Wilde About Her (Wilde Pack Series)(20)

Denim shivered at the reminder and lowered onto the couch. In all her  excitement of being around Jax, she had almost forgotten about that  particular incident. "I'm thankful Jax was there in time."

"So are we," Chayton replied, stroking his chin between his thumb and forefinger as he gazed at her.

"We protect what's important to us," his father responded in a deep robust voice that made her shiver.

Aidan, who was pacing the length of the room, walked behind the couch  and placed a comforting hand to her shoulder. "Denim, don't you worry.  We plan to make sure something like that never happens again."

Jax nodded and took a seat at the bar.

"The tension between the two families has to be dealt with immediately."  Denim noticed the way Chayton's eyes glowed like Jax when he was upset.  It must be a family thing or better yet, a werewolf thing.

Jax sighed. "This is my problem. If you-"

Mr. Wilde held up a hand, silencing him. "We've already discussed it. Now we just need to contain the situation."

Chayton sent her a wary look. Something was wrong.

Denim looked from one man to the other, with her brow raised in confusion. "What are you all talking about?"

Aidan snorted a laugh. "Why doesn't someone enlighten this poor girl?"

Mr. Wilde took a sip from his glass and looked like he was trying to  choose his words carefully before saying, "Were business is private."

"What my father means is …  Weres pick their mates for life. And it appears my brother has chosen you," Chayton replied.

Me? Jax has chosen me?

"Which is why Troy is so pissed," Aidan explained.

"Actually she's pissed because Jax called off their engagement," Chayton added.

"What?" Her head whipped around.

Barely contained tension radiated from Jax's body as he tried to  explain. "It really doesn't have anything to do with you. This has been  going on for months now. At first we thought it was just Troy's temper  tantrums, then Chadwick Distributors suspended exporting our horses  until further notice, and now the Chadwick pack is causing trouble."

"What? Oh, no!" That couldn't at all be good for business.

His father raised a dismissive hand in the air. "I'm confident all of  this will pass. Chadwick is a businessman and I'm certain he and I will  come to a new agreement."

"But in the meantime, his daughter is taking her revenge out on junior,"  Aidan replied with a sheepish grin. "I thought she was finally over him  until she spotted the two of you at the party."

Denim's head was spinning. "She was there?"         

     



 

Jax nodded. "We never saw Troy, but I caught her scent, and then her  pack arrived, which was why I had to leave so soon. She was probably in  the forest, watching us."

"As a she-wolf," Denim muttered. It wasn't a question and she swallowed  just thinking about those intense dark green eyes glaring at her.

"Don't worry. We'll take care of it," Aidan assured her and then he was sniffing her like a dog, again.

Chayton nodded and also chimed in. He, too, was standing entirely too  close. "Jax is the son of an alpha, so it's all of our responsibility to  protect you."

Protect me? Denim got up, moved to the other end of the couch and blew  out a breath of disbelief. "Do I really need protecting? I mean …  Is this  Troy chick that crazy?"

"She's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs," Aidan mumbled under his breath.

"You saw what she tried to do the other night." Jax paused and punched  his right fist in his left palm. "Troy's still angry at me, and I'm  afraid she's trying to take her rage out on you."

So I'm a sitting duck until then.

She hadn't forgotten those vicious eyes or those long teeth ready to  bite a chunk out of her ass. No wonder he was adamant about keeping a  constant eye on her.

It took a moment before Denim realized Aidan was speaking. " …  and until  my father can speak to her pack leader, she is out stalking the forest  waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike."

Great. Nothing better than being stalked by a werewolf.

Mr. Wilde walked around the bar and came to take a seat on the chair  across from her. Denim waited for him, too, to do that sniff-sniff  thing, but to her relief he didn't. "My son assures me our secret is  safe with you."

His eyes were focused on hers and she felt pinned beneath his stare.  Unable to look away. Denim had to nod to clear her head. "Yes,  definitely. I know what devastation it would cause if I ever said  anything to anyone, including my grandfather."

He nodded and seemed to relax slightly on the chair. "And I thank you  for that. We have lived in this town for generations. And you understand  if people were to find out Weres lived in Justice it would be bad for  pack families all over the country."

