Axel Summer Shifters Season 2

by Raines, Harmony

  She was probably being paranoid but after last night, Jenessa was aware that they were in real danger. The attack on Axel had proven that. What would have happened if they had caught Axel and kidnapped Jenessa wasn’t a thought she dwelled on. There was no point worrying about what might have beens when there were enough what might bes to go around.

  Axel turned off the road onto a quiet forest track and crawled through the trees until they were hidden from passing vehicles. He stopped the bike and took off his helmet. Jenessa did the same. “Time for a drink and something to eat.”

  “I am not going to argue with you.” Her stomach rumbled and as she swung her leg over the bike and stood up, her legs and back protested about the hours they had spent crouched behind Axel.

  “We’re about an hour away from the area you camped in. We’ll eat here and then go on to the campsite. We can leave the bike before the campsite and walk the rest of the way. I don’t want to scare them off with the sound of an engine.” Axel took out a package of sandwiches and handed one to Jenessa. “Ham and cheese?”

  “I could eat anything right now,” she admitted.

  “Once this is over, I’ll cook you a good meal.” He bit into his sandwich, chicken salad with not enough mayo. “I’m a good cook.”

  “And you’re good at taking care of your mom.” Jenessa walked up and down, stretching her legs as she ate, while Axel leaned against the bike.

  “Your point?”

  “That you would make a great househusband.” She smiled as she watched his expression. “What? A shifter like you wouldn’t want to stay home and raise a couple of kids?”

  His forehead creased as he thought about it for a moment. “Kids. Yeah, that I would like to do.”

  “That’s what I thought.” She stopped walking and turned to face him. “I’m hoping we might be lucky enough to have kids of our own but if that doesn’t work out, I’ve often thought about adopting.”

  “Adopting?” His eyes went out of focus for a moment as if he were somewhere else then he looked directly at her. “Yeah, adopting would be good, too.”

  “I was always grateful to my dad for adopting me. I know he was my mom’s mate, but I always knew he cared for me as much as he cared for Tyler. He took me in and raised me as his own and I’d like to do that for some other child that needs a home.” She went back to pacing the forest floor.

  “You have a good heart, Jenessa. And I’m sure your dad can see what an incredible woman you are. As much as he took you in, you are now looking out for your brother. You are putting family first.” He took a bite of his sandwich as Jenessa paused and stared into the distance. “I just wish I could understand why Tyler would leave without giving any thought to how this might affect me and my dad.”

  “Maybe he didn’t think. Maybe he just reacted. Then it was too late to go back and make it right.” Axel must have been in those kinds of situations himself. “I’m not trying to excuse his behavior. Far from it, I’d happily wring his neck, but until we can put ourselves in his shoes and see the facts, we shouldn’t judge him too harshly.”

  Jenessa turned to face Axel, her eyes misted with tears. “I do judge him. But not as harshly as I did when this first happened.”

  “You were worried about your dad.” He’d have been just as worried for his mom. One thing she’d learned about Axel is that he loved his mom and would protect her with his life if he had to. “I hate the pain I put my mom through when I was part of that lifestyle. I regret it.”

  “I just hope that when we do find them and make it right with the Hell Fire MC that Tyler and Colleen don’t want to be part of that life. I’m hoping they settle down somewhere and start a family and just be happy.” She tilted her head to one side. “I know that smoothing things over with the Hell Fire MC is not going to be easy. Believe me, I have been going crazy trying to unravel that situation.”

  “There has to be a way and if there is, I know you’ll find it.” He pushed himself away from his bike and went to her. Dipping his hand in his backpack, he offered her a candy bar. “Here, this will make you feel a lot better. They were my favorite when I was a kid.”

  “Something we never grow out of.” She accepted the candy bar and kissed his cheek. “I’m never going to grow out of loving you.”

  His cheeks tinged with color and he basked in her words. “I thought I was going to have to wait a long time to hear you say you love me.”

