The Wolf's Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence (24 page)

“I love you, too.”

She relaxed her grip on his neck and turned
back to the eggs. He seemed slightly more relaxed, but he didn’t
stop from hovering near her while she cooked, and then scooting his
chair as close to hers as possible as they ate at the kitchen
table. She left the dishes for later, and took him to the bathroom
where they washed each other and made love on the bed, slow and
tender, eyes locked together while their climaxes wove hot fingers
through their bodies. They both needed to rest, and it was the
first time since they had joined together that she was able to give
him the comfort that he was used to giving her.

She lay on her back and he cuddled against
her, his arms around her tightly and his head nestled against her
shoulder. She played her fingers through his hair and across his
shoulders and arms, trailing gentle touches across his back until
she felt him relax into sleep. She drifted off finally, and slept
soundly and without nightmares like she might have expected because
of her ordeal. The difference was that her mind knew that Chris and
the men that had abducted her were dead, except for Zan, who was
under house arrest with Jake until they could decide what to do
with him.

They woke at the same time and his rough and
possessive growl left no room for argument that he wanted to make
love again. He drove her higher and higher with pleasure until he
took her roughly and her screams of pleasure shattered the quiet
afternoon silence in the house. If how he wanted to reassure
himself that she was safe was to fuck her within an inch of her
life, well, she was totally on board with that.

“I think we should have the meeting at my
dad’s,” he said, watching her dress in jeans and a black sweater
after her bones had resolidified.

“That makes no sense, Jas. Your dad isn’t
alpha. You are. So either the meeting needs to be here or at my
house. If you’re worried I’m going to freak out at being home, then
just know I really don’t remember anything after falling asleep
with a pillow between my thighs.”

His face split into a smile. “You did
that?”

“Of course. I wanted your face there.”
Silly wolf.

“Alright. I just, I thought you might not
want to be there so soon.”

“It’s my house. They’re gone. I wouldn’t give
his memory the satisfaction of knowing he got to me like that.”

His smile widened. “You’re one tough alpha,
sweetheart.”

She snorted and pulled her hair into a
ponytail, “I have to be to deal with you.”

He drove them on his bike to her house after
calling Michael and having him send for the top ranked to join them
and then the rest of the pack to show up an hour later. Jason
didn’t let go of her hand once they were inside the house, and he
kept growling every time one of the men approached her, so they
finally gave up.

She leaned against the kitchen counter while
they waited for Linus, the last of the high ranked wolves. “You’re
a nutcase, you know that?” She chuckled.

He tugged on her belt loop with a scowl. “I
am not. You’re mine and no one touches what’s mine without risking
fingers and the ability to breathe.”

Linus walked in finally and they sat down at
the table. Peter sat opposite them at the other end of the table.
Michael, Bo, and Linus lined one side of the table and the three
elders, Lon, Dae, and Getty lined the other side. They were in
their 70s at least, but they were as spry as any other wolves
around. And feisty, too.

Jason glanced at the clock on the kitchen
wall, “We’ve got about 45 minutes before the pack shows up for
reassurance that their alpha is home safe.”

They all congratulated her again.

“Now, first order of business is what Jake
broached to you this afternoon, dad. Floor’s yours.”

Peter cleared his throat, “Jake wants to take
the pack and leave town. He wants to sign over their pack holdings
to our pack, which includes Lonestar Restaurant and the bar, plus
their homes.”

“When would they go?” Michael asked.

“After November full moon. They’ll take the
month to close down and get ready to leave, and he said they would
plan to head south. Renee is apparently very insistent that they
cannot stay here, and I don’t expect that any of us can blame her
for feeling that way.”

“If we say no to taking over their holdings,
they’ll let them go untended. Eventually, from missing taxes and
what have you, the bank will step in and we’ll have the potential
of losing two important wolf owned businesses, not to mention some
key real estate with several homes on large chunks of land,” Jason
said, running his hand up and down her thigh under the table. It
was distracting but she knew he felt the need to keep a hand on
her. But couldn’t he have picked her actual hand?

