Alpha Pack 02 - Savage Awakening (17 page)

Damn, she’s just about perfect. How could I have ever thought I was attracted to Jax’s mate?

He’d been observing for at least a couple of minutes before she noticed and eased up one last time, then reached for a hand towel at her side. She wiped her face and then tossed it down, elbows on her knees.

“Are you spying on me?” Good-natured humor laced her tone.

“Nope, flat-out ogling. Spying implies I have something to hide.” He almost winced at his choice of words.

“
Everybody
has something to hide, Savage.” She arched a brow.

Yeah, including himself. Just not the way she might think. “I guess you’re right about that.”

“The doc cleared you to be out running around?”

“Do you see a posse chasing me this time?” he pointed out.

“No.” She grinned. “How about going a round on the mats, then? I still want my sparring match and none of those guys would cooperate.” She flicked a hand at the others and made a disgusted face.

Damn, she was sexy. The thought of
any
of his friends laying a hand on her, even for an innocent wrestling match, had him smothering a growl. “Probably didn’t want to hurt a woman.”

“I’m not some helpless female,” she said with a hint of challenge.

“We’re not regular guys, though. But in the spirit of fun, I’ll take you on.”

“Human to human?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t want things to be more uneven than they already are.”

She shot him an evil little smile, and the glint in her brown eyes gave him pause. “Let’s do it.”

He offered her a hand up and she took it, getting to her feet with a bounce. Together, they walked over to the mats and Aric yelled at the two combatants. “Give it a rest, knuckleheads. The cop wants to kick my ass.” He said the last with a touch of sarcasm, as if to imply she’d need a lot of luck.

All four of his buddies hooted with laughter, Jax and Zan pushing to their feet and getting out of the way, wiping sweat from their faces. A round of encouragement ensued as the jerks gathered, for Rowan to smear him all over the floor.

“Yeah, yeah. Root for the girl, see if I care.” Kicking off his shoes, he walked to the center of the mat and bounced on his toes, motioning Rowan forward. “Come on, sweetcakes, let’s see what you’ve got.”

“You can’t
have
what I’ve got, Red.”

“Ooh, can’t I?” He was thinking of their mutual dream, and saw that she got his meaning.

Though his friends didn’t know the full story behind their exchange, it caused them to hoot even more, but Aric ignored them. He focused on Rowan as they circled each other, each sizing up the opponent. He had no doubt the woman was tough, given her occupation, but he was confident of his ability to best her. Even if he held back, which he refused to do out of principle, he was a former SEAL. A highly trained operative. She just didn’t have his skill.

He waited for Rowan to make the first move, his strategy for learning hers while holding his close to the vest to start. As he expected, she took a few jabs with her fist, feinting left and right, feeling him out. Grinning, he thought she looked too frickin’ gorgeous, eyes narrowed, all serious about their match, completely oblivious to the whistles and catcalls from the cheap seats.

Jesus, look at that rack jiggle in that tiny sports bra.

Which was why he was totally unprepared when his opponent shifted her stance, and in a move worthy of the Karate Kid, delivered a high kick to his jaw that fucking knocked him into the middle of next week. The blow reverberated through his skull and he felt himself falling backward, then hitting the mat with an undignified grunt. The loud consensus from his so-called friends was “Holy shit!” and he agreed.

“Not fair,” he mumbled.

Her faces appeared over him. All three of them. “Which part? My foot in your face, or the loss of your pride?”

“Both.” Blinking, he tried to get all the tripled figures to merge again while the idiots around him almost choked on their laughter. “Shut up, needledicks.” The order didn’t help.

“Beaten by a woman,” Zan observed with a snort.

“By a
cop
. Got his butt served up, too!”

“That’s ’cause he was too busy ogling the package to see the dynamite!”

The four bumped knuckles and Aric sat up, glaring at the group. “Who wants to take her on next? Nobody? That’s what I thought. Losers.”

“Are you all right?” Rowan asked.

“I’m great.” To prove it, he stood. His brain swam, but damned if anyone would guess.

“Why don’t we go again, and this time keep your attention where it should be.” she suggested, flicking her ponytail over one shoulder.

Fuck if she didn’t make him half-hard! Thankfully, the loose sweats hid his problem. “Whenever you’re ready, officer.”

