"Do you like it here?" He asks. His voice is even and careful, like he's dealing with a timid animal.
"Yeah, so far, I guess. I've only been here for a minute." I wipe my milk mustache with the back of my hand.
"It feels like a year." A funny little smile tips the corner of his mouth up. He gathers the dishes and puts them in the sink. "Summer?" My eyes meet his. "Why didn't you tell me that you were leaving? That you felt so strongly about things?" He crosses his arms across his chest leans his hip against the counter. His biceps have gotten larger. Jackson gets better looking every day. "It's why you've been acting weird isn't it because you knew for awhile, you planned this out." I nodded.
"I knew you were promised to Autumn and my dad didn't want me spending any more time with you so I had nothing to lose. It was too hard to say goodbye Jackson. If I told you, you would've tried to stop me from leaving."
"Damn right. You should've stayed and … " My head was shaking. We both knew that you didn't defy or question the old man. Dad would give me to a stranger and that would be the end of me.
"You see? I couldn't. I couldn't stay there any longer." I was tired and getting whiney.
"She's mated now so I don't have to … " Jackson started.
"It doesn't change my situation though." I released a deep breath. I pushed my chair back and went to the bedroom. He followed me and stripped down to his boxer briefs. I sneaked a peek. Damn. Way better now than when we were twelve. I climbed in on my usual side and he sat on the other side to take his watch off. I closed my eyes. "Goodnight Jackson."
"Good night Summer." He was in my ear now and my core clenched. Oh for crying out loud. I need to find a mate so I can stop this. I can feel his breath on my neck. This bed is smaller than I thought. I am not going to sleep tonight with him this close. He shifts and rolls even closer to me. I turn on my side giving him my back. I'll pretend he isn't there, I decide. Jackson's arm snakes around my middle and he pulls me into the curve of his body. Crap. I hope I don't have that dream if I do fall asleep. How embarrassing would that be? "Sleep."
"What?" I turn my head to see his amber eyes watching me.
"I can hear your mind racing. Sleep. Relax and sleep." He says close to my ear. I turn my face away and close my eyes. I drift. It's the fastest I've ever fallen asleep.
Chapter 4
I wake to the smell of bacon frying and coffee brewing. My mouth waters instantly. I swing my legs out from under the covers and get up. I brush my teeth and get dressed. When I glance at the clock, I want to kill him. It is six o'clock in the morning. He's nuts if he thinks that I am getting up this early. I take my jeans off and get back in bed. "I thought that you were up. I heard water running." Jackson is in the doorway to the bedroom.
"It's six in the morning. I get up at nine, I have three hours." I mumble. Jackson pulls the quilt back and lifts me out of bed setting me on my feet.
"Breakfast is ready now. If you want to go back to sleep after then be my guest." He tugs me toward the kitchen and puts me in a cold chair. I jump up squealing and go to find my pants. I mumble about stupid people who don't know how to stay in bed until a decent time and I hear him chuckle. He's laughing at me. He can hear me and he's laughing at me. My temper kicks in partly from lack of sleep and partly from annoyance. I want to hit him. I march into the kitchen, try to smack him but he catches my hand and sits me down. His eyes are flashing amber and I sit. When a wolf's eyes flash, it can mean so many things. Desire, anger, loss, any extreme emotion qualifies. His were definitely flashing with anger. I dropped my head. Since when did I submit to Jackson? Oh yeah since the day I figured out that we are both alphas. We have always been equals except the day that Kelly left. I really need to figure all of this out some time when I have a free moment. "What time do I meet the alpha?" Jackson said around a mouthful of eggs. I heard someone knock at my back door and went to it. I prayed that it wasn't my father. That he had not followed Jackson. I went to the door and scented a strange wolf. I opened it and stepped back.
"You must be Summer." He smiled broadly and put his hand out for me to take. I heard Jackson growl behind me. "And you must be Jackson." He put out his hand to Jackson. "I'm Larry, current beta in the East View pack." Crap, he just told Jackson where we were. There went his plausible deniability. "I was anxious to meet you both actually. We have searched and searched for an alpha. We've come up with nothing that suits us so far and here you both are. Are you mated?" Jackson sat down and gestured to a chair for Larry.
