Chapter 29 Jax
Jax
“Hey, Jax?” Maia called from the living room. Her voice was high pitched and a little wary.
Even all the members of our pack who had their own homes or apartments had taken to staying with Dakota and me, and I preferred it that way. While there was a threat, it was nice to walk out of our bedroom and see so many of our pack were there and safe.
“Somebody’s at the door,” she called.
That meant that I was supposed to get it, which couldn’t be for any good reason. Maia or any other member of our pack was absolutely allowed to greet guests at the door if they felt safe to do so.
I’d been napping in the bedroom, and when I came out into the front of the house, Dakota came out of the kitchen. Kent was there on the couch with another young wolf, talking—shit, who knows? Fantasy football?
A few other heads popped up as I went to the door and opened it. There was Aleks on the other side, and heat and anger rushed up the back of my neck as I looked at him.
He was there on our stoop. He’d come alone. There were no other scents on the porch.
Still, I planted myself right in the middle of the doorway and demanded, “What do you want?”
He grinned at me toothily. “You have visited our territory. Now, I visit yours.”
“I had a reason for my visit. What’s yours?”
Aleks’s face screwed up. His lips pursed and his eyes narrowed my way. He was weighing how much he wanted to tell me, or what I deserved to know, and when it came to strangers—enemies—in my pack? Yeah, I was going to know everything.
I expected him to get his back up about it, but once Aleks took a deep breath, rather than brace himself, his shoulders slumped. He hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans and said in a tone laced with defeat. “I would speak with Cash.”
My eyebrows shot up. The fuck?
“Well, that’s not fucking happening,” I snapped.
Aleks cocked his head, a tilt to his lips that revealed a particularly sharp canine. “Oh? He is prisoner?”
“No.” I barely bit back an affronted sputter, but my hands went to my hips and my neck jutted forward. “It’s just that the last time Cash had to deal with any of your fucked up pack, he wound up gutted, his intestines spilled out over a truly putrid motel room carpet, dying.”
All of Aleks’s condescension evaporated in an instant. His eyes widened, but he wasn’t quite looking at me. He wasn’t focused on me, anyway.
He sucked in his cheeks until they hollowed, revealing annoyingly fine cheekbones.
He looked pretty fucking pissed, and I wasn’t too good to push on that.
“Yeah, he almost died. How do I know you’re not here to finish the job, hm? Some sick revenge for him preparing us for this mess.”
Aleks snarled then—really snarled, the sound feral as his lips pulled back from his teeth. “I would not do this. I would never—”
He cut himself off with a swallowed sound that was more wolf than man, and I recognized the way his shoulders twitched as he shook himself. He was riding that edge where alphas turned nasty.
I’d been feeling the same damn thing more and more ever since Grant had showed up.
If I kept pushing him, we’d fight. There was a part of me that wanted to, that wanted to work out all this fury I’d kept trapped inside for our laws and decency’s sake.
But then Maia cleared her throat.
“Jax,” she said softly. The outer corners of her eyes were scrunched up. She looked nervous and tired, but who wasn’t, after the last couple of weeks? “He saved my life.”
My nose flared as I inhaled.
I didn’t like this. There was absolutely nothing good that could come from letting this man walk into our home.
We’d turn our back, and some other coffee would wind up poisoned. We’d let him relieve himself and he’d—he’d glue razorblades to the toilet seat for when we sat down in the dark. He’d—
Okay, I was being ridiculous. As much as I hated Grant, Aleks hadn’t earned my hatred.
He’d been critical of Grant, reasonably frank, considering the circumstances, and he had saved Maia’s life.
And still, I had a duty of care to look after Cash first, as a guest of the pack.
“Dakota, would you please let Cash know that Aleks is here to see him? Ask if he’s willing to talk to him.”
Dakota nodded and stepped toward the hall where Cash was staying.
I turned back to Aleks. “If he’s willing to see you, that’s fine. But if he doesn’t want to, you have to leave. Understood?”
Aleks rolled his eyes so dramatically it moved his head too. When his chin dropped and he stared up at me through hooded eyes, I was honestly impressed it didn’t bounce. “Yes, papa.” He spread his arms wide. “Your roof, your rules, okay?”
I glared. He might be a condescending little piece of shit, but he was also right.
“Precisely.”
Dakota was only gone a minute before he led Cash out into the main room. Everyone was standing around awkwardly, unsure what to do, unable to relax again.
Cash shuffled out behind him, wearing gray sweatpants and a plain white T-shirt I suspected had come from my collection. He looked paler than he had in days. His mouth trembled, like he wasn’t sure what to do with it, and the way he ducked hid his face behind his shoulder-length hair.
Finally, he whispered. “Hi, Aleksander.”
“Cash.” Aleks inclined his head, but his eyes never left Cash from the second he entered the room and the hair on the nape of my neck stood on end. Was that a predatory look?
Whatever it was, Cash didn’t fare so well in the eye-contact department. He managed to hold Aleks’s gaze for about two seconds before his ears turned red and he looked at the floor. He shuffled his feet and crossed his arms.
“Do you want to—” he started to ask, stammering his way through. I wanted to pace the room growling, reaffirm territory boundaries, put a stop to this bullshit.
But while Cash was trying to speak, I’d bite my tongue.
I was supposed to bite my tongue, right?
Dakota’s hand squeezing my arm said that I was supposed to bite my tongue.
“We could talk,” Cash continued. He glanced at Aleks again briefly, swaying back toward the hall he’d come from. “In private. If you want . . . ”
“Cash, you don’t have to—” I started.
At the same time, Aleks said, “I want.”
My exhale hissed through my teeth, and Cash stared up at me. It should’ve been heartening, that I didn’t make him nervous.
But I didn’t fucking like that this stranger did.
“It’s okay,” Cash said gently, offering a little smile. “I’d like to talk to him.” He turned back to Aleks. “Come on.”
This was fucking crazy. I was just letting Cash, a werewolf who had almost died after getting rejected by his pack, walk deeper into my home with one of the people responsible.
Maybe Aleks wasn’t directly to blame for what had happened to him, but he hadn’t stopped it. He hadn’t been there to put Cash back together.
“I don’t fucking like this,” I growled under my breath.
Beside me, Dakota only hummed, and I looked down to find him scowling, as if he’d found something to dislike about all this too.