Redeemed: True Mates Book 4 (BBW Wolf Shifter Romance) (A Craggstone Paranormal Romance) (11 page)

Pride flooded me at Jason’s casual acknowledgment of my strength, then faded as his words sunk in. “You’re talking like you won’t be here with me—?”

“I have every intention of winning.” He shucked out of his jeans, standing naked in front of me.

I glanced over at Jacob. He was dragging out the moment, relishing the buildup.

Jason grabbed me, pulling me flush against his body, his voice gruff with emotion. “I have every intention of winning because I have something worth fighting for.
You
. I want everything—the mating hunt, the pups, hell, even the pack life. I didn’t realize before, but I hadn’t been living, only existing. You brought me back to life.”

He lowered his head, kissing me with all the longing and frustration I could hear in his voice.

The moment passed too quickly, him pulling away with dragging reluctance.

“I promise,” I whispered, still tasting him on my lips, regretting having ever doubted him. “But you’ve got to promise to go kick some ass.”

“I’m going to try, but, Macey? He’s my twin brother. I don’t know if I can beat him.”

That was what I was worried about. Not only was Jacob trained by Bert, it meant everything Jason had said before was true—he hadn’t shifted in over twenty years, let alone fought as a coyote. And if it came to it, could he punish his brother like that?

Too many unknowns.

I didn’t like it, not one bit.

***

Jason

I have a brother!
The thought ricocheted around inside my head, scrambling my brain. Maybe I should try and talk to him, make him see reason?

I followed his lead, stalking forward to meet him.

“Jacob, maybe we should—”

His fist flew into my jaw at a speed that stunned me, sending me reeling backward.

I rubbed at the aching spot, quickly dodging his next blow. And the next.

Skirting around him, I locked an arm around his neck, pulling him back, his feet digging into the dusty ground to stay upright.

“Let’s talk about this. We don’t need to fight!” I grunted as he dug claws into my arm, dragging them through my skin.

“We do, brother, because you’ll never let me take the bitch otherwise.”

It took a second for me to realize he was talking about Macey. “You don’t go near her, do you understand?” I roared, tightening up the choke hold I had him in.

“Or what? You’re going to beat me?” he choked out, laughing, a sickeningly mad sound. “I can take a beating, let me tell you. But can you?”

Then he bit me, tearing through skin and muscle.

He fucking bit me!

I ripped my arm away before he could gnaw down to the bone.

“You’re an animal!” I hissed, clutching my arm, swallowing back my revulsion.

Blood dripped from his mouth as he licked his extended teeth. “So are you, you just think you’re not,” he growled, launching himself at me.

We rolled to the ground in a tangle of fists flying and legs twisting. He was out of control, slashing and biting at any part of me that he could get hold of.

I yanked his head back as he lunged for my throat. His eyes sang of madness, swirling with hate and need.

That was when I knew it was too late for us. Whatever I might have hoped, it wasn’t going to happen. My brother had already been destroyed.

With a cry, I heaved him off me and delivered a solid one-two to his jaw. I might not have fought as a coyote in a long time, but I sure as hell knew how to fight as a human. Until he decided to up the ante and shift, maybe I stood a chance.

Another slam to his jaw, this time busting his nose, followed up by a left to his stomach.

I had to keep him at arm’s length, with his snapping teeth and razor sharp claws.

Then, through the haze of adrenaline, I remembered—I had claws, too. I was still thinking like a human!

A scream echoed behind me, and I faltered, my eyes searching for Macey. She should have been long gone by now!

She was lying on the ground, Bob crouched above her, pinning her arms.
I’m sorry
, she mouthed, her eyes flashing silver, then flickering like a flame without air.

She was still too weak, too drugged to fight!

Purple misted across my vision, my fangs and claws shooting out, muscles bunching and twisting, as indescribable rage shot through me, burning away any trace of humanity I had left. With a roar, I threw myself at my brother, twisting to slice down, scoring rivers of crimson across his chest.

Power hummed inside of me, rich and unstoppable as I opened the floodgates, welcoming it for the first time in my life.

Jacob fell to his knees, clutching his chest, his eyes wide in horror.

“No! But— You can’t! You’re meant to be weak!”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Macey

Bob’s breath stank as he huffed on top of me, digging his hands in tight, pressing himself a little closer than really needed to hold me down.

I wrenched my head to one side, avoiding the trickle of saliva that threatened to hit me square in the face.

My wolf was trying, Sweet Mother, she was trying to reach me, but it was as if there was still a barrier between us, one she was unable to claw her way through.

I kicked upwards, but a hastily planted knee thwarted my blow.

Warmth tingled through me, lazy heat building and swirling inside my chest like nothing I had felt before. Prickling at my skin, every hair standing on end, chasing goosebumps down my spine.

What was happening to me?
My stomach lurched as though in free-fall, the heat growing and spreading.

“That’s right, little wolf. Be scared of the big, bad coyote,” Bob growled, smirking at what I knew must be fresh terror on my face.

The heat hit boiling point, my insides screaming at me to stop, to finish, to accept—whatever—just make the pain go away!

I stopped fighting.

It was as if a switch had been flicked, the pain overwhelming me, slamming through any sense of self-preservation as every barrier was crushed, obliterated.

Jason!
I could feel him inside of me, his power coursing through me, burning through my synapses and wiping away all remaining trace of drugs. Setting my wolf free.

No, not only setting my wolf free, he was fucking supercharging her!

I slashed out a claw, slicing Bob’s throat before he even had a chance to scream, shoving his body away from me, my eyes already searching for my mate.