  “It kind of snuck up on me. But yesterday, I just knew. I felt it in my heart and love is not a thing to hide away. It needs to be shared.” She took a bite of her candy bar. “This is good.”

  “I have good taste.” He breathed in the forest air. “I would love to shift and run through the trees.” He raised his arms above his head and stretched.

  “Then do it.” She took another bite of the candy. “I’d love to see your cougar.”

  “I am here to please.” He bowed theatrically, shoved his candy bar into his mouth, and strode back to the bike. After dropping his pack on the ground, he stepped away from the bike. For a second, he was there as if frozen in time and then he let go of the world and faded away. For a split second, he was without her and then his cougar appeared in front of their mate, much to her joy.

  “You are a handsome pussy cat.” She stepped forward, unafraid of him as she reached out her hand and touched his broad head. His cougar purred like a domesticated cat, waiting for his tummy to be tickled.

  The cougar flopped down on his side and rolled over with his legs in the air. Jenessa giggled as she knelt beside him and rubbed his soft underbelly. It was a perfect moment and one she would cherish for the rest of his life. With the sun shining down on them and her mate’s happy feline face before her eyes, the world seemed incredible, full of possibilities.

  Like the sound of children laughing as they played in the back yard. Perhaps she would get the family she always dreamed of.

  “Shall we go for a short walk?” Jenessa stood up and dusted the dirt off her clothes. “I need to get rid of these kinks in my back.”

  The cougar got to his feet and rubbed against her thigh. He’d follow her wherever she went. Just being with their mate made him happy. In some ways shifters were such simple creatures. She’d never realized it before despite growing up with them.

  Jenessa looked around and then headed away from the bike, walking down a trail that threaded through the trees.

  Tilting her head back, she turned her face to the sun. It was good to be out in the fresh air surrounded by nature. With her business keeping her busy, she rarely allowed herself time off to go out and enjoy the world around her. Even on her days off, she’d be scouring the internet for the next big deal or reading books on strategy and marketing. This trip reminded her of just how much she missed the outdoors.

  The cougar’s whiskers tickled her hand as he walked close by her side. She tickled his head as they walked, enjoying this time alone with him. The trail went deeper into the trees before looping around and heading back to where the bike was parked. Jenessa closed her eyes briefly and imagined they were already deep in the mountains, perhaps on a hiking trip. The cougar could hunt for food and she could sit by the fire and cook whatever he brought back for them to eat. She wrinkled her nose. There was no way she could skin and cook a rabbit or any other creature. Maybe they would just take some supplies with them.

  The cougar nudged her hand since she’d stopped tickling him.

  “I was thinking about us taking a vacation. Maybe into the mountains. We could make a camp and just enjoy being together with no worries about the rest of the world. Just for a day or two. I think, once this is all over, we deserve that, don’t we?” She looked down at the cougar who nodded his head and brushed up against her thigh once more. “Yes, that would be fun. Once we’ve sorted out my brother and dealt with the Hell Fire MC. Should all be easy.”

  Jenessa spotted the shiny chrome of the bike between the trees and with a sigh of resignation walked back toward it. It was time
to move on, time to test her theory as to where Tyler had escaped. If they were wrong, they would just have to travel back to the city and push harder for answers. Maybe Margo knew more than she said. Or perhaps they would never find Tyler.

  That prospect didn’t sit well with Jenessa, but it was a possibility she might have to face. If that was how things turned out, she still needed to deal with the Hell Fire MC. They could not live with the prospect of the gang coming after anyone in their family again. How could she and Axel have children with that kind of threat always there like a shadow in their mind? Children needed to have the freedom to grow and breathe, that wouldn’t happen under the threat of them being in danger.

  When they reached the bike, she dropped down to her knees and hugged the cougar tightly. “Thank you for your company. You are magnificent.” She kissed the top of his head and the creature stared at her with his emerald green eyes before he turned around and with a swish of his tail walked a few feet away. He turned back to face Jenessa before the air fizzed and popped around him and he faded from the world. Seconds later, Axel stood there in his human form. He immediately stepped forward, grabbed his discarded pack, and got on the bike. Jenessa climbed on behind him and he kicked the bike off its stand, started the engine, and sped off back toward the road and their destination.

