Earth Shattering

by L. P. Maxa

She might be locked in on a secluded mountain compound, but she’d never felt less like a prisoner in her life.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Riley

  Blake never came down for breakfast, so Riley headed upstairs to make sure she hadn’t gotten lost. Yesterday, he’d found her turned around in a closet when she’d been searching for the walk-in pantry. He stopped short when he came to Jasper lounging on the bed they’d shared last night, scrolling through his phone.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  Jasper glanced up. “Good morning to you too, bro.”

  “Where’s Blake?”

  “She’s in the shower, cleaning my jizz from between her legs.” Jasper rolled his eyes, like the fucking child he was. “She went downstairs, for fuck’s sake. What is with the tone and the hostility?”

  Riley’s jaw was clenched, his heart racing, once again. He knew Jasper was joking, being an ass. As soon as he’d stepped into the room, he knew Blake wasn’t in there. He had learned to sense her presence weeks ago. That didn’t make Jasper’s words any easier to swallow though. The images they conjured, the memories. Fuck. He was instantly on edge, fighting the urge to reach across the bed and choke the life out of his brother.

  “You know you’re the only one of us making any of this weird, right?” Jasper got up, tucking his cell back into his pocket.

  “I told you I didn’t want to do—”

  “Shut up, man.” Jasper held his hand up, halting Riley’s clipped words. “We’ve been best friends, packmates, for almost five years. We’ve lived in the same space, shared the same girls, made the same fucking memories. Which means I know you.” He stepped closer, irritation marring his usually relaxed features. “You can lie to yourself all you want, but I know the truth. You wanted her as much as I did.”

  Riley stayed silent, letting Jasper’s words wash over him.

  “I’m the bad cop, right? Fine. Make me the villain.” Jasper shook his head, his eyes narrowing. “I could see the lust in your eyes. I could see how much you wanted to have that girl between us.” He stepped past him on his way out the door. “I felt how hard you fucking came inside that perf—”

  In the span of a nanosecond Riley had Jasper pinned against the wall outside Blake’s room. His hand was wrapped around his best friend’s throat, cutting off the rest of his stupid rant. Jasper grabbed his wrist, throwing it off and shoving him away. They were on opposite walls, chest heaving, staring each other down.

  Which is exactly how Axie found them moments later. “What the actual fuck?”

  Jasper scoffed. “Yeah, Rye, what the actual fuck?” When Riley didn’t answer, Jasper threw his hands in the air and stomped down the stairs.

  Jasper was dancing on his last damn nerve when it came to Blake. He was also right. Which had pissed Riley off more than anything that had happened yet. He’d wanted Blake, and he’d come so fucking hard he thought he was going to pass out.

  Axie turned to him, arms crossed and hip cocked to the side. “You and Jasper going to really throw down? Or keep dancing around each other like little bitches?”

  Riley sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. “Stop instigating.”

  “Stop telling us everything is fine when it’s clearly not.” Axie posted up next to him, turning to meet his gaze. “And I’m not instigating. I was mostly joking. The last thing I want is to see you fight over a girl with your best friend.”

  Riley knew he couldn’t argue with that, couldn’t deny that was what was happening between him and his packmate. Riley thought that he’d get over it, that he’d stop getting so jealous every time Jasper made Blake fucking smile, but apparently not. He couldn’t even stand seeing Jasper in Blake’s room, couldn’t even take his stupid jokes about her in the shower.

  “You guys shared her, right?”

  Riley nodded. “At the cabin. Jace tell you?”

  “Jace told me in Jace’s own way, with as few words as possible. You know how much he hates talking about you two’s wayward dicks.” Axie wagged her eyebrows before sobering. “If what you three did is bothering you like this, why’d you agree to it in the first place?”

  “I don’t know.” Jasper’s words rang inside his skull, reminding him his friend knew the truth. “I didn’t want it to happen, and then Jasper kept running his mouth. The more he talked about it, the more interested Blake got, the more okay with it I became.” Okay with it was an understatement. He’d been drooling at the thought of having her by the time he gave in. “I’m pissed at Jasper, but I’m pissed at myself more. Now we’re here, in this house together and—”

  “And every time he comes near her, makes her laugh, touches her, you look like your seconds away from ripping his head off and bunting it into the woods for the bears to eat.”

