Chapter Ten
Chase stood by Jalen’s bedroom window, staring at the fading sun over the mountains while he waited for his mate to come out of the bathroom.
The soft click of the bathroom door pulled Chase’s attention from the swirls of pink and orange bleeding across the evening sky.
Jalen stood in the doorframe, arms crossed tightly over his chest like he was physically holding himself together.
Dark circles hung beneath his eyes despite the ten hours he’d slept the night before.
Chase’s wolf paced anxiously within him.
Ever since their encounter with Derek at the ice cream parlor yesterday, Jalen had been too quiet.
Instead of his usual sarcastic comments or dry observations, he’d retreated into himself, barely speaking during dinner and heading straight for the shower afterward.
“Hey,” Chase said, keeping his voice gentle. “Feeling any better?”
Jalen shrugged one shoulder, not quite meeting his eyes. “A little.”
Something was clearly eating at him. Chase could practically smell the anxiety rolling off his mate, mingling with the clean scent of soap and shampoo.
He wanted to cross the room, to pull Jalen into his arms and promise him everything would be okay, but he held back.
Pushing too hard right now might make Jalen retreat further.
“Can I ask you something without you thinking badly of me?” Jalen finally said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Chase moved away from the window, closing some of the distance between them but still giving Jalen space. “You could tell me you secretly dance naked while eating bratwurst and I wouldn’t think badly of you.”
That earned him a flicker of a smile, gone almost as soon as it appeared.
“I’m serious, Jalen,” he added. “There’s nothing you could say or do that would make me see you in a bad light. Nothing.”
Jalen’s eyes met his briefly before darting away again. “Promise?”
“I promise.” He resisted the urge to reach for Jalen’s hand, sensing his mate needed space right now. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
Silence stretched between them, filled only by the distant sounds of the pack moving through the house and the soft whir of the ceiling fan overhead. Chase waited, giving Jalen time to find his words.
Jalen inhaled deeply, his knuckles whitening where his fingers dug into his own arms. “What if... what if I asked you to make someone leave me alone?”
He studied his mate’s handsome face, trying to decipher exactly what Jalen was asking. A conversation? Or something more permanent?
“Is this about your uncle?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.
Jalen nodded, finally meeting his gaze. “Can you scare him into leaving me alone?”
The way he emphasized “scare” made Chase’s blood sing with dark promise. This was the moment he’d been waiting for—permission from his mate to “handle” things.
“Just scare…” Chase repeated, testing the waters, needing to be sure they were on the same page.
“I just want him to leave me alone,” Jalen said, glancing toward the floor. “Make him never want to come near me again. I just… I can’t live like this anymore, always looking over my shoulder, wondering when he’ll show up again.” His eyes met Chase’s. “You saw him today. How he acted.”
Chase moved closer, slowly, giving Jalen time to back away if he needed to.
When his mate didn’t move, he reached out and gently uncurled Jalen’s arms. He no longer wanted clarity.
Chase already knew what he had to do. Whether his mate was talking in code or really wanted Derek just scared away, it no longer mattered.
“Then I’ll have a talk with him.” He deliberately kept his response vague. Better that Jalen didn’t know the details of what would happen. Better that his hands stayed clean of whatever was about to transpire.
Jalen exhaled, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. “Thank you.”
Anything Chase did, Derek would deserve no less.
He cupped Jalen’s cheek, his thumb grazing across the smooth skin.
Heat slid between them fast. The way Jalen rose onto his toes, fingers catching in Chase’s shirt. That small, desperate grip. Yeah, that undid him. Jalen opened for him with a small, broken sound that hit Chase behind the ribs like a match strike.
Tongue sliding against tongue, mint and heat and that edge of hunger that had been simmering between them. A thumb stroked his mate’s jaw while his other hand settled at Jalen’s hip, feeling the jump of muscle under thin cotton.
“Come here,” he murmured against Jalen’s mouth, not a question and not an order, just gravity.
They backed toward the bed, bumping a shin on the frame because coordination apparently took a vacation when kissing was involved. A laugh slipped out of Jalen. Relief threaded through it like air. Good. Chase needed that sound tonight.
