“I should be there,” Derek insisted.
Jason watched from the other side of the room as Grace kneeled in front of Derek’s wheelchair and gripped his hands. “You should, I agree, but Rebecca took that option away from you.”
“Even more reason why I should be included in bringing her down. That bitch caused me to lose a leg. She’s the reason I can’t shift right now. I have to see her caught.”
“And you will, just from a safe place. I will be there with the team, and I'll make sure she pays for what she did to you.”
“It isn’t enough,” Derek growled, dropping Grace’s hands and wheeling himself away from her. Jason took this as his cue to intervene. He knew what Derek could be like when his emotions overtook him, and he’d had no way to release that pent up frustration since he couldn’t shift.
“Grace is right. I know you want to be out there with us, deserve to be out there with us, but it’s too dangerous. Not only for you, but for us too. How can me and Grace possibly focus on capturing Rebecca and the others if our attention is divided by worrying about you? If you’re here, we won't have to worry.”
“I should be out there,” Derek ground out.
“Do you think I don’t want my brother by my side when we face that deranged bitch? Of course I do, but I also want you to live on long after she’s arrested. I want you around to tease me about Alicia and complain about her and Grace dragging you to Disney World. Hell, if we all make it through this, I’ll come with you.”
Both Derek and Grace’s eyes widened, and Jason noticed a faint smile on Grace’s lips.
“Fine,” Derek huffed out eventually. “I’ll stay here.”
“Thank you,” Grace said, dropping down on her knees in front of Derek again and pressing her lips to his. When they broke apart, she added, “I swear to you, I will make her pay for what she did.”
“I will too,” Jason said, standing behind Derek and clapping him on the shoulder.
As Jason stepped away to allow Derek and Grace to say goodbye in private, he saw his packmates saying their own goodbyes to the human mates they were leaving in the safety of Shadowbrook. Ben’s hand gently stroked Lana’s rounded stomach as he kissed her softly, and Josh gripped Harper in a passionate embrace.
Even those in the pack who were all joining the hunt were saying words of farewell to each other, just in case one of them didn’t make it. Gavin embraced his mate, Brenda, before turning to his longtime friend Kevin.
Jason’s chest tightened. He wished he’d thought to call his parents. The last time he’d spoken to them had been ages ago, before Rebecca Carnegie and her family had even shown up, and now he regretted leaving it so long since his last visit. Knowing there’d be no time for a quick call now, Jason sent text messages to his parents telling them how much he loved them.
When Jason had finished sending his messages, he looked up to see Alicia crossing the room to him, her team just entering the room. She looked determined and focused in her uniform, her gun holstered in her duty belt around her waist. He wanted to run to her, wrap her in his arms, and claim her lips with his, but figured it would be highly inappropriate in front of her team and his pack. Instead he walked across the room to meet her.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” she replied, the softness that had been in her voice last night was gone, replaced with a steely tone. Jason tried not to be offended by her change in demeanor. He understood she was just being professional. “My team has been briefed and is ready to move out. Officers Dawson and Lowe have both offered to stay at Shadowbrook with Derek and the others.”
“Okay great, I’ll let Brenda know. She’s Gavin’s wife and one of the pack who is staying behind. The other is a younger member named Nathan. I feel certain between them and your officers that those who are remaining here at Shadowbrook will be safe.”
Alicia nodded in understanding and agreement. “Has the pack been briefed on what to do once Rebecca is located?”
“Yes, I’ve told them once we know where she’s hiding that we’re to contact the others in our team and surround the area, and then call for the second team to meet us. No one is to approach Rebecca’s location until both teams are assembled.”
“Perfect. That’s pretty much what I told my team too, so everything is in place. We’re ready to move out.”
Jason shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, hoping to get a moment alone with Alicia to talk about their kiss the previous night. More importantly, he wanted to assure her that if they both made it through this, he wanted to keep seeing her - even if she had to go back to Boston soon.
