21. Twenty-One
TWENTY-ONE
J ax
Harley doesn’t move. Doesn’t breathe. She doesn’t even blink. The only reason I know she’s still alive is because her heart is thundering in her chest at a rapid speed.
“So, you’re a wolf?” she asks after several minutes pass.
I nod. “I started my own pack a year ago. It’s, uh, me, Ross, Quinton, Declan, and the twins. My sister will join once she starts school in a few years.”
“So, your parents, your adoptive parents are both wolves?” Her blue eyes bounce between mine.
“No, just my dad. Keeley,” I expel a breath. “We don’t know if she was born or changed.”
Her brows pull together. “What do you mean?”
We come up to the opening of the spot I wanted to take her. I gently pull her to a log bench and take a seat. Placing my elbows on my knees, I clasp my hands together in front of me and drop my head.
“The first transformation, even for an alpha, is always a little rough. But I transformed early. Before the full moon and before puberty. I was nine. Keeley was six.”
“Oh my god,” Harley breathes.
“We were in the backyard playing and she had been grating on my nerves all fucking day. She pushed me and right there in the middle of the playground, I went from human to wolf in the blink of an eye. She was too close. I scratched her.”
I feel her hand press into the center of my shoulders. She rubs it down my spine, gently. “You didn’t do it on purpose, Zayden.”
“I know. But she spent her entire childhood sick because of me. Every full moon, she would spike a high fever. And because we didn’t know when, or if she would change, she stayed home. When she was thirteen, I told my dad I was going to force her to change.” I look up at the half-moon in the sky. “He was so mad at me because he said if she was born a beta, I was going to hurt her.”
Harley twines her fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck. “You think it was your fault.”
Looking over my shoulder, I say honestly, “I know it was. She’s omega. If she had been born with wolf’s blood, she’d be a beta.”
“Is there no history of a wolf being born an omega?” She asks.
I shake my head. “No. And most males who are turned and not born, they are borderline omega. Justin and Jace were turned. It was a freak accident. Jace is very beta, but Justin…His father moved them here because he needed an alpha.”
“Does Alicia know?”
“No,” I lie.
“I can’t tell her, can I?”
I let out a breath, because it’s not my place to tell Alicia’s story. “The problem is, the two of you are attached at the hip. And if you aren’t planning to up and leave me, I’d like you around the house a lot more.”
My heart twists. I want her to want to stay. I look over my shoulder at her and the sight knocks the breath from my lungs. A small smile plays at the corner of her lips. Her eyes dance with defiance.
“You thought you being a wolf was going to scare me off, hockey jockey?”
A laugh bubbles out of my chest. “A little, yeah.”
She stands from the bench, pushing her way between my spread legs. Her fingers slide into my hair. I run my hands from the backs of her knees to her hips, pulling her in closer and angling my head upward to look into her eyes.
“Are you planning to hurt me, Zayden Jax Stone?” she teases.
“Only if you count the pain mixed with pleasure,” I tell her, gripping her ass in my hands.
“Well, in that case, you’ll have to do a lot more than be a wolf to get rid of me, hockey jockey.”
“I normally run after a game,” I confess.
She nods, scrunching up her nose a bit. “To curb the after-game adrenaline?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. You go run, and I will go back to the house. Then, we can go take a hot shower and crawl into bed. Tomorrow, I have parents to impress. I also have to make a good impression, because I really don’t need your dad thinking I’m trying to poach his company for my father.” Harley rolls her eyes. “Maybe I’ll just tell him how to poach Thomas Enterprises.”
I chuckle. “Maybe don’t do that. You’re really okay with me running?”
“Of course,” she murmurs, brushing hair off my face. “Do you, uh, take your clothes off first?”
Rolling my lips, I try to hide my smile. “I do.”
“Okay,” she says adamantly, stepping back. “I will take your clothes and put them inside the garage. Then you can come find me when you’re done. Alicia said something about making dinner for everyone, excluding Justin, and I think it consisted of lasagna.”
Staring up at her, the moon illuminating her beautiful features, I say, “You continue to surprise me at every turn, Davidson.”
“Oh, you will have to share that bit of information later. In what ways have I surprised the legendary Jax Stone. Hockey star, statistics major, and now a wolf. Mm,” she hums, clicking her tongue. “As long as you don’t plan to try and screw me while in your furry form, we are all good.”
“Furry…form?” I bark out a laugh. “I do not plan on fucking you while I’m a wolf, Harley.”
“Good,” she says walking backward. “Now strip, wolf boy. Ooo. I like that.” Her eyes widen and a wicked grin takes over her face.