Motherfucker!
Jason was standing in front of a cowering Jacob. That normally would have been enough for me to raise an eyebrow, but this was something else entirely.

My mate had partially shifted, power spilling off him in waves, his body twisted into one of half human, half coyote. He was huge, with muscles bunching and tendons straining, his form shuddering and straining as the power just kept on coming.

That had been what I’d felt, his power burning up the fragile bond we had, spilling over into me. Finding a new home in me.

How did he have all this power, and what did it mean?

“How are you doing that? Why can’t I? It’s not fair!” Jacob was whining like a child, his bottom lip quivering even while his eyes sparked with hatred. “Bert said
I
was the one—not you!”

“You’re admitting you knew about me? That you knew I wasn’t dead, but you never tried to find me?” Jason growled more than spoke.

“Why would I want to find you? You’re just competition. I didn’t care if you were dead or not. Though it would have been better if you were.” Jacob spat on the floor, his eyes welling with self-pity.

I rolled to my feet, cautiously approaching the brothers.

“Jason?”

Violet eyes flicked to me, hazed with uncertainty.

I took another step closer, his power prickling at my skin. It was as if it were alive, seeping from his pores. “Can you dial it down a notch?”

He screwed his face up in concentration, then shook his head. “I can’t. I don’t know how.”

“You don’t deserve that power; it should have come to me!” Jacob cried, stumbling to his feet, grim determination on his face.

I extended a hand to Jason, already knowing this was going to hurt. “Let me see if I can help.”

“No,” Jacob growled, jumping toward me.

Jason plucked him out of mid-air, throwing him back onto the ground, where he rolled, coughing in the dirt.

“Why doesn’t he shift?” I wondered aloud.

“Because I’m not letting him.”

I turned to Jason, knowing my eyes must be as wide as saucers. “You’re not—? How—?”

He shrugged, his teeth gritted in concentration. “I don’t know. It could be because he’s a coyote, it could be because we’re twins. I just know that I’m stopping him.”

“Can you make him stay on the ground?” I had seen Alphas do that before, force their power on someone, but never control someone’s shift.

“I think so,” Jason answered, adding, “
Stay!
” when Jacob tried to rise again.

“Original,” I muttered, hiding a grin. Looked like you could take the shifter out of the human, but never the human out of the shifter. “Got many friends with dogs?” I quirked an eyebrow at him as he choked out a laugh.

“Shall we try again? Take my hand, stand together.” I extended my hand again, bracing myself against the heat that still poured off him.

It was as though a circuit had been completed, his hand closing around mine, the power burning up through my arm and cycling around inside my chest, spiraling back through the bond. The power tasted familiar, the perfect blend of me and Jason. My jaw ached, my teeth grinding together as I forced the power to slow, to channel it through our bond.

“This will be a lot easier once we are properly mated,” I ground out, sweat beading on my brow.

The bond was too small, too weak to sustain the power for very long. Even now I could feel the strain building, starting to bottleneck, but we had bought a few more minutes.

“Do you want me to kill him?”

The question stunned me. In a normal fight between shifters, fatalities happened. It was a part of who we were. But
this
, when he couldn’t defend himself? It didn’t sit right with me, no matter what he had done.

But it wasn’t my decision. Jacob wasn’t my blood kin.

“Do you want to execute him?”

“He deserves it, after everything he’s done. He’s a part of it all, you know. Without him, Bert will be weakened.”

I nodded, knowing he wasn’t finished. Hoping he wasn’t.

Jason sighed, his head dropping forward. “But, no, I don’t want to be the one to do it. Does that make me weak?”

I wrapped an arm around his waist, the best I could given his dramatic size increase. “No, it’s the human in you.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“We’re all human, sweetheart, we just share a soul with our animals. The human qualities are what make
us
good and
them
—” I indicated Jacob with a toss of my head, “—bad.”

Jason huffed, burrowing his face into my hair for a brief moment. “So, what shall we do with him? I take it he’ll go on trial before the Shifter Council, with Gary?”

“You can’t make me go anywhere! Bert will find me, and we’ll kill you! All of you will be slaughtered!”

“Can you make him shut up, too?” I muttered.

Laughter rumbled in Jason’s chest. “I wish. It’s hard enough keeping him still.”

“Hold that thought!” I cried, dashing off back into the compound.

Grabbing what I needed, I ran back out into the courtyard.

“Can you hold him still for me?” I asked as I cautiously approached the furious coyote.

At Jason’s nod, I darted forward, sinking the needle into Jacob’s neck and pressing the plunger.

Jacob blinked, his mouth twisted in a snarl. “Fucking bitch!” he slurred before slumping forward, face first into the dirt.

Holding up a second syringe, I twirled it in my hand. “And
this
is for when he starts to wake up.”

Jason shuddered, his eyes closing in intense concentration, and I could feel him pulling back, reining the power back in.

Come on, you’ve got this
, I mentally chanted, watching as his body started to reform, taking on the shape that I loved.

Loved!
It hit me—we could have that now!

Eventually, Jason’s eyes blinked back open, a lovely pale blue shade. He looked exhausted but happy.

“What’s the plan now?” he murmured, stalking over to me and plucking the syringe out of my hand, carefully laying it on the ground.

“Where is everyone? I mean, why didn’t anyone try and stop us? He’s their Alpha!” I tried to keep my eyes above his waist, but it was hard. I mean, it wasn’t
hard
, not yet, but— Fuck it, I was driving myself mad trying not to look.