36. Thirty-Six
THIRTY-SIX
J ax
“What’s the plan here, Jax?” Ross asks, his forearms pressed to the island counter.
I release a heavy breath. “Harley doesn’t want me to do anything.”
“Is she in danger?” Quinton asks. “Like, is her father a threat?”
“Yeah, I believe so,” I admit, leaning back against the countertop.
Harley’s currently asleep in my bed. I called an emergency pack meeting to discuss what Harley told me after dinner tonight. It took every ounce of control I have not to hop on my bike and haul ass to her parents estate.
“Then we should make a plan,” Quinton insists.
“No,” Alicia says over speakerphone on my phone. “If Harley doesn’t want us to do anything, we have to respect that. Unless her parents do something to warrant a reaction from us.”
“And paying someone to stalk her every move isn’t?” Ross grumbles.
I shrug and mumble, “Not according to Harley.”
“What about you?” Declan asks pointedly.
Dropping my head, I stare at the tile floor. “I don’t know.”
“What are you thinking?” Jace asks.
I shake my head, trying to find the right way to articulate my thoughts. Finally, I raise my eyes and look at all of them. “Honestly?”
“Yeah,” they all say in unison, even Alicia from the phone.
My eyes lock with Justin’s as I admit, “I’m crawling out of my fucking skin.”
“Then we need a plan, Cap,” he states quietly.
Nodding, I exhale through my nose. “Alright, a plan.”
For a long moment, no one speaks. Everyone stares at me, waiting for me to say anything at all. But all I can think about is how I put her in this situation. If I hadn’t stormed into that dinner and staked my claim on her, she’d still be in a decent position with her parents.
“Don’t do that,” Declan demands. “I see that look on your face. You’re blaming yourself for her situation.”
“Fucking hell, Jax,” Alicia bites out. “Her parents are terrible human beings. We all know that.”
“More now than before,” Ross agrees softly.
I want to tell them everything. It’s killing me not to. But if I come out and tell the entire pack that Harley was born and raised by two hunters, they’ll likely never feel safe around her. Not only that, it’s not my place to tell Harley’s story. Even if it is my pack.
Jerking another nod, I say, “You’re right. All of you.”
“Okay,” Alicia sighs, “Here’s what we’ll do.”
Alicia’s plan has worked seamlessly. Between the seven of us, Harley hasn’t been left alone for even a second. For the last week and a half, we’ve kept a close eye on her and the tail we’ve all seen lurking around. Luckily, they’ve kept a safe distance the entire time.
“Do you get more…what’s the word?” Harley murmurs to herself from where she lies on her stomach in the center of my bed. “Antsy? Do you get antsy as a full moon is approaching?”
She’s staring down at an open textbook for physics. She taps her temple with one of her many blue pens, clearly not focused on the material she’s supposed to be studying. From my desk, I watch as she swings her feet in the air. Her eyes dart across the page, clearly not attempting to read anything.
Eventually, she turns her head to her left, those blue eyes landing on me. She raises an eyebrow, impatiently waiting for my response to her question. Dropping her pen into the gutter of her textbook, she props her chin into the palm of her hand as she stares at me.
“It depends on the time of the year,” I admit with a small smile.
“Are you antsy for the moon next week?”
“No,” I say casually. I’m terrified of it .
“Why not?” Harley presses.
With a shrug, I say, “I’ve had something keeping me rather occupied. Or someone to distract me from it.”
“Me?” she asks innocently. “A distraction?”
“Don’t act like you aren’t completely aware of how unbelievably distracting you are, Davidson.”
Our conversation is interrupted by a knock on my bedroom door. Pressing on the arms of my desk chair, I rise from the seat. Harley picks her pen up again, returning her attention to the textbook.
When I open the door, I find Declan leaning against the wall. He holds up a small envelope between his pointer and middle fingers. Stepping into the hall, I pull the door closed behind me. My eyes stay locked on the messy letters of Harley’s name.
“Did you open it?” I ask quietly.
Declan shakes his head once before handing it to me. “You should open it with her though. She didn’t hide the fact that her father put a tail on her, you shouldn’t hide this from her.”
I give him a nod, wordlessly agreeing with him, as I grip the doorknob to my room. Turning the knob, I open the door and step back inside. When the door closes, I press my back up against the wood, not being able to take my eyes off of the envelope in my hand.
“What’s that?” Harley asks from the bed.
“Looks like a letter,” I mumble, finally lifting my eyes to hers. “It’s addressed to you. At this address.”
Her brows pull together in confusion. Rolling onto her back, she pushes herself into a sitting position while simultaneously flinging her legs off the end of the bed. She swiftly closes the distance between us and takes the letter from my hand.