  “Bit dramatic. I can tell you’ve been spending some time with Blake, but sure. Yeah. That’s how I feel.” Although, he’d had Jasper’s throat in his hands and he’d let him go, let him walk away. Maybe he wouldn’t actually try to murder his best friend like he kept thinking he would, not when it really came down to it.

  “You aren’t going to like this, but I think we need to go and talk to Pen.”

  Riley frowned. “Pen, why?”

  “Your jealousy may be petty human shit, but your reactions are all shifter. Before the two of you rip my house to shreds, we need to talk to the one person who knows the most about shifter dynamics. We need to fix this, Rye.”

  ***

  Riley and Axie had pulled on their coats, and then hopped onto one of their four-wheelers to make the drive across the compound to Baze and Pen’s new house. It mirrored Jace’s in a lot of ways, with modern vibes and a lower profile. They’d used the same architect, who had been seriously vetted by Jace. The last thing anyone wanted was their blueprints and security details being sold to an enemy.

  Axie knocked loudly, then walked in, announcing them loudly. “Please don’t be naked.”

  Pen’s laughter came from the direction of the living room. “No one is naked. I’m in here.” Pen adjusted herself against the couch cushions a few times, almost as if it was impossible for her to get truly comfortable. “What’s going on?”

  “We need your expert advice on a shifter matter.” Axie plopped down on the other couch, throwing her hands wide. “Riley is losing his shit and I’m afraid he’s going to break my house when he finally explodes.”

  Pen’s gaze moved to him, her eyebrows raised. “What’s going on, bud?”

  “Um, well, the thing is—”

  “He keeps going all possessive wolf when it comes to his bestie, Blake, anytime Jasper gets near her.” Axie glanced at him, rolling her eyes. “Or even her freaking room. Riley freaks the fuck out.”

  “Okay.” Pen drew out the word, her eyes narrowed in apparent confusion. “Jasper is a player and Blake is your friend. I could see where his advances toward her would be upsetting.” There was a lift to the end of her sentence, like she was still unsure why they’d come to her.

  “This is the last conversation I want to be having with my alpha’s mate, I assure you.” Riley sat next to Axie, clasping his hands together. “But this jealousy with Jasper and Blake, it’s more than that. He and I, we uh, shared her the other night.”

  “You shared her?” Pen’s eyes went wide.

  Axie shrugged, like this was a casual conversation to have. “They share.”

  Pen nodded. “Share. Share? Share?”

  “Yes.” Riley sighed. “We share. We shared Blake.”

  Baze walked by the room, growling their way, “One of you say ‘share’ one more time. I dare you.”

  “Baze, really? Stop eavesdropping. The kids came to me.” Pen waved him away before turning her attention back to Riley and the issue at hand. “Okay, let me make sure I understand what’s happening here.” She adjusted her position again. “You and Jasper were together with Blake at the cabin, During the cabin, after the cabin, everything was fine between you and Jasper?”


  “I was irritated at him for instigating the…togetherness. I was scared it would change things between me and Blake.” In hindsight he supposed he should have been more concerned about what that night would change between him and his packmate. “I got over it for the most part, but now, I want to kill him. Like for real, murder.”

  “That started after Blake had to come stay here in the mountains?”

  “Yeah.” Riley thought back to the easier days he shared with Axie, Jace, and Jasper before Blake had needed to make the trip to Haxton. There was no real anger, no real jealousy. “The more he’s around her, the less I can control myself. I want to kill him. I want to kill my best friend.”

  The three of them seemed to need a minute as his admission settled between them. Riley despised the newfound hate he had in his heart for Jasper. They’d been inseparable since they were fourteen. Two boys scared to be without their moms for the first time. They’d been through so much, survived so much. There’d been attacks, black eyes, death threats, baseball losses, championships, babies, and more happy memories than he could even count. Jasper was his partner in crime, his partner in all things.

