Deadly Mates (Deadly Trilogy) (16 page)

I didn’t respond immediately. 
My father most likely would have taken the information as grounds to throw the whole team in lockdown and tortured them with his alpha scent until he got what he wanted to know out of them.  And although the idea was an appealing one, since the last thing I needed was the team fighting right now, I wasn’t going to do it.  Jade would never forgive me for it, and well, I didn’t want to run a pack by inflicting fear and pain on my wolves.  It just wasn’t me.

I finally looked back at him and asked, “Did you really volunteer to come here?”

Tommy hadn’t expected the question.  He furrowed his brow.  “Sure, why wouldn’t I?”

“Oh
, I don’t know,” I said with a lazy lift of my shoulders.  “Maybe because you’ve hated me since I was born.”

He gave me an odd look
, one that I couldn’t even being to understand, and in a low calm voice he said, “Never hated you, kid.  If we were all soft on you like Lance was, you’d never be where you are now.  Probably would have died in your fight for alpha.”

I really didn’t know what to say to that.  He might have had a point, but I wasn’t ready to admit it, so I just shrugged and started down the hallway. 
“Come on,” I said.  “Jade’s waiting.”

~ JADE ~

Time, even the last twenty minutes, had given me some perspective as well as a much needed reality check. The pack was, to put it simply, a freakin’ mess, clearly divided.  There had been no mingling between the males and females, no friendly gestures. If anything, there was a hostile tension, wrapping around the room, well, until they started laughing at me.

I hadn’t believed Aidan when he had tried to explain how upset everyone was with me.  Really, I figured he was exaggerating, but after seeing them all together
, one thing was clear: I couldn’t hide behind the team any longer.

I ha
d never gone further than Aidan’s office in the headquarters before and I was a bit shocked at how large the building actually was.  Tommy had suggested we move our little meeting from the lobby to a more appropriate setting, so Dominic had led our group down the main hallway to a meeting room at the back of the building.  There was a network of hallways that branched off the main one and every few feet there was another closed door.  What all the rooms were for or why we needed such a big building, I had no clue, but after this was all over, I was definitely going to check them out.

Now I was in a meeting room with the team: Beck, Landon, Mark, and Craig.  Tommy and Chris were there, as were Aidan and Dominic.  Jared still hadn’t shown up, but I was starting to think he probably wouldn’t.  The room smelled of wolves, angry, nervous wolves.  And there was a hint of lingering staleness as if the space had been sealed up tight for some time.  That was the first thing I had noticed when I had stepped in.

And it was quiet.  So very quiet.  Everyone was looking at me, waiting expectantly, but I didn’t know what to say.  I hadn’t been in the pack for all that long, not to mention I had no clue what I was doing as an alpha.  The sound of my footsteps were loud, echoing around the room, as I paced back and forth.  Heat pooled in my cheeks, so hot that I was certain my face was a bright scarlet.

Once Aidan and Tommy had come in, w
e had listened as Erika recounted the events leading up to her capturing everything on video, and I hated it, but her story had an undeniable ring of truth.  She had driven Tiffany to the meeting with my dad.  Her best guess was they didn’t notice her scent so close because they had known she was there, although they had thought she was waiting at the car.  She’d been certain that Tiffany was going to win the games and she had done what she could to get in Tiffany’s good graces before that happened.

But after waiting for a little over thirty minutes, Erika had wandered into the woods, following Tiffany’s trail.  She said they were just beyond the tree line and the moment she had picked up what they were discussing, she had crouched down, hiding behind a bush, and started recording.  When they had broken up their little meeting, Erika had bee-lined it for the car.  She drove Tiffany home
, listened to Tiffany brag about her little get together, and as soon as Tiffany was out of her car, Erika had found me. According to Erika, Tiffany had been so certain she would win the alpha female games that she hadn’t felt the need to hide her plans, especially since Erika had sworn her alliance.

