by Paige Tyler
He nodded, his eyes dancing. “Definitely. And don’t worry. I was just messing with you about that biting thing. We can do a normal, old-fashioned date the next time if you want. No biting required or expected.”
Selena gazed at him, feeling a little overwhelmed with all the things she was feeling right then. The bite—and the blood—had thrown her for a loop, but she was still crazy about this man. She had a ton of instincts screaming at her right then, telling her he was seriously into her, too. As in the kind of serious that changed everything.
“I’m not sure how normal and old-fashioned it might be, but I sort of committed myself to being a wingwoman tomorrow night for Becca. She’s going out with a guy she’s never met before, so she’s meeting him at a club in the Main Street Entertainment District and asked me to be there for her. You want to come as my plus one?”
It sounded like a god-awful idea the second the words were out of her mouth, but Jayden smiled. “That sounds good to me. You want me pick you up here or meet you there?”
She considered the logistics for a moment before answering. “The plan was for me to ride with Becca, so she could use me as an excuse if she wanted to bail early. Would you mind meeting us there? I’ll text you the name of the club as soon as I find out which one it is. If everything works out well between Becca and this guy, I can slip out with you.”
He nodded. “Sounds good. I’m looking forward to it.”
She pulled his head down for a kiss, wondering how he could get any better. Nobody liked the idea of a double date with a couple they didn’t know, but Jayden agreed without a second thought. Their tongues tangled for a while, those crazy tremors starting back up between her legs. It didn’t help that she still had her ankles locked behind his back or that his shaft was still as hard as concrete in his jeans.
Jayden was the one who finally pulled back. He traced one long finger down her jawline to her neck, sending a delicious shiver through her. “I guess I’d better go, or I might not get out of here at all tonight.”
Selena reluctantly unwrapped her legs from his waist, letting him help her off the counter, then walked with him to the front door, wondering when she’d taken her shoes off. She remembered having them on earlier but found them tossed carelessly aside near the couch.
At the door, he turned to face her. “I had a really good time. Dinner was amazing, and dessert was even better.”
She smiled, standing up on her tiptoes to hook her arms around his neck. “I’m glad you had fun,” she murmured against his mouth as she stole one more quick kiss. His mouth was seriously addicting. “I did, too.”
“Tomorrow night, then?” he asked.
She nodded as she stepped back. “I’ll text you tomorrow with the club name and the exact time.”
Jayden was half out the door when she caught his arm, making him stop and turn back. “Before I forget. Thanks for telling me about your father. And for talking to me about the gangs. It helped.”
He smiled, leaning in for another kiss that almost had her following him out the door. “I’m glad. We can talk more about it tomorrow if you want.”
She watched him walk down the hall, only closing her apartment door after he’d disappeared around the corner. Then she wandered back into her place, still a little wobbly on her feet. That had been some date. And he was right. The dessert had been even better.
She considered cleaning up the kitchen but then reminded herself it wasn’t like she had anything to do in the morning. Besides, she was surprisingly worn out now that Jayden had left and the adrenaline that had been flooding her body earlier was gone. Cleaning the kitchen could wait, she thought as she headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
Her tiny black panties were embarrassingly wet, and she had to rinse them before tossing them in the hamper. Jayden had gotten to her like nobody’s business. Even now, ten minutes after he’d left, her body was still humming.
Selena jumped in the shower and rinsed off, resisting the urge to let the spray linger in that one particular spot for too long or to let her mind wander to thoughts of how nice it had been to sit on Jayden’s lap. If she started down that road, she wouldn’t get to sleep for a long time. And she really was tired. Even more tired than she’d been the night before after her crazy day at the school and hospital. She guessed Dr. Pham had been right. The stress of the shooting had taken more out of her than she thought.
She was brushing her teeth a little while later when she thought about the whole biting thing again. She replayed the moment in her head, remembering how Jayden had smelled, how he’d tasted against her mouth. It had been delectable, but that didn’t explain why she’d bitten him. It was a little unsettling to think she could bite hard enough to draw blood.
She smiled at herself in the mirror, peeking through the toothpaste and trying to understand how she’d even done it. There was nothing in the mirror that explained it. Her teeth weren’t that sharp.
But as she stood there turning this way and that, looking at canine teeth that weren’t nearly large enough to make the holes she’d seen, another disturbing thought occurred to her. The blood had freaked her out, but she’d enjoyed sinking her teeth into the tastiest hunk of man she’d ever met. It was bizarre to think something like that, but it was true. Even now, thinking about the possibility of doing it again had her body tingling like crazy.
She abruptly considered the promise he’d made to bite her back someday. That was when her body started to really heat up. She was going to need another shower—a cold one this time. What the heck was wrong with her? It was bad enough getting aroused at the idea of biting Jayden. Now she wanted him to bite her back?
Maybe she really did need to see a therapist.
Chapter 8
“I’m surmising from the stupid grin on your face that your date with Selena last night went well?”
Brooks jerked his attention away from the farm they were passing on their way back to Coffield Unit to look at Zane. His packmate always insisted on driving whenever they went anywhere now, like he thought he had to make up for his injury by proving he could still operate a motor vehicle.
