by Sydney Addae
He grabbed the bags of take-outs from the seafood restaurant and headed inside. Through the sliding glass door, he watched Faye glide through the water, swimming laps.
So graceful and beautiful. How would they move past his deception? Would she look at him as a monster or the man she’d lived with these past weeks?
Uncertainty filled his chest and sorrow clogged his throat. La Patron made it clear he had until midnight to correct the situation or he’d step in. Seeing the shock, disbelief and then pain on Mistress’ face had unmanned him. His behavior to his mate disappointed her and that crushed him.
He had to fix this, no matter the cost. With unsteady hands, he set the table, warmed the food and called Faye to eat.
Naked, she stepped from the pool. Water slid from her luscious curves and dropped to the floor. Like a starving man, he gazed at her intently, savoring and storage these precious moments for posterity.
“Lobster tails, crab cakes, salmon, salad and cheese biscuits.” He pointed to the food and leaned down to kiss her.
“Mmm, looks good. I’m going to wash my hands, be right back.”
Jarcee sat, took a deep breath and placed food on both plates. When she returned, wearing a robe to his disappointment, he smiled. “What do you want to drink?”
“I brought home a bottle of fruit flavored water.” She got it from the refrigerator and took a sip while watching him. “Have a good day? Your friend get off okay?
Thinking of David and Cain’s departure brought a smile to Jarcee’s lips. Being teased by Adam, Jackie and Renee had been heart-warming. But the subsequent meeting with La Patron and Mistress, in their home no less, had been a kick in the pants.
“Yes, it was good seeing him.” How to start the conversation? Should he wait until they finished or start now? After. He needed more time to think how to explain.
Jarcee had been so caught up in his misery he didn’t realize Faye wasn’t eating much until she put down her fork.
“Look I’ve been trying to decide how to ask you this and can’t.” She stared at him. “I need you to trust me, can you do that?”
“With my life,” he said immediately with feeling while watching her.
She took a deep breath, licked her lips and met his gaze. “I’m in the military and am here on assignment. That’s all I can tell you right now. What I’m doing is classified and I can never discuss any of that with you.”
“What? You’re not a Realtor?”
She swallowed. “Yes and no.”
“Which is it?” La Patron mentioned the government doing a counter-intelligent operation. Was she involved in that?
“I can’t discuss any of that.”
His thoughts scrambled. How could he protect her? Should he explain their relationship now?
“Do you understand that, Jarcee? It’s my job, I could be court-martialed, sent to prison if I discussed anything with you.”
“When will you be done with this job?”
“This is my last assignment before retirement. I have 15 years.” She paused. “I’m good at what I do and have helped my country.” Pride rang through her voice.
“I have no doubt of that,” he said, thinking fast. The need to protect rose fast and swift. If she was a part of the counter-intelligence operation sent to infiltrate the pack... had she sought him deliberately? No. He didn’t think so. They were mated. Nothing could change that. Were they planning to use their mating, against the pack? La Patron and Mistress? How? Faye didn’t know they were mated.
He didn’t understand how but wasn’t sure. What if he took her away to a place no one would find her? She’d never agree.
“Look I know you’re upset that I lied, and I’m really sorry. I hope we can work through this,” she said reaching out to him, covering his hand with hers.
While he never lied to her, he omitted a lot of critical details about who and what he was. “My heart is yours as long as you want it. I love you with every breath I take, Faye. You should know that.”
Tears filled her eyes. She came to him and kissed him. “I love you so much. I’ve been scared since I got home.”
“Why? Something happened at your meeting?”
“Yes, it was my first meeting with my assignment.” Her gaze slid from his and he knew with certainty she was a part of the operation to take down his Alpha.
Death waited for him if he lost his mate or betrayed his Alpha with his silence. Millions of lives depended on Silas Knight and Mistress. Heartbreaking, he wasn’t sure what to do. He popped a piece of sweet lobster in his mouth and chewed slowly.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes.” He covered her hand and kissed the back of it. “Are you?”
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “When do you go back to work?”
“Next month, why?” Would she share her mission with him?
“I don’t mean to be nosy, but who're your clients? Local? International? Do you travel a lot?”
“Yes to all of those. My clients are whoever I’m assigned to.”
She frowned. “You work for an agency or something?”
“No. I have one client who assigns me to different people to protect.” Would she ask about La Patron directly?
“One client? That’s scary for job security, right? What if they fire you?”
He shrugged and continued eating. “There are other potential clients.”
“You might want to look into that,” she said softly.
“Why?”
“Just good business practice.”
He nodded.
“But something you should consider.”
“Alright, I will. But I doubt I’ll quit. I like things the way they are. They’re good people.”
She snorted.
“What?”
“Sometimes people appear to be one way but are really something else. Something you can’t possibly fathom.”
“Really? That would be epic.”
“No it wouldn’t,” she snapped.
His brow rose. “Whatever happened in your meeting’s got you on edge. I can help you with that you know.” He winked at her.
She laughed and continued eating.
