Wolf-Bound: Unfamiliar Territory (14 page)

Jenny thought for a moment. “You don’t want to change with him here?” He nodded.

She guessed she could understand. Last night, they had tried to trap him, and Damien had held a gun on him. He’d be weak and disoriented briefly after the change, and if Devlin were to transform and jump him, maybe he could take Jacob.

“Dev, do you think you could step outside?” She knew he was going to protest, and he didn’t disappoint her.

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“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Jen.”

“He’ll be vulnerable, so I don’t think it’s too much to ask.”

“So will you.”

Jen sighed. “Dev, please. I can’t reason with him if he won’t change.”

From his clenched fists, she could see the internal battle he was fighting. After a moment, he growled, “Damn it, Jen.” But he got up. “I’ll be right outside that door.” He speared Jacob with his gaze. “Right outside.”

No response from Jacob. Dev turned and loped out, but she could hear him just outside the stable, muttering under his breath.

“Well?” She raised her eyebrows.

The wolf hesitated.

“Please, Jacob.”

Once again, the change was too fast for her to follow. Hell, he was smooth. She wondered if he’d always been able to do it so fluidly, or if his expertise was a product of his state of mind.

She waited while Jacob crouched in the dust, allowing the disorientation to pass. The chain had settled across his shoulders. It took her a moment to realize that as a human, he could simply lift the chain off.

He looked up and caught her staring. He glanced down and shrugged. “Yeah, when I’m human I could take it off, but since I can’t do anything about the ankle manacles, what’s the point? Besides…” He met her gaze. “…I don’t like being this way. It’s not something I chose.” His tone was bitter.

Jen hesitated, wondering if she should really say what she felt. “I…I know this will sound awful, but I think you did.”

He sprang up, glaring. “What the hell?”

She held out her hands in a calming gesture. “I know, I almost didn’t say it, because it seems cruel. But think about it.” She could feel him, the heat radiating from his body despite the bit of distance between them. This wasn’t uncommon with weyrs -- their body temperature ran higher than a normal human’s. His scent, too, filled her nostrils. A rich musk. Exotic, very male, and strangely exciting. She experienced a sudden, animal urge to run her tongue across his abdomen, to taste his sweat.

What am I thinking? She collected her thoughts and plunged on. “When did your brother die?”

Jacob closed his eyes, hands clenched.

“I’m sorry.” Jen leaned forward. “I’m not doing this very well, I know. But it’s an important question.”

After a moment, his fists relaxed, and he reached up to rub at his eyelids. “June.”

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Three months earlier. And Tara had lost her baby in July, so the death of the twin had not coincided with the death of Jacob’s brother. She wished she knew if that was significant.

“When he died, how did you feel?”

He snorted. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Look, I’m not a psychologist, but I am trying! I’m sure you were devastated. What I’m trying to ask is, what did you do? Did you…I don’t know what to call it. ‘Rogue out’? Did you…lose yourself immediately? Or did it happen gradually?”

“Oh.” He sat back on his haunches, elbows resting on his knees, hands dangling between his legs. “No. I-I ran. Found what I thought was a safe place to bury him. Someplace they wouldn’t find him.”

“The Dark Guard?”

“You know about them?”

Jenny shook her head. “Not really. Dev -- he’s the one outside, one of my husbands --

he has friends in Ireland. They sent him some information on you, and he mentioned that name. But I don’t want to talk about them right now. That can wait. Let’s talk about you.

Okay?”

He nodded.

“So, you buried him…” she prompted when he seemed to be lost in thought.

“Oh. Yes. I buried him. And then I ditched the car, got another one. Spent a couple of months laying false trails. Then I went to ground. Slowly worked my way up here, mostly at night, in wolf form.”

He noticed her eyes widen and shook his head. “Not like I was last night. Normal weyr stuff. It’s harder for them to track us as weyr. Nature hides her own. Anyway, I took my time, spent another month coming up here in a roundabout way. I shook them, but I don’t know how long it will last. Thank the Goddess no one but us ever knew about Tara.

“Then I found her.” His face contorted. “The baby --”

The pain of loss emanated from him in waves. Without thinking, Jen slipped out of her chair and onto her knees in an instant, clasping his hands in hers. “I know, Jacob. I know it hurts.”

