Deadly Crush

Page 21

Dominic slid by Jeff and sat on the desk beside me. He wouldn’t look at me, but I wasn’t really surprised about that. What I was surprised about was that he was taking his place beside me. I really hadn’t expected it. After ripping him away from Jade and threatening to boot him out of the pack, I had figured he would have stayed clear of me, at least for a while.
Jeff looked stunned, too. His jaw dropped slightly and his eyes widened. Clearly, Dominic had said something to him when they had left. Jeff looked as if he was about to say something, but he held it back. After a second, he crossed the room, letting the door slam behind him, and he took a seat on the edge of the bed.
“Where’s Jade?” Dominic asked. He tried to sound casual, but it was a useless effort. His voice was like gravel and his scent was a mix of hot fury and concern, and it held a tangy edge of jealousy.
“At home,” I said with a chuckle, as the dirty look she gave me flashed across my mind. “She kind of kicked me out. But I have some good news. She doesn’t entirely hate me, although I think she wishes she did.”
“I never thought she did,” Dominic said through clenched teeth. “You sparked her interest the first second she laid eyes on you.”
“How could you leave her alone?” Jeff asked. His complexion paled quickly and it looked as if it was a struggle for him not to jump up and run out the door. “What if one of them attacks before she’s ready? What if …”
I raised my hand and he sucked in a breath, holding in whatever he was about to say. “She’s not alone. Mac and Trevor are there. And she did beat Erika as a human. I’m sure the other three won’t be a problem for her.”
Dominic shifted on the desk and finally looked at me. “What if she rejects the change?” He held my eyes, and I saw his fear. It was shining through his mask, although by his tense posture, I was pretty sure he was trying to hide it.
“She won’t,” I said, keeping my tone light. “Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if she has her first shift today. She smells more wolf than human.”
“Aidan, please let me go stay with her,” Dominic said. He reached out, placing a hand on my shoulder. “She hates Trevor, and she needs someone to help her through this.”
I shrugged his hand off, and stretched my legs out in front of me, crossing them at the ankles. “Bad news, too, though,” I said, ignoring his plea. “It’s time for you to come clean. Because honestly, if I catch another whiff of jealousy on you, I’ll rip you apart.” I said it all with a smile, but there was no mistaking how serious I was.
Jeff sat still. So still in fact, that I was pretty sure he was even holding his breath. His hands were clasped in his lap, and his graying hair looked like it could use a good brushing. When I had first seen him, he was kind of intimidating, big and burly. The father of the girl I liked. Right now, he looked small and scared. It was … weird and a little perfect. All I had needed was to show my authority and I could make this man tremble before me.
Dominic sighed, and hopped off the desk. He padded over to the big window and pulled open the curtain, letting the sunshine glitter through the glass. He was nervous. I could smell it, and his heartbeat picked up, thrumming a little quicker against his ribs.
“There’s nothing to come clean about,” he said and glanced around the room. He snagged the garbage can, and made his way back over to the desk, picking up the scattered protein bar wrappers and empty coffee cups.
I watched him pick up all the garbage and then begin to straighten the textbooks on the coffee table. The tension was growing; his nerves were making his hands tremble slightly. “I know something’s up with you two, Dom, and I want to know what it is.”
He turned to me and gave me a blank look. “Shouldn’t we be dealing with your exposure? The pack needs to prepare. If we aren’t ready, she’s the easiest target.”
“She’s not an easy target,” I said, not backing down. “She doesn’t even need to move to pin someone in place. I know you felt it. You jumped pretty quickly when she said she was hungry.”
I let my scent roll off of me, filling the room, and folded my arms over my chest. He was giving me an insolent look, one that clearly told me that he did not, and would not, agree with me, and I was done putting up with it. I hadn’t wanted to use my alpha scent like this. I hadn’t wanted to turn into my father, but I couldn’t fight him and deal with everything else.
Dominic held my stare for a moment before his body visibly started to shake. He laughed, a strangled sound, and put his hands up, backing up a step. “I swear there’s nothing going on between us,” he said with a desperate note in his voice. “We grew up together. We were best friends. She kissed me once. I told her I was gay. Without the whole sex issue between us, we got closer. I got bit. I ditched her. She hated the pack and me for it. That’s it.”
I felt the change in my eyes, the soft sting as they began to glow, and he shuddered back another step. “If that were all true, you wouldn’t be so jealous,” I said, watching him drop to his knees before me.
