As I follow Jackson through the forest to face Derek, a shifter that filled me with terror moments before, I don't feel even the slightest trace of fear.
It's impossible to feel anything other than a complete belief that Jackson won't let anything happen to me. And when I remember the fury lighting his eyes at Derek's threat to harm Riley, I know he won't let that happen.
In complete silence, we thread our way through the brush, past trees, and toward the half-cave that Derek and his pack of misfits made a home for themselves.
It's no mystery why Jackson's letting me come with him. I doubt it took him a second to realize I'd only follow him later if he tried to force me to leave.
Before long, Jackson stops a few feet from the cave. We're so close, I can peer through the gaps in the trees and spot Derek leaning against the rock wall. On the ground at his feet is Riley, unconscious and with a bloody face.
The moment I catch sight of Riley, I dart forward, only for Jackson to use his shoulder to force me back. I curl my lip at him in a soundless snarl because Derek hurt Riley and I have to go to him.
Jackson doesn't move. He continues to pin me in place against the tree until Derek speaks.
"Ah, so the mate survived to come to the rescue."
Without a moment's hesitation, Jackson turns away and steps out of the forest and into the small clearing outside of the cave.
While I'm sure this cave sits in Dawley National Forest, it butts up to Jackson's land so closely that it may as well be Dawley-Stone land, that's how close the divide between public and private is. It probably goes some way to explaining why Jackson stalks across the open space as if he owns it.
Derek regards Jackson's approach with a faint smile on his face. Then he straightens and, without saying another word, he drops to the ground and the change sweeps over him.
The two heavily muscled wolves preparing to fight appear evenly matched. I take in the sheer confidence of the wolf with a dark coat and blue eyes as it waits to meet the gray wolf with golden eyes. But my bet is still on Jackson. I refuse to believe Derek can beat him.
I dart a glance at Riley who isn't moving, and just as I'm trying to work out how I'm going to get him out of the way of what looks like it's going to be an explosive fight, they're on each other.
It takes me less than a second to realize I wouldn't have lasted five seconds against Derek. He'd have ripped out my throat, and I'd be dead before I knew what was happening. But Jackson isn't me. Jackson is… Jackson.
When Savannah told us about the Stone brother's fighting ability, I guessed her love for Jeremy meant she wasn't being entirely truthful. That love had blinded her, at least a little. I was wrong.
The sheer violence of Jackson's attack leaves me breathless as he uses every bit of his enormous body to force Derek back, step after step. He shows no mercy, leaves open no window that Derek can exploit to launch a counterattack. Jackson refuses to let him. He just keeps on going, like the world's biggest and nastiest battering ram.
In moments, blood coats Derek's fur, and he's retreating even before Jackson can clamp those powerful jaws around any other piece of him.
This is no fight, I soon realize, this is a punishment. This is Jackson forcing Derek to confront the truth of his strength and his absolute power over him. This is Jackson proving without a shadow of a doubt that Dawley belongs to him, and Derek is nothing more than a trespasser on land that isn't his.
All I can do is stare with my mouth hanging open because I've never seen anything like it. I mean, I've seen fights before. I've seen and been in plenty. I watched Dayne tear Glynn Merrick to pieces. But that was fury because of everything Glynn had done to Talis.
What I'm standing witness to is cold precision as Jackson takes Derek apart and there is not a thing Derek can do to stop him.
It feels like it lasts minutes, but probably it's only seconds because, as I said, this is no fight. This is far too one-sided for that. But when Jackson backs Derek into the cave, I don't have to guess what's coming.
Derek, the alpha who terrified me so much and who I believed would kill me in that cave, seems to know it too because suddenly there's a desperation in his eyes, and in his attempts to force Jackson back.
But just like every other attempt he's made to fight back, this last desperate one is just as ineffective as everything that's come before.
Jackson uses his powerful shoulders to force Derek down, and when he lowers his head, I swallow.
Seconds later, a low grunt of pain and a wide blood spray announces the end of the misfit alpha, Derek.
I turn away and, suspecting Jackson isn't about to kill me for emerging from the trees with Derek dead, I approach Riley's still form.
He's breathing, which is the important thing. Probably Derek knocked him unconscious so he wouldn't have to deal with both him and me if I'd come back. I'd have died, I know that now. If Jackson hadn't come when he did, I'd have run back to Derek, thinking only of saving Riley's life, realizing too late that it wouldn't have saved him. It would only have cost me my life.