  Chapter Twenty-Five – Axel

  They were close to the place where Jenessa had come on vacation with her family when she was younger. Finding Tyler here was a long shot, he knew that, but he’d always worked on gut instincts so if this was the place Jenessa thought her brother would come then it was worth a shot. Especially since they had no other clues.

  They might have gotten on a plane and left the country, his cougar suggested.

  That is my fear, Axel answered. If that’s what happened, then we need to figure out a different way to solve this. His hands tightened around the handlebars. If Jenessa hadn’t gone to find Margo last night, he dreaded to think what might have happened. The Hell Fire MC would have taken his mate. He pushed those thoughts to one side. It did no good to dwell on what might have happened. He needed to focus on what would happen if they found Tyler and Colleen here.

  Just finding them doesn’t solve our problem, does it? His cougar was right.

  No, if we find them and they refuse to work with us to resolve this, we are back in the same situation. There is no way Jenessa will hand her brother’s whereabouts over to the gang. And Hogg is not going to suddenly abandon his search. The whole situation is a mess.

  One that we will unravel, his cougar said with confidence.

  Axel turned off the road and followed a narrow trail through the trees. They were about a mile away from the campsite, which was just outside of his range of senses. He hoped Tyler’s senses, or Colleen’s, didn’t reach farther. Axel and Jenessa needed the element of surprise.

  His mate clung on tightly as the bike bumped over the uneven ground and finally came to a stop where the trail became too narrow to go any farther. He switched off the engine and Jenessa dismounted and removed her helmet. Shaking her head, she brushed her hair back over her shoulders and then stowed the helmet on the back of the bike. Axel slid off the seat and took off his helmet, he scented the air. There was no one close by and no scent of animals in this direction. If they stayed downwind, their scent wouldn’t reach the campsite and alert Tyler.

  To come all this way and lose their quarry in the last seconds would be disastrous. Especially with the bike so far away. Tyler and Colleen could be long gone before Axel had a chance to follow.

  “Are you okay?” Jenessa asked.

  “Yes, I’m just going over the plan and all the things that can go wrong.” He smiled but there was no humor in it. “Call me a pessimist.”

  “I share your pessimism.” Jenessa put her hands on her hips and stared into the distance. “Even if Tyler is out there, we still have to persuade him and Colleen to come back with us. If they refuse, what can we do?”

  “I can knock Tyler onto his butt and drag him back to the city.” He was only half-joking. “We have to make this right, we have to make it work but that includes Tyler and Colleen. I know they are mates and want to be together, but they can’t just feed you and your dad to the wolves, which is literally what has happened.”

  “And you and your mom. I’ve wrapped you two up in this now and I won’t rest until you are free of Hogg and his men.” Her hands dropped to her sides and her eyes flashed as she turned to Axel. “Come on, let’s get going. The sooner we reach the campsite, the sooner we find out if they are there. There’s no point getting worked up over nothing.”

  “I sure hope they are there.” Axel hitched his pack on his shoulder and struck off through the trees.

  “I thought you enjoyed the journey here if nothing else.” Jenessa tried to lighten the mood but Axel was spoiling for a fight. As they closed in on the campsite, he resented Tyler more and more. What kind of man ran from his problems?

  The kind who has a mate to protect, his cougar answered.

  But to protect his mate at the expense of the rest of his family? Axel would never do that. Not to his mom.

  This isn’t just due to Tyler, his cougar reminded him. Colleen made the choice, too. They are equal in this. Two shifters who made the choice to run away.

  “How do you feel about Colleen?” Axel asked Jenessa. They were close to the campsite now, he could hear people moving around and so kept his voice low.

  “Colleen?” His mate’s forehead wrinkled as she gave it some thought. “I want to like her. But I also want to know whose idea it was to run off like this. Was it her idea and Tyler just went along with it? Or did Tyler come up with the idea just to keep her safe?”