"Not yet." Jackson answered. I'd misunderstood that one, I thought he meant to each other but now I realize he just meant in general. "Eat. Don't be shy." My brows furrowed. That was my damned breakfast. Jackson was digging into his breakfast and ignoring me. I look into the pan and discover that there's more. I grab another plate and fill it up. Now that I'm awake, I am hungry. I pour coffee listening to their conversation. He has twenty members, mostly male, a lot of them elderly. The pack in this town has been dying off for some time now. There are very few females so the males leave to find mates and most of the males that are left are all older. I wonder why they don't mate humans. It happens. Larry is a widow. His wife was a victim of cancer. Werewolves can regenerate quickly, heal quickly but if the cancer is aggressive, even the strongest wolves submit to that. I eat standing up while the big strong men ignore me. When I finish I start washing the dishes. It's only fair that since he cooked, I will clean. I open the fridge and see that he's been to the store. What time did he get up? Walking it roundtrip would take a half an hour, ten minutes in the store, he showered, that's fifteen minutes, and he cooked breakfast. He's been up since like four I estimate. Wow. We went to bed around midnight. Does he not need any sleep at all? I need at least six hours and that's all that he gave me. I go to take their dishes and Jackson puts an arm around my waist. "Like I said we aren't mated yet but it's inevitable. If it's a requirement that your pack has for their alpha to be mated, I will take care of it immediately." My eyes go round. What the hell did he just say? That we would be mated? And it was inevitable? What was he saying? I should've been paying more attention to the conversation and less to what time Jackson got up. I pick up the dishes and carry them to the sink to wash. "Summer and I have been together for twenty years. We are a great team, we know what the other is thinking most of the time, and you won't find better leaders." He can't be serious. Is he feeding this wolf a line to get the position? I rinse and dry the last of the dirty dishes then put them away.
"I want you both to come out and meet the pack. There is a house for you to move into immediately once the pack has voted. I'm sure that it will be unanimous. I'm no leader and we are all anxious to get alphas into place. The first thing that we will ask is that you get new young members here especially mated pairs and females. We want the pack repopulated quickly." Jackson nodded and shook Larry's hand then saw him out. They were on the back porch for a few minutes. I was in the bedroom when he returned.
"That went well." He said and I nodded. "We are going to get this Summer."
"What did you mean that we would mate if it was required?" He grinned wolfishly.
"That you and I would mate if their pack insisted." I chewed on my bottom lip.
"That's as bad as what my dad was going to do." Jackson is shaking his head. "It is so. I want to fall in love with my mate."
"You already love your mate." He pointed at himself. "I've always been yours Summer. You know that." I'm shaking my head. "I know that you think about it, I can smell you thinking about it." My cheeks flush crimson.
"Sure I think about it, about sex. Who doesn't ? But that doesn't mean I'm thinking about it with you." I tell him without looking at him. He'll see the lie on my face. He's been a walking lie detector lately. I think it's his alpha genes kicking into overdrive.
"Uh huh." Jackson crosses his arms over his chest. "So last night while you slept, while you were calling my name and humping me, you were thinking of another Jackson? Not me? And when you climaxed and told me that you loved me, it wasn't me that you were thinking of?" Damn it. I knew that was going to happen. Those damn dreams were a curse no matter how much I enjoy them sometimes. "You felt so good against me, moaning, and writhing. I wanted to bury myself inside of you Summer." Gooseflesh chased over my skin and heat crept up my neck flaming my cheeks. He's on his knees at my feet with his hands on my thighs now. I can feel the heat of them through my jeans. His irises are deep steady amber, that's desire. I hadn't seen it before, but I knew it now. I wondered if my eyes were similar. "I came here because I missed you. I came here because as soon as you went missing, I felt like I had a hole in my heart. I realized the second you were gone how much you meant to me. I knew before that I loved you but when you weren't there anymore, I realized that I love you." I gave him a confused glance. "That I wanted to mate with you and that I can't live without you."