Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-four
JASON
The sun was high overhead when Jason finally stirred from the tight ball of misery he’d curled into.
He didn’t want to move. He wanted to stay here, away from everyone and everything.
But he needed to be with the pack if outsiders found out about Jesse, with all the trouble that would bring down upon them.
He didn’t even know if that article had been published. Maybe it was already out there. Maybe—and his heart skipped a beat as he started back toward the house—Riley hadn’t written it but had merely been reading it online somewhere.
He snarled at a vine that tangled in his tail.
He was so fucking na?ve. Still hoping somehow that what had happened wasn’t real.
That Riley’s “You know” wasn’t an admission of guilt.
That the lack of surprise in Matt’s eyes at the news hadn’t confirmed everything.
And if Matt had seen it, how hadn’t Jason? How could he have been so oblivious?
He slipped quietly into his bunkhouse, thankful beyond words no one was around.
As he stepped into the shower, memories of those he’d shared with Riley came crashing back.
He’d been so unquestioningly happy and trusting, never thinking to wonder why finally someone wanted him. But Riley never had wanted him.
He’d tried so hard, for so long, to be useful to the pack so that he was wanted.
And just when he’d believed it didn’t work like that, let down his guard, he’d been proved wrong.
Riley had only pretended to want him because he was useful to him.
Matt had seen it coming. Maybe everyone had.
Everyone except Jason because he’d been just that desperate to be loved.
Jason ended up curled in the corner of the shower, his face buried in his knees as huge, gulping, ugly sobs threatened to tear him apart.
The rapidly cooling spray eventually forced him to his feet and out of the shower.
He needed to find his alpha and his pack, and discover what his job was in meeting this new danger.
If they still trusted him, after this. He knew he’d never said or done anything to give Jesse away, but it still left the question hanging as to how Riley had known.
As he opened the bunkhouse door, he almost stepped on a plate of cookies left outside.
Jesse’s scent clung to it, and when Jason stilled and breathed in, he realized he could smell the others too—lingering traces in the air and on the ground.
They’d all come by while he’d been falling apart in the shower.
Jason’s throat closed up, and he had to blink hard at the proof that he mattered to them. Picking up the plate, he set it just inside the door, away from raccoons or worse, then stepped back out into the sunlight.
He crossed the yard, making for the house, and stopped dead. A scent hit him, wrapping around his senses, twisting in his gut, setting every nerve on edge. His pulse spiked, his breathing sped up, and a high-pitched noise sounded in his ears.
No. It wasn’t possible. He must be losing his mind. But there it was, familiar, inescapable—Riley’s scent, threading through the breeze like a promise Jason couldn’t bear to believe again.
His nostrils flared as he took another breath, his lip curling, the beginnings of a growl rumbling in his throat as his wolf came to the surface.
With tension in every muscle, Jason headed around the side of the house.
RILEY
Riley stopped once more before he got back to Elk Ridge. He’d needed to get his thoughts in order and work out what to say to Jason. What he possibly could say.
He was too twisted up inside to even know what he was feeling, other than regret and shame, but when he passed the sign welcoming him to Elk Ridge, something in him that had been insistently shrilling seemed to ease.
As he rounded the last bend in the ranch driveway, he realized for the first time he might not even get to speak to Jason. He didn’t know how they’d known, but they were waiting for him.
Matt Urban stood outside the house, his arms crossed and his eyes steady on Riley through the windshield. And there was a whole bunch of wolves prowling restlessly around, all of them watching Riley’s car. Fuck. He hadn’t thought this through. He hadn’t thought this through at all.
But even knowing that, he wasn’t going to back down, because he had to see Jason. No matter what Urban and his pack did to him, he had to try. He had to somehow ease the desperate pain that had been in Jason’s eyes before he’d turned and walked out the door.
He looked hard at each of the wolves, searching for Jason. He had no idea what Jason would look like as a wolf, but somehow, he knew he wasn’t there. Riley took the key from the ignition, swallowed hard, then pushed open his door and slowly climbed out.
He tried to disregard the wave of powerful bodies that surged toward him. The raised lips and the growls deep inside their chests were a hell of a lot more difficult to ignore, but he managed to hold Urban’s hard gaze as three gray wolves circled around him.
“I want to see Jason,” he said, and flinched as the wolf closest to him snarled.
Urban’s voice was scarcely less savage. “You don’t think you’ve done enough?”
Riley nodded jerkily. “I want to explain—to try and make him see—”
“To make yourself feel less guilty, and fuck how it makes him feel.”
“No.” It punched out of him loudly, in defiance and anger. Heavy growls sounded from the wolves weaving around him, and he swallowed. “I mean, there are things I need to tell him. Things he should know.”
Urban prowled forward, wildness and power in every inch of him.
“You don’t get to fuck him over twice.” His voice was cold enough to freeze the air between them.
“Jason’s spent years learning to trust that he belongs here, that his place is his, not something anyone can take away.
” He stopped in front of Riley, seeming to tower over him, his eyes sharp and deadly.
“And you—” He curled his lip, disdain in every syllable. “You walked in here, saw how much he had to give, and decided it was yours to use.”
The constant low growls around Riley rose in volume, vibrating with menace that woke a fear in Riley so deep, so primal, that he could scarcely think. But Urban wasn’t done.
“You’ve taken enough from him. You don’t get to take his peace too.” He stepped back, eyes dark, voice flat. “Get in your car and leave, while you still can.”
Riley ignored every survival instinct that was screaming at him to obey. He stood his ground because this was more important than anything. “I want to see Jason.”
The irony wasn’t lost on him that this was the first time in forever that he was telling the truth, and it was going to cost him everything.
The attack came from nowhere. He was slammed to the ground under the onslaught of a big, dark wolf he hadn’t even seen.
He brought his arms up instinctively, trying to protect his throat, but it was too late.
The wolf pinned him down, staring into Riley’s eyes.
Its gaze wasn’t the savage unknowingness of a wild animal.
It was the savage knowingness of someone who hated Riley and would love nothing more than to rip his throat out.
A rumble sounded deep in the wolf’s chest, and it lowered its head so that its mouth… Oh, God, its jaws were open and a hairsbreadth away from Riley’s throat. Close enough so Riley could hear the soft menacing growl that came out with every hot breath puffing against his skin.
Riley’s gut churned, and cold sweat broke out all over him. He was going to die. He was going to die and never have put things right with Jason.
“You have one chance to get back in your car,” Urban said.
Riley’s breathing was uneven, knocked out of him by the attack and fear. But even in the midst of his terror, anger was growing. They had no right to keep him from Jason. “No,” he gasped out. “I want to see Jason.”
The dark wolf above him snarled. Riley’s heart threatened to burst out of his chest, doing the wolf’s work for him. Teeth gleamed at his throat, promising a brutal end.
He wondered if it would be quick, or he’d feel it—feel everything—before it was over.
Shudders racked him as he closed his eyes and waited for the end.