She interjected, “We don’t have anyone
knowledgeable to run either business if the Garra Pack takes off. I
could do the books, but it would be a stretch to do accounting for
three very different businesses. And the bar needs more than a
bookkeeper...the restaurant, too.”

They all nodded and the room got quiet.
Finally, Bo said, “So we take their holdings and let them sit until
we decide what to do with them. We can’t let humans come in and
take over for us. They don’t really understand anything about us,
and more than that, they won’t give us the leeway we need to be
ourselves.”

Murmurs of agreement came from everyone.
Jason sighed, “We’ll let the two businesses shut down after their
pack leaves, but make sure that we have a few of our people shadow
Grey at the restaurant and Jake at the bar, get all the books and
everything so we can open them again when the time is right.”

Getty scrubbed fingers across his wrinkled
jaw, “If you put out feelers to some of our pack alliances, you
could potentially bring in more to the pack that can run the
businesses. Expand the pack to protect the town. It’s not unheard
of.”

She looked at Jason, “We need to protect
ourselves, Jas. If that means sitting on a few empty buildings
until we have people to run them, then we should do that.”

Although he didn’t need to call a vote
because he could make his own rules as he pleased, he did anyway,
“All in favor?”

Every hand at the table rose. “Motion passed.
We’ll meet with Jake tonight after our pack meeting and get the
arrangements in motion to take over their holdings.”

They talked more about running the bar on the
weekends only until it was operational enough to be open every day,
what might be needed to run the restaurant, and what to do with the
inventory until that time occurred. They were waiting on the back
porch when the rest of the pack showed up. 37 wolves looked to her
and Jason as leaders from the grass, even men who were three times
her age. It was humbling and powerful at the same time.

Jason tapped into his beast and the power of
his wolf came through his voice as he said to the crowd, “Pack
justice was delivered this morning. Those responsible for the
kidnapping of our female alpha and the injury of our two wolves
that were standing guard have been destroyed. Let it be known far
and wide that no one that comes against the Tressel Pack, wolf,
human or otherwise, will prevail.
Syskeyazo Protos, Syskeyazo
Panta
!”

The pack howled at his words, the ancient
anthem of the Tressel Pack:
Pack First, Pack Always
. He gave
her a nudge as he lifted his head to the sky and howled and she
touched the wolf in her mind and let loose with her version of a
howl and joined in the chorus of her pack. Her pack. Her people.
Her family. Men and women who would die for her. Kill for her.

It was so much more than the family she’d
always longed to have, so much more than what she had thought that
pack meant. It was a sword that cut both ways. They would die for
her, but she also knew at that moment that she would die for them.
Her oath as alpha was strong and true: She would protect and
counsel because she was their leader. As the first hybrid female
alpha of the Tressel Pack, she could do no less than give them her
all. Because they gave their all to her.

Chapter 14

Jason curled his hand around Cadence’s
shoulder as they sat in the front room of her home with Jake,
Renee, his parents, and Michael. It was as much for his own comfort
as it was for hers. He hadn’t been able to shake the possessive
thoughts from his wolf at the potential loss of his mate and he
stopped trying to fight them. Cadence had been more than willing to
indulge his touch all day and he was glad for it.

Renee had cried on Cadence’s shoulder and he
knew that at least part of her tears were because she was hurt by
Chris’ actions herself. He could see the question in her eyes as
she pushed away from Cadence gently: why had he gone over the edge?
That was a question that would never be answered.

“You are certain that Zan was not part of the
plans to kidnap you, love?” He looked into her eyes and searched
them carefully. She was feeling raw and emotional right now, and
she knew that four men had lost their lives just that morning
because of the man-who-wouldn’t-be-spoken-of-again’s dangerous
attachment to her. She was feeling a little bit like there was
blood on her hands, and he expected that. Because he felt like it,
too.