But Alicia didn’t give Jason a chance to say anything more, as she raised her voice and shouted, “Everyone gather round.” Once both the pack and her task team were ready, she said, “Okay, you all should have been briefed, but as a reminder, no one is to move against Rebecca and the other Carnegies until both groups are assembled. If you find where they’re hiding, you’re to contact your group, especially the group leader, and then make sure the location is secure. Then wait for everyone else to arrive. No one moves against Rebecca without my say so. When we find her, we’ll only have one chance. She cannot be allowed to escape again, so everyone needs to follow my directions to the letter. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the gathered officers called out, and then a moment later, Jason’s pack issued their agreement.
“Okay. Collins, you’re in charge of the group searching the reservoir. Everyone pair up and move out.”
Jason watched as members of his pack partnered with Alicia’s police officers and began making their way outside to the parking lot.
“Do you want to ride with me in my patrol car?” Alicia asked from beside him.
“Thanks. It probably makes more sense than me taking my bike.”
For a moment, all professionalism was lost as Alicia’s eyes widened. “What kind of bike do you ride?”
Jason barely contained a grin as he replied, “A Harley 883 Iron. Maybe I could take you out for a spin once all this is over?”
“Maybe,”Alicia said, giving him a flirty wink, before leaving the building and leading the way to her patrol car.
When Jason got in the front passenger seat, the atmosphere between them crackled with electricity. Jason longed to revisit the position they’d been in the night before, crushed together as he’d claimed Alicia’s lips with his own, but he knew he had to focus on their task at hand.
They listened to the radio as they rode to October Mountain State Forest, Jason signing along with the cheesy pop music in an attempt to keep his mind off Alicia and how much he wanted her.
They parked the patrol car in the public lot. They were soon joined by the rest of their assigned group. Ben and Grace got out of Ben’s car, both looking grim faced. They gathered around Alicia, who was spreading a map across the hood of her car.
Once everyone in the search group was there, Alicia said, “I’ve divided the forest into sections. Each pair will be assigned a section each. You’re to search your section thoroughly and then the officer of the pair is to radio me with their findings. Got it?”
“Got it,” said everyone gathered.
“Okay. Move out and let's end this.”
The pairs of officers and shifters took maps and moved out in the direction of their sections. Jason and Alicia remained in the parking lot, watching everyone leave, until the last pair - Ben and Grace - had disappeared into the trees.
When they were alone, Alicia said, “Let’s go.” She started leading the way to their designated search area.
“Wait,” Jason called, and Alicia paused at the edge of the forest.
“What? If this is about last night, it will have to wait. We need to focus.”
Jason bristled. This wasn’t about last night, but Alicia bringing it up with such tension in her voice caused him to wonder if she regretted kissing him. “Actually, I was about to say I’m going to shift. If you have a pair of shorts with you, it makes more sense if
I leave my clothes here, instead of you carrying them around with us.”
Alicia’s eyes widened. “Oh, okay,” she said, and promptly turned her back on him to give him some semblance of privacy.
Jason felt his muscles ripple and his bones pop, as his body transformed, changing from human to a Mexican wolf. Other members of the pack shifted into American wolves of various colours, and he always figured his animal form was different due to his mother’s heritage.
In wolf form, Jason bounded up beside Alicia and she let out a small gasp.
“God, this is weird,” she said, moving forward. “But damn, you make a majestic wolf.”
In response Jason lifted his head and howled, then nudged her hand with the tip of his nose. Alicia stiffened for a moment, and Jason kept perfectly still until she relaxed. Then she reached out and stroked his head. Even in his wolf form the contact was welcome, and he was almost tempted to shift back so they could talk before they began their search.
Alicia made it perfectly clear shifting back into human form wasn’t a good idea when she said, “Okay, lead the way.”