I watch her cheeks flush, but for the first time it’s in clear irritation. Her fingers make quick work of ripping open the letter. She crumples the envelope in her left hand as she unfolds the letter. Her nostrils flare, eyes narrowing on the page.
“Harley,” she reads aloud, “It would be highly beneficial for you to come home. Your father and I strongly invite you to attend our weekly dinner this coming Sunday. We would like to discuss your behavior the last time you were here. We’d also like to discuss your poor taste in company. This letter is more of a strong demand than it is a request. Come home or face the dire consequences of your recent actions.”
Harley crumples the letter in both her hands before aggressively throwing it across the room. It lands directly into the wastebasket next to my desk. I watch as Harley starts to pace the length of my room.
“What does that even mean? First, they have whoever they hired following me around. Then, she writes this letter. Did they think that would scare me?” she hisses under her breath, not talking to me specifically. “Obviously I didn’t come crawling back to them when my father pulled all of his money from my school account. Shouldn’t that have been the first indicator that I don’t care about them or their money?”
“Harley,” I say, trying to gain her attention.
“And what was with that whole ‘strongly invite you to attend’ nonsense? I strongly invite them to leave me alone!” she mutters indignantly.
“Harley,” I say again.
“Discuss my behavior,” she scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest. “What about their behavior my entire life?”
“Harley,” I growl, harsher than I intended.
Her head snaps in my direction. Those angry blue eyes lock with mine. “What?”
“She sent that here. To this address,” I state quietly.
My words take a second to sink in. Her anger quickly morphs into panic. “Does that mean the pack is in danger?”
“I don’t know,” I admit quietly. “But we’re gonna need to make a new plan.”
“A new plan? What do you mean, a new plan?”
Ripping the door open, I call down the hall, “Emergency meeting!”
Harley jogs after me as I storm down the hall, throwing open every closed bedroom door on my way to the kitchen. Taking the stairs two at a time, I barge into the kitchen. Alicia stands in front of the stove, stirring what looks to be a bronze colored sauce.
“Zayden, what do you mean by a new plan?” Harley demands.
“You weren’t exactly supposed to tell her, Jax,” Alicia chides.
Once all the guys shuffle into the kitchen, I bite out, “Harley’s mother sent a threatening letter.”
“That’s not good,” Ross says, looking over Alicia’s shoulder as she gently drops some chicken into a pan of oil. “Chicken tenders? Did you make your special sauce?”
“Yes,” Alicia says. “Now get out of my bubble.”
Ignoring them, I add, “The letter was sent here .”
“Here? What do you mean?” Quinton asks. “Oh, hey Harley. Didn’t realize you were in on the pack meetings now.”
Harley stands with her arms crossed over her chest while glaring daggers at me. “I’m not,” she says through clenched teeth.
“Why’s she so mad?” Jace asks quietly.
“He spilled the beans that there was a plan and now we have to make a new plan,” Alicia states, flipping the chicken.
“You weren’t supposed to tell her about the plan, Jax,” Quinton says, crossing his arms over his chest next to Harley.
“What plan?” Harley demands in a chilling tone.
Running my hands through my hair, I groan, “We made a plan to make sure whoever was hired to follow you didn’t try to do anything. I’m shocked you haven’t noticed the fact that you haven’t been alone since you told me about it.”
“You’ve been, what, babysitting me?” she shrieks.
“Protecting you. It’s not the same,” Declan mutters.
Her glare shifts to him. “It’s the same,” she seethes.
“Alright, as adorable as you are when you’re angry, this conversation needs to move forward,” I state, giving her a pleading look.
With a frustrated sigh, Harley turns her back and walks over to stand by Alicia. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to tamp down the need to shift. The wolf in me will protect Harley at any cost.
“If they know we’re here, and they’ve figured out we’re wolves, we can’t run here,” Declan says in a low rumble.
“And with Harley’s father having her followed, it’ll be harder to make sure we’re at a safe location in time for the full moon,” Ross added quietly.
Opening my eyes, I find Alicia giving Harley a sad, tight-lipped smile. “We can go to my parent’s land. We’ll all have to be extremely cautious about being followed,” I suggest.
“If we all take separate vehicles and different routes, it’ll be harder for them to catch on to what we’re doing,” Justin agrees.
“I’ll have to clear it with my dad, but it’s a solid idea,” I say roughly.
“We can work out all the details this weekend,” Ross murmurs. “But for now we all need to worry about keeping Harley safe.”
“You guys shouldn’t be going out of your way to worry about me,” Harley whispers, her back still facing us.
“Hate to break it to you, Har,” Alicia clips, “but that’s not going to happen. You’re one of us now, and that means we’re going to worry about you. No matter what you say.”