Once I'm beside Riley, I lick at his face, whining softly in an attempt to wake him.
When he doesn't move, I gently nudge him with my nose.
Before I know what's happening, Jackson is barging me aside and snarling in Riley's face.
With a loud gasp, Riley scrambles to his feet, his heart pounding so loudly that I'm seriously concerned he's going to have a heart attack.
I turn to glare at Jackson, because, really, who the hell does that?
Although he must feel my gaze on his face, he doesn't turn to face me. Instead, he continues to stare at Riley, who guesses Jackson must want him to shift.
So, when Riley drops to his hands and knees, I turn my gaze into the forest as I wait for him to shift. Since he's dominant enough to be just shy of a beta, his change doesn't take near as long as mine ordinarily would.
While it doesn't bother me to have someone watch me shift, I don't know Riley well enough to know if he'd have a problem with it, hence the looking away.
When I feel something nudging my neck, I turn and meet Riley's gold-hazel eyes. I take a second to say hi to Riley as a wolf, drawing in his scent as he does the same.
After touching my nose to his, I glance over at Jackson, who immediately turns away and starts through the trees, which means it's time to leave. Once I make sure Riley is alongside me, I follow.
If I was human, I'd ask Jackson about leaving Derek's body behind like that, but I guess if any tourists stumble on the body-or rather-two wolf bodies now that I remember Leon, I doubt they're going to find anything suspicious. Though I do wonder about the six shifters Jackson likely killed on his way to me.
Still, the tourists are more likely to be confused by all the building materials in the cave than anything else. But right now, I'm finding I don't particularly care.
I'm tired, my head hurts, and I'm ready to get back to the rental, have a shower and go to bed.
The speed Jackson leads the way and Riley follows suggests they're just as eager to get back to the rental as I am.
Thirty minutes later, after a swift run through the Dawley-Stone and then the National Forest, sees us climbing the back porch steps of the rental. There, Jackson shifts and then shoves the door open, waiting until Riley and I are back inside before closing the door.
"Regan, upstairs. Shift and get in the shower," Jackson barks at me before turning his attention to Riley.
"You're a Stone now, so you sleep under the same roof as us. No sleeping outside and no more bags of food on the porch. You understand?" Jackson's question is nothing less than an order.
I pause on my way to the stairs, ready to growl at him because the last thing I want is for him to scare Riley away. But to my surprise, Riley nods his head.
"Regan!"
I jerk in surprise at Jackson's snarl and continue up the stairs.
Okay, then.
Shifting back to human goes slowly, the way it always does when I'm not touching the earth, but by the time I'm changed, I hear the shower running in a bedroom two floors down. I think it's coming from the same room I showed Riley.
I sit up from the bedroom floor. Immediately, my gaze goes to Jackson sat with his back against the wall, his elbow resting on a raised knee, and his eyes on me.
Once again, his expression is unreadable, and the blankness of his gaze has me feeling wary that he's keeping some deeper emotion hidden from me. "Jackson?"
He rises and starts for the shower. "Come with me."
Left with no other option but to follow, I get to my feet.
In the seconds I take to enter the bathroom, Jackson has the shower running and the glass screen open, ready for me to step in. Yet, something about the way he's standing just outside has me thinking I'm about to walk into a trap. "Uh, Jackson. You're making me nervous."
He doesn't respond, and my unease grows that I might be in serious trouble.
I feel like Jackson's waiting to blow up and it could be because of any number of the things I shouldn't have done in the last twelve hours.
Thinking it'll save me from the worse of Jackson's anger, I decide not to argue and just get in the shower.
He follows me in. Before I can turn, his hands are in my hair, gently combing his fingers through it as the warm water streams over us.
"There's blood in your hair," Jackson murmurs.
I hesitate about telling him what happened in the cave, but then I sigh. Jackson rescued me, and he had to kill seven shifters to do it, which means he deserves to know.
So, I tell him about Derek and the cave, about Riley's lie, which led to an opportunity for me to escape, and about Derek throwing me against the cave hard enough for me to crack my head.
"I didn't realize I was bleeding." I move to touch my scalp, but Jackson knocks my hand away.
"You're not." One hand reaches for the shampoo on the shelf to my right. "At least, not anymore."
"That's good."
There's no response from Jackson.