“How do you know I wasn’t grinning at the cows we drove past?” Brooks countered.
Zane snorted. “Right. You’ve had the same dreamy expression on your face since we got in the truck an hour ago. So, unless it’s my cologne that’s doing it for you, it’s a woman. Stop messing about, and tell me what happened with Selena last night. I’ve seen you date some amazing women before, but none of them have ever left you looking this smitten.”
Brooks shook his head. Zane wasn’t going to let this go until he spilled his guts. But where did he start? How was he supposed to describe last night’s date with Selena?
Amazing?
Unbelievable?
Spectacular?
Mind-blowing?
While all those words applied, they also fell way short of summing up the evening. Last night had been the best date he’d ever been on. Hell, it might very well have been the best night of his life. Which was shocking considering they’d kept their clothes on for the most part.
He stifled a groan as he remembered how hot Selena had looked in that tiny black dress. And the way it hitched up around her waist when she’d climbed on his lap? Daaaammn.
“It was…good,” he finally said, trying to keep the smile from his face and failing miserably.
Zane lifted a brow. “Good?”
“Okay, better than good,” Brooks admitted. “I went over there with no expectations for the evening and ended up staying half the night.”
“That was fast.”
Brooks chuckled. “Nothing happened, so get your mind out of the gutter. Yeah, we kissed some. Well, a lot actually. But mostly, we just talked. Selena made this killer Mexican meal, and we hung out and chatted about work and family. I told her about my father and how I became a cop, and she told me about growing up in Dallas. Turns out she lost her parents and brother to gang violence. She refuses to let the gangs win.�
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“No wonder she wouldn’t back down from Pablo when he was threatening her with that gun.”
“Yeah. I get the feeling she’d go toe-to-toe with anybody to protect her students.”
“I can respect that,” Zane said. “Her interactions with the gangs are about to take a drastic turn now that she’s a werewolf. If they thought she was tough to deal with before, wait until she has fangs, claws, and enough strength to rip their heads off.”
Brooks frowned. “Shit. I never thought of that. When I tell her she’s a werewolf, I’m going to have to remember to make sure she’s careful not to reveal what she is in front of them—or anyone else. With the hunters and all the other crap going on, that’s all we need.”
“No kidding.” Zane checked his side mirror, then passed a slow-moving farm tractor. “The topic of werewolves never came up, huh?”
“No,” Brooks said. “You may find this hard to believe, but as smooth as I am, I couldn’t come up with a way to work it into the conversation. But I get the feeling I’m going to have to tell her sooner rather than later.”
Zane looked at him sharply. “Why?”
Brooks rested his elbow on the open window. “Because when Selena was on my lap and we were making out, she bit me.”
His friend’s mouth twitched. “At your age, I didn’t think I’d have to talk about the birds and bees, but sometimes when two people are snogging, they can get a bit frisky and nip each other.”
“Funny,” Brooks growled.
He pulled the collar of his uniform T-shirt away from his neck, showing Zane the four round scars. They were completely closed up but still obvious.
“I’m not talking about a little nip,” he said, sitting back in his seat. “We’re talking four fangs at least a half inch long.”
Zane considered that. “She has fangs within twenty-four hours of going through the traumatic event? And all you two were doing was kissing? That’s a little concerning.”
Brooks remembered what it had been like when he’d gone through his change after getting sliced open by that psycho in Gulfport. At first, the only outward sign he was a werewolf was the fact that he’d survived an injury he shouldn’t have, and he’d written that off to a good old-fashioned miracle like everyone else had. His claws hadn’t come out until weeks later when he’d been dealing with a loud, angry drunk. His fangs had shown up the following week. Was the fact that Selena had fangs this soon a sign that something was wrong with her development as a werewolf?
“So, if she bit you, how did the fact that she’s a werewolf not come up?” Zane asked.
“She didn’t realize she had fangs,” Brooks said. “She freaked out when she saw the blood.”
Zane was silent for a while. “Maybe we’re worried about nothing. Maybe some werewolves go through their change faster than others. Then again, maybe we’re also seeing another result of the hunters showing up. If Alex was able to learn how to shift fully into wolf form almost overnight because of the threat the hunters present, maybe Selena can go through her entire change in days instead of weeks.”
Brooks hadn’t thought of that. A lot of crazy things had occurred since the hunters came on the scene. According to Remy’s future mother-in-law—who knew even more about werewolves than Gage—it was all because the Pack had an enemy now. Since so many Pack members had found their soul mates, the Pack was stronger. They were also tapping into new werewolf abilities no one had ever had before. While Alex Trevino had learned how to transform into wolf form in the span of fifteen minutes, Remy had developed some kind of telepathic link with his mate. The guy could track her anywhere she went like there was a frigging GPS chip in her head. Even more wild, the couple shared emotions, too. If she was happy, scared, or mad, Remy knew it even if they were miles apart.
Looking at it that way, maybe it was possible for Selena to go through her change in a matter of days. Damn, that was a terrifying thought. Turning into a werewolf was hard enough to handle when it happened slowly. If the process sped up, it could end up being too much for Selena to handle. At this rate, she could go full claws and fangs within days. He didn’t have time for the slow and careful approach anymore. He was going to have to tell her what she was—soon.