Together they cleaned the kitchen and put up the left-overs. Faye looked at him. “I can’t tell you why, but you need to drop that client.”
Jarcee met her gaze. The time had come to put his life on the line. “I can’t.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
“He’s my Alpha.”
FAYE STARED AT HIM as the words he uttered exploded in her mind. Her smile dropped as her brows furrowed.
“What?”
Compelled to comfort her, he walked forward and stopped when she threw up her hand.
“Your Alpha? Is that what you said?” she whispered as her fingertips touched her lips.
“Yes. I work security detail for my Alpha.”
She jerked back as if he’d fired off shots at point blank range. “You’re... you’re one of them?” she asked in a horrified whisper stepping backward with one hand on her chest, the other on her stomach.
“I don’t know what you—”
“Fuck that, Jarcee, you know exactly what I mean.” She spun around and ran to their bedroom. The bathroom door slammed as he entered the room behind her. He stood at the door, listening as she emptied her stomach. His heart broke in pieces as she sobbed. When the door opened he stepped back, ready to do anything to make this right with her.
“Faye.”
She held up her hand as she grabbed her purse, and computer bag.
“Please, talk to me.”
“Don’t... just don’t,” she said without looking at him she left the room and ran out the house.
Unable to stop himself, he followed and stood behind her car as she backed out.
“Move.”
“Talk to me, please.”
She threw her head back and yelled. “Move I said,”
He stepped aside.
She spun out th
e driveway and out of his life.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
JASMINE HAD BEEN PEEVED with him since his “tough” talk with Jarcee. She hadn’t had much to say and when she did speak it was in mono-syllables. Jarcee held a special place not only in Jasmine’s heart but all of his pups. While he recognized that, he would be less than a good Alpha to allow Jarcee a pass with his actions.
Could he have handled the reprimand better? Jasmine believed so. Would it impact his relationship with Jarcee? Silas didn’t think so, but mates were a gray area. Pack law and rules didn’t always apply when it came to mates.
Sitting in the living room of their suite, he reached out to Jarcee, hoping things were going smoothly.
“Jarcee?” Silas frowned when there was no answer. He called out to him several times and when there was no response, he searched for his beast. Jarcee was running in the mountains, that wasn’t a good sign. Silas spoke to the beast and was saddened by the heart-breaking pain resonating through the beast.
“Come to the compound, Jarcee. Come here,” he commanded and waited for a response. When there was none, he pulled on the connection and compelled Jarcee to meet him.
He sensed the wolf’s obedience and went out to meet him. “Where are you going?” Jasmine asked.
“To meet Jarcee, he’s hurting. Things didn’t go well.” He entered the tunnel and prepared to exit through the security gate.
She sifted through his memories. “I was afraid of this. I’m on my way.”
He didn’t bother to argue and waited for her at the exit. She arrived wearing a jogging suit and sneakers. They left the compound and entered the forest. A mile in, Silas sensed Jarcee’s beast.
“Just so you know, I’m going to hug him,” Jasmine said, clearly not asking permission.
Silas didn’t bother responding.
A hug might be exactly what his wounded pack mate needed. The large white wolf entered the clearing whining and shaking his head as if he couldn’t settle. Waves of pain buffeted Silas. He stroked Jarcee’s head and back to calm him. Jasmine stood on the other side and they stroked him together until his beast stopped shaking. Moments later, Jarcee sat on the ground in front of them shaking and weeping.
Jasmine held him close as she would a babe and rocked him. “Shh, it’s okay, take a deep breath, that’s it. Just breathe. One breath, now another. That’s good.” She stroked his hair, looked up at Silas and nodded.
“We’re going inside so we can talk. Jasmine can’t link with you, here and I don’t know who’s listening. Come, let’s get you inside. Whatever’s wrong we’ll fix it.”
Jarcee shook his head. “Not this. No way to fix this.”
Silas had never heard his friend sound so defeated. What had happened? He grabbed Jarcee’s chin, their gazes connected. “Am I your Alpha?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I said we will fix this.” A flicker of hope lit in Jarcee’s eyes, not full-blown, but enough to hold him together until they could work it out.
Jarcee nodded and stood.
They returned to the compound in silence.
Silas sensed his mate’s concern and hurt. His beast couldn’t ease her and that bothered him. Knowing she wouldn’t appreciate him mentioning his personal discomfort, he struggled to focus on Jarcee’s dilemma.
Using the private elevator to Silas and Jasmine’s suite, Silas locked the door, barring guests. He gave Jarcee something to put on, turned and hugged his mate. “He’ll be okay, I promise we’ll help him fix this, no matter what it takes. Do you believe me?”
She nodded slowly against his chest. “It hurts to see him like this.”
He rubbed her back to calm her. “I know but it will get better. You and I will work together, no one else will know about this. Okay?”
“That’s a good idea. The kids would be devastated to see him hurting like this. They’d go looking for his mate and that would be a disaster.” She inhaled and wiped her face. “My heart’s breaking for him.”
