“It has adventure on the high seas, about a young boy just your ages…and it has scary pirates!”
“Okay!”
Phoebe chuckled urging them to settle down. When all were comfortable she started, “Once upon a time in a small English town…”
* * *
Jason struggled to keep his revulsion in check as Graham continued to drink heavily. Kristie flashed him flirty smiles and tried to play footsie under the table. The only thing keeping his wolf under control was Luke’s running commentary of his mate’s activities. Jason could almost picture the scene as she and the pups crafted their stars then pretended to camp around their campfire. By the time she related the plot of Treasure Island Lobo was practically purring.
‘Mate is amazing!’
‘Agreed.’
Jason sighed looking out across the patio with a relaxed smile. Her scent still lingered in his nostrils. What he wouldn’t give to trade places with Luke to watch over her himself. A pressure on his leg caused his skin to prickle bringing him out of his revelry. His eyes shifted to his host where Kristie sat smirking. He could feel her trying to mindlink him but Jason shut her out changing position so he was out of her reach. Lobo stirred with a growl. How dare anyone interrupt their fantasies about their mate?
As the party wound down couples began to disperse. Jason assumed they were retrieving the pups to take them to bed. His suspicions were confirmed as Luke continued giving him updates. The last pups Phoebe escorted to their own room within the packhouse before she departed leaving through the back door and disappearing into the night.
Luke followed at a discrete distance tracking her to a cottage. Jason was on the edge of his seat as Luke described the single story structure surrounded by a cozy garden with the woods butted up against it. The windows were dark when she arrived and remained that way as she went directly to bed. Luke prowled the perimeter not picking up any strong scents but hers. It seemed she lived alone.
Jason frowned. Not that he minded the fact his mate was not surrounded by unmated males but it was unnatural for a she-wolf to live alone. She-wolves generally possessed more gregarious natures than their male counterparts and preferred to live in close proximity with one another.
In all likelihood the cottage was her parents’ home and where Phoebe grew up. The fact she was living alone meant they had already passed. Lobo whimpered in sympathy upset they hadn’t found their mate sooner and would have been there for her during what was certainly a trying time. But why would his mate continue to live alone so far from the others? Most in her situation would have moved into the packhouse to be closer to other she-wolves, their support and comfort.
“Looks like she’s gone to bed,” Luke commented. “What do you want to do?”
‘Go to Mate!’ Lobo immediately demanded.
He would give anything to follow through with his instinct but Jason hesitated. Waking her from slumber by suddenly appearing on her doorstep was sure to be confusing for her. No, he needed to talk to her. They needed time to get to know each other. But…
“I don’t like leaving her out there alone so far away from the pack.”
“Agreed,” Luke answered. His pack’s Luna needed to be protected at all times. It was an instinct he didn’t dare fight. “What about a guard?”
Jason hesitated. Aside from Luke the rest of his escort were unmated males a fact that made Lobo bristle. He didn’t doubt the loyalty of his warriors but he also couldn’t fight his instinct to protect his unmarked mate from interlopers.
“What about Cam?” Luke suggested knowing his thoughts.
Cam was a fierce warrior and a skilled fighter. He was also gay. Unmated or not, he would certainly be no threat to the bond slowly forming between Jason and his mate.
“Good. Have Cam meet you.”
“Should I tell him why he’ll be guarding a random she-wolf?”
“He’s smart. He’ll figure it out on his own. But yeah. Tell him to keep it to himself for now…At least until I can speak with her.”
“Got it.”
Jason escaped the party and Kristie’s amorous overtures as soon as he could, retreating to his room. Double locking his door he hopped in the shower to try to cool his eagerness to see his mate. His arms itched to hold her, caress her. He was dying to bury his nose in her neck and breathe her scent.
‘Mate!’ Lobo growled pacing in the back of his mind like a caged animal.
‘I know pal,’ Jason sighed. ‘I want to be with her just as much as you do but we have to be cautious. There’s something wrong with this pack.’
‘If that Luna touches us again we rip her throat out!’ Lobo snarled.
‘Strange Alpha Graham didn’t react at all,’ Jason suddenly realized something that had been bothering him the whole night.
A chosen bond wasn’t as strong as a fated one but it still connected one’s wolf spirit to another allowing them to communicate and sense each other. If one member of the pair betrayed the bond the other would certainly feel it. Though Kristie had only been flirting her mate should still have felt her intentions and yet Graham hadn’t even flinched despite the fact she was sitting next to him. Then again he had been drinking quite heavily so perhaps he couldn’t sense his wolf through the haze. Or was he drinking to deliberately suppress his wolf and dull the ache of his mate’s betrayal?
Jason couldn’t decide which scenario was more disturbing. In either case his instinct told him it wasn’t safe to announce his fated mate had been found, at least not until he had a chance to speak with her. The sooner they could leave and get his mate back to the safety of his own pack the better.
‘Yes! Take Mate home!’
‘We will. We are not leaving without her.’
Lobo growled assent. No matter what he had to convince Phoebe to leave with him. Nobody could stop him from claiming what was his. Stepping out of the shower Jason felt more exhausted than when he entered. Quickly drying himself he splayed out in the large bed. Sleep didn’t come easily.
His mate was etched in his mind and he saw her as soon as he closed his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to curl up with her in his arms, her warm scent wafting around him and filling his nose. Only with that image firmly in place did he finally manage to fall asleep.
* * *
The buzzing of his phone woke him the next morning. With a groan he reached for it setting it against his ear without looking at the screen before answering, “Yeah?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, dear. Did I wake you?”
“Mom?” Jason was instantly awake. “Is everything all right?”
“Of course. Ben has the pack running like clockwork,” his mother assured him. “But we did have a pretty serious breach.”
“What do you mean?”
“Rogues. They breached our southern border. Ben and the warriors drove them out.”
“Causalities?”
“None on our end. It’s just…”
“Just what?”
“You know how packs are. They get anxious when their Alpha is away.”
“Yeah. Got it loud and clear,” Jason sighed.
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