Page 62 of Untamed

I just grunt, calculating the odds in my head. Devel and I can take out most common wolves by ourselves. With his unit, that makes seven wolves that can fight. Eight, if you count Elias. And I count Elias.

But Devel may be compromised with Leilani here. He'll want to protect her. I glance in the rearview at the backseat of the truck. Fuck. I'm compromised, too. I won't let Snow get hurt. Never again if I can help it.

"Why the fuck is BlueSnout here?" I grind my teeth.

My foot hits the brake on instinct. Tires spin, squealing on the dirt road, kicking up stones as the tires finally stop moving just inches away from the wolf standing in front of the fender.

"What the fuck?!" I roar. I explode from the truck, knowing that Devel is already moving, too. This is an ambush.Mother-fucker.

Screams mix with growls and snarls as bodies fly out of the trucks, ringing the refugees inside a circle of claws and teeth.

No one attacks, and the wolf who forced me to brake has already retreated into the dark forest.

"Anyone need to tell me something?" I call out, letting my voice ring with the authority of an alpha.

"You've changed, Jax."

A shudder rakes over my body. Her voice is like having bamboo shoots shoved under my fingernails.

"Jessie," I growl.

I've hidden this truth from my wolves for years. Jessie didn't die, as Lyri thought. I let everyone believe she was gone. Rhet buried the head of a female given to us by Devel, some bitch involved in the crimes his unit fights. Lyri assumed that it was Jessie, and I didn't correct her assumption. I didn't want her to worry.

"Fuck," Devel mutters at my side. He's probably taking this personally. I've had Devel and his unit searching for Jessie for years, in vain. I've never been sure what I would do if they ever caught up with her. Do I have them kill my mate? Can I stomach the thought?

When she steps out of the shadows of the trees, I have to fight the weakness in my knees. She's still beautiful to me, her soft brown hair streaked with blond. Fake, I remind myself, she would have grey hairs like me if she didn't dye it.

Her eyes watch me; the sweet blue I always loved shines with poorly-hidden malice. Lines bracket her eyes and mouth. She can't hide the stress of the last decade, despite her apparent attempts to cover it all up.

She's dressed to the nines, in a black pantsuit with red piping, of all the bizarre shit. There are deep-red, hand-tooled, Lucchese boots on her feet. The fucking irony. Jessie didn't ever approve of the cattle ranchers who saved Lyri's life from us eight years ago. They were dirty, outcasts, beneath her. She wouldn't be caught dead in cowboy boots. But now she's wearing a $600 pair of that bullshit, pun intended. Her ears, neck, and fingers all drip with gold jewelry, but I'm happy to see that it's fairly cheap-looking. She must have spent all her change on the boots.

Meanwhile, I smell of the forest fire and days of travel, in fatigues and combat boots covered in mud. I'm tired, feeling like a broken-down mule. Even my wolf, alpha he may be, has a slump to his shoulders. Exhaustion runs bone-deep, and even seeing Jessie, for the first time in eight years, isn't causing enough adrenaline to chase the feeling away.

The scent of Chanel drifts my way. I nearly choke. Jessie was always covering her natural scent like this. It's a little disgusting for wolves to tell the truth.

"Don't no one need this bitch here," Elias snaps, his frail, elderly voice belied by the crazy violence in his eyes as he stares in the direction of hisformerluna.

Jessie's gaze flickers to Elias, disdain twisting her features into something less pretty. "You always had questionable companions, Jax."

"And you were always a bitch," I fire back. Unease creeps over my spine. Wolves in the forest are inching closer. I can hear paws and feet moving over the dead leaves.

Jessie straightens her spine, her chin tilting up a bit. "My companions, Jax," she says with emphasis, "are going to put RustClaw back together. Your sister's son will be the Alpha, and we can have-"

I bark a laugh, cutting her off. "Glory's son? You must be joking. Inuit Genome is an alphason with an ancient bloodline," I emphasize. "There is no other option but him, Jessie."

A bitter smile curls over her lips. "Glory is going to offer something else, too. That male can mate to one of Blout's nieces. Diego takes the pack, and your little protege can be with one of those females. They've all gone to RustClaw-"

"You've sent them to RustClaw?" I ask in disbelief. I don't want to have this conversation, especially with Jessie, but as we shoot the breeze, Devel's team is hemming in the refugees closer and closer.

"Yes, she's gone to RustClaw already," Jessie says through gritted teeth.

Elias starts to laugh. "Too late, dumb bitch!" he chortles. "Young Alphason already has his truemate. A golden she-wolf!"

The look of putrifying hatred on Jessie's face only lasted a brief second before, at some unspoken signal, the wolves with her attack.

Fur and blood fly as I shift, taking out two attackers in nearly the same heartbeat. Jessie didn't bring warriors. That much is clear. I feel that she didn't expect Devel and his team to be with us. Maybe she thought I would roll over and play dead for my treacherous mate.

I rip open the throat of a skinny, tan, and white wolf and bring my head up. The skirmish, because that's what this was, is over already. It only lasted two, maybe three minutes.

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