He lifted the hem of Jalen’s T-shirt, exposing a narrow strip of belly that tightened under the cool brush of air.
He pushed the shirt higher, dragging his mouth down the center of his mate’s chest, catching a nipple between his lips just to hear the hiss that it earned.
Jalen arched, a quiet, shocked sound slipping out that hit Chase straight in the gut.
“Arms up,” he murmured against warm skin, more order than question.
Jalen obeyed, his shirt sliding away, hair mussed and his lips already kiss-bruised. That look belonged on him.
“On the bed,” Chase said against his throat, kissing a path down the side of Jalen’s neck. Salt and clean water and the faintest taste of citrus.
Jalen climbed back onto the mattress, lean body folding into the pillows like he belonged there. Sweatpants went next. Easy tug, easy toss. Boxers snagged on a knee. Chase freed them with a grin that got him an eye roll and a flush that crept to Jalen’s ears.
Worth it.
Jalen lay bare on rumpled sheets, his cock flushed and already leaking. Smaller, yes. Fragile, no. Not with that fire in his eyes.
He reached for Chase’s waistband with impatient fingers.
“Bossy,” Chase murmured. “Noted.”
Jalen’s laugh hit him low. He wanted that sound baked into the walls.
Chase stripped fast, not bothering to pretend this wasn’t the part where he’d been low-key praying for patience.
The air hit his skin and cooled the heat enough to keep his head attached.
Knees sinking into the mattress, he kissed Jalen again, slower this time, easing him back until they were chest to chest. Heat bled between them.
Every breath puffed against Chase’s mouth.
Hands roamed. Jalen’s skated over his shoulders, traced his traps like he was memorizing him.
“Hands above your head,” Chase said, voice rougher than intended.
Jalen complied, wrists on the headboard, biceps flexing. Perfect. He kissed the underside of Jalen’s wrist just because he could then angled down and got real acquainted with the inside of Jalen’s thigh.
A small twitch under his mouth when he licked closer. He dragged the flat of his tongue up the side of Jalen’s cock, savoring the way it leapt against his tongue, and locked eyes long enough to watch his mate’s breath stutter.
This wasn’t the main event, not yet.
Chase claimed the long lines of Jalen’s thighs, thumbs pushing his knees wider. A low hum vibrated in the back of Jalen’s throat when Chase palmed his cock.
A reach into the nightstand got him the lube. The click of the cap loud in the quiet. Cold gel coated his fingers. He warmed it with a quick stroke of his palm, then slid that slick hand between Jalen’s legs, nudging his knees wider.
“Spread a little more,” Chase said, voice roughened by restraint he was barely clinging to with his teeth.
Jalen shifted, feet planting, knees opening. The view nearly knocked a prayer out of him, and he didn’t even do prayers.
“Breathe,” he said, more for himself than for Jalen. “Just like that.”
One finger pressed in, slow and steady. Tight heat clenched around him, a hot ring that eased as he coaxed. He kept his mouth working lower, licking at Jalen’s balls, keeping his mate focused on pleasure instead of tension.
Another finger joined when Jalen’s hips relaxed, a lazy roll meeting Chase’s touch. That worked. He scissored gently, stretching muscle, slick sounds mixing with the wet drag of his tongue.
A third finger entered after slicking them again, patient because shortcuts made for bad endings. Jalen rose and fell, chasing the rhythm with a gasp, one hand gripping the headboard.
Chase felt the tremor through his hand. He curved his fingers and searched, and when Jalen swore—a dirty, breathless thing—that reaction hit him like gasoline on a grill.
“Good,” Chase muttered, smug and gone for him. He pushed again, nudging that spot until Jalen was rocking into the stretch on instinct, thighs trembling, voice gone ragged on little sounds that weren’t words at all.
That particular view always did sinful things to Chase’s self-control.
Fingers eased free. Jalen breathed like he’d run a mile.
“Jalen…” He sank forward to brace his forehead against his mate’s.