“I’m sure,” she said confidently and repeated
herself, “Zan was at the cabin near the bonfire when they brought
me there and said, ‘that’s what you went to get? Cadence?’ and then
he
said, ‘I went to get my mate’ and when Zan saw the mating
strap after my shirt came off, he protested that it was against the
oldest laws to rape a mated wolf.”

Jason mulled over her statement and then
looked at his father. He was quietly speculative as well. He
wondered what his father would have done if his mother had been
taken like Cadence had been. Zan had taken a beating for his
protest and appeared to be an unwitting accomplice in the
kidnapping. Assuming he would have participated in the planned rape
was a speculation that no one could answer for certain. In the end,
Zan had not participated in the actual terrorizing of his mate and
that meant something to him.

“Jake, I’m going to give over my right to any
punishment of Zan back to you. Although he was part of the
splintered pack, from his and Cadence’s statements, his only crime
appears to be the one to leave your pack without your permission.
I’m satisfied that those responsible for her abduction have been
dealt with appropriately.”

Jake nodded. “I know it doesn’t mean much,
but he is sorry that he was part of it. He was swayed by my son’s
claims of starting a pack that would be more modern and leave the
ways of the ancients behind. I’m loathe to send him away from the
pack and make him a rogue without honor. We’ll bring it before the
pack, but I believe he will benefit from being watched carefully
and punished for his infraction. And we’ll take him with us when we
leave.”

Jake and Renee left shortly thereafter.
Cadence sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder, “The town will
seem really empty with the Garra Pack gone.”

“We’ll rebuild it. It’s not normal for two
packs to be so close like we’ve been anyway. It only worked because
there was no direct competition between the pack leaders.” Jason
promised. She tilted her face up to his and he pressed his lips
against hers for just a brief moment.

“I’ll volunteer to shadow Jake for the bar,
J. Toby’s been head of security there for years and he’s our pack,
so he’ll be invaluable.” Michael offered.

“Good. Mom, the restaurant?”

“It was Cadence’s father’s before it passed
to Grey,” she pointed out.

“Um, unless you want it belly up in a month,
someone else has to be in charge of it,” Cadence laughed. “I’ll be
happy to keep tabs on the books for a while, but I think we need to
focus on one first and just let the other sit.”

“I vote bar,” Michael quipped.

“Second.” Cadence laughed and they bumped
fists and Jason growled slightly and pulled her back against him.
No touching other unmated males. Ever.

“Fine. Cades, you can have Grey come over
this week and talk to us about the restaurant. We’ll go this
weekend, get a lay of the land and make sure that all the
outstanding bills are paid before they leave.”

“I can go on my own, Jas.”

“Uh, no.”
Hell no
. “We’ll do it
together or I’ll assign someone else.”

He caught the little flash of defiance in her
eyes and was half glad to see it still there in spite of her
ordeal. He was very glad, though, that she squelched it in front of
the others so he didn’t have to deal with that. The last thing he
wanted to do was reprimand his mate for being disrespectful. She
could rake him over the coals in private, but in public she had to
treat him like he was the boss because he was.

She nodded silently and he could actually see
her brain working to come up with ways to make him pay for that.
His little vindictive sweetheart.

She went into the kitchen to make dinner for
them and his mother joined her. His father said, “She seems to be
recovering fine. How are you holding up?”

“It was just a lot to take so soon after she
was in the hospital. It’s enough that she’s safe with me. I won’t
take her safety for granted again.”

“Well, none of us will, son, that’s for sure.
Have you decided where you’ll live yet?”

“I think she wants to be here, but she hasn’t
said yet. We could be in the trailer for a while, but once we have
kids, it’s not big enough for more than just us two. And really,
with the full moon gatherings, it would be better to be here
anyway. I think the pack's been drifting long enough without me
having a place big enough for everyone to join in.”

“Your mother will be thrilled that she won’t
have to clean up after the pack.”