Chapter 7 – CAMILLE
CAMILLE
Istride away from the training grounds, spine rigid with fury. He’s made his position crystal clear. His wolf might want me, but the man doesn’t.
“Just solve the case,” he’d said, like working together despite our bond was nothing.
Like I was nothing.
Like it would be the easiest thing in the world for him to set aside our connection until the case is over and then… work it out later, as Dean so eloquently put it.
The ache in my chest sharpens with each step. Between skipping breakfast to avoid me, and now acting like our connection doesn’t even exist, the message couldn’t be clearer.
He doesn’t want this.
He probably plans to reject me as soon as this case is closed and is just holding off for his brother’s sake.
Fine. He wants to act as if he doesn’t care? Two can play at that game.
His footsteps follow maybe ten feet behind, nearly silent, despite his size, and matching my pace exactly. Awareness prickles along my skin, all of my attention locked onto Jax, despite my frustration.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, but I ignore it, knowing instinctively that it’s Raven. He’s used to me answering immediately. Now he’ll be wondering what’s going on even though he knows I’m on a case.
“Going to answer that?” Jax asks, but I don’t answer the call, or him. It’s none of his business. Just like where I am every second of the day is of no concern to Raven.
Why are men so fucking annoying? Or at least, the ones I have to deal with.
I set a brisker pace, taking a direct route across the grass lawn that stretches out in front of the packhouse. A few heads turn as we pass, Jax’s pack probably wondering why I’m storming around with the alpha’s brother hot on my heels.
Well, let them wonder.
“Do you even know where you’re going?” His rough voice carries easily across the distance between us, and his deep, husky tone slithers down my spine like a soft caress.
“To find someone useful,” I snap without looking back, rolling my shoulders to rid myself of the pleasant sensation that just hearing his voice gives me.
He gives a frustrated rumble at my sassy tone, but I press on.
“I have some questions for your healers about what’s been going on. Your report was a bit light on detail.”
Another growl.
It wasn’t, in fact. The report was incredibly professional and well put together, but at this moment, I feel like being a bitch.
“You can get me those records while I speak with them, face to face.”
A few minutes away from him might help me calm down.
The main packhouse looms ahead, and I have to admit that it’s impressive, even in my current bad mood. The previous alpha, Graham Reynolds, made it appear outwardly that the pack was very successful. All the while, slowly losing his mind, he was tearing the pack apart with his abusive behaviour.
There are rumours that he killed his first mate. And almost killed Jax when he was a teen, pushing Dean to step up and challenge for the alpha title.
There are also rumours that Jax has never been the same since.
Pushing down the sympathy I feel for him growing up in a pack like this, I veer left, following the scent of herbs and antiseptic that always marks a pack clinic. The door is solid wood with a frosted glass panel reading, ‘PACK HEALER.’
Perfect. Hopefully, they can give me some answers.
I push through with a soft knock. The space is smaller than I’d expected, with an examination table taking up the centre, surrounded by supply cabinets that reach the ceiling.
A desk in the corner overflows with paperwork and medical texts.
The single window provides dim afternoon light, while a door to one side suggests more beds for patients can be found that way.
As Jax enters behind me, I turn to stare at him. His scent is everywhere, which means he’s here regularly. His masculine scent is ingrained on every surface in the room. Is he unwell?
When I glance at Jax, he’s watching me, but I refuse to ask him. His medical problems are none of my business if our bond is soon to be broken. My wolf vehemently disagrees, panicking that there might be something seriously wrong with him, but I ignore her whining.
“I need to speak to whomever runs this place.”
With a smug tilt of his lips, Jax steps around me, all tall, muscly and arrogant, and slides into the desk chair, turning it in a full circle and picking up a stethoscope before hanging it around his neck as he spins.
When he comes back around to face me, he leans back, his crooked smile devastatingly cocky, and says, “That would be me.”
I glare at him where he’s looking up at me, arms crossed over his broad chest, legs spread out in front of him. The pose draws attention to his bulging biceps, and I hate that I notice how tanned and gorgeous they are.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I grit out, throwing my hands out to the side.
One dark eyebrow rises. “You didn’t ask. Just demanded to speak to someone useful.”
He knew I wanted to speak to the healer. He could’ve at least saved us both some time by confessing that it was him.
“I said I needed the pack healer,” I hiss, taking a step toward him, blood boiling in my veins.
“And here I am.” His golden eyes hold mine, completely unrepentant for behaving like a child.
I suck in a deep breath to calm my fraying temper, but all it does is drag more of his intoxicating scent into my body, leaving me pissed off and horny, an utterly confusing combination.
“You’re the healer that saved Wyatt from wolfsbane poisoning?”
He nods, expression a little less playful now.
“I helped. Wyatt’s wolf is a beast. I’m not sure anyone else could have pulled through.”
He’s trying to be modest and downplay his role, but it’s impressive, nonetheless.
From what I understand, it was a nasty stab wound to start with, and between the high dose of wolfsbane delivered straight into his bloodstream, and Wyatt refusing treatment until his mate was safe, it’s a miracle he survived.
“You clearly have some skills.”
Between this and his super sniffer, there’s more to this so-called broken wolf than meets the eye.
“Is that so hard to believe?” He stands from the chair and closes the distance between us.
“You think that because my wolf isn’t like everyone else’s, that I can’t help people?
That you need to be whole to be a healer?
” He tilts his head as he edges closer. “Maybe I understand needing help better than most.”
His expression darkens as his nostrils flare, hungry eyes scanning me from head to toe. Being close to him is like teetering on the edge of a cliff, not knowing which way I’m going to fall.
“I didn’t say that,” I whisper, my gaze locked onto his plump lower lip, the urge to lean forward and bite it bubbling up inside me, seemingly, from nowhere.
“You didn’t have to.” Another step. Now we’re practically toe to toe. “But what most people don’t appreciate is that being broken makes me want to help others in pain. Not inflict more.”
His eyes swirl with something wild and dangerous, but I can’t look away, even as I jut my chin out defiantly and refuse to back down.
“Except for me.” I challenge. “Because you know what denying a mate bond does to a wolf. So don’t stand there and pretend you’re all sunshine and rainbows.”
Jax’s head snaps back like I’ve struck him, but his stunned expression lasts only for a fraction of a second before he eases in even closer, the predatory look in his eyes growing more and more intense.
“I’m not denying anything. I feel it, just like you do.” He tilts forward, one hand resting against the wall behind my head. “And I want it, just like you do.”
The small space suddenly feels suffocating. His scent surrounds me, filling my lungs with each breath. When he licks his lips and reaches out to touch the end of my ponytail, I’m done. All pretense of resisting him, any illusion of willpower, is gone.
Fuck, he smells so good.
My head spins as I try to step back, overwhelmed by his sheer size and presence, but the counter at my back leaves nowhere to retreat.
Jax towers over me, all firm muscles and tanned skin, as he tugs my hair tie loose, and my blonde waves tumble around my shoulders. He dips his head, breathing against the pale strands, until his cheek is so close to mine, that I can feel the heat radiating from his skin.
From deep within his chest, a low rumble starts, his wolf rising to meet mine. Jax doesn’t even attempt to hide it.
“What do you need to know?”