Once she finished her story, I had dismissed her, sending her back to Aidan’s office to wait.  I needed time to think everything
out, figure out what to do with her.  I wasn’t sure if she would stick around, but then I guessed she really had nowhere else to go and she knew we would hunt her down if she left.

The light coming into the room was dim; the windows, covered by light filtering roller shades, the same sterile white as the shiny ceramic tiles, were pulled down and the lights, off.  A long, rustic wood table that looked as if a slab was taken from the center of an enormous oak tree filled the room, with the enforcers surrounding it, sitting in matching wooden chairs.

Aidan smiled.  It was a bit shy, a lot sweet, and it made the butterflies in my belly dance and shiver.  The air around me warmed, as if I stepped into a patch of sunlight.  He sat at the head of the table, in jeans and a light gray zip-up hoodie, the sleeves pushed up to the elbows.  His light brown hair was sticking out a little, but then he’d been running his hands through it constantly as he listened to the recount.  He hadn’t shaved; his jawline looking rough with stubble, and as I scanned him over, if I had to guess, I’d say he hadn’t been sleeping much lately.

“Sweetheart, she’s telling the truth.  You can smell it.”  The smile that Aidan gave me shifted to something that looked like a challenge, as if he were daring me to disagree, and I resisted the urge to groan and roll my eyes.  I knew she was telling the truth, but darn it, I wanted it all to be a lie.  He noticed and got up, crossing the room to me.  He leaned in close, his voice dropping to barely a whisper as he pressed his lips to my ear.  “I love the whole jealousy thing.  It’s hot as hell, but you need to be sure your decision isn’t because of my bad
choice last night.  You need to be fair to her.”

When he pulled back from me and took his seat again, my heart was pounding, and I seriously hoped I didn’t look as guilty as I felt.  I looked at Aidan, silently cursing him for pointing out what had already been eating at me.  I swallowed down a frustrated sigh.

“Okay,” I said.  “Okay.”  I nodded a few times, more to reassure myself than anyone else.  “I think we can all agree that Erika can’t be my beta.  And I can’t very well throw her out of town.  She may suck most of the time, but she’s loyal to the pack and right now, we need all the loyalty we can get.”

Craig didn’t look happy, but he grunted, “You’re right,” along with the rest of them,
and I started my useless pacing again.  I just didn’t know what to do with her.  I knew the way the pack worked to a certain extent.  If I stripped her title, they would eat her alive.  She would be marked as a weak link and that never went well. 
God, I don’t want to make this decision.

“Where the heck is Jared?” I blurted, stalling.  “He should be here for this.”

The second the words left my mouth I heard Aidan’s growl.  I stopped in my tracks and cut him a dirty look.  “Will you stop that?  Seriously, what’s with all the growling?”  His response was a sexy smirk and another soft growl.

“Jade, he can’t help it,” Tommy said, chuckling.  “Give him a break.  It’s his inner-wolf voicing his claim on you.  It’ll ease up after you two are officially mated.”

Tommy grinned when I shifted to face him.  It was a playful grin, one that told me I was in fact as red as my cheeks felt.  I laughed a little and smiled sweetly.  “The next person who brings up my sex life is going to be sorry.  I swear it.”

Beck laughed, Landon rolled his eyes, and Mark snickered.  I groaned.  “Okay, if she stays here she needs a mate.  The threat of a pissed off mate should keep the pack off her back and I think we owe her that much for what she’s done for
us.”

I glanced at Craig and he quickly shook his head.  “I won’t mate with her and I won’t house her either.”  He let out a painful sounding sigh.  “I just can’t do it.  I won’t be her fallback plan.  I can’t deal with the fact she was with him or anyone just before she crawled into my bed.”  He glanced at Aidan then and I was a bit stunned that there was no hostility or blame in his gaze.  “At least I understand why she said she wanted to wait.”  He stood up slowly, glancing at Beck.  “Will you watch out for her?  The pack owes her protection.  The team owes it to her for bringing Jade to us.  Once she’s stripped of
the title, she’ll be looked at as weak and with how unsettled the pack is that won’t end well.  I just can’t do it.”

