Chapter Twelve Dylan #2
Jackson's laugh eased the tension. I'm pretty sure we understand what transpired while you were gone. We get it, Dylan. He can come along too if you want him to.
No one will try to kill him?
Hunter laughed next. I don’t think you’d be happy if someone killed your last mate, so I will behave.
I didn't know you could behave.
The rumbles of both their laughter made me happy.
I could live easier knowing my mates got along.
Often I wondered, if I had more mates than one, how the dynamic would work.
So far, it had worked out brilliantly. Jackson was the one that made me laugh and could make me feel better.
Hunter was the one who felt like he would keep us all safe from everything and everyone.
Silas, I wasn't sure about yet. I was the one who got us into trouble. Hunter seemed to be the one that could help me get us out of trouble with Jackson's help. Silas hasn't been around our dynamic yet, so I couldn't tell what he'd do to balance us all out.
He tapped me on the shoulder and I jumped, almost dropping the bathrobe from my body. There wasn't a strap to keep it tied around me, so it could have fallen off and then we would be where I didn't want to be.
In bed. Ignoring the world.
"Don't do that!"
He lifted his eyebrows at me. "How the fuck did I startle you?"
"I was talking to Jackson and Hunter! I like my room and didn't want damn blood splatters ruining it when their wolves got a whiff of someone else that wasn’t them."
He rolled his eyes and walked toward the door. "Let's go."
I poked him in his back, and it arched to my touch. It made me laugh seeing what I could do to him. With the bond not completed, our touch could literally send either of us into a tizzy. It would make us want to complete the bond, but I wasn't ready to do that.
"I wanted to warn them I was wearing something of yours."
"Great. They'll just rub their scent all over you to get rid of mine." He said as he opened the door for me.
"Jealous?" I said, while I walked past him.
"Yeah. I am."
I laughed as I walked down the hall to get to the stairs.
It wouldn't take too long before I would want to wear his mark like I did the others.
Right now, there was too much going on for me to take a break to spend a few days inside the room with him.
Lupe was still trying to find more people to convert and learn the missing piece of her formula to create her mindless wolf army.
The only reason I wanted to take on the issue with Noah was to take a step back and think of how to bring Lupe out to get caught.
Not to mention, the need to keep people safe from rampaging wolves was deep in my DNA.
I couldn't have a wolf hurting others on my territory.
Noah had to go.
When I got to my room, Jackson was at the desk and Hunter strolled out of the bathroom. Jackson reached me first and wrapped me up in a hug.
Do not do that to me again. I’m not sure my heart could take it,” he whispered. After everything that happened in that secret room, he's been more clingy and not wanting me out of his sight. Hunter's large arms wrapped around us both and caused me to laugh.
The man was like a damn tree, and it still caused my brain to break at how huge he was. It was enough to pull both me and Jackson into a group hug and get both his arms around the group of us.
Silas stayed at the door after he closed it. Jackson looked over at him first, and I could see the smile on his face. "Good to see you, man. Have fun last night?"
Hunter smacked him upside the head. "Why ask that?"
"Sex with Dylan is like a damn rollercoaster. You don't know what's going to happen next. If he didn't have fun, he can get off our ship."
I sighed and pressed my fingers into the bridge of my nose. Of course he said that. This was who Jackson was and why I considered him to be the comic relief we needed while at this damn school.
"You know, I'd argue with that logic, but I can't. I just wish you hadn’t said it out loud." I told him.
I heard Silas chuckle. "No wonder you two won her over."
No one touched that comment. Instead, I walked over to my closet and dresser, grabbed the things I needed to get dressed, and disappeared into the bathroom.
Even though I just showered, I did again to get Silas's scent off me.
With the other two being bonded, and Silas not, it would drive their wolves into a frenzy.
That was something I didn't need right now.
It may hurt Silas's feelings, but I'm sure he'd understand.
I heard talking out in the main room while I got dressed.
A sense of peace washed over me knowing they wouldn’t hurt each other.
It meant I didn't have to be the glue in this group, and everyone could build the foundation together instead.
Although it would take time, we could work towards getting there.
Trusting Silas remained a struggle. One night of passion won't change how his mistake hurt me.
I'd let him around me and help me with ridding this school of evil before I returned home in a few weeks, but that was it until he showed me I meant as much to him as a mate should.
Which shouldn't be too hard, right?
When I stepped into the shower, I noticed a shadow outside of it through the steamed up door. The energy through the bonds told me it was Jackson. I smiled and thought he would step into the shower with me. I heard him plop onto the counter instead.
"You good Dyl?"
The water felt the perfect level of warmth. It almost felt like water from the depths of hell, but if I turned the dial a little more, it would get there. While under the spray of water, I pondered his question.
"Yeah, I'm good."
"He treated you like you deserved."
A smile curved on my face. "You mean like the good girl that I am or the bad?"
He chuckled, and I wanted to roll around in the sound. His laugh held a captivating charm that banished all gloom. Thankfully, I wasn't in one, and could just enjoy the sound of what it is and not seek it out to help me through a dark moment.
"Funny. You thinking of bonding with him now?"