  “Is Jasper acting jealous at all? Possessive of Blake?”

  Riley shook his head. “He’s acting like Jasper. Casually annoying and hilariously inappropriate.”

  “That’s pretty spot-on.” Axie pursed her lips, nodding at his assessment of their packmate.

  “And Blake? Does she seem interested in Jasper?”

  Pen’s question felt like a punch to his stomach. He didn’t even think of that, didn’t even have the bandwidth to notice if Blake was now crushing on Jasper. He sure as hell hoped not.

  “No. I asked her.” Axie sat back, pulling her legs underneath her. “This morning we were talking and I asked if she was into Jasper. She said that she never, for even a moment, wanted him without Riley. She wouldn’t have gone through with the ‘cabin’ if Riley hadn’t agreed.”

  He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He’d refrained from choking the life out of Jasper earlier, but he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to show the same restraint if he started hooking up with Blake behind his back, or if Blake decided she wanted Jasper.

  Pen spoke again, jarring him from his thoughts. “Did you shift a lot this past semester when you were at UNC?”

  “Honestly, no. I didn’t shift unless I was back here with the pack.” Riley knew Pen would have thoughts about that, and if her frown was any indication, he was right. “I don’t know any shifters up there, and I never had the urge to run on my own.” He often thought that was what might have fueled some of his loneliness while he was away at school. He missed his family, but his wolf? His wolf missed his pack.

  Pen took a deep breath, her gaze going to Axie’s before settling back on his. “Riley, do you remember how that old professor explained to Baze and Corey that as packs grow stronger, so does the pack mentality?”

  “Yeah.”

  It was when Corey had first realized she was pregnant with Hadley. Riley and Dom’s reactions to her pregnancy, the way Riley was connected to the baby growing inside her, had all caused a lot of questions to arise. They’d gone to a professor at St. Leasing with their questions. Riley remembered Baze being so annoyed at Corey because she kept asking if Riley had imprinted on the baby.

  “Well, you’ve been away at school for a while, away from your pack. You and Jasper hooked up with Blake before you even got back to the compound.”

  In his mind, Riley felt like Pen was simply restating facts. “I don’t get what you’re trying to say.”

  “You’re here now, in your territory, surrounded by your packmates. Your shifter, your supernatural uh, ness, is stronger here. Your desires are stronger here.”

  “My shifter desires?” Riley’s eyebrows rose to his hairline, understanding settling into his brain. “No. No. Blake is my friend, that’s all.”

  “You always have hot threesomes with your friends?” Axie scoffed at his adamant and immediate denial.

  Baze growled from the hallway, “Please stop talking about sex around my mate.”

  “Baze. For the love of god, either join the room or go away.” Pen threw an irritated glare over her shoulder as best she could with her limited movement. He snarled but didn’t move. Pen turned her attention back to Riley. “You were intimate with her, right? You didn’t just, um, watch?”

  Axie giggled. “Oh, he participated.”

  “For fuck’s sake.” Baze finally came into the room, arms crossed and expression irate.

  Riley knew what Pen was insinuating, but there was no way she was right. “We’re friends, that’s all. I’d been hanging out with her for nearly a month before the winter break. We’ve slept in the same bed. I’ve never once been jealous when we went out and other guys hit on her or danced with her. Nothing. I didn’t want more than our friendship, or even thought for a single second that she could be my, uh…no.”

  “Riley, you hung out with her on campus, where you’re most likely the only shifter for miles. In Greenly, you’re more human than you are wolf.” Pen winced, as if she felt bad for trying to implode his world. “Things are different here in Haxton, on the compound with your brothers. You’re more wolf.”

  He couldn’t deny that. In Greenly, he never felt his wolf, and unbelievably, he’d never really even thought about that part of himself. The moment he was back with his packmates, his wolf was back, always within reach. If Pen was right about that, could she be right about the rest of it?

