Chapter 59
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Todd
On your mark
“Shawn, can you take point on the arrangements?” Jax asks.
Shawn sits back in his chair. “Yeah, because I need to coordinate with Todd. You and Mal both should have no clue what’s happening until we start doing it.”
“Why?” Jax and Mal both ask.
Shawn smirks. “Because it’ll be difficult enough for both of you to get and stay in the headspace required of you for this to have the best chance of working. Not to mention,” he says to Jax, “you already have an overflowing plate of shit to manage. You don’t need to worry about these deets.”
“Can we hold the hunt here?” I ask.
“I was hoping you’d volunteer,” Shawn says. “It’ll make everything easier on all of us if we do.” He glances at his phone to check the time. “Jax, you should probably go on to the rec hall. I’ll text Susan that I’m not coming in and that my day’s gone sideways.”
“What about me?” Mal asks.
Shawn indicates me. “I do believe that’s his call, although you shouldn’t be with us while we discuss the logistics.”
I kiss the top of Mal’s head. “Why don’t you go on down to the barn? Just tell the guys we were delayed for pack Alpha business.”
“Okay.” He rises on his toes and kisses me before heading out the back door, and it takes every ounce of strength I have not to follow him.
Jax stands. “Okay, I’ve been given my marching orders,” he jokes, but he pulls me in for a long hug, slapping me on the back. “Congratulations, man. I’m truly happy for you both. I just wish the circumstances were better so we could celebrate it the usual way.”
“You and me both,” I say.
Jax kisses Shawn and heads for the front door. I retake my seat at the kitchen table and blow out a long breath. “I guess I’m just waiting for instructions.”
Shawn props his elbows on the table and leans forward.
“We’ll need a course not too long, but long enough you can get ahead of Jax and beat him to the finish line to grab Mal.
Meaning we’ll need to delay Jax’s start somehow without him ripping anyone’s head off in the process.
You can’t outrun him shifted in a sprint, but I’m afraid to make the course too long, or we risk Mal wearing out and dropping out of the headspace we need him in. ”
“Why does this not fill me with happy feelings, Shawn?”
“Because you’ll have to challenge him for pack Alpha.
I’m talking you need to do whatever chest-pounding, head-butting bullshit you can to fully trigger his Alpha into emerging ready to throw paws.
Mal needs to see that side of Jax and feel terrified that Jax will reach him first instead of you.
Plus, I need to make Jax jealous as hell and make him think I’m challenging him, too. ”
I snort. “He’ll know that’s bullshit.”
“I don’t mean for pack Alpha—I mean, I have to convince him I want to fuck Mal before he does, or maybe even that I want you to fuck me before Jax does.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He’ll want to make me submit because I’m his mate, meaning he’ll go after me first and knot with me.
” He shuffles his notes around until he finds what he’s looking for.
“We will—hopefully—trigger Mal’s first heat.
For that we’ll strap him to a frame and give him the worst case of blue-balls in history.
I’ll help with that. Simultaneously, you’ll rile Jax to trigger his Alpha.
I’m hoping with both of us pushing his buttons at the same time, Jax will be able to mentally let go and get into it, at least for a little while.
If we can keep Jax deep in Alpha mode long enough, it should terrify Mal and make him think it’s real, once his heat starts. ”
“Can we strap Jax to a frame?”
He considers it. “That would solve the problem of giving you a head start. Do you think you can physically overpower Jax if neither of you are shifted?”
“Huh?”
“To get him strapped down?”
I consider it, then grin. “No, but I can get a helping hand from a little friend.” I stand and step onto the back porch, where I know I have one hanging on the wall, and bring it inside and hand it to Shawn.
His face screws up in confusion. “What the fuck is that?”
“It’s a cattle prod. I rarely have to use them, but the last time I needed one, one of my bulls got loose and made it all the way up here, and I didn’t have one handy. So now I keep one up here.”
He chuckles as he returns it. “That’ll sure piss him off, regardless.”
“Bonus.” I set it aside. “If we work together, we can drop a loop of chain around him before he realizes what’s going on, pull it tight, and bind him to the old frame with his arms against his body and his legs straight, not spread out.”
