Gray Back Ghost Bear(25)

“She’s not for you,” a hard voice said from behind him.

He turned to find Tessa leaned on the porch railing just inside of the tower. With a roar of fury, he picked up the ax and rushed her. Just before he reached her, he locked his legs and skidded to a stop as he rotated his hips and blasted the ax toward her. The blade sliced through her like smoke, never really touching her, but it sank deep into a thick beam. It splintered, and the tower rocked. Jason yanked the ax out of the creaking wood.

“That’s right, Jason. Take us both down.” Tessa’s voice bounced off the walls before she appeared in front of the beam again. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Madness consumed him. She’d done this—taken Georgia. He slammed the ax through her again, and the beam shattered inward.

Dust, rock, and wood rained down as the floor beneath his feet shifted.

Tessa appeared at his right as he gripped onto the splintering railing.

“All I ever wanted was for you to come with me,” she whispered.

****

Gasping, Jason lurched up. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he murmured as he struggled to breathe. Frantically, he patted Georgia’s arms and back, but she was warm and alive beside him in the treehouse. She was still here, under the bed they’d made with spare blankets, and all tucked up beside him.

A soft rattling sounded, stopped, then vibrated again. Jason cast the moon outside a frown, then padded over to his jeans in search of his phone. It was the middle of the night. Who the devil was calling him right now?

Beaston, the caller ID read.

“Hey, man,” he whispered. “Hang on.”

He shimmied into his jeans and opened the door as quietly as he could so he wouldn’t disturb Georgia. Out on the porch, he lifted the phone to his ear and said, “Sorry. I was trying not to wake someone.”

“Your ranger.”

Jason smiled and sighed. “Yeah, Georgia.”

“Are you in the treehouse?” Easton asked.

“How did you know?”

“I can hear it. The trees make different sounds.”

Jason crossed his arms over his chest to ward off the chilly breeze. “Oh.” A soft noise perked his senses up. Narrowing his eyes, Jason searched the woods as far as he could in the light of the half moon. Someone was crying.

No, not someone. Something.

“I burned the bones,” Easton murmured. “There was a guard, so it took me longer than I thought it would to get to her body. Is she gone?”

The sniffling, quiet crying got louder as the wind changed directions.

“No.”

“Shit.” Easton sighed on the other end. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Okay. Easton?”

“What?” Easton asked.

“Thanks for trying to help me. It means a lot.”

The line was quiet so long, Jason thought he’d already hung up.

“You’re my best friend,” Easton muttered.

The line went dead, and Jason pulled the phone back to stare at the screen as the glow faded.

He’d thought Easton wasn’t capable of wanting friendship. Sure, he’d softened up to Willa and Gia, but he was always ready to fight when it came to him and the other men in the Gray Backs.

The corners of Jason’s lips lifted in a baffled smile.

He’d never been anyone’s best friend before.

A pathetic whimper pulled his attention from the phone in his hands. With a sigh, he climbed down the ladder, then moved through the brush toward the sound of Tessa’s misery.

He wasn’t a stupid man. Tessa couldn’t get close to him when he was with Georgia, so she had to use what she could as bait to lure him farther away from his mate. Did he want to be out here in the dead of night half naked in the cold? Hell no. But he also knew Tessa enough to realize she wasn’t going to stop with the sniffling until he gave her whatever attention she needed. And he had to be up in a couple hours for work on the landing. He needed sleep.

She sat against a tree, knees to her chest, face buried on her arms as she cried. Her vulnerability wasn’t what stopped him in his tracks, though. Tessa was only half a ghost. He could see right through her to the rough tree bark behind her.

Jason leaned against a tree and crossed his arms over his chest. “Why did you give me that nightmare, Tessa?”

She looked up at him with startled eyes, but he knew this game. She sniffed and stood. “Because you won’t listen to me.”

“What are you talking about? I have no choice. You talk all the fucking time.”

“But you don’t hear me. I don’t want to leave. Not without you. And now look what you’ve done to me.” She looked down at her transparent body.

The burning of her bones had done this.