44. Ethan
Ethan
Cold was all I felt at first. That and a soreness in my wrists. For a moment I thought I might be dead, but then I realized dead people probably didn’t need wrists or feel them for that matter. So somehow, despite the rogue werewolf attacking me, I was still alive. It… It didn’t seem possible.
Slowly I tried to force my eyes open. At first, just the act of trying seemed to exhaust me. But the more I tried, the more I swore I could see a soft orange light somewhere nearby. And there was warmth too, which I was desperate for.
With effort that felt monumental, I managed to pry my eyelids apart. The orange glow sharpened into focus. It was a space heater, humming quietly a few feet away. Its coils burned bright, throwing dancing shadows across wooden walls.
Wooden walls I recognized.
My stomach dropped. This was Marcus Greer's barn. The farmer I’d interviewed before he was killed. I'd been here before, during the initial investigation, chatting with him about his mutilated cows.
I tried to sit up and immediately discovered why my wrists hurt. Rope. Thick, rough rope binding them behind my back to what felt like a support beam. I yanked instinctively, and pain shot through my shoulders. The beam didn't budge.
"Shit," I whispered, my voice cracking. My throat felt like sandpaper.
That's when I realized I was completely naked. Every inch of my skin was exposed to the frigid air, save for the small sphere of warmth the heater provided. I could see my breath misting in front of me, and when I looked down at myself, goosebumps covered my chest and legs.
My heart hammered as fragmented memories crashed back. The alley. The rogue werewolf. Those yellow eyes boring into mine before—
Before what? I couldn't remember the actual attack. Just the eyes, the growl, and then... nothing. Blackness.
But I was alive. Tied, frozen and terrified, but alive.
Why?
“Look who’s finally decided to join the land of the living,” a voice said from somewhere behind me.
I craned my neck, trying to get a better look, but the beam held me in place.
What little I could glimpse was nothing but darkness and straw bales.
However, that didn’t stop the cold wave of fear that washed over me.
The only person that could be in the barn with me now was the rogue werewolf.
And that voice, it definitely wasn’t Calder’s.
Both Jake and I had been wrong. Calder might’ve been a werewolf, but he wasn’t the monster chasing me, tormenting me.
But who could it be?
Footsteps crunched through the straw, deliberate and unhurried. My pulse hammered in my ears as a figure emerged from the shadows, stepping into the heater's orange glow.
Jake Harrison.
The breath left my lungs in a rush. "You're... you're dead."
He smiled, but it wasn't the friendly expression I remembered from the office. This smile was predatory, twisted with something dark and hungry. "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
"But the police found your body. They said—"
"They found a body," Jake corrected, crouching down in front of me.
His brown eyes caught the light, and I saw that same sickly yellow gleam I'd witnessed in the alley.
"Some homeless drifter who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
With the right... modifications... he became a very convincing Jake Harrison. "
Horror crawled up my spine. "You killed an innocent person just to fake your own death?"
"I killed him because I needed you to trust that letter," Jake said, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from my forehead. I flinched away, and his smile widened. "I needed you to run from Calder. To hate him. To think he was a monster."
My mind was racing, trying to piece it together. "You wrote that letter. The accusations. You wanted me to think Calder killed my father."
"And it worked beautifully." Jake stood, pacing around me in a slow circle. "You should have seen your face when you ran from him. The fear, the betrayal. It was perfect."
I yanked against the ropes, ignoring the burn. "Why? What do you want from me?"
Jake stopped behind me, and I felt his hand trail across my bare shoulder. I shuddered, every muscle tensing.
"What do I want?" His voice dropped to a whisper near my ear. "I want what I've always wanted, Ethan. You."
My stomach turned. "You're insane."
"Am I?" His fingers traced down my spine, and I tried to twist away but couldn't. "I've dreamed about this for so long. Watched you, followed you, waited for the perfect moment.” He slowly shook his head.
“But do you know how hard it was to resist the mate bond?
To watch you fall for that alpha mutt instead of me? "
Mate bond. The words hit me like ice water. "You're... you're a werewolf too."
"Very good." Jake came back around to face me, and this time I saw it clearly. The way his features seemed slightly too sharp, too predatory. How had I never noticed before? "Though I prefer to think of myself as more... evolved than Calder and his precious pack."
The realization hit me with devastating clarity. "You’re the rogue. The monster. The one they’re hunting. It… It was you. All along."
Jake's expression shifted, something almost tender crossing his face. "Now you’re finally catching on, baby.”
I felt my blood run cold. "Don't call me that."
"But it's what you are, baby." Jake crouched down in front of me again, his face inches from mine. "You're mine. You've always been mine. From the moment I saw you in those woods fourteen years ago, standing over your father's corpse, I knew you were meant for me."
My breath caught. "You... you were there? That night?"
"Of course I was there." His hand cupped my cheek, thumb brushing across my skin in a mockery of tenderness.
"I killed your father right in front of you.
It was my rite of passage, my entry into true power.
" His eyes gleamed with something twisted and wrong.
"My own father wanted me to prove myself, to show I could be every bit as ruthless and heartless as he was.
So I hunted down a human, tracked him through those woods until I found him camping with his son. "
Tears burned behind my eyes. "H-He was innocent."
"He was in the wrong place," Jake said, his voice matter-of-fact.