"It would also be bad for the ranch," Aidan added with his arms crossed.

"No, I would never tell anyone. Cross my heart, hope to die." Denim slid  her fingers across her chest, then pointed a pinky finger up toward the  sky. She probably looked ridiculous doing that childish ritual, but at  least they each looked relieved. "I care way too much about Jax to ever  bring harm to him or his family."

Chayton gave his first real smile. "Thank you, Denim. You protect the pack and we will always be there to protect you."

Mr. Wilde tilted his glass, downed his drink, then said, "The moon is  full tonight and the horses are restless. I think it's a perfect evening  for a ride, don't you think?"

"I agree." Jax slid off the stool and reached out for her hand. "Come on. Let me introduce you to the horses."

The sun had just started to set on the horizon when they strolled out  hand-in-hand across the backyard to a whitewashed stable. It was huge  and modern, nothing like the red barns she was used to seeing. Denim  stepped inside and was met by the smell of horses and fresh hay. Her  heart was pounding with excitement as she peeked inside each of the  stalls and spotted the tall, powerful horses. Seeing them from a  distance was one thing, but up close and personal, they took her breath  away. There had to be more than fifty, all tall, strong and proud. They  passed young stable-hands brushing down horses and others shoveling hay  or sweeping out the stalls. Everyone was friendly, laughing and talking.  Jax introduced her to the horses. Each had a name proudly displayed on a  plaque on the stall doors. One of the stable-hands allowed her to brush  Titan, a handsome black horse, who'd belonged to Jax's younger cousins.

"Titan is a gentle horse. Aren't you, boy?" Jax cooed, as he stroked the mare's thick, shiny black mane.

"He's a beaut," Denim replied as she gently ran the brush across his strong body.

"Would you like to ride him?"

Her eyes lit up. "I would love to."

Jax nodded, then turned to the young boy. "Luke, please get Titan ready."

He bobbed his head, eager to please. "Yes sir!"

Once the horse was saddled, Luke took her hand as Denim put a foot in  the stirrup and climbed on. It had been a long time, but she figured it  was like riding a bike. It started to come back. She gripped the saddle  with her thighs and held on.         

     



 

"You think you can handle him?"

Denim was smiling so hard her cheeks hurt. "It's been awhile, but I think I still got it."

He winked. "Good." Within minutes, Jax had climbed onto a strong brown horse and led her out of the stable.

The sky was almost dark now, but the moon bathed the fields. Jax  galloped away on his horse, reminding her of Tristan from the movie,  Legends of the Fall. She couldn't take her eyes off of him, or ignore  how gorgeous he looked riding ahead of her with his hair bouncing around  his shoulders. Denim followed, not at the same speed, but Titan obeyed  nonetheless. She felt so alive and free.

Jax looked over his shoulder with that gorgeous wolf-grin of his, then  dashed off. She increased Titan's speed and together they traveled  across the wide fields surrounding the house, past a grove of trees to  the area she had seen from the treehouse. They rode carefree for a while  before Jax circled them back toward the house.

"You having fun?" he shouted.

"Yes," she said while laughing at the same time. "I'm having a ball."

Jax chuckled, then raced his horse to the top of the hill. She watched  as he raised a hand in the air and whistled a command. Within seconds  Denim heard, then saw, a stampede of horses thundering across the field.  Oh what a sight! She felt dazed, like in a dream, as she watched the  famous horses racing across the gold-colored fields beneath a moonlit  sky. Jax then galloped off and disappeared into the forest.

"What's he up to?" she mumbled as she slowed Titan to a trot and waited  for his return. Through a thicket of trees his horse came thundering,  hooves pounding as he joined the others, and a few seconds later, there  was Jax. He had shifted into his Were form and was racing around the  horse, showing off. Denim sat on top of Titan, in awe, as she watched  him. With his large paws pounding the ground with each step, she didn't  think she'd ever seen anything so beautiful in her life. Even as a wolf,  Jax's presence caused a shiver of heat that she felt spread across her  spine.