12

JAX

Silence filled the room again. It felt heavy, pressing down on everything around us. The quiet gave my thoughts too much space.

The strength the others carried was difficult to picture sometimes. Power like that came with a strange weakness. Once every month, they became just as vulnerable as any human.

That thought never sat well with me.

They could still fight if it came to it. Old ways still worked. Guns were reliable. Knives were simple and deadly.

But things changed when the enemy wasn’t human.

Other supernaturals complicated everything. Situations could turn dangerous fast. That was why the bunkers existed. That was why the cabins were layered with wards and protections.

Aurora spoke into the silence.

“I doubt anything will happen to our pack members. Anyone responsible would face swift and deadly punishment.”

Her voice stayed quiet, but the strength behind it was clear.

There was steel in her tone.

Aurora could be intimidating when she sounded like that. Most people never saw it. The Ironwood Pack understood it well enough.

Right now the tension around her felt sharp.

Something needed to pull her away from that edge before it grew worse.

Seeing her hurt was the last thing I wanted.

Turning away from the window, I took a final look across the property. The grounds looked calm. No strange movement. No signs of trouble.

Everything appeared normal.

“You need to relax,” I said.

Theron’s voice came from nearby, edged with irritation. “Didn’t you already try that?”

That reaction didn’t surprise me at all.

“What did you think would happen?” The answer came easily. “I pulled her away almost before you finished.”

The memory was still fresh.

The smell of sex had surrounded her. Thick and impossible to ignore. Anyone could have noticed it.

A shifter didn’t need enhanced senses for that.

Scents like that could mess with a person’s head.

Humans felt it.

Shifters felt it even more.

“We all have a primitive side,” I added. “It comes out sometimes.”

Aurora looked at me carefully.

Concern crossed her face.

“Were you jealous?”

The question hung in the air between us.

“It’s not that simple, Aurora.”

Duty had always guided my choices.

Every person involved in this situation had walked into it knowing what it meant. No one had been blind to it.

But watching the ritual had still been intense.

There was something powerful about it.

Something almost overwhelming.

The magic woven into it carried weight.

Even humans reacted to that much energy.

Sex magic had its own pull.

Stopping her had never been what I wanted.

The truth was much simpler than that.

“I didn’t want to stop you,” I said quietly. “I wanted to join you.”

Aurora stepped closer.

Close enough that her warmth brushed against me.

“That pull spreads through the entire pack,” she explained. “For us it’s stronger. It’s part of our nature. It becomes impossible to deny.”

Her voice softened.

“If I had believed you could join us, I would have wanted it. I wanted you there.”

Theron shifted slightly, ready to protest, but Aurora lifted her hand to stop him.

“Wait, Theron.”

Her eyes stayed steady.

“I will always enjoy when either of you are with me. Or both of you.”

A faint smile appeared, then faded.

“But the ritual felt different.”

Her expression grew thoughtful.

“When we were being mated, something felt missing.”

A short pause followed.

“Jax wasn’t there.”

She could feel it.

The wolf inside her had noticed the absence.

Aurora leaned closer.

Her lips touched mine gently.

Her tongue brushed the edge of my mouth.

For a moment my body went still.

Theron stepped closer behind her.

His head lowered until his mouth touched the side of her neck. Brown strands of his hair moved softly across her skin.

The red mark from his earlier bite still showed there.

This was the wrong moment for any of this.

My body clearly disagreed.

Heat moved through my blood quickly.

Aurora had always had that effect. Everything could shift from calm to intense in seconds.

My hands moved to her waist.

Her hips pressed against mine.

The hard shape of my cock rested against her stomach.

A quiet thought slipped through my mind.

One day there might be a child growing there.

Theron would technically be the father. Their DNA could combine in ways human biology couldn’t.

But that detail had never mattered much to us.

We had talked about it already.

Somehow we would make it work.

We would become a family.

Energy filled my head. Too much tension. Too much desire.

Downstairs, the prisoner still waited. The man who had ruined Aurora’s night needed answers.

Yet another part of me wanted to ignore everything else and take her back to bed.

Doing the right thing was rarely easy.

Maybe just a few more minutes…

The kiss deepened.

My tongue pushed into the warmth of her mouth.

A quiet groan escaped and disappeared between us.

Aurora’s hands tightened on my arms as she pulled me closer.

Stopping now was becoming harder.

With effort, I forced myself to pull away.

“We shouldn’t do this.”

Theron immediately argued.

“Why the hell not?”

His mouth moved back to the back of Aurora’s neck.

Another dark mark began to form there.

“Because we still have a prisoner waiting,” I said. “And I’m starting to think we shouldn’t delay questioning him.”

Theron frowned.

“But you said it wasn’t safe for Aurora to go.”

Aurora’s patience snapped.

“Stop talking as if I’m not standing right here.”

Her voice carried a growl.

“Jax is right. If the man is human, I can defend myself.”

She looked directly at me.

“Why do you think Jax made me train every single day since I was sixteen?”

Theron let out a frustrated breath.

“Fine.”

He stepped away from her with a sour expression. He looked like someone who had just had something taken from him.

Or like a shifter pulled out of a rising sexual storm.

“Get ready,” I said. “We leave in five minutes.”

My head nodded toward the cabinet on the wall.

“Theron, any equipment you need is inside that chest.”

Then I moved toward the private safe hidden behind the door.

Distance helped.

The room still held their scent.

The pheromones coming off them were strong. Thick in the air.

Staying in this room much longer would lead to only one outcome.

The three of us would end up in bed again.

And we wouldn’t stop for a long time.

Possibly twenty hours.

The other option waiting tonight was less pleasant.

Taking my frustration out on the human who somehow knew things he should never have known.

That thought unsettled me.

The safe opened quietly.

Rifles came out first.

Each weapon was checked carefully. Loaded and ready.

Then the pistols.

None of us would leave the house unarmed tonight.

My hands worked through the routine while my thoughts turned elsewhere.

Someone had shared information.

That meant someone inside the pack or my squad had talked.

One by one I went through every name in my mind.

Some were dismissed immediately.

Others stayed longer.

Possible reasons. Possible motives.

The smell of gun oil filled the space. Cool metal rested solidly in my hands.

That helped steady my thoughts.

The pull from Aurora and Theron faded enough for clear thinking to return.

Distractions could not happen right now.

The pack alpha meant everything to me.

Nothing would ever be allowed to hurt her.

Except once.

The memory appeared without warning.

An old moment.

Something better left in the past.

Both of us had moved forward from it.

At least that was what we told ourselves.

Still, the thought lingered tonight.

A tight knot formed in my stomach.

At the time there had been no other choice.

The job demanded it.

Doing the right thing often came with a cost.

Duty had always come first.