I rolled my eyes. That was something that hadn’t crossed my mind in this particular moment. It should have been a straightforward question to answer, but it wasn't. The bond would demand for it to be completed, and it would drive our wolves insane until we did. It just wasn't in the cards yet.
"Not yet. He helped me through a difficult time. That's all."
"Did you tell him about everything?"
I lathered my hair with my shampoo, a blackberry scented one that both the guys said amplified my natural one to them. "Not everything. Enough to get him here to help."
" Mmm. You smell good. It's hard to sit in here and not want to come in there and bury myself in your scent." I heard his wolf rumbling at his words.
My wolf let out a rumble, too. She liked that plan. Fuck, I liked that plan, too. But we needed to move forward with finding this dumbass wolf.
"I'll be out in a few minutes. We don't have time for sex."
He chuckled again, making me smile once more. " There's always time for sex. Maybe not all the thrills like foreplay, but always time for sex."
"You fiend," I taunted.
"Only for you."
Like I promised, it took only a few minutes to wash myself and get out to my mates.
They were all in a heavy discussion about things that have been happening around the school to clue Silas in.
I noticed they were at the part where I had shared my Shadowborn power with them while we fought off everyone in the secret chamber.
Silas looked up at me and his emerald green gaze became heated.
It was going to take a while before that look would fade after the night we had.
It heated my core thinking about it, and I had to push down all the thoughts and feelings surrounding it because we didn't have time for us to descend into a fuckfest.
Noah could close in on finding a way to Arabella. That's not something I could allow to happen. If Lupe didn't want to do her fucking job, it looks like I had to step into the role. Noah broke laws, and he needed to answer for his transgressions.
"So. The angels reached out to me to help them track down a wolf guard who is stepping over the laws.
He's attacked and is now stalking an angel named Arabella.
" I dove into the problem at hand to get things started.
"He seems to hover around the dorms for angels, hoping to see her.
I'm thinking she's not there, but he doesn't need to know about that. "
Silas growled. "Pack Law states we cannot force a bond with our own species, much less another. What the hell is he thinking?"
Hunter chuckled. "I don't think the dickhead is thinking. Something tells me he has it in his head that Arabella is his mate. Not sure why he would think the Great Moon would make a bond between him and an angel, but that's not for me to discuss with the dick."
"What are we going to do about this? Do we even know where the asshole is?" Silas snarled.
It was good to see him just as fired up about this as I was. He didn't need to know there was a bond between me and Arabella. That was a secret I needed to divulge to my bonded mates because I was sure they would end up feeling just as protective of Arabella as I did because of it.
"If you mean more specific than on the grounds, no." Hunter answered. "We just know the asshole sticks around to the angel dorm. I'm going to assume we’re starting there to track him down. Do we have his scent?"
I nodded. "That's the only thing we have outside of his description since I noticed him when we took that walk."
We talked out a plan after I gave the details.
It wouldn't be easy to track him down. Hunter said it must have been the reason behind why no one had brought him in already.
I begged to differ because I figured it was because of Lupe spending all of her free time on her mission to make everyone more wolf than man.
During the discussion, I noticed Hunter kept eyeing Silas.
Hunter's background being an Enforcer would help us on this mission, but it also meant he would keep an eye on Silas.
I wondered if this would become a problem, but I had my answer after we finished creating a plan of action to bring Noah to the angels.
Hunter pointed a finger at Silas and stepped closer to him.
"I see Dylan has at least accepted you into her circle, but you haven't won her full trust. Since we are switching our focus on tracking down a douchebag, I wanted to tell you something.
I will be watching you. Just because you were there for our mate when we couldn't be doesn't mean shit.
" Silas remained calm, and his face gave nothing about his emotions away.
I tried to step closer to Hunter to make him stop, but Jackson grabbed onto me and pulled me against his chest. Hunter continued.
"I don't trust you, pup. You hired someone to kill her, and now you suddenly want her? I don't buy it."
"I don't need you to buy it. If anything, I need Dylan to feel it.
" Then he sighed. "But that's not the issue here.
You don't trust me for hiring you. Fuck," he ran his hands through his hair, this time not spiked with gel, "I wouldn't trust me either after that.
That was my father's influence more than anything. I don't feel that way anymore."
"What. Changed. Your. Mind?" Hunter said through gritted teeth.
Silas didn't look at Hunter, but past him. Good. he wasn't trying to challenge Hunter. Silas’s power was undeniable, a palpable aura that commanded respect.
"The Great Moon. Our Creator visited me and explained to me that my rejecting Dylan was a mistake.
She made me see reason when I started questioning my choice to reject her in the first place.
" Jackson's hold on me loosened, and I felt this conversation would take a turn.
I just hoped in a good way. I didn't feel like cleaning up blood.
I really do prefer my room as it is. "It's not like I expected the Enforcer my father hired would be fated to Dylan.
I'm still not sure how that worked out other than the Great Moon stepped in.
I came here right after the Great Moon talked to me.
I saw the error of my judgement and moved quickly to fix it.
That's what I'm doing here. I want to be mated to Dylan because I know I made a mistake.
If it takes months, then that's the hand I've been dealt after making the biggest mistake of my life. "
Hunter laughed, and a chill went down my spine. That laugh sounded like death was on the horizon.