“Perfect.” Could Joe hear the sarcasm seeping out?
“No worries, Doc. Even though Scott and I won’t be able to remain in human form, once the moon comes up, we will be on the grounds. Hunting the hunter.”
Jackie knew from Zan that the younger soldiers didn’t yet have the ability to hold onto their human form during the full moon and wasn’t all that surprised. She could count on two hands the number of shifters in Woodcliff that were strong enough to leash the beast. And that was among a pack of nearly two hundred. The ability to control the wolf to that extent required near alpha-like power, and just like his brother, Zan had that strength in abundance.
A soft breeze picked up, feeling deliciously cool on her overheated flesh. Flesh that was normally a few degrees cooler than the human average. But right now, thanks to the run, the sun and the full-blown result of the mating heat, she felt oven-baked, only wetter.
They turned another corner and headed once again along the street LunaWatch was located on. Which made her wonder. “Will Russell stay with Marion?”
“Yep. And Zan with you.”
She tripped over her own feet. “What?”
Joe slanted a “duh” glance her way. “Mates almost always stay together at the full moon, whether the males shift or not. The wolves won’t travel far as they hunt, the need to protect and remain near is too instinctive to dismiss. And the ones who can remain human, well, they have more, eh, primitive things to do with their mates at the full moon.”
Jackie felt her face flame at the not-so-subtle hint. Joe thought Zan and Jackie would be rolling around the sheets all night long. Male shifter instinct was to hunt, protect and mate with their, well, mate. Somehow she kept forgetting she was a mate. Zan’s mate.
No. That was a lie. She could feel the need for Zan all the way to her bones, and it wasn’t just a sexual need. She worried about him when he was out of her sight; and didn’t know if she wanted to jump him or knock him upside the head when he was.
She and Zan were mated, there was no question about that. If she took to heart what her grandfather said last night, nature didn’t mess up. She’d mess it up. Which, she had to admit, she may have already done so because of her prejudice and bitterness towards Zan, thanks to her uncle’s treatment of his mate. Logically she knew all men weren’t created from the same darkness that engulfed Rafe, but logic and emotion weren’t always in sync. Diving into an unknown future with Zan was just as scary a proposition as going back to her own life. Alone.
She truly didn’t know what to do.
Joe must have mistaken her frown and silence for fear. “The place is secure, Doc. You won’t come to any harm.”
Maybe not from any outside source, but Jackie was very afraid the true danger lay inside. In her heart.
Just then, they reached the heavy locked gates. As Joe typed in his passcode on a recessed keyboard, Jackie peered around her. Huge trees lined the street while houses hid behind walls and gates similar to the one in front of her. The neighborhood was clearly a high-end area, with homes built far and wide from each other. One could live their whole life on this street and never meet their closest neighbor.
While the location made it a haven to keep their shifting nature a secret, it went against a wolf’s inherent need to belong to a pack. Which was probably why Russell had turned his childhood home into a base facility for LunaWatch. In essence it was a small pack. The shifters lived together, which satisfied their social need, while still retaining their secret from the world.
How could Jackie conceive asking Zan to leave his pack for her? Yet how could he demand the same?
The no-win situation caused a pain in her chest. Days ago she felt justified by blindly accepting what she perceived was the obvious ending of her relationship with Zan. Now she only felt despair.
After thanking Joe for his company, Jackie headed upstairs, anxious for a shower. Stripping, she couldn’t help wondering where Zan was and if he was alright. Surely nothing happened to him, otherwise Scott would have contacted Russell or Joe. Unless he was hurt too.
An unwanted image of Zan as she’d first seen him, hurt and bloody, flitted in her mind.
God. Please let him be all right.
As she was rinsing out her hair she felt the first familiar twinges in her belly. With it came the realization that when her period started, the mating heat would end. So would her need of Zan, and he for her. While that was a dismal thought, it did nothing to dampen the need she had now.
Just thinking of Zan made her blood race. Every minute in his presence she fell deeper under his erotic spell. He was addictive, charming when he wanted to be, sexy from head to toe, protective, and possessive. Both a giving and demanding lover with the wildness her body craved. She was afraid she was giving Zan more of herself than was smart. Tendrils of love had already taken root, but giving any more would only make her an idiot.