Chapter 30: Chapter Thirty - Mason

When we got to the pack house there was an energy buzzing through the air. My wolf felt it several miles away, but once I stepped into the house, I felt it over my body like static electricity. All of the boys were on edge because of the lycan.

The way he looked at her made vomit climb my throat. None of it made sense. Jessica was new to town. It wasn’t as if the lycan had time to know her before stalking her. It had to be something else drawing him to her.

Or drawing her to her.

It was weird to think of the lycan as a woman but if the clothes had any indication then it could be true. A woman lurking in the woods in search of blood...and Jessica.

Mason had all the boys in the kitchen when we got there. His eyes shifted from golden to blue. He made eye contact with me as soon as I shut the door behind Jess.

“Get her settled and come back down, please," he said.

I nodded, guiding her up the stairs toward my room. Her fingers tightened around the strap of her duffle as she followed me down the hallway.

She’d never seen this part of the house. Luckily, it looked like one of the boys had cleaned upstairs recently.

I shoved open my bedroom door and took her duffle from her. She walked around the room, her hands intertwined in front of her as I sat her duffle down in the corner.

“This room is giant,” she said. “The house is giant.”

“It’s been in our family for generations. It can be lonely at times, but it's nice to have a safe space."

“You don’t say,” she teased, looking up at the high vaulted ceilings. “It’s amazing but definitely old. Look at the detail on the crown moldings."

I scratched the back of my neck. “The shower is in there if you want to go ahead and get ready for the night. I need to join them downstairs.”

“I can manage,” she said, sitting down on my bed to take off her shoes. When she caught me looking at her, she lifted a brow. “See something you like?”

“Yeah, you on my bed. I think I can get used to it.”

I left her to jog downstairs. There was a heated conversation going on. The tension was tight in the room.

“…we need to stake out the field where Jason saw the lycan. What if it has a cave there or something?” Aaron said.

Jacob shook his head. “It doesn’t stay in the woods. It hunts in the woods. What it’s looking for is the question.”

Seth scoffed and leaned back against the kitchen counter. “Looks like he or she is looking for Jessica to me. Why does it keep showing up there?”

My wolf became oddly aware at the moment, pacing and growling at the thought of the lycan hurting Jessica.

Jacob shifted his gaze toward mine. “That is a good question. We have to assume it’s following her. Why would it continue to come over? Unless it sees Jessica as an easy target because of the location of her house.”

“Nah,” I said. “There are so many homes on the outskirts of town. So many farms. Dirt roads. It has to be a different reason.”

Liam stroked his chin. “Maybe it just smells us there…”

“But we’re at the sawmill, the bookstore, our families’ homes. There are so many other places we’re at that it has to be another reason why,” I said.

“You’re right,” Jacob said, sliding his palm down his face. “There has to be another reason.”

Seth pushed from the counter. “Are we staking out the spot tonight or what? My wolf is ready for a fight. I need to run.”

Jacob nodded. “Yeah, Seth and Aaron come with me.”

Liam hissed under his breath. “I’m stuck here with the love birds all night?”

Jacob shrugged. “We’ll take turns. Be ready in case we need you.”

Liam sighed heavily and walked toward the living room before jumping over the back of the couch and landing on his side.

Jacob stepped over. “We’ll be back soon. Do you have to work tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Afterward, I’m taking Jessica over to meet Gran. She made us some fried pies I need to pick up.”

Jacob smiled. “Meeting your family, huh?”

“She’s part of my family now,” I said, watching the look of pride on his face.

“I know you were afraid to tell me, but I’m happy as hell that she has you.”

He patted my cheek. “We’re leaving. See you tomorrow. We’ll be back in time to take your spot. Jessica won’t have to be alone.”

I waved him off, grabbed some utensils and walked toward my bedroom. We hadn’t finished eating, and suddenly my stomach was screaming at me.

Jessica sat in the center of my bed in a long T-shirt with her laptop open. “I brought silverware.”

She angled herself toward me, but her eyes didn’t leave the screen. “What are you looking at?”

I brought over our to-go boxes and sat down beside her. “Why is Slade Springs full of supernaturals?” she asked, taking her fork and stabbing her food.

“I don’t know. It’s always been this way. Some say it was built on an Indian burial ground that’s full of magic. We really don’t know the answer. The supernaturals rarely come. We’ve always been able to ward them off being we’re a pack of wolves. But this thing is one step ahead of us at all times.”

She pointed toward her screen with her fork. “There are articles dating back decades about monsters. This isn’t The Eagles first taste of monsters it seems.”

I nodded while eating my food. “Jacob will figure it out. He was put in charge as alpha for a reason.”

Jessica nodded. “Here’s to hoping. It’s strange to think my cousin is an alpha. He used to flick boogers at me when we were kids.”

I smiled. “We all grew up. Things were tough for a long time during our first shifts but we all made it through.”

I inhaled the rest of my food and put my container to the side. Jessica finished hers a short time later, and I added hers to mine. When she turned to me her brows were furrowed. “I know you said there are female wolves out there. Did you always know that you were a wolf?”

I laced my fingers behind my head and leaned back. “No, my wolf showed himself in elementary. He started talking to me. My grandfather noticed the signs and spoke to me about it. Do you know how hard it is for a child to keep that kind of secret?” I laughed. “I wanted to tell all my friends so bad. Why do you ask about the female wolves?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just wondering if the gene was passed down to me?”

“It’s in your blood. I doubt it would wait this long to surface though. You’re in your twenties. But you never know about your children or grandchildren."

She leaned down beside me and rested her head against my chest. “Are we still going to see your grandmother tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow evening after I get off. She’ll be at the bookstore until 7.”

“Okay,” she yawned. “I’m sleepy. Only wake me up if a lycan shows up in the house.”

I rubbed circles against her back until I felt her breathing even out. My wolf’s adrenaline began to calm with her against me. There was something about a mate that would put you to rest.

As badly as I wanted the pack to find the lycan tonight, I doubted they would come back with that news.

There was something so different about this monster.

Maybe because it was outsmarting us. It seemed one step ahead at all times. It made my wolf uneasy, and it made me wonder who the hell it was turning into during the day.