He looked into her eyes, disbelief, sorrow, and pain mingling in his own. He shuddered, and she felt a subtle rippling in his hands. Her heart missed a beat, but she held on. “Stay with me, Jacob.” She leaned in, not flinching from his agonized gaze. “I know you can do this. You’re strong. You survived your brother’s death. You did. And you can survive this.”

He started shaking his head, but she let go of his fingers and clasped his head between her hands, tugging his hair as she had the night before, so that he had to face her.

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And just as then, his hot breath washed over her. She breathed in the warm, moist air, thick with his scent. Jacob inhaled, and she breathed out, returning the breath to him.

Warmth flooded her body. Their eyes locked. He brought a hand up, caught a strand of her hair between his fingers, and tugged her close.

Their lips met, his burning like fire. Jen gasped and broke away.

“I-I’m sorry.” He tugged a hand through his shaggy, tangled curls. “It’s-it’s been a while since…any…close human contact. I…it won’t happen again.”

Jen felt a pang of disappointment at his promise. The ghost of his lips lingered against hers, her body still flushed with heat. Oh, Goddess. What am I doing?

She brushed her hair back with shaking hands. “It’s all right. I…I understand.” She smiled weakly, trying to defuse the situation. “At least you didn’t change.”

He barked a laugh. “Yeah. There is that.”

But he was looking at her now. Really seeing her, his chocolate eyes assessing her with a new interest.

Her senses tingled. A rush of his musky scent permeated the air, laden with desire.

Jenny’s body responded. Her nipples swelled. Moisture gathered between her legs as her pussy throbbed.

She took a step back. Jacob flowed toward her with animal grace. She tried not to look, but she couldn’t keep her eyes from settling on his full, ripe cock. Good Goddess. It had to be eight inches long. She’d thought Damien’s was huge, but… She licked her lips.

Jacob gripped her shoulders. She glanced up, and their gazes locked. His eyes, like dark chocolate, pulled her in, daring her to take a bite --

“Jen? You okay in there?”

She jerked her shoulders from Jacob’s grasp and scrambled backward, sitting down hard in the chair. It took her a second to find her voice.

“Jen?”

She raised her head, peering over the half-wall. “I’m fine, Dev. Could you, um, could you bring Jacob some clothes, please? A pair of pants, at least?”

“Can’t it wait?”

“Actually…” Her gaze flitted, looking everywhere but into Jacob’s eyes, and finally settled on the trough against the back wall. “We could fill the trough,” she offered. “Let you bathe and change. Into clothes, that is.”

“That sounds good.” His voice was thick, whether from disuse or desire, she wasn’t sure.

She stood and let herself out, still avoiding his gaze as she latched the gate behind her.

“We’ll be back in a minute.”

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She caught his nod from the corner of her eyes and fled from the barn, feeling his gaze hot on her back as she slipped out the door.

“What’s the plan?” Damien followed her up the path.

“I’ll go grab some clothes and soap. If you could fill the trough, he’d like to take a bath.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Huh. That’s progress, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.” Far from sounding elated, which she should be, her voice came out worried, and she mentally kicked herself for it.

Sure enough, Devlin stepped in front of her and grabbed hold of her upper arms.

“Everything all right, Jen?”

“Yes.” She met his stare and spoke with what she hoped was conviction. “I just hope I’m doing the right thing.”

“Of course you are.” He hugged her. “Come on, Jen. Barring last night’s fiasco, this is going great so far.”

“Yeah, great!” she agreed with false cheer. “I’d better grab that stuff. Can you get busy on the water?”

“Sure thing.”

Jenny escaped into the house, hurrying into their bedroom. She flicked a switch and opened the walk-in closet. Stepping inside, she shut the door behind her and slid to the floor.

“What the hell am I doing?” She tried to speak to the Goddess, but all was quiet. No help there. Great. Just great.

“I’m happy. Well and truly happy,” she whispered, pushing herself to her feet and grabbing a pair of jeans from Damien’s shelf. “I love them. I truly love them.” So what was I doing in there?