Determined to save face, he concentrated on her stance, how her muscles bunched. Anticipated her move before she stepped into his body and pushed, trying to unbalance him and get a foot hooked behind his ankle. Instead, he grabbed her hands and using her momentum as leverage, pressed the outside of his left knee to the inside of her right leg and twisted his upper body to the left. She was thrown off balance and easily overpowered in this type of hand-to-hand contest. He put her on the mat, but hung on to one hand to lessen the impact when she hit. No matter their deal not to pull their punches, he wasn’t capable of unleashing his full strength on his mate.

Oh, God.

“Way to go, dude,” Ryon said, and the others echoed the sentiment. “Go for the best of three.”

Suddenly all he wanted was to be alone with her, away from all these curious eyes. “Nah,” he said, giving her a hand up. He focused on Rowan, who dusted off her seat. “How about we go for a run?”

She brightened. “Sounds good. Then I won’t have to let you win again.”

The guys laughed and Aric rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Come on, let’s ditch the idiots.”

He let their comments and speculation roll off as they put their shoes back on. They were whispering, but he heard. Already, they wondered what was up. None of their biz. Aric led her from the gym. In the corridor, he absently rubbed his jaw.

“Is it bruising?”

Meeting her gaze, he saw the concern in her eyes, and he’d have been lying to himself if he pretended not to like it. “Maybe some, but it’ll heal pretty fast.”

“I’m sorry. I only meant to take advantage of catching you off guard, not really cause any damage.”

“You played by the rules we set, that’s all. Stop fussing.”

“Okay.” She sighed. “I’m not typically a worrier. Seems I’ve done nothing but worry since I’ve been here, though.”

“You’ve had good reason.”

“That’s the understatement of the universe. I never dreamed any of this existed,” she said, waving her arms to indicate the compound and its inhabitants. “It’s a bit much, even for an L.A. cop, and I’ve seen some weird shit.”

Then and there, he knew he’d made the right decision. He could never add to her stress, tie her to this life or the dangers in it. She could not find out about the mating bond waiting to be forged between them, and he would never claim his mate.

The truth stabbed his gut, but he didn’t let his despair show. All his life he’d been good at hiding his sorrow behind a mask, and he just had to keep it up until she left for L.A.

“As strange as that?” he asked, pointing to the end of the hallway.

Rowan stopped dead at the sight of Kira and her furry little friend coming their way. “What the freaking hell
is
that thing?”

Aric chuckled. “That’s Chup-Chup, or just Chup for short. Kira named him after the noise he makes when he’s happy. We’re not really sure what he is, so we call him a gremlin.”

“He looks like something from a Steven Spielberg movie.”

“I suppose.”

As Kira approached them and stopped, the gremlin turned rounded eyes to Rowan and Aric, scuttling behind Kira and clutching at the leg of her jeans with tiny paws.

“Cute!” Rowan said, smiling. “Does he bite?”

“Only when he’s afraid,” Kira replied. “Want to meet him?”

“I’d love to.”

“Okay.” Bending, she picked up her charge, who immediately nestled into her arms with a contented
chup
. From the safety of his perch, Chup peered at Rowan curiously. Kira spoke softly. “Reach out, nice and slow, and let him smell you. Like you would with a strange dog.”

Rowan did, curling her fingers inward to present the creature with the back of her hand. Aric thought that was pretty smart, to reduce the risk of losing a finger if the little thing got scared. He’d bitten Jax once, and according to his friend it had hurt like hell.

Chup stretched forward as far as he dared, clinging to Kira for safety. Then he sniffed for a few seconds and, apparently liking his new acquaintance, rooted
under her hand with his head, making his demand clear.

“Someone wants a scratch,” Rowan cooed. Chup ate up the attention like honey, purring and making his funny noises. She looked at Aric. “Want to try?”

Shrugging, he offered the back of his hand for sniffing, and swiftly got a low growl in response. “I think he still doesn’t much care for men,” he said, dropping his arm.

Kira nodded. “It’s taken him a long time to warm up to Jax. Could be he was abused by a male figure, but I guess we’ll never know.”

“Poor guy. Who would do something like that to you?”

