by Julia Davies
Dane knew how she felt. The mere thought of causing his mate any more pain than he was already suffering brought him out in a cold sweat, but he also knew that he had no choice. If they didn’t get the silver out of Jai, then he would die. Silver poisoning in a were was a slow and painful process and there was no way he could lose Jai that way.
“Jai, I have to get the bullet out,” he said, touching his palm to his mate’s cheek. “I know this is going to hurt.” He forced a smile. “I promise I’ll do this as quickly as I can.”
Jai blinked at him, the edge of his mouth curving upwards. “Just get it over with. Ow! Fucking hell that hurts!”
Dane had to tune out Jai’s pained cries as he cut deeper into the flesh, digging inexpertly until he found the bullet. Once it was tossed aside, he pressed a makeshift bandage to the wound and gathered Jai up into his arms.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Are you sure you’re not in pain? Can I get you anything?”
Jai sighed. “For the fiftieth time, babe, I’m fine.”
It was bad for a while. The silver had gotten into his bloodstream, making the first few hours a nightmare, and Jai spent the rest of the day feeling sick to his stomach, tremors racking his body.
“I’m annoying you, aren’t I?” Dane signed. “I’m sorry. I just can’t stand the fact that you’ve been hurt because of me and my family. I should never have got you involved.”
“I like that you’re worried about me,” Jai told him, “but this isn’t your fault. Can you hand me my jacket?”
Frowning, Dane handed over the leather jacket from the chair next to him. “Why?”
“Because we’re going out.”
Since Dane wouldn’t let him go near the office, even if he promised not to work, and he didn’t want to go and sit at home again, Jai had to think of something else to do.
“I want to go for a run,” Jai said.
* * * *
Dane parked the car at the edge of the woods and they both got out, quickly stripping and leaving their clothes in the car. It felt good to be out here in the open air, hearing nothing but the birds twittering in the trees or the leaves rustling in the faint breeze. Jai took a moment to cast his gaze over his mate’s bare flesh, watching as Dane dropped to all fours and began to shift. Moments later, the wolf stood before him. It cocked its head to one side and Jai could have sworn it smiled, right before it moved closer. Jai felt the soft brush of fur as the wolf pressed against his leg, rubbing against him as a cat would. Jai laughed as a canine nose nuzzled him.
“Much as I love you,” he said, “that is not going to happen. Kinky little sod.”
Dane whimpered softly and looked ready to try again, when suddenly the wolf’s ears pricked and his attention was turned to something behind Jai. Before Jai could even turn, the huge wolf positioned itself in front of him, snarling, teeth bared.
“There’s no one here to rescue you this time,” a voice said as Nick stepped out from around the car and came toward them, taking out a kitchen knife from under his jacket. “I waited for you to leave and you came here. There’s no one to help you, no one here to stop me getting rid of you. They’ll thank me,” he said. “You’re monsters.”
Jai put his hand down to the wolf, to stop Dane snarling. The wolf quietened, but Jai could feel that he was still tense, ready. Nick must have been watching the house, waiting for them to leave so that he could follow them. He was just glad that Sasha had decided to stay with one of her friends from work for a while. At least he hadn’t known where she was.
“No, we’re not. We aren’t the ones who hit a defenceless woman, or who kidnapped two people. Or who shot someone,” he said.
Nick shook his head emphatically. “No; I did what was right to protect her.”
He raised the shotgun but Dane was faster. He pounced at Nick, knocking the gun from his hands and sinking his teeth into Nick’s arm. Nick fell sprawling into the grass, frantically hitting at Dane to get him away, trying to struggle to his feet again. He was never going to stop, Jai realised. He would keep coming after them, targeting them, no matter what happened to him. A jail cell or a psychiatric ward would only hold him for so long and eventually, he would be free to start all over again. His personal crusade put the entire pack in jeopardy, risking their exposure to the human population.
He was a risk that they could not allow to continue.
* * * *
An hour later, Jai pulled Dane under the shower spray and let the warm water cascade over both of them. They had called Michael, and the Alpha had arranged for Nick’s body to disappear somewhere they would never need to worry about him being discovered. The police would just think that he ran away and, after his trail went cold, they would close the case and he would be forgotten. At least he would by the police; some memories would take longer to fade.
Jai could feel Dane shaking as he held him, see the pain in his eyes.
“You did what you had to,” he told his mate. “You had no choice.”
Dane sighed. “It doesn’t feel like it.”
* * * *
He let Jai wash him down, rinsing away the traces and smells of blood on his skin. His mum had made the journey up here as soon as she heard about the incident, scolding Dane for not telling her sooner. She had booked into a nearby hotel so that she could visit with him. He was supposed to be meeting her in a few hours, along with Sasha, but he really didn’t want to spend his evening pretending that everything was perfect, playing happy families.
In the end, he called his mum and said that he wouldn’t be able to make it to dinner, but all that achieved was that they arrived at Jai’s house ten minutes after his call.
It was foolish, but he still had that tiny glimmer of hope when he saw her come into the room, let in by Sasha, that he would be here, too. He felt his hopes dashed when there was no sign of his dad.
“I’ll make some tea,” Dee announced, heading for the kitchen to begin the age old tradition. No matter what the problem, or what the crisis, you would always feel better after a cup of tea.
Dane was about to go and help when he heard someone clear their throat behind him.
“Dad?”