Guilt washed over me hard and fast. Dominic’s face twisted with agony and a quick flash of how this felt slammed into me. I remembered the pain burning over my skin when my father had let his alpha wolf out. I remembered the scent clawing through my body, making my inner-wolf convulse. I remembered the power behind it, and that memory was what made me pull it back.
Dominic gasped in a breath. “I love her like a sister,” he said panting and crumbling to the floor, as I pulled back the last of the invasive scent. He took a few breaths and pulled himself up, propping his back against the wall. “I don’t want her hurt. She hates hard, she loves even harder, and if she doesn’t win, she’ll be crushed when she realizes that means she won’t get you.” He laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. He gave me a look, and if I didn’t know better, I would have thought he actually cared about me. “And you’ll have to walk away from her. How many times do I have to tell you, I’m looking out for you! Not her. If she lost right now, could you walk away? I’m not blind, Aidan. You’re attracted to her and that’s dangerous. If you help her, give her any kind of advantage, she’ll be killed, and you won’t be able to stop it. The pack won’t stand for it, the enforcers will step in, and I don’t trust you enough not to help her. You’ve already interfered with her once.”
The cocky strength was back in his voice, and the color was quickly returning to his cheeks. As I listened to him, I felt as if he had swung a baseball bat into my gut. “That’s different,” I scoffed, but I knew it wasn’t. “You were dragging her to a car.”
Dominic got to his feet, still a little shaky, and paced toward me. “Yeah, I was. But if she had have been my mate, she’d have been put on trial for crossing me. And you would have had to hand down the sentence.”
I scrubbed at my face. “You’re going to tell her, aren’t you?”
“Nope. You were right. She won’t fight for you. Not because she doesn’t want you but because she’s stubborn. She’s pissed at you and with Jade that can last a while.” He sighed long and loud and ran his hands roughly through his hair. “She’ll lose everything while she chews on her hatred.”
I didn’t say anything because I was pretty sure he was right. Sooner or later Jade would gain control of her inner-wolf and when she did, I was pretty sure she’d turn her back on me. Dominic let out a gusty huff and took up his place beside me, sitting on the desk.
“I want to be free to help her with the change,” he said with determination. “I want to be able to help her win, and I can’t do that without your consent. Before you shoot me down, just think for a second about how close you are to having two packs in this town. Erika will follow her anywhere and I’m sure others will, too.”
“Dominic, she needs to know what’s happening,” Jeff pleaded. It was the first time he’d spoken in awhile, and honestly, I had kind of forgotten he was even there.
“Shut up, Jeff,” Dominic snapped. “This has nothing to do with you. She’s our problem now, and if you still want us to protect your wife, you’ll stay the hell out of our way.”
Where the hell did that come from? Dominic could be cold. I knew that. I’d seen it, but this … this was more than a little cold. Jeff inched back a little before he could catch himself. Just hours ago I would have sworn they were close. Really close. They were so much alike, the way they spoke, the way they held themselves. It was as if they were related. But just like everything else that confused the hell out of me, it pointed back to Jade. Jade. That girl was going to be the death of me. I was sure of it.
I glanced over to Dominic and said, “I’ll think about it. That’s all I can give you right now. But I promise I’ll consider your request.” He offered a small smile and then I shifted my gaze to Jeff. “You know, I’ve been thinking,” I said. “You’re the only person in this town that would have the ability to leak the information of a new alpha. Even with my slip up yesterday. You’re the only one that could have gotten it to them.”
Jeff sat up a bit taller and glared fiercely at me. “My alliance has always been with this pack.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Three of the cougars attacked one of my wolves on the outside of town today.”
“Shit. Who?” Dominic asked.
“Trevor. He’s fine. The cougars aren’t, though.” I hunched over in my chair, leaning my elbows on my knees and leveling my glare on Jeff. “There’s something that just doesn’t add up here. Why didn’t you change your daughter and why are you so intent on her being part of my pack?”
For a moment, I didn’t think Jeff was going to answer me, and white-hot rage simmered in my veins. He must have noticed the change in me because in one breath he blurted, “Our pack would have used her. She’s young. They don’t take mates the way you guys do. Women are a community possession. I couldn’t let that happen to my baby. As far as they know, Jade and my wife died three years ago when their bodies rejected the change. Dominic, please talk some sense into him. Jade needs to know what she’s gotten herself into.” A small tear snaked down his cheek, and dripped off his chin, soaking into his sweater.