Jason knew there was nothing else for it, he just had to find Rebecca Carnegie as fast as possible so he could end this war once and for all. With that thought firmly in mind, Jason raised his head and howled again, before bounding off into the forest.
72
Alicia
Alicia watched Jason in wolf form bound into the trees and followed at a steady pace behind him. She knew the first time she saw him change form would be weird, but nothing had prepared her for the bizarreness of turning her back on a man, only for him to vanish and be replaced by a wolf. Alicia had never seen a wolf in person before and assumed, if she did meet a wild one, she’d be appropriately cautious of it. With Jason, there was no need for caution. Somehow she could still sense the man he was inside, and when he’d pressed his wet nose against her hand, she knew he’d never hurt her.
Alicia knowing Jason would never hurt her made her confusion all the worse. She knew she should be focused on the search for Rebecca, but she couldn’t get her mind off Jason and the kiss they’d shared the previous evening. Even when he’d met her at the inn, she wasn’t sure if she was going to give in to her attraction to him. But then he’d come up to her room and comforted her when she was worried about their mission, and all her doubts had melted away.
She wanted him, and it wasn’t just physical. Yes, she wanted to kiss him and a hell of a lot more, but she also wanted to continue spending time with him and getting to know the man Jason was. She’d gone to bed the night before thinking once Rebecca was caught, she’d suggest she and Jason take a vacation together to continue getting to know each other.
Alicia felt such a pull to Jason, which was crazy since she and Jason barely knew each other. A small part of her worried if this was too much, too soon. She didn’t believe in love at first sight and whirlwind romances, she believed in getting to know someone first. Not just that, but so much could go wrong in a new relationship, especially when she went back to Boston. The distance would be difficult, and she worried Jason would get frustrated and look closer to home. There was no shortage of attractive women in Lenox for Jason to choose from, but the thing Alicia really feared was his possible attraction to females in his pack.
There was one young shifter, perhaps a few years younger than she and Jason, named Melissa, who Alicia thought was stunning. Even as a straight woman, she could appreciate Melissa’s curvaceous figure and long blonde hair. Surely, when the time came to settle down, Jason would want someone like him, another shifter, Alicia thought. A lot of guys had difficulty seeing past her race as it was, but she and Jason were entirely different species.
But then another part of Alicia’s mind argued that she and Jason could make it work. Grace and Derek, Ben and Lana, and Josh and Harper all had, so why couldn’t she and Jason do the same?
Alicia hoped whatever she and Jason felt for each other would still matter when she was back home in Boston. She prayed it wouldn’t be a case of out of sight out of mind and that Jason wouldn't move on from her, leaving Alicia with a broken heart. She couldn’t go through that, not again. So she’d just have to have faith that when she went back to Boston the spark between her and Jason remained, because she knew she’d never never be able to forget the wonderful evening and the searing kiss with the gorgeous man she could easily lose her heart to.
Following Jason’s wolf form through the forest, she told herself, remain professional, and focused her attention on searching for any signs someone had recently been this way. Of course, there were tracks of hikers and people enjoying the forest, but most of them were old and covered over with fallen leaves and other debris.
The forest was calm and quiet. Perhaps a little too quiet. There was a distinct lack of animals around, and Alicia wondered if it was because they’d sensed Jason’s approach and he’d scared them off? Or had something, or someone, driven the animals away?
As they continued to search their section of the forest the sun rose and the day brightened, the heat steadily rising. Alicia suspected it would be a glorious day, one perfect for venturing outside, and she hoped not too many civilians would decide they wanted a trip to the state forest. She could have asked Rogers for permission to close off the area, but Alicia worried that if Rebecca was hiding in the forest, having the police force close it down might tip her off.
If she was even in the forest… Alicia reminded herself, forcing herself to face yet another worry she’d been harboring. Alicia had put her eggs in two baskets, hoping Rebecca and the Carnegies were hiding out in one of the two locations they’d used before. It made sense, criminals often returned to the scenes of their crimes and stuck to places they were familiar with.