  Riley cared for Blake. He loved her. He hadn’t asked her to come barging into his room, stealing his toilet and his attention. The moment he’d given in, though, he’d been a goner. Until the last few days, he only ever thought of her as a friend. Even after the cabin, he was hell-bent on keeping their easygoing relationship intact. Having her here in Haxton, in the house with him and Jasper, was tough. It’d been tough since he walked in the door with her, his jealousy running unchecked with a mind of its own.

  No. Not a mind of its own. It was his mind. His wolf. His wolf who was skating so close to the surface now that he was home. Fuck. Pen was right. Blake was his. She’d been his since the night they met. He’d shared his fucking mate with his brother.

  “I knew I should have never agreed to that night.” Riley dropped his head in his hands. “I knew it was wrong. I fucking knew it would change everything between us.”

  “You knew, your wolf knew.” Pen reach over and rested her palm on his shoulder. “Because deep down, you both knew Blake was always meant to be more than your friend, bud.”

  “Whether it happened in that cabin with Jasper, or six months later after some random college party where you both drank too much cheap beer, it was always going to be set into motion.” Axie spoke softly, like she felt bad for the truths they laid at his feet. “You can’t fight fate, Rye.”

  If anyone knew that, it was Axie. She’d never wanted this life. She’d been so damn close to freedom when she met Jace. They’d denied their connection, and they’d done everything they could to prolong the inevitable. In the end, the magic always won.

  “I can’t do this to her.” Riley shook his head, because unlike Pen and Axie, Blake knew absolutely nothing about their world. Shifters were nothing but a movie legend to her. “I can’t drop all this on her. I can’t fucking flip her world on a dime. I can’t.”

  “You’ve watched five wolves find their forever, their mates. You’ve witnessed it over and over and over again. What’s the one thing that’s true, every single time?” Pen’s voice was soft, gentle, treating him with kid gloves.

  “Possessive asshole behavior and a lot of growling?” Riley finally looked up, his lips in a thin line. He’d started in on jealous and possessive, for sure, but he wasn’t growling. Yet.

  “That. Yes.” Pen’s smile took over her face. “And. There’s a happily ever after at the end.”

  “If she’s yours, that means she’s made for this life, Riley.” Baze pe
rched on the arm of the couch next to his mate, his hand stroking her hair. “She can handle it. The universe made sure of it.”

  The universe, fate, destiny. All that bullshit he’d heard the rest of his pack talk about for the last few years. He knew one day he might find his forever. He never thought he’d be nineteen and his best friend would know what she tasted like.

  “Fuck me.”

  “She already did that.” Axie snorted, then gave in and started to giggle. “Wait.” She sobered instantly. “She already did that. Oh my god, Rye. She already fucked you.”

  “Axie, are you trying to make my damn head explode today? Is that your goal for—”

  “Baze. I’m not being a dick.” Axie got to her feet, pulling Riley up by the sleeve of his sweatshirt. “You had sex with her. You set your bond in motion. You’re being a jealous ass, but her reaction? Her body is going to start craving the bond.”

  Riley’s blood ran cold at what Axie was saying. Males became jealous douchebags, all possessive and dominant when their wolf wanted to finish the bonding process. Females? That was a whole fucking different ball game. Axie and Maddi had both gone through these intense hot flashes that made them fucking irresistible to the unbonded males around them. And the male most affected each time? Jasper.

  Baze got to his feet as well. As alpha, he knew he’d need to step in and help. “Where is she right now?”

  “She went on a hike.” Axie winced. “With Jasper.”

  Riley tore through their house, out the back door toward the mountains, shifting with only his mate on his mind.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Blake

  Blake followed behind Jasper, stepping where he stepped, making sure she didn’t slip during their trek into the woods. Growing up in Colorado meant she was used to the snowfall. The powder-coated trees in the mountains surrounding Jace and Axie’s compound were a whole other level though. She felt like she was surrounded by beauty and magic. She was glad that she came with Jasper, glad to have this time with him to establish an actual friendship. She really wished that Riley was here though, experiencing the quiet peacefulness she was walking through.