Page 20 of The Alpha Option
He carefully positioned her feet in his lap before leaning back with his hands resting over her arches. Beside them, the fire crackled. Add in the sounds of animals in the bush and the wind shaking the leaves in the trees, and it was like something out of a wilderness movie soundtrack.
So many questions, but she was running out of steam. She met his gaze—those gorgeous, mesmerizing deep blue eyes that seemed to look right into her soul. “I’m going to turn off the rest of the questions for now except for this one. Are you doing something that’s making me feel like this?”
His gaze grew hotter. Heavy-lidded. “How are you feeling?”
She went with the truth. “As if I’ve known you forever. As if every detail I don’t know about you is something I desperately want to learn.” She let her gaze drift over him. “As if I want to take you to bed and not come up for a week.”
Jace swallowed hard. He took a deep breath in, nostrils flaring, eyes closing briefly before he connected with her again. “I solemnly swear I am not doing anything nefarious. But this connection between us? It’s because of the wolf thing, and it’s real. Every single thing you said you feel, I feel it too.”
Well, then. “Okay. Good to know.”
They sat in silence for a moment, and then Jace stood. Before she could do anything, he scooped her up in his arms.
“Whoa, there, wolf man,” Cassidy began.
“Don’t worry. You’re exhausted. I simply don’t feel like putting your shoes back on.” He carried her into the kitchen as if she were weightless before carefully placing her on the floor and then stepping away. “Blue will be back in the morning. I’ll set up in one of the cabins, so I’ll be here as well. All the rest of the questions can wait.”
Cassidy stood there in her bare feet as the wolf shifter she absolutely had the hots for politely dipped his chin and walked out the door.
It was exactly what she’d asked for and exactly what needed to happen. Disappointment still welled up inside, and that said more to her than anything about this wild, mixed-up, amazing day.
8
Jace made it as far as the first cabin before frustration and hunger took control. He barely stripped his clothes off before the shift rolled over him. His spine realigned and colours adjusted as he changed from human to wolf with the ease and pleasure of over thirty years.
Under his paws, the earth trembled.
Or maybe that was still him reacting to the outrageous need that swelled inside. Need for his mate threatened to sweep all rational human plans to the curb, and while he had zero problem with winging it sometimes—
He ran. Body lengthening on each stride, he thrust his hind legs back hard to propel himself forward at top speed. He wove in and out of the trees with a seemingly carelessness that was complete trust in his wolf.
Body flying, muscles straining, his thoughts shifted from analytical toward more primal. He welcomed the connection with the cool dirt underfoot and the kiss of nature against his fur. The scent of animals in the bush, the lingering aroma of barbecue from a neighbouring acreage.
And her. Always her, dammit. Cassidy was already in him, and he was thrilled and yet so fucking tangled up inside.
A mate. He had a bloodymate.
Blue had said it earlier—having a mate changed everything. Jace might have come back to Timberwolf Lodge reluctantly, but hell if he wasn’t going to stay.
Staying meant challenging his cousin Del. Instead of avoiding conflict as he’d worked so hard to do over the years, Jace prepared to do what it took. Anything. Everything. Including an aggressive and potentially deadly change of leadership.
It wouldn’t happen without blood. The idea was far less frustrating when he considered it as a wolf.
The strongest leads the pack. Iamthe strongest—therefore I should lead.
The thought was purely wolf, yet his human side had to agree.
Jace slowed his pace. The sureness of the problem and the solution should have felt bigger with dazzling lights and the hallelujah chorus going off in the background. Instead, the realization brought him a quiet inner peace.
Even knowing Del might not survive the confrontation couldn’t make Jace and his wolf lose the contentment.
He ran expanding circles around Timberwolf Lodge. Checked the territory markers, added a few of his own. Began to stake a claim on the land the way his auntie wanted.
It was nearly midnight when he circled past the lodge one final time, close enough to see motion on the front porch.
The scent of her had filled his senses the entire evening, but now she was right there. From the shadows of the rickety porch, Cassidy watched without a trace of fear in her green eyes.
He should’ve turned away. Should’ve followed his resolve to give her the space and time she needed to comprehend exactly how much her world had changed.