But what if the Carnegies weren’t hiding in the state forest or at the reservoir? The whole day and operation would be wasted, and Rogers would likely pull her off the case and send a different team. Worse still, if they didn’t find Rebecca today, who knew what she might do next.
Alicia worried for Grace, Derek and Jason, and the rest of the pack. The longer Rebecca and her family remained on the loose, the more danger they were all in. She’d never forgive herself if her failure to arrest Rebecca led to Ben’s mate getting hurt and something happening to their baby.
They continued searching as the sun rose and the day moved from morning to afternoon. By twelve-thirty, that’d almost traversed their entire section, and neither Alicia nor Jason had found a single clue. She hoped the rest of her team were faring better.
Alicia’s steps slowed as Jason came to a stop. He sniffed the ground and paced backward and forwards between two spruce trees.
“Do you need to shift to tell me what you’ve found?” she asked, coming to stand beside the wolf. Jason nodded his head and Alicia continued speaking, “Okay, give me a minute to get your shorts.”
Alicia pulled the backpack she was wearing off her back and reached inside to retrieve a pair of black gym shorts she was certain would cover Jason adequately. She extended the shorts in his direction and then turned her back. As the wolf whimpered and groaned, she was tempted to turn around. Was he okay? It sounded like he was in pain. Plus, she had to admit she was curious about what it looked like when he shifted.
Unable to help herself, Alicia turned around just as Jason’s transformation was ending. Her cheeks blazing, she turned back but was unable to block out the image of his perfect, naked body. His whole body rippled with muscles, including chiseled abs, and strong, toned thighs.
Alicia longed to do more than just kiss Jason. She wanted to caress those rippling muscles and feel him embrace her in those strong arms.
“I’m decent,” Jason called a few moments later, a hint of amusement obvious in his voice.
When Alicia turned she saw he was smirking. Putting on her most professional voice she said, “Sorry about what I saw. I was curious about what the transformation looked like, but I didn’t mean to be inappropriate.”
&n
bsp; Jason shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me. You can watch the process next time, if you want?”
Alicia blushed and looked away. He was making it very difficult for her to focus on the task at hand. Even though his private parts were covered, Jason’s toned torso was still exposed, and Alicia had accidentally seen enough to know the lean body led down to strong thighs and a substantial package.
“What did you find?” she asked, keeping her eyes trained on the ground.
“Nothing. I thought I smelled something back there, but I was mistaken,” Jason replied.
“What the hell did you shift back for then?” Alicia said, spinning to face him with narrowed eyes. “I swear to God Jason, if this is some weird attempt to seduce me or get me to talk about last night, it’s not going to work.”
Infuriating her, he raised an eyebrow and smirked. “What would work, then?”
He closed the distance between them, and Alicia became acutely aware that he was practically naked. She couldn’t seem to stop herself though, and took a step forward, getting close to him. Taking it as a hint of her willingness, Jason reached out and tugged Alicia to him, crushing his lips against hers.
Alica melted in Jason’s arms as he kissed her slowly, his tongue exploring her mouth, as he held her up, her body clinging to his. For a few moments, nothing else mattered. Rebecca Carnegie could have jumped out at them at any moment, for all Alicia cared. Her only concern was Jason, and his lips never leaving hers. She craved him, like an addict craves their next fix.
When Jason stepped back, Alicia was dizzy and breathless. To stop herself from saying something stupid, instead she asked, “Why did you shift if you hadn’t picked up her scent?”
“I’m starving. I need to eat. Shifting burns a lot of energy and it’s been almost eight hours since I last ate.” Jason’s amused expression changed to one of distress and she felt guilty for not considering the toll this was taking on his body.
“I’m sorry,” she said, meeting his gaze and offering him a sheepish smile. “I packed some lunch.”
Firefighter Wolves Shifters (A Paranormal Romance Series Boxset) Page 38