"Uh, I guess Lara left then?" I ask since I can tell the only people in the house are me, Jackson, and Riley.
"Yes."
I wait for a longer explanation, but it doesn't come. After nearly a minute of silence, I clear my throat. "But what about her pack? Didn't they need help against the other-"
"They can deal with it. Or they can't."
Right.
I almost wish I was around to hear him tell Lara that. But I can't even enjoy the unexpected pleasure of Lara's absence because, from the shortness of Jackson's responses, I'm guessing I'm in a lot of trouble.
"But didn't you say you'd go back, and you know…" My voice trails off and I close my eyes, wondering why the hell I'm still talking when I know Jackson is pissed at me for getting myself kidnapped.
"I have my own pack to deal with."
I'm guessing he means Riley. Maybe. But I don't know who else he's talking about. "You mean Jeremy and Savannah?"
"No." He reaches for the conditioner and uses it to detangle my hair with his fingers.
Yeah, he's pissed. More than pissed if he isn't even talking to me.
I'm guessing Lara told him about me tossing her off the porch, and maybe even about me telling her other things that I'm not sure I'm ready for Jackson to know. At least, I don't think I am. "Uh, you, didn't speak to Lara before she left, did you?"
For a beat, his fingers still in my hair. "Is there a reason you're asking?"
"No!" I blurt out, sounding guilty as hell. "Um, I mean, no. Just wondered. That's all."
And then I shut up because I feel like I've said far too much today. So, I stay silent as Jackson washes the conditioner from my hair and efficiently cleans my body.
Other than his erection nudging my back, there's not a hint he's interested in turning our shower into anything more. Which is another sign I know I'm in trouble because what guy wouldn't be interested in a little sex in the shower?
In minutes, I'm clean and he's leading me out of the shower where, with the same distant touch, Jackson towel dries my hair and body before handing me a t-shirt.
Once I've slipped on the t-shirt, Jackson quickly dries himself before tugging on a pair of jeans. Before I can ask him what he's doing when I'm guessing it's late enough for us to be going to bed, he grabs my hand and heads for the bedroom door.
"Uh, Jackson? Where are we going?"
I don't get a response. He's silent as he leads the way down the stairs and out of the house, grabbing his truck keys on the way. Moments later, we're pulling away from the house.
I turn in my seat to face him. "Uh, Jackson?"
For several minutes, Jackson doesn't say a word as he drives down the quiet road in what has to be the middle of the night.
"We're going to the place I caught you when you ran from me."
It's been a long day, clearly too long, because I take a good couple of minutes to figure out what he's talking about. "You mean your land?"
"I do."
I wait for him to tell me why, and when he doesn't volunteer the information, my nerves increase. "And the reason you're taking me back is…?"
He darts a glance at me. Just one, and it's too fast for me to read his eyes. "Because I made a mistake."
And the winner of the Vaguest Person Ever Award goes to Jackson Stone.
"And that mistake is…?"
Several more minutes pass in silence, and just as I'm preparing to repeat myself, Jackson pulls onto the side road leading to his land.
There are a couple of temporary cabins set up a few feet away, but that's it. Other than that, everything looks much the same as when I was last here for the BBQ.
Jackson parks his truck, but he doesn't get out. "The mistake?"
As we sit in the dark truck, my anxiety builds. "Yes, the mistake."
He doesn't take his gaze away from the forest in front of us. "The mistake was not claiming you, not having you submit when I caught you." I go still at his words. He continues in a gentle voice. "Maybe, if I had, you would've listened to me when I told you to stay out of the forest. Maybe then, you wouldn't have been kidnapped, and you wouldn't have been hurt. Perhaps, then, I wouldn't have had to watch you bite off a cry of pain as you shifted so fast it left you in agony."
I stare at his profile as my mouth goes dry. "What are you saying, Jackson? What are we doing here?"
When he turns to me, his eyes are fierce with determination. "I'm going to do what I should have done then. I'm going to make you mine."
I fumble for the passenger door. "No. I can't be your mate, I can't be Luna. I'm going back to Hardin."
His smile is gentle. "No, Regan. You're not."
For one second, we stare at each other. Then I shove my door open, and I throw myself out a heartbeat later.
There's no sound behind me, just like there wasn't the time I ran before, but I know Jackson is following me. I know Jackson is close behind as I charge into the forest.