Zane slowed the SUV and took the exit off State Road 287, slipping onto 645, a small county road that led to the prison. As they drove along the narrow back road past brown, dormant fields, Brooks worked through different scenarios in his head, wondering if there was anything close to a good way to broach the subject of werewolves to Selena. He was still trying to come up with something when Zane broke the silence.
“I know you thought I was bonkers when I mentioned it to you the other day, but do you still think Selena’s not The One for you? Clearly, the chemistry is there. Hell, she started to shift right in the middle of you two going at it.”
Brooks had lain awake last night for a long time asking himself this exact same question. “I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought about it. After Gage told me Selena was turning into a werewolf, I told myself my attraction to Selena was because she was going through her change. That maybe my inner alpha was simply worrying about another werewolf in trouble.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say. You were hooked on Selena the first time you smelled her, and that was before she started going through the change.”
Brooks shrugged. “Yeah, I know. But I still find myself trying to come up with reasons to think she’s not The One .”
Zane gave him a curious look as he pulled into the parking lot of the prison. “Why would you do that? Are you scared of finding your soul mate or something?”
“Maybe,” he admitted. “I’d never really thought about it one way or the other, but now that the possibility is right in front of me, I’m worried I’m going to mess it up somehow.”
“How in the hell are you going to cock it up?”
“Selena is turning into a werewolf faster than she should, so it’s possible what we consider normal is off the table,” Brooks pointed out. “What if I screw up helping her through the transition? How do I get her to believe some magical folktale has decided the two of us are supposed to be together if I can’t even get her to understand what she’s turning into? I could end up losing her…both as a werewolf and as The One .”
The thought made his chest tighten painfully.
Zane shook his head and put the SUV in park. “Don’t even think I’m letting this subject go,” he said as he opened his door. “As soon as we’re done with Oliver, you and I are going to talk. Because you are overthinking the hell out of this situation.”
Brooks snorted as he got out to join his packmate, not sure what else there was to talk about. Telling Zane what was going on in his head would actually require him to know in the first place, which he didn’t.
As they walked across the parking lot, Brooks was nearly overwhelmed by the flood of scents coming from the place. Coffield Unit was a big prison, covering twenty thousand acres of land and holding over four thousand prisoners who were in there from anything as minor as simple drug possession up to assault, rape, and murder. Right then, Brooks swore he could smell every one of them.
They were halfway to the entry building that straddled the northern edge of the prison’s perimeter fence when he caught one particular scent that made him slow. The smell was familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it, especially with all the other scents mixing with it. Whatever it was, his gut was screaming at him that there was something wrong.
He sniffed the air, letting his feet guide him toward it.
“Where are you going?” Zane said, moving up beside him with a confused look on his face. “We have to go through security to get into the prison.”
Brooks didn’t answer. Instead, he walked faster, leaving the parking lot behind and heading toward the western edge of the prison’s big perimeter fence. He scanned the prison facilities inside the fence as he went, trying to pinpoint exactly where the familiar scent w
as coming from.
Coffield Unit was one big square, fenced-in compound, with a large central building flanked by two tri-wing cell blocks on either side. The central building held most of the general-use facilities like the library, cafeteria, hospital, and visitors’ center, while the cell blocks housed the prisoners. Each cell block had its own yard facilities, but there was no one outside right now, so it wasn’t like that was what Brooks was smelling. Maybe he was picking up the scent of some criminal he’d put behind bars in one of the cell blocks. But his nose kept leading him west, not east toward the main buildings.
As they walked along the western fence line, Brooks noticed Zane lifting his nose to sniff the air like he was.
The only thing in the direction they were heading was the prison’s side gate and the small guard station that handled vehicles that moved back and forth between the inner and outer gate. Brooks had seen supply trucks and prison transport buses move through it plenty of times. One gate would open, letting a truck or bus pull into the checkpoint. Once the guards were satisfied everything was clear, the second gate would open, allowing the vehicle to come or go.
There were two big trucks currently inside the double gate area, their engines running like they were waiting for the outer one to open and let them both out. They looked like the kind of trucks that belonged to a laundry or uniform delivery service, but they didn’t have names on them.
The closer he and Zane got to the side gate, the stronger and more familiar the scent became. He was already getting a bad feeling in his gut when he finally figured out what the hell was going on. Both he and Zane broke into a run at the same time, yelling and waving their arms to get the attention of the guards manning the side gate.
“Stop those trucks!” Brooks shouted.
Either no one heard them, or they were ignoring them, because the outer gate opened, and the truck in front began to move forward.
“Oliver is in that truck,” Zane growled. “He’s trying to escape.”
“Jeremy Engler and Armend Frasheri are in there, too.” Brooks pulled his Sig .40 caliber and ran faster, the muscles in his legs and glutes twisting and reshaping as he went through a partial shift. “There are some omegas with them. They’re packed in there together so tightly that their scents are practically merged together into a single smell. That’s why I didn’t recognize what I was smelling at first.”