He thinks about it and slowly nods. “He won’t be able to shift and get out of it that way if it’s tight enough.
Do you have thick tow straps or something?
Maybe we can loop them around him and the frame, shoulders to knees, have a guy on each end keeping them pulled tight.
Then, when it’s time to let him loose, they can drop the ends and get out of his way while he wriggles out from the straps and the chain and comes after us. ”
“I’ll figure that out later tonight,” I say. “And I’ll plot the course. How will Mal know to follow it?”
“Use a paint sprayer wand and neon paint. If you don’t have one, I’m pretty sure I have one at the house…”
We spend the next hour planning the logistics, coming up with a list of names for the safety team, and planning two sets of mating heat helpers for Shawn and Mal after the main event.
I look at all our notes, and while this is not how I want to do things, I’m forced to agree with Shawn that, considering the tight deadline facing us, this is the best way.
Well, it’s our best chance of doing it successfully.
“Now what?” I ask.
He stands, stretches, and gathers his notes. “I get to go on a scavenger hunt. I have a lot of the components on hand that I’ll need for the herbal mixes, but I’ll have to run to Tampa for the rest.”
“When are we doing this?”
“Ideally, tomorrow afternoon. It might take as long as a couple of hours after I dose him to see if I’ve got the mixture right.
I would rather not do this in the dark, and there’s no way we can pull everything together in time to do it today.
I’ll call you once I’m back so we can discuss logistics.
But I mean it—don’t tell Mal anything. Not even the timeline.
If we can ramp up his anxiety, that works in our favor. ”
“Okay. What about…” Well, that’s a moot point. “Sleeping together?”
Another of his trademark smirks. “Fuck him? Sure, but I would send him back to his place tonight to sleep alone.”
I don’t want him to sleep alone. Hell, I don’t want to sleep alone. “Why?”
“Again, anxiety.” He taps his temple. “The brain is not only the biggest sex organ, it’s also the fastest way to fuck ourselves up emotionally.
Anything he can imagine happening will likely be a lot scarier than what will actually happen.
He knows we have a few days, so if we’re doing this tomorrow, that’ll immediately make him nervous when we spring it on him.
You and I have to play our roles to the best of our abilities.
If we do? Well, hopefully we all get happily ever afters.
Oh, and the main reason is that I suspect you have no clue how to conceal your thoughts from him yet. ”
My face goes red. “You’re right.”
“One last thing.” He meets my gaze. “You need to tell Mal that there will be no safewords for this process.”
That makes me queasy. I am a sadistic fuck, yes, but I have to know even if someone’s pretending to thrash and struggle that they can stop it whenever they want, if they want.
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Uh, yeah. Does no good if he can stop it. Defeats the whole purpose. Don’t give him details, but explain there are safeguards in place. That for this to have the best chance of working, he needs to be all-in and unable to stop it.”
I grumble. “Okay.”
Shawn heads out. We each have a list of calls to make, and my first is to Davis.
He hears me out. “I hate we can’t have a regular initiation for him,” he says. “Dammit, I would’ve loved giving it to him.”
Davis is, if nothing else, a predictable horndog. “Hopefully we can do that after this other bullshit is out of the way,” I say. “Will Chaz let you do this? And keep it quiet, please, because part of this whole plan is wrapped up in Jax not knowing details, either.”
“I’ll call him, but I suspect he’ll say yes since my dick’ll stay in my pants.” He chuckles. “Want me to round up the usual mate hunt safety crew? I mean, if they’re not fucking the pup, I don’t see why they’d have a problem with this. And I can handle getting the tranq guns and radios ready.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. “That would be incredible, thank you.”
“All right. Let me make the calls. I’ll get back to you in about an hour.”
I know I have spray paint and a marker wand from when I ran new fences just a couple of months ago, but they’re down at the barn.
Shawn was absolutely right that I have no clue how not to telegraph my thoughts to Mal.
I don’t want to block him out, either.
Guess I’ll need to nut up and learn real fast, won’t I?
I grab my phone and head out the back door to the ATV. My first stop will be the barn, and then I’ll plot and mark the course.
Please, Goddess. Let Shawn be right and let this work.