Page 36 of Jager's Prey
“My point—Jager.” He stepped in close. “Mack is a man who wants to look out for his woman. Don’t take that from him.”
“I’m not his woman.”
“Maybe you should tell him you don’t want to be.” Hermes told me then turned to walk across the hanger to sit beside his friend.
I watched after him.
Mack is a man who wants to look out for his woman.
His woman.
I wanted to be Mack’s woman.
My knees wobbled underneath me with the force of that thought. The truth in it left me breathless and doubled over to catch my breath. I braced my palms to my knees, sucking air into my lungs.
I’d never had that before.
The thought of belonging to a man had always been something that angered me.
But this was different—this wasverydifferent.
“Jager, we should head back.” Mack called from the door of the private plane.
Straightening my spine, I turned to look up at him. Cage shoved his head around Mack and stared at me.
“You’re not leaving without saying goodbye, right?” Cage asked.
“No.” I replied. “I’m comin’.”
Clearing my throat, I jogged up the steps and spent some time saying goodbye to Cage and giving Tianna a hug.
Mack said nothing to me. He climbed into the SUV with Hermes’ while I pulled my head into the new helmet and climbed astride the cycle Hermes brought with him for me. I didn’t want to go into this mission with him still crossed with me. But as I watched the vehicle pull out of the hanger ahead of me, I knew I didn’t have a choice in the matter.
The street was busy with cars zooming around us. It wasn’t easy to keep up with Hermes and Mack, but I swerved in and out of traffic to keep up. By the time we pulled into our first position, the sky was dark, and I could smell the rain on the air.
“We have to hurry.” I checked the pump-action shotgun then tucked it in the holder of my trench coat. “It’s going to rain.”
Mack Salazaar
A long time ago,I promised myself I would never be the kind of man my father was. He was controlling and hateful when it came to my mother. But the thought of Jager in danger riled me in a way I couldn’t understand. The darkness rose inside me and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t quell it.
Deep down, I knew I should apologize to Jager, and I was going to have to tell her about the dark place I was coming from when it came to my family, but I was too much of a coward to face all that.
I’m not some damsel in distress1 I don’t need your damn protection!
Her words bore through my mind, and I closed my eyes to reign in the pain it caused in my chest. Wanting to keep her safe was like second nature to me. I felt for her things I hadn’t felt for another woman. Something as simple as her looking at me in that slow, almost penetrating way she stared at me sent my entire body into a tailspin.
I didn’t feel that for any of the women I’d dated. I didn’t feel that for Karen who tried every chance she got to hit on me.
Jager was different and I wanted to hold onto her for as long as she’d let me.
But it seemed I was holding on too tightly. In that moment, a sick feeling rushed through me.
It was the story of the little boy and the goldfish all over again.
The child wanted to hold his pet, to be close to him. But with that need, the child held too tightly and squeezed his beloved pet to death.
I sighed.