Gil edged further into the room, looking uneasy. “I wasn’t sure if I would be welcome.”
Dane smiled. “Of course you are; you always will be.” He led his dad off to sit down in living room, Jai following them. He knew that this was hard for his dad and, tempting as it was, it would be cruel to make him go through it in front of everyone.
“Look, I’m never going to be at ease with the fact that you have a, um, male mate,” his dad said, as though the word would bite him, “but you are still my son. I might have overreacted when you first told me—it would have been nice to be able to have time to adjust before I came here.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier,” Dane said. “To be honest, I was scared of how you’d react. I tried to tell you when you first arrived, before you walked in on us, but I couldn’t. I panicked. That’s why I ran.”
His dad shook his head sadly. “I can’t believe that I made you so scared of me.” He turned to Jai. “I wish to apologise to you also. I should not have taken out my frustrations on you, and I should not have called you many of the things I did.”
Jai nodded. “Apology accepted. I know you don’t approve of us, well me, but I’m not going walk away. As uncomfortable as this is for you to hear, I love Dane.”
“How long has this been going on?” his dad asked, still looking uneasy, but he was trying.
“About three months,” Dane told him, “if you mean, how long have I been with Jai. Or did you mean, how long have I known I was gay?”
His dad nodded.
“A lot longer. I just hadn’t really been able to admit it until Jai and I got together.”
“And I never knew.”
Dane shook his head, seeing his dad glance at Jai.
“I’m trying to understand, really I am,” Gil insisted. “What do yo
ur family think about this?”
Jai shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t really have much family, apart from the pack. The guard are fine with it; Ret, the guard Captain, is mated to a man named Andy.”
A noise from the kitchen made them all look up. Jai touched Dane on the arm.
“Why don’t you go back and give your mum a hand with the tea since you know where everything is?” he said.
Dane frowned for a second, then nodded, reluctant to leave his boyfriend and his dad alone but assuming that Jai knew what he was doing. He left.
* * * *
“Mr Bryant?”
Dane’s dad frowned at him.
“I wanted to talk to you,” Jai said. “I know that this is weird for you and that if you had your choice, Dane would be straight, with a girlfriend. He isn’t going to change, however.”
Gil looked as though he was planning on arguing, to tell Jai to mind his own business, but at the last minute he stopped himself.
“I saw how destroyed he was when you walked out on him, asking him to change himself or lose you,” Jai continued. “If you’re going to change your mind again in a few days time, and cut him out of your life, I’m asking you to do it now before you get his hopes up.”
Now, Gil glared at him.
“I’m not criticising you,” Jai assured him before he could voice whatever insult was on the tip of his tongue. “I just do not want to see him get hurt again.”
“I should tell you to keep the hell out of our business,” Gil finally said.
“You can, but I won’t. Where Dane’s concerned I won’t just stand by without trying to protect him.”
“You truly mean that, don’t you?” Gil observed. “I admit that this may take time, but the thought that I could actually lose him, that he couldn’t even bring himself to tell me, made me realise that I had to try. Was he really so scared to tell me?”
Jai nodded. “When you first arrived, he tried to talk to you; he was having a panic attack when I caught up with him in his room. He didn’t want to disappoint you, to crack the illusion you had of him.” He sighed. “Look, I know you are never going to approve of me, or even like me I suspect, but I’d like us to at least try and get along for Dane’s sake. How about you just think of me as a friend of your son’s, if you aren’t comfortable with who I really am.”
Gil sighed. “If I’m going to get to know my son, and you, then there is no point in pretending. You are my son’s,” he paused, “mate, and I have to deal with that.” There was a long silence as they both tried to think of a way forward.
“Did he really stand up to them?” Gil asked. At Jai’s confusion, he said, “Sasha told me that he walked right into the room where Nick was holding the pair of you and confronted them.”
Jai smiled. “He told him that he wasn’t leaving without both of us. He tried to protect me, and his sister.”
“He’s changed,” Gil mused. “He would never have done that before. I may not like the reasons, but you’ve made him grow up, to stand up for himself.”
“He’s definitely more confident now, I’ve noticed that since I started seeing him,” Jai agreed.
Gil stood, as Jai did, and glanced back to the party. “We should probably get back; they’ll wonder where we’ve gone.” He held out his hand to Jai. “I would still prefer if you were a woman that my boy had settled with,” he said, “But I can see that you care about Dane, and I know you won’t do anything to hurt him.” He shook Jai’s hand and smiled. “I was wrong about you. I thought you were a predator, corrupting my boy’s mind and preying on his innocence.”
Jai grinned. “That’s okay; I thought you were a pig-headed homophobe who didn’t deserve to have a son like Dane. I guess we were both wrong.”
When they got back the kitchen, Dane, his mother and his sister were waiting anxiously. They all heaved a visible sigh of relief when the two men rejoined them, looking pleased that they were both in one piece with no black eyes or bloodied noses.
“Jai and I had a little chat,” he told Dane.
Jai stopped next to Dane and took the hand that he offered. As Gil turned to reassure his wife, Dane whispered.
“What was all that about?”
Jai smiled. “I’ll tell you later. I think we got along. He’s not a bad bloke and he’s really trying.”
Dane reached up to curl his fingers around the back of Jai’s neck, “Thank you," he said. He kissed Jai lightly on the lips.
“For what?”
Dane looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, “For still being here after everything that I’ve put you through.”
Jai smiled. “I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.”