She held the pants up and eyed them critically. They’d be short. Damien was five foot eleven, taller than her by about six inches, but Jacob had to be at least six-two, six-three. She shook the pants in frustration. “Why am I even worrying about it? What a stupid thing to worry about.”

She turned and pulled open a drawer, rummaging through the guys’ tees. Of course, that’s not really what you’re worrying about, is it?

“Oh, shut up!” she told herself. “It was one of those doctor-patient type moments.” She grabbed a shirt at random and shoved the drawer shut. “Yeah. That’s it. Just…getting too close. Sympathizing too much.” She tilted her head, half-convinced it was true. “He’s very distraught, all his emotions just under the skin, waiting to pop up at inconvenient times.”

Of course, that didn’t explain why she’d responded.

She pushed the thought away and strode out of the room. She grabbed a bar of soap and a towel from under the bathroom sink and headed back to the stable.

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Devlin had filled the trough and was waiting outside. He brandished a pair of scissors and a brush. “I brought these. Thought he might want to use them.”

Jenny frowned. “Maybe not the scissors, not just yet.” Jacob seemed very reasonable today, but her own emotions were in turmoil. Could he be manipulating her? Trying to get close so she would set him free?

“I didn’t even think about the scissors being, you know, a weapon.” He shook his head.

“Some guard dog I turned out to be, huh?”

Jenny ruffled his hair, kissing his cheek. “Don’t say that. You’re wonderful.”

He put his arms around her, and she relaxed in his warm embrace.

“Hello? Anyone out there?”

“Oh!” Jenny pushed away and frowned down at the stuff in her hands. “I’d better take these in to him. No, wait.” She thrust the bundle into Devlin’s arms. “You take them in.” She snagged the scissors. “Minus these.”

She went back to the house and put up the scissors, then went outside and wandered in the herb garden just south of the stable until Devlin called her name. “Hey, you can come in now. He’s decent!”

“I certainly hope so,” she muttered under her breath, but she wasn’t talking about his appearance.

She toyed with the idea of quitting for the day, but was afraid Jacob would think she was giving up on him and lose whatever ground he might have gained. It wasn’t his fault she’d responded the way she had. She couldn’t punish him for her own failings.

Steeling herself, she strode into the stable quickly and opened the gate. Afraid she’d balk if she faced him too soon, she didn’t look up until she’d latched herself in.

Even noticeably underweight, the man was downright gorgeous, the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. His eyes -- she avoided his gaze, remembering how dangerous those rich chocolate pools could be. His hair, a dark brown just shy of black, spread in tousled curls across broad shoulders. The tee she’d brought was too short for him, exposing a narrow patch of tan, olive-toned six-pack just above the waistband of the jeans, which were a little loose and riding low.

She averted her eyes as she realized simultaneously that he was still erect beneath the denim and that she’d forgotten to grab him a pair of briefs.

She walked over to the chair, letting her loose hair hide her flushed face. As she sat, she took a deep breath, schooled her expression to what she hoped would appear concerned but neutral, and faced him again.

Jacob backed up and sat down, balancing himself on the edge of the water trough. He’d pulled the plug, and liquid gurgled through the pipe that exited through the back wall into the homemade water filtration unit Devlin had built out back, which made the water safe for them to use to irrigate their garden.

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Dust motes danced in slices of sunlight that slipped in between the timbers. Jen’s nose tickled, and she sneezed.

“Bless you,” Jacob murmured.

“Thanks.”

“No, really. Bless you for wanting to help me.” He watched her from beneath long lashes, his expression thoughtful, but kept his distance, for which she was grateful.

“How do you feel? Should we go on?”

He nodded. “I think so. I’m feeling…not great, but more normal. I’m just afraid it’ll turn out to be temporary.”

“You’re stronger than you think.”

His eyes met hers. “How can you be so sure?”

She wanted desperately to reach out, to feel his skin against hers. Jen swallowed hard, ignoring the question. “Okay. So, it wasn’t until you found out about the baby that you…you know.”

Jacob grimaced and stood up, pacing back and forth beside the trough. “What really kept me going the last three months was the promise I made to Johnathan.”

“Promise?”

“His last request. Protect our sons. I promised him.”

Things were beginning to fall into place for Jenny now. “So you spent a couple of months protecting them the best way you knew how -- losing your adversaries?”