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Cricket needs to be clean, and the idea of a hot spring has her so full of excitement, how could I possibly deny her?
Chapter17
Cricket
The walk up the mountain to the hot springs is more arduous than I thought it was going to be. Within ten minutes I’m panting hard and my fingertips and toes are slowly going more and more numb. Jax is in front of me, talking excitedly about the time he’s spent in these mountains as a kid, and he doesn’t notice me slowly faltering. I don’t want him to notice, so I stay quiet, hoping not to ruin his time.
Plus I want to go to the hot springs so bad. I’ve never been to one! And I’m not going to let my weakness stop me. But when I trip over some loose gravel Jax hears it, and he turns around looking abashed and ashamed.
“Shit, Cricket, I should have thought… I was just so excited to bring you here. I wasn’t thinking!” He takes a few steps back to me and picks me up like a princess.
I can't suppress the sigh of relief. “I was enjoying you talking about it, I didn’t want to disturb you. I should be strong, I shouldn’t have to be carried…” I say, leaning my head on his shoulder and hating myself for not being the capable woman he deserves. “Rachel would have been a better match for you, she could have kept up…”
Jax laughs so hard it startles me, and I look at him in confusion.
“If you only knew the story behind what you just suggested, you’d sooner chop off your leg than think about that. Rachel is…unavailable…”
“What? Why? Doesn’t she deserve a mate?”
“I take it you haven’t met Jake yet?” he asks, raising his eyebrow.
“Jake? Who’s Jake?” Has Rachel met her mate and decided against him? That doesn’t make any sense…
“Jake would be your nephew.”
“What? I’m an aunt?” Tears fill my eyes before I can stop them. Why wouldn’t she tell me? Why haven’t I met him? None of this makes any sense…
“It’s summer, so he’s probably off doing teenager shit. Tagging buildings, hunting with his friends, who knows.”
“What does Rachel’s son have to do with her finding a mate? I’m sure there have been other wolves who have had children without the mating bond…that doesn’t seem fair.”
“That’s not what it’s about,” Jax says, as he leaps over a boulder.
The tall pine trees are tightly packed, the underbrush and vines are so thick I’d be tripping left and right. The moon shines through the pine bristles and dapples the world around us, making the most beautiful sight I would have ever seen if I’d have been paying attention. All that mattered to me now was how cosmically unfair it is that my sister should be denied a mate solely because she had a child without one.
“That’s medieval! This isn't the time of courts and queens, she doesn't have to be a virgin! I wasn’t and I still found you!”
“Cricket, that’s not what it’s about! Having pups is having pups, no one cares.”
“Then what is it? What makes her so undeserving?” I’m mad now, my fists clenched. My sister deserves a mate!
“It’s because of Cole.”
“He’s the reason she can’t have a mate? He’s not even her Alpha!” Now I’m pissed. I grab hold of Jax’s shirt and pull him to look at me. “I swear to the gods I’m going to beat the hell out of your Alpha if he doesn’t let my sister—”
“Cricket! Please, listen!” he almost shouts it at me, and I blink in surprise, but he’s still smiling. “So fierce for such a small woman…” He chuckles, clears his throat, and continues. “Before the days of private schooling in Silver Dawn, before the days where we were concerned by the lack of litters being born, we all attended public school along with the pups from Dark Moon. We each had little cliques that we stuck to, avoiding the other pack, and when we didn’t things would come to blows and our parents would fight each other with a human standing in the middle trying to keep them apart. It was a huge mess. None of us got along.
“Well, one day Dark Moon was having a bonfire, and Cole and I thought we’d sneak in, cause some havoc. What we didn’t expect was the ritualistic mating that was going on, nor did we expect to find Rachel sobbing on the outskirts of the party.
“Ryder was being initiated, forced to mate the new females who had come of age. He was being groomed as the new Alpha by his father. . Losing your virginity in a group setting, everyone watching, it was awful, even if he was smart enough to put a condom on before the events.
“When we found Rachel, she was beyond upset. She attacked us on sight, but she didn’t have the will to fight when she was so sad. She ended up sobbing on Cole’s shoulder. We were just teenagers, we didn’t know what to do. Instincts took over and Cole got protective, he took her away from the bonfire, away from the moaning women, and to a nearby cave.
“I waited outside, so I don’t know exactly what happened, but when they came out Rachel wasn’t crying anymore and Cole looked irritated. We didn’t see her again after that night, she said goodbye to me and kissed Cole on the cheek and ran back to town. It wasn’t until later that we found out she mated some guy who had been passing through and got herself knocked up. Cole was pissed, angrier than I’ve ever seen him, but he wouldn't tell me why.
“After that, no one mentioned Rachel in our house. Anyone who did was snapped at and sent away. Rachel had her baby before she turned eighteen, and until very recently none of us had ever seen him. When Rachel brought Ruby home shortly after she mated Chase, she had Jake with her in the truck. It was a shock for everyone, but more so for Cole. You see, I think he wished that Jake was his, and seeing what could have been his while his sister was being taken from him, it was all just too much.”
“So Rachel can’t be mated because Cole is butthurt she didn’t choose him?” I snap.
