Chapter Twenty #2
But as he got a grip, the word Jesse had used echoed in his ears. Poach. That was exactly what he was doing, sneaking in, so he could take something from them. The sick irony of it churned in his gut.
Until he remembered Amy’s words—They’ll play their Argent card at the point of maximum impact. They’re going to end up raising hell. And he wasn’t entirely sure she’d meant that figuratively.
Jason might trust all of them implicitly, but Riley knew better. Under all the casual ribbing and brotherhood, secrets sat like landmines. The pack didn’t have clean hands. So yeah, maybe he was lying to Jason. But Jason’s pack? They were lying to the world.
Remembering that, he regained his balance. His conscience was still niggling him over Jason, but there wasn’t anything he could do about that.
“You two gonna keep standin’ there like you’re welded together, or are you fixin’ to try some of Jason’s ribs?” Jesse called over, and Riley thanked God for the change of subject. “Cause that glaze he puts on them, hell, it’s better than sex.”
“I heard that, Turner,” Urban growled.
“You were s’posed to. Still hopin’ you’ll manage to change my mind one of these days,” Jesse shot back at him, sauntering over to fill a plate with ribs.
Riley raised his eyebrows at Jason. “Is he allowed to speak to the pack alpha that way?” he asked quietly. Everyone had been relaxed and joking easily all afternoon, but there was no mistaking the respect they all showed Urban.
“That’s Jesse for you,” Jason said fondly. “Some days, I think Matt’s the only one who could keep him in line. Though to hear Matt talk, it’s a miracle he hasn’t wrung Jesse’s neck yet.”
“Why hasn’t he?” Riley asked. From his observations of Matt Urban, he didn’t think he would tolerate insubordination. Urban had been pissed at Jason for missing dinner, for God’s sake, and then Jesse got away with speaking to him like that?
“They’re mates,” Jason said, as if it was obvious. He paused, his brow wrinkling. “It’s more than that, though. I think it’s because no one on this earth loves or respects Matt more than Jesse does, and they both know it.”
“Mates?” Riley asked cautiously. He knew about shifters having mates—who didn’t?—but he’d also found out since coming to Elk Ridge that he didn’t know as much about shifters as he’d thought. He’d rather hear it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
Jason led the way over to the grill, where they both piled plates high, before retreating to sit together, slightly away from the rest of the pack. And there, Jason told Riley about mates.
Honestly, it sounded like Grade A bullshit to Riley, the idea that people could be destined to be together. He figured the whole idea had been dreamed up by someone burned out by the dating scene—and he didn’t entirely blame them. It was carnage out there.
But it was evident Jason believed in mates from the soft, almost reverent way he spoke about them. So he let Jason tell him, and for once, he didn’t roll his eyes or argue. Because even if he didn’t believe, Jason clearly did.
Somehow—and Riley had no idea how—their conversation turned into him kissing glaze from the ribs off Jason’s lips. They sat together as dusk fell, talking quietly and kissing every now and then, and Riley thought this might be the best day of his life.
* * *
It was dark by the time Riley stretched in his chair. “I guess I should go,” he said unenthusiastically.
“Guess so,” Jason said, sounding equally reluctant. “I have to patrol later tonight, but I’ll drop by the motel tomorrow morning.”
“Really?” Riley drawled suggestively, bouncing his eyebrows in imitation of Bryce.
Jason sighed as he got to his feet. “Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to introduce you,” he said. “Next thing I know, you’ll be drinking fruit tea.”
“That’s one thing I won’t be doing,” Riley said.
He’d already made that mistake once—accepting a mug of Dave’s fruit tea, then having to quietly tip it out onto the grass when Dave wasn’t looking, because it tasted so bad.
Only after he’d done that did Jason think to mention that shifters had an enhanced sense of smell.
But Dave had been cool about it. When Jason had started packing up the leftovers, hindered more than helped by Jesse, who seemed determined to taste everything one last time, Dave had sat with Riley for a while.
He was originally from California, and it turned out he and Riley had surfed some of the same beaches when they were younger.
Riley said goodbye to the pack, shaking Urban’s hand and thanking him for his hospitality.
Those green eyes were no less alert and assessing, but Urban had felt more approachable, somehow.
Or maybe extended exposure to Matt Urban was like desensitization therapy, and Riley simply didn’t have enough adrenaline to spend the entire evening worried for his life.
Thinking that way reminded him why he was really here. “I didn’t meet Karl,” Riley said, as Jason walked him to his car. If Karl was the Argent, maybe they’d kept him hidden.
“He traded patrols with Tristan, so Tristan could stay and have some fun,” Jason said.
So either Karl wasn’t being hidden, or Jason didn’t know the full story. Either way, Riley should probably park his investigation for now and take these last moments with Jason while he could.
Settling back against his car, he hooked his fingers into the belt loops of Jason’s jeans and pulled him in close.
“You sure he wouldn’t want to trade patrols with you tonight?
” he asked softly into Jason’s ear. Because he didn’t want to leave.
He wanted to spend the night with Jason pressed against him.
Jason sighed slightly. “Yeah,” he said. And then he leaned in to kiss Riley. Not the sort of teasing kisses they’d been exchanging earlier, but a long, deep one.
Riley finally pulled away, breathing heavily. “You’re going to kill me,” he said unevenly.
“Not quite what I was going for,” Jason said, taking a step back.
Riley stared at him longingly in the bright moonlight. The moon had just emerged from the veil of clouds behind which it had lingered all evening, and he could see how kiss-bruised Jason’s lips were, and the darkness of desire in his eyes.
“Just one more,” Jason said, moving in close. He pressed a slow, gentle kiss to Riley’s mouth. “Beneath a lover’s moon,” he said as he pulled away.
Riley found he was smiling inanely at Jason’s simple, beautiful statement. “Is that a shifter legend?” he asked.
Jason shook his head. “Not so far as I know. It was something my mom used to sing—a Mexican song. About how a lover’s moon burns clear and true, while a liar’s moon is warped by mist and clouds, and a red moon is a killing moon.” He stopped. “Yeah, doesn’t sound quite so romantic now, does it?”
It didn’t. And it hadn’t escaped Riley’s notice that in the time Jason had taken to explain, the moonlight had once more been distorted by thin clouds across the moon’s face.
He shivered, suddenly cold to the very depths of his being.
The moon had seen him for what he was. Jason wouldn’t be far behind.
He stepped away from the car, far enough to yank open the door. “I should go,” he said, folding himself into the seat.
As he drove away, he looked in his rearview. Jason was still standing there, shoulders slightly hunched and his hands buried in his pockets, watching Riley like he wanted to leave with him. Riley swallowed hard and put his foot on the gas. He didn’t look back again.