Silas rubbed her back and rocked her gently. “I know. He’ll be out here soon. Do you want him to see us looking uncertain? As if we don’t know what to do? He needs you and me to appear confident that he won’t lose his mate. Can you do that for him?” For me, he thought. If Jasmine wasn’t right, he and his beast wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else.
She exhaled. “Yes. Thanks, I needed that. I’ll get him something to drink.”
Pleased they had calmed their mate, Silas turned his attention to Jarcee just as the bathroom door opened.
Jasmine returned to the living area, handed Jarcee a cup of hot tea and sat next to him. When he took several sips of the tea she took his hand. “What happened?” she asked.
Silas expected to hear a tale of a human rejecting a man and his beast. He had words of comfort and strategies to win the recalcitrant mate back at the ready. But he had nothing to say to his top security guy being mated to a human spy.
Words failed him. Jarcee’s loyalties were surely being tested. How far would he go to save his mate? Would he betray pack? Jarcee knew the compound inside and out, down to the secret tunnels set aside for Silas’ den. He knew secrets of all Silas’ pups who thought of him as an uncle or godfather. He had participated in Alpha, Knights and KnightForce training. He knew names, addresses and personal information of countless pack members. If the military had been seeking a ripe target to learn their weaknesses, they’d hit pay dirt with Jarcee.
Jasmine couldn’t believe it. Faye worked for the military? Jarcee just learned about it today? If Faye received her assignment today that meant the counter-intelligence operation had started and was already in the area.
“Are you saying she had no idea of us?”
“No, she didn’t. She must’ve seen my photo at her meeting today and assumed I worked security for Alpha and told me to quit my job. But that was after she told me about her real job, not the assignment, her job. Based on what Alpha had said earlier, I knew she was a part of the operation sent here to destroy us,” Jarcee said.
“Not destroy us,” Jasmine said gently, not wanting to make this bigger in his mind than what it was. “They’re here to gain information about the pack, looking for weaknesses. I’m sure her job is to report what she sees and not to destroy the pack.”
“Mistress, the end result is to devise a defensive weapon against us. Even though she may not be directly involved she’s a part of it.” Jarcee looked at Silas. “Why would the Goddess mate me with someone like that? It makes no sense. I’ve gone over how we met, fell in love and every detail of every day we spent together and cannot see how any of it was fake. I don’t understand how this happened.”
Jasmine looked at Silas, she had no idea how it happened either. Granted, when she initially learned of the Wolf Nation she hadn’t been thrilled. But her sons were half-breeds and she knew the caliber of men they were. It didn’t take much to accept Silas, even though their beginning was rocky. Faye hadn’t known anything about wolves, or packs or anything. Only the information the government pushed at her.
“She’s a breeder, like Jasmine. Her occupation doesn’t change who she is, your mate. Petition the Goddess for more specific answers to help you understand. Remember, jobs come and go. They aren’t an indicator of her appropriateness as a mate for you, Jarcee.”
“They’ll court-martial her.” Jarcee’s words sounded flat, with no emotion. “If she does not do her job, she’ll be arrested, go to jail.”
No wonder Jarcee’s heart was broken. His loyalty was to his mate who considered him and his pack her enemy. How could they help Jarcee through this?
Faye could survive the separation, there would be a high price to pay but she wouldn’t die. Jarcee wouldn’t be that lucky.
She held back a sob at the horrible thought.
“Hold it together, he needs to see his Alphas will work to fix this,” Silas said.
Jasmine nodded. Throat tight, she searched for words of comfort. Nothing came to mind. “What did sh
e say about being mates?”
“She ran off before I told her anything, she wouldn’t listen.”
Silas looked at Jasmine. “She doesn’t know you’re mates?”
“No, just that you’re my Alpha, her enemy.” He sounded both hurt and disgusted. “She’d just apologized to me for lying about her job, told me she loved me, but wouldn’t give me a chance to explain anything.”
Lying and learning you’d fallen in love with someone who wasn’t 100% human were two different conversations, not in the same universe, Jasmine thought but didn’t say anything.
“Soon, she’s going to go through withdrawal, do you have your phone?” Silas asked. “She’ll be confused, have questions, chances are she’ll contact you for answers.”
Jarcee looked at her and then Silas. “You think so?” He sounded so forlorn with a thread of hope, Jasmine hugged him again.
“Just as you’re missing her, she’s going to miss you. Especially if you haven’t started communicating through links. She needs contact with you, believe me, this isn’t one-sided,” Jasmine assured him.
“My phone’s at the house.” He stood. “I’ll go home in case she calls.”
“I’ll come with you,” Jasmine said.
“No,” Silas and Jarcee said at the same time.
She looked at them. “Yes.” She refused to back down on this. Jarcee’s happiness meant too much to her. This was an odd case where loyalties on both parts would be tested.
“Mistress, it’s not necessary—”
“Not for you, but for her. If Faye contacts you and has questions, you can’t answer them, I can. We promised to do whatever is necessary to fix this, and we will.” She glanced at Silas. “I’ll get my jacket, then we’ll go.”
“Jasmine I don’t have security in place, this could be a trap. Can you at least wait?” Silas said.