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Cole walks up to our mother and puts his arm over her shoulder. Jax strokes my face, trying to be comforting, but I flinch away from him. The way he looks at me speaks of ownership and excitement, and it chills me to the bone. I’ve known Jax since I was born and he was always in on Cole’s shenanigans and teasing me. It wasn’t until Cole told him he had the chance to become the next Alpha, and with me as his mate, that the teasing stopped. Jax could be the most powerful Alpha since our father. It was all bravado and bolstering on my brother’s side but Jax took it hook line and sinker. Now my childhood friend looks at me like I’m already his. He looks at me like he can see through my clothes, and wants to taste every inch of me.
“Evelyn, I’m here for your daughter. No mangy Dark Moon mutt will ever touch her, our pups will be legends.” Jax's voice is so matter of fact that my wolfish instincts tell me to be submissive and I cower beneath his touch.
My mother looks at him and smiles, and I feel utterly betrayed.
“We’d be lost without you boys,” she says to Cole and Jax. “Our future rides on the shoulders of you three, make me proud.”
I watch Momma turn to leave the room and my heart sinks. Cole follows her, but Jax doesn't. He lowers his head to my ear, nuzzling his nose against my cheek affectionately. “It won't be long now, we’ll be one finally. I know somewhere inside you want this as much as I do. Don’t let your pride come between us...”
Never in my life have I wanted to run away from my family so badly as I do at this moment. I wrap my arms around my stomach and shudder. They think being with Chase will ruin me? How will they feel if my stomach starts to swell?
Jax doesn’t sense my unease. He comes around the couch and sits next to me so our thighs touch and he puts his arm around my shoulder. He leans in and kisses my neck, pulling me toward him and trying to kiss my lips.
Jax is a good man, gentle and kind if not stoic and cold. If I’m pregnant I could let him have me, say it’s his…they’re both black wolves. Well Chase has those brown tips, but that could be explained as a genetic anomaly. I’m so lost in my mind thinking about protecting my non-existent potential pups that I don't realize Jax’s hand is on my knee until he slips it up under my dress. I shriek and push him away, standing and storming away from him, but he jumps over the couch and grabs my arm.
“There is no point in fighting this, Ruby. I’ll be good to you, you know that. I’m the best option, and part of me has been in love with you for a long time. Why do you think I didn’t tell Cole my Jeep was gone? I knew you took it. I let you go, you deserve your freedom just as much as you deserve a loving and attentive mate.”
“Jax, you tortured and teased me our whole childhood! How can you expect me to fall in love with you like flipping a switch? You put frogs in my boots, put nair in my shampoo! You’re so lucky I smelled it. I swear to the moon if I had gone bald I would have murdered you!”
“Try it,” he says, mischief flashing in his eyes.
I know he’d do anything for me to touch him right now, for him to get the upper hand and take me. I shiver with pleasure, remembering Chase as he dominated me and showed me how wonderful mating can be and I blush furiously. Jax takes it as a sign and he groans, crushing me to his chest and trying to kiss me, but I duck and run.
“Leave me alone, Jax!” I scream, and he flinches as if I struck him.
His face goes hard again and he pushes past me and leaves the mansion, slamming the door behind him.
I’m shaking so bad my teeth are chattering, and for the first time since I’ve been home, I’m alone. I pace the foyer, mind racing. I can't stop thinking about Chase and the way he holds me feels so right, so perfect, and my skin itches to feel his touch again. I look around warily, trying to see if anyone is around, as the door waves back open.
It’s a sign, a beckoning. I have to go.
I have to run to my mate.
The night races past me in a blur. I’m nothing but a white flash dashing through the trees and bushes, keeping myself low to the ground. Every step away from my house I feel more and more free, and the fear that I’ll be caught fades. My longing for Chase is all I know. It feels as if it’s going to tear me apart.
The moon chases me, seeming to urge me forward, cheering for me, and I run faster and faster. By the time the lights of the town illuminate the night, I’m panting so hard my ribs feel like they are about to snap. I sit on the crest of the hill and I can smell the Dark Moon pack everywhere here. The snow’s churned with paw prints, both large and dainty. They let their females run with them, they’re equals. My chest fills with love. I’m Chase’s equal, he completes the parts that are missing.
The lights of Bob’s Place beckon me forward; there are only a few motorcycles outside and Bob’s blue Chevy parked by the side entrance. Being so close now I walk slower, darting from cover to cover, hunkering down every time I hear someone in the town laugh or a car drives by. I use my white coat, a gift from the moon herself to blend in with the snow and go unseen as I weave through houses and businesses and alleyways.
I see people in their homes, laughing with children, and I feel a longing deep in my soul to have the same thing for myself with Chase. Skirting around the trailer park behind the bar, I slow to a crawl. The windows of Bob’s pace glow gold and red with the fluorescent signs on the windows. I haven’t been here since that night with my dad, but I remember everything so vividly. The smell of fried food, the floor that was so sticky I felt like my shoes would get glued to it.
I peek through the window and see that nothing at all has changed. Bob is behind the counter, looking the same as ever, a few drunk women dance near the front door, and in a booth a few windows down I see Chase. The deep gouges from the bear’s claws have already healed, the angry pink lines drawing my gaze down to his arm in a sling. He’s sitting alone, shirtless, drinking whiskey straight from the bottle and wincing. He looks up and smiles, but he isn’t looking at me. He looks towards the bar and when I see who he’s looking at, my blood boils.
Bright red hair and the makeup of a street walker, a skanky whore walks over to my man. She sits on the table with her way too-short shorts and crosses her legs. Leaning in, she touches his shoulder, and the way Chase smiles up at her makes my stomach curdle.
I don’t know what comes over me, or how it happens, but my body walks itself back to the trailer park and shifts, grabbing a black oversized t-shirt off a clothesline. I’m watching myself move, like I’m not in my own body, as I storm back to the bar. Chase sees me outside and tries to stand, but the woman pushes him back down.
I round the corner of the bar, my feet stomping so hard the decorations outside bounce against the walls. When I push myself through the batwing doors and that whore looks at me, her face goes dark.
“If it isn’t the Silver Dawn Princess…” she hisses, standing to face me with her hand still on my man.
I storm forward and push her hard in the chest and she staggers back. The jukebox scratches and stops as she falls into it, and everyone in the bar turns to look at me.
“Hey!” Bob shouts from behind the counter as the skank picks herself up and growls at me. “This is a safe zone! No fighting! Break it up!”
He comes around the corner but the bitch lunges at me. I’m ready for it, prepared to tear her skanky hands off her twig stick arms, but suddenly Chase is between us, his back to me.
“Rachel! Ruby! Calm down! Ruby, what are you doing here? If your brother finds out—”
