and leather.

And an enormous gray timber wolf lying at the bed’s end. The muscled wolf raised its head and looked at her with dark brown eyes.

Jackson guarded her rest. The thought deeply touched her.

The bedroom door opened and Aiden strolled in. A warning growl rumbled from the wolf. The pack alpha held up his hands. “Whoa, easy. It’s me. Just came with some water for your female.”

The wolf turned his head and paced over to Lexie’s side, plopping down beside her, creating a barrier of fur and fangs. Aiden frowned.

“Don’t go all territorial here, Jackson. I know she’s yours. And if you piss on my bed to mark your territory, I’m going to turn you into a fur rug.”

The wolf lowered his head and sulked.

“Now, may I have your permission to examine her?”

The wolf moved back slightly, allowing a small space for Aiden to sit. The alpha handed her two pills and a cool glass of water, which she gulped down.

Then he felt her neck, taking her pulse. “You’ll be fine. Have a hell of a headache for a few hours, I’m afraid. Effects of poison on a Lupine system.”

Lexie managed to find her voice. “And you know this because you’re an expert in cyanide poisoning? Something you enjoy, like long walks on the beach, good movies and the close company of friends?”

Lines furrowed his forehead as he sat in an armchair next to the window. “I know because someone once poisoned me with cyanide, trying to take over the pack. Seems to be a favorite means of trying to dispatch Lupines.”

Her stomach, which had started to settle down, began to churn again. Lexie gripped the bedcovers. “What happened to him? Did you kill him?”

The wolf growled deep in his throat.

“No. I allowed him a five-minute head start before I set the rest of the pack on him. He went quickly. One of my most loyal members broke his neck.”

Judging from the steady look Aiden gave the wolf, she knew which wolf claimed that loyalty.

“It’s why I’m treating his female with special care. I want him to stay here, need him to stay here, and for that, he needs you.” Aiden narrowed his eyes. ‘Now, I need to know where you got the apple.”

“The wicked queen?”

The wolf turned its head, studying her, his tail thumping against the bed.

Lexie pressed her fingers harder against her right temple. Aiden wasn’t kidding about the headache. A nail spike pounded into her skull. “It was sitting in a bowl in the lodge kitchen.”

“Did you set it down at any time before biting into it?”

Eyes wide, she stared at the handsome alpha leader. “Cora asked me to help her pile firewood into the hearth because she’d planned a fire later. I set the apple on a table and went outside. When I picked it up again, it had that strange smell, but I dismissed it.”

Suddenly the wolf vanished, replaced by a naked Jackson.

“Clothing, please,” Aiden ordered.

He clothed himself through magick and leaned close. “Was anyone else in the kitchen?”

Lexie winced at her hammering head and thought. “Peter.”

Aiden and Jackson exchanged looks.

“He’s in love with Cora,” Jackson said quietly.

“He is?” Lexie winced. “Good luck to him. Maybe he should eat a cyanide-laced apple, put him out of his misery.”

The alpha chuckled, but Jackson did not. “Lexie, you must tell us. Have there been any other incidents?”

Her stomach roiled, making the aching in her head worse. No point hiding the truth any longer.

“Trust me,” Jackson said gently. “I want to help.”

“We want to help.” Aiden’s expression turned hard. “This happened on our land and you’re a guest here, under our protection. We’re going to catch the son of a bitch who did this to you.”

She blew out a breath. “Okay, after I finished practicing yesterday I took a fall.”

Both males stared at her with expectation.

Lexie bit her bottom lip. “It wasn’t a hard fall, because I was walking Diamond back to the stables. Didn’t want to overexert her. So I didn’t crack open my head, just got some bruises. The saddle slipped sideways. ”

Jackson went very still. “And?”

“Someone cut both cinches. Not all the way through, but enough so they started to give after I rode. Someone who knew my practice routine, knew I liked to pace Diamond hard, so when I started to race, it would give way.”

“You should have told me,” Jackson said. “You could have been hurt.”

A lump clogged her throat as she acknowledged the truth in Jackson’s words. “I cut the session short because she needed to rest. But if I had ridden her any longer, it would have been a bad spill. For me, and my horse. Diamond might have tripped, fallen and gotten hurt bad.”

When he spoke again, Jackson’s deep voice held a rough edge. “Someone’s trying to remove you from the rodeo circuit. Someone here on this ranch.”

Soon as she fell asleep, Jackson left the room and gently closed the door. Aiden had told Jackson to meet him in his office.

If she wasn’t safe in the pack alpha’s room, where could she be safe?

Boot heels sounded on the carpeted hallway. He looked up and saw Kyle coming toward him, carrying a chair.

Nodding, Kyle placed the chair before the door and sat, arms folded. “I’ll watch over her while you take care of things.”

Deeply moved, for Kyle and his new mate were trying to get pregnant and spending most of their time secluded in their cabin, he nodded gruffly. “Are you sure?”

“I’ll keep Lexie safe. Don’t you worry about her,” Kyle assured him.