"And when I ripped his heart out, when I tasted his blood...
I looked up and saw you. Hiding behind that tree, those beautiful green eyes wide with terror.
" He leaned closer, his breath hot against my face.
"I felt it. The mate bond, snapping into place like a lock finding its key. "
I tried to jerk away, but the ropes held firm. "That's not possible. I was just a teenager"
"So was I," Jake interrupted. "And I saw my future mate.
I knew I'd have to wait, but I was patient.
I watched you grow up from afar, followed your moves from New York to Maine, got myself hired at the Gazette so I could be close to you.
" His smile widened. "I orchestrated everything perfectly.
The murders, the heart removals—all designed to draw you in, to make you obsessed, to make you need someone to lean on.
I even killed my own father when he got in the way. "
Horror washed over me in waves. "You killed all those people just to manipulate me?"
"Not just to manipulate you." Jake stood, pacing around me again.
"I needed to establish my territory, show the other packs that I wasn't bound by their precious rules.
But yes, having you chase the story, getting closer to the truth...
It was delicious watching you work." He stopped behind me, hands settling on my bare shoulders.
"And then Calder had to ruin everything. "
I felt him tense, anger radiating from him in waves.
"That self-righteous alpha," Jake spat. "Swooping in, playing hero, stealing what was rightfully mine. Do you have any idea how it felt? Watching him touch you, claim you, mark you as his?" His fingers dug into my shoulders hard enough to bruise. "You were supposed to be mine, Ethan. Mine."
I tried to shrink away from his touch, but there was nowhere to go. The beam at my back was unyielding, and Jake's grip on my shoulders was like iron.
"I'm not yours," I said through gritted teeth, forcing the words out despite the fear threatening to choke me. "I never was, and I never will be."
His hands tightened painfully. "You don't understand yet. That's okay. You will."
"Understand what? That you're a psychopath who's been stalking me for over a decade?" I twisted my head to try and meet his eyes. "That you murdered my father? That you killed innocent people just to—what? Get my attention?"
"To prepare you," Jake corrected, moving around to face me again.
He knelt down, bringing himself to eye level.
"To make you understand what we are, what you could become.
The mate bond between a werewolf and a human is rare, precious.
There are ways you could be like me. We could be together forever. "
My blood turned to ice. "You want to turn me?"
"I want to complete the bond and then make sure we’re never apart," he said, reaching out to trace my jaw with one finger.
I jerked my head away. "But first, I need to fix what that alpha did to you.
His scent is all over you, his mark..." His eyes flashed yellow, and I saw his canines lengthen slightly.
"He's tainted you. Contaminated what should have been pure and mine alone.”
"Calder didn't do anything wrong," I spat. "He protected me. He cared about me. Something you clearly don't understand."
Jake's expression darkened, and suddenly his hand was around my throat, not squeezing but holding firm enough to be a threat. "Don't say his name. Not ever fucking again. Not when you're finally where you belong."
I swallowed hard, feeling his palm against my windpipe. "Where I belong? Tied up naked in a freezing barn by a murderer?"
"Where you belong is with your true mate," Jake growled, his face so close I could see the flecks of gold bleeding into his brown eyes. "Not playing house with some backwater alpha that can’t even hunt down one of his own kind. He’s pathetic and weak. And, if I know the Elder Council, they’ll already have disposed of him for telling you the truth about our world. ”
My blood went cold. “You’re lying. All you do is lie.”
“Am I?” Jake simply shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter if I am or not, I guess. Calder’s not coming to save you, that much is true. And that means we have all the time in the world to make things right.”
I felt myself tremble under Jake’s grip. “Make things right? What the hell are you talking about?”
He leaned in close, his lips against my ear. “I’m going to show you what a real werewolf feels like. What it means to be truly claimed by your mate.”
His hands slid down my back, gripping my ass. I felt his hips grind against me, a distinct hardness in his jeans. Fear coursed through my veins. This… This couldn’t be happening.
"No!" I shouted, bucking against him with every ounce of strength I had left. The ropes bit deeper into my wrists, but I didn't care. I wouldn't let this happen. "Get the fuck away from me!"
Jake's grip tightened painfully on my hips, holding me still. Claws extended, digging into my flesh. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be, Ethan. You'll learn to love me. Once Calder's scent is gone, once I've claimed you properly—"
"I will never love you!" I spat, twisting my body desperately. "You're a monster! A murderer!"
His eyes flashed yellow, and suddenly his hand was at my throat again, this time squeezing. "I've been very patient with you. Don't test me."
I couldn't breathe. Black spots danced at the edges of my vision as his fingers pressed against my windpipe.
Terror clawed at my chest, but underneath it, something else burned.
Rage. Pure, white-hot fury at this creature who'd stolen so much from me.
My father. My childhood. My sense of safety.
And now he wanted to take my body, my choice, everything I had left.
Just when I thought I might pass out, Jake released his grip. I gasped, sucking in air, coughing violently.
"See what you make me do?" he said, stroking my hair like I was a pet. "I don't want to hurt you, baby. I just need you to understand. We're meant to be together. The mate bond doesn't lie."
"The mate bond is with Calder," I wheezed, my throat raw. "Not you. It was never you."
Jake's expression twisted with fury. Then he took another breath before pressing his lips against my neck. “Then I guess it’s time we wipe that alpha from your mind forever."