I strip my shirt off and stalk toward her. “You’ll pay for that later.”
The smell of lasagna and garlic bread invade my nostrils when I step into the garage. The music from the party going on inside the house has a heavy base that vibrates the floors and likely the walls. Just as Harley said, my clothes are just inside the door. Folded neatly and placed on one of the roller stools.
She took the news of me being a wolf much better than I had expected. I figured she would laugh in disbelief or worse. Believe me and run.
I pull my shirt over my head and step into the house. The music gets even louder when I open the door and I know that I will have to kick everyone out later. Even with the noise of the music, I hear Harley’s laughter coming from the game room next to the kitchen. Walking down the hall, I lean my shoulder against the door frame, taking in the scene in front of me.
Ross and Quinton have Harley and Alicia playing them in a game of pool. From the looks of it, Harley and Alicia are annihilating them. Alicia is bent over the table, taking aim at a solid color. Where there are still five striped balls, there are only two solids, one of them being the eight ball.
“Maybe we should have said winners do the dishes,” Quinton gripes, glaring at Alicia.
Alicia sinks the ball into the socket. Righting herself, she tuts, “Oh, sweet Quin. That is a bet I never would have agreed to. Because Harley and I could have beaten the two of you wearing blindfolds and our hands bound.”
A low growl comes from across the room. One only loud enough for heightened ears to pick up on. Ross doesn’t even flinch, but Quinton takes that moment to look over his shoulder where Justin sits in the corner.
His eyes are locked on Alicia as she bends over to take a shot at the black eight ball. The tension radiates off of him in waves. That muscle in his jaw jumps with each clench of his jaw.
Quinton continues to make matters worse because he is entirely too reckless. “Say things like that around a house full of hockey players and you’ll end up bound and blindfolded.”
This time, Justin’s low growl is loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. He slowly rises to his feet, clenching and unclenching his fists. I’m preparing for him to react. Ready to break up a fight before it can start. But Justin rolls his shoulders back and stalks out of the room toward the back door.
“You shouldn’t goad him,” Ross murmurs.
Though it seems his statement should be directed at Quinton, his eyes are locked on Alicia. She hits the cue ball, sending it soaring into the black eight and sinking the ball into the socket. She places the stick on the table and stands up straight.
Her eyes meet Ross’s lethal stare. “I didn’t do anything but state facts. It’s not my fault how he reacts to things that leave my mouth. And it’s also not a priority of mine to worry about his fragile feelings, Trip. Enjoy doing those dishes. I have a date to get to.”
“Good God,” Quinton mutters, dragging a hand down his face. “No one breathe a fucking word tonight.”
Alicia rolls her eyes and plops a kiss on Harley’s cheek. She turns to me, pointing a finger and giving me a deathly glare that promises immediate death in my future.
“You keep your grubby paws to yourself tonight. Or there will be castration in your future,” Alicia grumbles low.
My eyebrows shoot up. Before she can pass me through the doorway, I grab her bicep and lower myself just enough to look her directly in the eyes. Her amber eyes pierce through me.
“Threaten my balls again, and you’ll never question exactly how cruel I can be to a person.”
Alicia yanks her arm from my grasp and bares her teeth at me. “Touch me again, and you’ll realize how fast I can make good on that fucking promise, Jax.”
My eyes shift to Harley while Alicia storms out of the house, slamming the door loud enough to be heard over the music. A small smile curves the corners of her lips. I tilt my head toward the stairs and extend my hand out to her.
“Make sure to shut this shit down in no more than an hour,” I tell Ross.
“Sure thing, Cap,” he says, dipping his chin.
Harley slides her hand into mine. “Come on, wolf boy. You need a shower.”
She stands on her tiptoes, pressing her lips to the underside of my jaw. I wrap an arm around her waist and drop a kiss to the top of her head. I bring my mouth level with her ear. She shivers as soon as my lips brush the curve of it.
“It’s later, doe eyes.”
Her breath hitches and leaning back, she locks her eyes with mine. Staring up at me with wide eyes, a wicked grin passes across her face.
“If I ran, would you chase me?”
A primal growl rumbles in my chest. “The thought of chasing you. The thought of hunting you. It makes me so fucking hard.”
Harley’s eyes drop below my waist. My cock painfully presses against the zipper of my jeans. I place my finger under her chin and tilt her head back.
“Do you want to be chased, doe eyes?”
“I do now,” she admits.
“In that case, I can’t wait to chase you.”
In one swift motion, I have her over my shoulder. She squeaks and I walk us toward the stairs. Taking them two at a time until we are on the top landing. I stride down the hall until we are in my room.
“Zayden, you caveman!”