The gremlin knew how to work it, for sure. He went back to purring and Aric swore the creature knew exactly what he was doing. He possessed more intelligence than the average dog, in his opinion.

“Well, I need to find Jax,” Kira said. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

“He’s in the gym.” Aric hitched a thumb in the direction from which they’d come. “Go get your man.”

“Thanks.” With a wink, the blonde hurried to find her mate.

Aric turned to watch her go, and a wave of sadness swept over him. His mate might hurry to him one day, if only he’d—

“Aric?”

He shook himself. “Sorry. Ready to go for that run?”

“After you.”

His route took them through the rec room, where Kalen and A.J. were playing a game on the Wii. Seeing
the sorcerer without his pentagram pendant, he wondered again why it was now hanging around Mackenzie’s neck. Next chance he got, he’d ask Nick or one of the guys. Seemed he’d missed a few things while he was a guest in the motel from hell.

They exited through the door that opened straight to the outside, to the grassy lawn and a field beyond that. He pointed. “We play football, soccer, and other sports out here when we need to blow off some steam. You should see a bunch of shifters and a Fae prince out here playing ball and trying not to cheat. Funniest damned thing ever.”

“I’ll bet.” She laughed, as though imagining it. “I want to get a game going sometime, if the others are up for it.”

“Oh, they will be. You’ve never met a more competitive group of people than the ones living here.”

“I’m starting to get that idea. Which way are we going?”

“There are several great trails, but my favorite one starts over there,” he said, pointing to the far end of the cleared land, where the forest began. “I know I said we’d jog, but I wouldn’t mind walking if you want. Easier to talk and enjoy the view.”

“Sure.” She looked around. “I’d hate to miss out. It’s beautiful here.”

“Yes, it is.” The only beautiful sight he noticed was right beside him as they made for the trailhead.

Their footsteps, the wind through the trees, and the calls of various birds were the only sounds for a few minutes. He felt so at ease in her presence, as though his heart had been raw for the past thirty-five years and he hadn’t known it until they’d met, and she’d soothed
the ache. Too bad a new one had taken its place, but he wouldn’t think about that right now.

“Tell me about being a cop,” he prompted. “Do you love what you do?”

Her expression lit up. “God, yes. I can’t imagine not being on the force. Every day is different, always a challenge. And then there’s my friends, they’re like my brothers. I guess you can understand that.”

“I can.” The new ache grew to a sharp pain that tore his insides. “What made you decide to follow that career path?”

“That’s an easy one. I grew up in the East Side barrio, in one of the most run-down slums in L.A. My mother was a legal immigrant from Mexico and my father, to use the term loosely, was poor white trash. It was the match from hell, and he took off when I was five and my brother was three. Never saw him again, but at least we were free from his rages.”

“I can understand the relief,” he said, thinking of his stepfather. “Sorry. Go on.”

“In the years before he left, the cops were always at our house. Some weeks, they came every day to break up the fighting, haul his ass to jail if necessary. But they were always so kind to me and Micah, even gave us each a teddy bear once, to hold when we were scared. Eventually, they knew us by name, and even after Dad was long gone, they’d stop by and make sure we were okay. I never forgot that. One of them is still on the force, though he’s almost ready to retire. How do I explain?” She paused. “The people of the barrio are mine to protect. Does that make sense?”

“Perfectly,” he assured her. “You’re paying it forward.”

“I guess so.”

She would never want to leave her home, her people. Not for him. He was doing the right thing. Which made his heart hurt, because he was starting to see what a truly special person she was.

He cleared his throat, which was more sore than it had been earlier. Crap. “Is your mother still living?”

“No. She passed away a couple of years ago from cancer,” Rowan said wistfully. “But she was content. I’d saved enough to help her buy a nice little house several years ago, and she got to enjoy it for a time. When she died, I sold it and stayed in the barrio.”

He frowned. “Why? Wouldn’t you have been safer going to live in your mom’s house?”

“Maybe, maybe not. I’m well-known in the barrio. Living there, where I work, gives me street cred, and if I move out, the gangbangers I try to keep in line would see that as a betrayal. Like I thought I was too good for them. They wouldn’t trust me anymore, and that could be more hazardous to my health than living there in the first place.”