Page 9

Chapter

Nine

Jade didn’t really want Brick to leave, but she also wanted time to come to terms with what had just happened in a short amount of time. Not only had she been sweetly welcomed by the alphas, but she’d found her truemate.

What were the odds that Evelyn had sent not only her daughter to Ohio but also Jade, and both females had found their mates?

Within an hour, the kitchen of the alphas’ home was bustling with activity and a handful of females were seated around the island, chatting and eating a buffet of lunch items, from chicken salad with grapes and pecans to homemade potato chips and onion dip, to a platter of small cupcakes and cookies.

The females immediately made Jade feel at home with their kind words and easygoing natures as they asked her questions about herself without seeming to be prying and shared as much about themselves as they asked of her.

When the meal had wound down and the females were gone, she helped Cinder in the kitchen with the dishes.

“What did you think?” Cinder asked, rinsing a plate and setting it on the rack to dry.

“They’re sweet.”

“They sure are. I was raised by a Wiccan coven, so I didn’t grow up with a pack.

It wasn’t until I met and mated Adam that my lygisa nature came out, and I was able to shift for the first time.

Everyone has always been so sweet to me.

Even though Adam and the high ranked males can be real crazy about keeping everyone safe, the pack as a whole is sweet as pie. ”

“It seems like it.”

Cinder gave her a curious look. “We take care of each other in this pack. You and Brick are truemates, and even though you just met, you’re already under the protection of the pack.

Not to mention Brick’s personal interest in keeping you safe.

If there’s anyone who can keep you safe, it’s your truemate. ”

Jade dried off a bowl with a ring of delicately painted wolves on the rim and set it in the cabinet. “I never really felt safe. Not anywhere.”

Cinder hummed. “I’m sorry things were rough for you with your old pack.

I’m sorry that you lost your mom at a young age and that you had a dad who didn’t give you the affection and protective nurturing that you needed.

But you don’t have to tie yourself to that anymore.

You can forge a new path here, in Thorn Hollow. ”

With Brick.

Something ached in the center of her heart and Jade rubbed the space with her fingertips. “I’m just afraid.”

“Of your alpha coming for you? Or of losing the safe feelings that are starting to bloom within you?”

Jade gave the alpha female a curious look.

Cinder chuckled. “Even though I didn’t have the same situation as you growing up, I really had trouble trusting Adam in the beginning.

I didn’t want my life to change, I was happy with how things were, or at least I thought I was.

He came crashing into my life and, if you couldn’t tell, he has kind of a bossy streak.

It took a lot for me to trust him and to let myself go into the new path for my life that finding him created.

I never thought I’d be part of a wolf pack or a hybrid wolf-witch who can help keep my people safe, but here I am.

” She turned off the water and dried her hands on a towel.

“Your alpha is clearly old-school, so he wouldn’t simply show up here and abduct you.

He’d go through Adam. And trust me when I say that my mate is not about to let someone take you away from your truemate, fully mated or not.

Thorn Hollow is safe, and Brick is a sweet guy who would genuinely lay down his life for you.

That’s how serious the males in our pack are when it comes to their mates. ”

A shiver wove through Jade. She’d always thought her dad had done a good job keeping her safe, but he did it out of obligation, not because he cared about her well-being per se.

But she could tell that Brick wanted her to be safe.

In the span of the time they’d spent walking around the territory, that was the one thing she knew was true.

He already cared that she was safe.

And she cared about his safety too.

“I didn’t realize how unsafe I felt in my own pack until I was here. Our groups are very different. Brick… is different.”

“In this scenario, different is good.”

The front door opened and Jade knew it was Brick before he walked into the kitchen. She could feel him, like her wolf was attuned to him.

“I think you’re right,” Jade said.

“Hi, ladies,” Brick said with an easygoing smile when he appeared.

Jade thought her heart was going to pound out of her chest. He was genuinely the sexiest male she’d ever seen in her life, and her wolf was making a lot of demands in her head about how they should move forward. She wanted to take things slow, but her libido had other ideas.

“How was the patrol?” Jade asked.

“Quiet,” he said. “Just how I like it.”

She gave Cinder a hug. “Thank you for today, it was great.”

“Anytime. Have fun on your date. The last first date you two will ever have.”

Jade’s wolf let out an appreciative growl, which she barely stifled with a cough.

After saying goodbye, she walked with Brick outside and he opened his truck door for her. They were on the road a few minutes later, leaving Thorn Hollow, followed by an SUV with two security team members—Brick’s best friend Solan and his Uncle Carl.

“So you and Solan grew up together with Adam? Did you know he’d be alpha someday?”

“For sure. He always had that powerful air about him. The alpha before him, Lit, had a mate who was a Wiccan, and she’d been the pack Sahri until they had to leave the pack because of some family drama. Adam wasn’t planning to take over for a long time, but Lit needed to focus on his family.”

“So the pack isn’t hereditary for leadership?”

“It is now since Adam changed the laws when he took over. Before, whoever was second-in-command took over when the alpha stepped down. Now, it’s the oldest child born to the alpha pair.”

“You don’t mind not being able to be alpha someday?”

“Hell no, I don’t want to be alpha.”

She laughed at his tone. “No?”

“Absolutely not. I deal with enough headaches as the number two, but Adam also has to play diplomat with the Wiccans, vampires, and other shifter groups, not to mention keeping our pack safe, plus his mate and their future children. It’s a huge job.

He delegates a lot to me, but he’s got a ton of responsibilities. I’m happy being second-in-command.”

“That’s good, it would suck if you really wanted to be alpha but he changed the laws so you couldn’t be.”

“I’m sure it happens,” he said, “where someone believes they’re a better fit than the next in line, but that’s not me.”

While they drove to Alli’s, she told him about the visit with the pack females and how sweet everyone was, and he told her about the quiet afternoon on patrol. “I also set up the schedule for next week so that I had more free time.”

Her stomach flipped.

The way he said free time had a charged tone.

She bit her bottom lip, her cheeks heating as images played through her mind.

What the heck did he look like naked?

Good, she bet.

Fantastic.

Brick growled softly and reached for her hand, bringing it to his lips for a moment. “You smell incredible, Jade.”

She might have been a little embarrassed that he could smell how turned on she was, but she could tell he was too. He smelled amazing, like the best cologne she’d ever sniffed wrapped up in a devastatingly handsome package.

Dark eyes, dark hair, wicked smile.

Sex on a freaking stick.

Clearing her throat and trying to shove the sexy thoughts to the backburner for the time being, she gave his hand a squeeze as he rested it on his thigh.

“What are you planning for our first date?”

He glanced at her with a knowing smile. “Nice change of subject.”

“Well, I’m going to spontaneously combust if I don’t do that.”

“I wouldn’t want that to happen. At least not while we have clothes on.”

Oh my stars!

“Anyway,” he said, his voice rough for a moment, “I’ve got a reservation for dinner for us at this tiny Italian place.

It’s close to Alli’s. When I say tiny, I mean it’s literally in the basement of a home that’s been kitted out like a restaurant.

Everything’s fresh and made to order. Leo told me he’d seen something on social media about it, and Adam called on my behalf to see if they could seat us tonight, and they have a table for us. ”

“Wow, sounds amazing, but honestly, it wouldn’t matter to me if we got burgers in a drive-thru as long as we were together.”

“I want to make sure we have the most amazing first date together. Whatever we do, as long as we’re together, I’ll be happy.”

She was sure she would be too.