Jackson headed down the hallway, his mind racing.

Who could want Lexie hurt?

Cora was the logical choice. But the pretty Skin seemed too vapid to pull such devious stunts. Maybe Peter. If Cora voiced her dislike of Lexie, worried about Lexie beating her in the upcoming race…

The Lupine might have taken his crush on the Skin too far.

Jackson sped down the stairs, taking them two at a time. He vaulted over the railing, landing hard and headed for the room holding the pack’s weapons. After entering the  combination on the door’s keypad, he entered  the room and selected a leather holster, buckling it on. Then he unlocked the cabinet holding the revolvers. Jackson took out his gun, loaded it and stuffed it into the holster.

Wolf or Skin form, he’d protect his Lexie to his last breath. No one was hurting his darling girl.

Upstairs, Aiden was seated behind his desk. He gestured for Jackson to take a seat, then picked up the phone.

“Dale? I want a full sweep of Jackson and Lexie’s cabin. Put Arianna on it. She’s our best hunter other than Kyle, and Kyle is busy guarding Lexie. I want to know who’s been there, when and if any scents other than theirs are picked up.”

He hung up the phone as Jackson frowned. “Let me catch the son of the bitch who did this, Aiden. She’s my future mate.”

“Easy. Under normal circumstances, I would. But Lexie’s a special guest, belonging to a special pack. You know this.”

Claws emerged from Jackson’s fingers. He forced them back. Shifting into wolf now would prove lack of control.

“Did you talk to Cora?”

“Cora’s gone,” Aiden said quietly. “Ambrose drove her back after the apple incident. When I questioned Peter, he denied any knowledge of the poisoning.”

“And you believed him?”

“Male told the truth. Made him reaffirm his loyalty.” The leather seat creaked as Aiden leaned forward. “Told him to choose between Cora and the pack. He chose the pack.”

Jackson’s fists unclenched.

“I’m telling Nikita. Pack law. I allowed her Lupine to get hurt on my territory. She has the right to demand restitution.”

Jackson’s heart fell to his stomach. He knew where this was headed. Nikita would demand Lexie back for good.

Refuse to allow her to mate with Jackson.

Aiden picked up a pencil and rolled it between his fingers. A slow, devious smile curled his mouth. “Of course, I can bargain for her to remain here. And force her alpha into hosting a mating challenge for Nikita  to finally select a mate, a mate who would have access to all her pack’s females.”

“Bargain with what?”

Aiden opened a drawer and withdrew a paper, sliding it across the desk. Jackson read it, his mind spinning. “You knew about this all along?”

“Make it my business to know exactly what’s going on with that ranch.” Aiden took the paper back, locked it in his top drawer. “You can have Lexie.”

The alpha wasn’t being altruistic. “What do you plan?”

“That paper is my bargaining chip. You just sit tight, take care of your mate.”

“She’s not mine,” he said slowly. “Yet.”

Aiden stood, rounded the desk and clapped him on the shoulder. “She will be. You’re a determined male, Jackson.”

“And you?” Jackson gave him a level look. “What of Nikita?”

“Leave her to me.” A calculating look entered his alpha’s gaze. “I’ll show her exactly what kind of male she’s dealing with.”

By the late morning the next day, Lexie felt much better. She’d spent the night in Aiden’s bed, the alpha sleeping in a guest room.

Jackson drove her back to their cabin, and insisted on carrying her upstairs and settling her into bed. “Now you get some rest. I’m working and won’t be back until nightfall, but Aiden set a rotating schedule for someone to be downstairs watching over you while I’m gone.”

“Female or male?” she asked.

“Female. Armed with fangs and guns. Not trusting any males around the one I intend to claim as my mate.”

The dark promise in his smile warned he would not be thwarted. Lexie settled back against the pillows, intending to leave that conversation for later, when she felt stronger.

“I’m tired of lying in bed and doing nothing.”

He winked. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you lie in bed later and do something. Plenty of something.”

It was impossible to love a wolf like Jackson and have a relationship with him. It was too risky and pointless, she reasoned. But her heart wanted to try.

Around nine that night, the heavy tread of Western boots against the hardwood floor told Lexie that Jackson had returned to the cabin. She’d had a steady stream of Lupine visitors all day. They brought food, games, quilts to sew. She enjoyed the company, liked the females on this ranch.

She could make a home here, she mused.

Heart beating fast, she checked her appearance in the mirror. Cheeks rosy and eyes bright, she felt alive and invigorated.

Lexie went downstairs. No Jackson. A soft glow of yellow deck lights illuminated the back yard. She glanced out the kitchen window and saw steam rising from the hot tub.

A nude Jackson sat in the hot tub. His black cowboy hat hung from a peg on the wood towel rack, and his clothing was folded neatly and placed on the wood deck next to his worn Western boots. Head thrown back, long arms straddling the tub’s lip, he looked tempting as sin.

A note sat on the kitchen counter.
Hurry up, darling. I’m getting lonely.