Drake gives me one final look before disappearing into the woods.
Jax’s glare turns to me.
He starts walking in my direction, then drops down to one knee right in front of me. The anger coming from him is enough to make me retreat away from him. His black hair is held back in a small ponytail at the back of his head, his face is clean shaven though and his eyes are magnetic. I can’t stop staring even as I back away.
“No! Don’t move away from me. Come here now, Alexia.” He uses his Alpha voice, and even though he’s not my Alpha, I still can’t fight my wolf. She wants to obey him, so I move closer towards him.
I stand right in front of him as his eyes look me over. Raising his right hand he moves to scratch my head between my ears. He grabs my face between both his hands and places a kiss on top of my snout. He continues to look my coat over, and I can’t help but notice the corners of his lips curve as if he’s holding in a smile. I get a fright when he moves suddenly, unzipping his black jacket. His face has now turned back to that stern look he wore earlier and his voice is serious as he speaks.
“Take this and shift,” he says, pushing the jacket towards my mouth.
“No, I’m not turning in front of you,” I link to him, taking a step away.
“Alexia, now is not the time to fuck with me. Shift now!” He says, his tone making me quiver.
He’s never spoken to me this way. Not once.
I grab the jacket and move around a small bush. I know it won’t hide much, but I’m counting on him turning around. “I’m not looking, Lex. Just fucking turn already,” he says.
Shit he heard me.
I make myself turn, quickly placing the enormous jacket over my naked body. I turn to find him looking at me with a starved look in his eyes.
I can’t do this… I need to get away.
I turn back and start running in the direction of the road, but Jax is too quick, grabbing my arm and pushing me against a tree with a harsh thud. I forgot how tall he is, I have to look up to find his dark eyes; dark, hungry eyes.
His nose runs along my forehead as I feel him breathing me in. He wraps his arms around me, one going into my hair and he pulls me into his warmth.
“I’ve missed you so fucking much,” he whispers against my hair.
I’m frozen to the spot, surrounded by his warmth and scent. I want to hate the way it feels to be surrounded by him, I want to hate it so fucking much… I just can’t.
I’ve missed it. I’ve missed the feeling of just being wanted by someone, and most of all… I’ve missed him. But none of this can happen, none of this is allowed to happen. I shouldn’t even be here.
“No!” I shake my head, “It was a mistake coming here. I shouldn’t have. I need to go.” I push against his chest, and he moves away from me a little, but looks down with concern covering his face with his hands still on either side of my jaw.
“You turned, you survived your first shift. Jesus, I was so stupid.”
He allows me to push past him and I start walking in the direction of my territory; his words have infuriated me.
“Yeah, you are stupid. You rejected me because you thought I was weak. Do you still think I’m weak?” I lift my hands up, shouting at him and emphasising the words as I continue to walk.
He follows and pushes me up against a huge rock boulder. This time picking me up, leaving me with no other choice but to wrap my legs around him to keep me from falling.
“Jax! Put me down!” I smack my hands on his shoulders repeatedly, but it doesn’t work. He’s standing with me tightly sandwiched between the boulder and his warm hard body.
My hands come to rest gently on top of his shoulders when I see only adoration in his eyes as he stares at me. I miss having that look directed towards me. Sometimes there’s a few seconds when I’ll catch the twins looking at me like that, but it quickly vanishes. The feeling of being loved replaced with the hurtful words coming from their mouths.
We stare at each other, sharing the same breath; he looks so much older than his years. I can tell he’s got so much more responsibility now that he’s officially Alpha of the pack. I recognise how stressed and tense he is by the stiffness in his shoulders that lay beneath my fingers.
He moves closer into my space, his forehead resting against mine. I don’t mean to, but I squeeze my legs tighter around his waist only making the jacket slide up further. I get goose bumps along my legs when I feel his rough hands on my thighs moving higher towards my hips. Our breath is now laboured and harsh, we’re both fighting this losing battle of attraction.
I close my eyes and just as I’m about to move my head from his, he pushes against me harder and I let out a short gasp. His lips find mine and I lose the battle.