Beck nodded, and Craig shifted his focus
to me.  “You good with this?”

I nodded.  I couldn’t really do much more than that.  My throat was burning and my eyes stinging.  I wanted to hug him.  I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but the words were jammed in my throat.  Bu
t the nod seemed to be enough.

“Good,” Craig said.  He nodded, too.  “Good.”  He looked at Aidan, and said, “We need Jade on the team.  I know you want her to step down
, but it’ll be a mistake.  We need her.  She’s the only thing that’s keeping Jared sane right now.”

“Is he okay?”  I asked before Aidan could say the blunt
no
that I could see written all over his face.

A ripple of tension passed through the team and Landon said, “Nope, he’s far from okay.  But you need to stay away from him.  And I don’t agree with Craig.  You need to step down, keep clear of him until everything is ...” he smirked and chuckled, “settled between you and Aidan.”

I clucked my tongue, and began fidgeting, playing with the strings on my hoodie.  Aidan was frowning, but at least he wasn’t growling.  My stomach dropped and I huffed.  “He’s still my friend, guys.  I’m not going to just ditch him.”

“He’s not your friend, Jade,” Landon said.  “I hate to point it out, but he didn’t give a shit about you until Aidan showed his interest.  Might want to ask yourself why.”

Ouch.
  That was pretty much the only thing that went through my mind as I stared at Landon, my jaw dropping.

“Landon,” Beck said.  “Not your place
, man.  Let it go.”

“What’s not his place?” I asked.  My voice was a little rocky and I swallowed hard.  I glanced at Beck, but he only shrugged.  He gave me a look that clearly said
Let it go
and glanced in Aidan’s direction.

Mark leaned forward, his elbows on the table, and he rested his chin in his hands.  “Did anyone else pick up on Jeff’s eye twitch when Jade told him about Tiffany’s deal with Bruce?”

~
AIDAN ~

Looking back on it, I thought I should have known that there was more trouble with the team than just their normal jerkiness.  But with my pack, pretty much everything equaled some kind of trouble and it was beginning to become extremely hard to see the real problems when they surfaced.  They were all so testy and high-strung right now that even looking at someone the wrong way caused an issue.  So when Jared failed to show at the pack’s headquarters, I really hadn’t thought much of it.  I figured he was pissed off, and not showing was his version of throwing a tantrum.

Except this wasn’t just a tantrum.  Whatever the problem was, it went further than Jared being pissed off at me.  I hadn’t wanted to believe what Tommy uncovered, but after listening to Landon tell Jade to stay away from Jared, I was sure this really did have something to do with the entire team.

Awesome.  Another problem to solve.
 
Just what I need.

I pulled up to a stop light, and glanced at Dominic in the passenger seat.  He looked as if he
were somewhere else, completely lost in his own thoughts.  His face was utterly blank, not guarded as usual, and it made him look a lot younger than eighteen.

It only took about five minutes for everyone to agree
that I needed to chat with Jade’s dad, and get a briefing on the cougar situation.  As far as Jeff was concerned, I’d sent him back to the cougars to gather information for me and if I never bothered to ask him what he found out, sooner or later he would clue in that something was up.

It didn’t take long to set it up.  Jeff had been more than happy to meet, and within fifteen minutes
, I was back in my car.  And although I tried to convince Jade to come with me, she’d ended up hanging back at the headquarters with the guys claiming she wanted to work on strategies.

The light changed, and I eased off the clutch, feathering the gas.  After another moment of silence
, I said, “So, Jared’s gone.  Tommy said that he thinks the guys forced him to leave for a bit.”

Dominic blinked and pulled in a loud breath.  “Yeah, figured as much,” he said.  He fiddled with the window button, letting the glass fall an inch and the
n rise again.  “Maybe it’s a good thing.  Gives you both time to simmer down.”

“I don’t need time to simmer down,” I said, making a right on Clearmont Drive.  “I promised Jade I wouldn’t touch him and I won’t.  God, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we need him.  We need all of them right now.”