  “But you also want to like her because she is your brother’s mate.” He half-smiled as she screwed up her face.

  “Yeah, I don’t want her first impression of me to be this two-headed monster who tears a strip off her brother for leaving with no word. But seriously, what were they thinking? Not even giving me and my dad a warning or telling us they were safe. Did they think we wouldn’t worry, even without the visit from Hogg’s men?”

  “Okay, we’re close.” He put up his hand and they stopped walking. Turning his head from right to left, he tried to focus on the conversations in the hope he might be able to pinpoint Tyler and Colleen. He had no idea what they sounded like, but they were young, in their twenties, so he could dismiss older voices that tended to be more scratchy or younger voices that were higher. “Over there.”

  He guided Jenessa around the edge of the campground, keeping out of sight and trying not to make too much noise. If Tyler thought he was being stalked, he might run anyway. Or maybe they had been here so long he figured they were safe.

  Or they are not here at all. His cougar wanted to spring free and go check the camp out for himself.

  “I think that’s them.” Jenessa pointed into the camp. There was a small tent close to the perimeter of the campground. It was tucked away in the trees and next to it stood a motorcycle. Its chrome shone in the afternoon sun. Polished and well cared for, the bike was someone’s pride and joy. Beside the bike stood a young man, his shoulder-length hair was red as the sunlight. His chin, even covered in stubble, reminded Axel of Ralph. “That’s Tyler.”

  “Okay, to make a run for it on the bike, they have to exit this way.” Axel pointed to a trail that wove between a couple of RVs and a bell tent. “I’m going to walk that way, while you come at him from the trees. I doubt he’ll run once he sees you.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Jenessa asked.

  “You are still his family, so I’m fairly confident.” He shrugged. “You have to take a chance.”

  “That’s just it, I am only his half-sister. Maybe he doesn’t care what happens to me.” Her mouth turned down at the corners. “Maybe he just didn’t care what happened to me.”

  “That’s not true.” Axel placed his hand on her shoulder. “Believe me, you are part of his family.
Go talk to him. Let him explain.”

  She nodded and hugged him quickly before ducking under a branch and heading into the trees. Axel stood for a moment and watched her thread her way around to where her brother was standing. He witnessed the moment Tyler caught the scent of his sister and swung around to stare into the trees. For a second, he thought Tyler was going to run and Axel strode forward to take up his position on the trail. However, instead of running away from Jenessa, he ran toward her.

  Axel stiffened and his cougar itched to be free. He clawed at the edges of Axel’s mind, wanting to go protect his mate from the perceived threat. They had never considered that Tyler might attack his sister. No shifter would ever knowingly hurt a member of their family unless pushed to the extreme.

  Axel ran forward and headed for the tent, ready to cut through the camp and take out Tyler if he had to. But as he ran, a woman poked her head out of the tent and stood up, watching Tyler. Her expression was unreadable as she stepped forward and the air around her shimmered as she prepared to shift. Surely that was a risky move surrounded by other people who might see you. Perhaps she was the dangerous one.

  The thought flashed into Axel’s head as he took a couple of strides forward, his attention fixed on who he assumed was Colleen. She saw him out of the corner of her eye and swung around to face him.

  Axel was torn between protecting his mate from her brother and stopping Colleen from shifting and doing more harm.

  He half-turned to look at Jenessa who had her arms in the air, but not in self-defense. Tyler reached her and they hugged, although he could hear Jenessa sobbing, too.

  Colleen turned to look at her mate and her shoulders relaxed. The air around her cleared, she was no longer preparing to shift, but as Axel watched her, it became obvious why Tyler had chosen to run. His mate was pregnant. The baby bump was small, but it was there.

  He ran to protect his mate and child. Axel’s cougar could not blame him. Although Axel would not have done the same for his mate and child, he would have handled it differently, he would have made sure his mom was safe. But Axel was older, not exactly wiser, but certainly more experienced in dealing with situations.