Chapter 16

Coming off the elevator, Jackson juggled the two large bags of food to one arm as he reached into his pocket for the room key. He was surprised at how much food Mara had ordered, just how much did the woman intend to eat tonight? With how little she touched at lunch, he assumed she would order next to nothing but she got two vegetarian burgers with two orders of cheese fries and a side of funnel cake. Part of him assumed she was ordering with her stomach but the other half couldn’t help but hope she would eat it all. He always preferred women who didn’t starve themselves just because they were around a man. He surely had no qualms about polishing off his two double burgers and gravy fries.

The emptiness he’d seen at lunch and in the vehicle afterward was gone by the time they were bickering in the hotel room. It had been a relief. Jackson would help her feel safe again if it was the last thing he did.

Jackson fished the key out and looked up, catching several faces peeking out of their room doors. He could hear the whispers:

What was that? You think she’s okay? Did anyone get a good look at him? Should we call down to the front desk? I already called and they said they would send somebody up.

His heart sputtered. Every thought in his mind fizzled out as he took the last steps to their door. His wolf pushed up to the forefront of his mind, taking in the strange scent of wastewater and mud. He flexed his eyes, using his wolf’s sight to see the scratches that ran deep and long along the body of the door.

Claws.

Then he saw the splintering at the hinges. The blown out lock hanging haphazardly between the frame and the door. Jackson used one shoulder to burst into the room before he could even blink. Wherever the food went, he didn’t know or care. His eyes swept over the suite. The discarded candle base. A smear of blood. Mara’s blood. The putrid smell lingered here too. Had the fucker had made it inside?

If his heart was still in his chest, he couldn’t feel it. Not over the ice moving through him. That lethal calm. That precise intent to kill. His wolf had risen, likely flashing through his eyes as they studied the space.

Mara’s bedroom door was closed and he broke it open with a single kick. He shouted her name—had been shouting it the entire time. His wolf's emotions were running the show so he didn’t care that it was an odd show of strength. Or that his mind was muddled between duty and instinct. He didn’t care that others might be able to see. He cared about finding her, about making sure she was okay.

"Mara!" he called as he moved further into her room. He scanned the bed, the floor, the closet. Her bathroom door was closed too and he called again but received no answer. Ice. Ice was taking over his body. Such cold dread at the closed door.

He followed her sweet scent to the bathroom door and tried the handle but it wouldn't budge, locked from the inside. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? Locked from inside against the threat. Just like her bedroom door had been. It meant she was probably safe in there… but why wasn’t she answering? Was she wounded? He thought of the smeared blood and almost shifted.

His wolf was silent, deadly calm as he waited for the sign to come out.

"Mara!" Jackson yelled, hammering a fist against the door, but there was still no response, "Mara, please open the door! It’s Jackson!" Still nothing. So he tried her nickname. “It’s Jax, Mara, I need you to say something—” Then came a quiet sound, a soft whimper.

"Fuck it," he growled, carefully throwing his shoulder into the door until it caved off the hinges in two pieces. One of the perks of Alpha strength. And he didn’t care if he had to explain it later. He flicked on the light, suddenly blinding the white room. He blinked once, twice. Then his vision cleared.

The sight before him cracked through all the ice in his veins, nearly brought him to his knees, nearly had him forgetting his role as her bodyguard, not her mate.

He wasn’t going to be her mate but…

Mara was huddled into the corner of the bathroom between the toilet and the wall. She covered her head with her arms, bending to her knees and she was shaking. Her whimpers shattered him and he forgot the stalker. Forgot the police. Forgot calling his Beta. Forgot every single protocol he had about checking the premises and securing the scene. Because she was terrified and shaking in the corner. The only thing he could do was try to make her feel safe.

He stepped towards her slowly and gently brushed his fingers over her shoulder. She went ramrod-straight, rigid with shock and fear. It was palpable in the air like smoke, suffocating him. Blind panic rose in her and bulldozed his composure.

"GET AWAY!" she screamed in absolute horror and feral rage. Her eyes were unfocused and hazy enough that he wondered if she were actually seeing him at all. Her cheeks were wet with tears as she buried her face again. She pushed her body as far as it would go into the corner, crunching herself beyond what was comfortable.

"Mara," Jackson whispered, holding the edge of her shoulder more firmly. He could feel the cold sweat on her skin as he scooted closer. He tried to pull her off the floor but she went stiff again until he thought he might have to break her bones to force movement. His wolf whined, flickering in and out of Alpha's focus.

"It's okay, Mara—” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “I'm here now. No one will ever hurt you. I swear it.” When she didn’t show any signs of hearing him, he tried again. “It's just me. It’s Jax. You know me right? I’m just the asshole bodyguard.”

Her focus shifted to him minutely but she didn’t raise her head.

“Come back from wherever you went. You’re safe with me. You hired me to keep you safe, Mara. I’m going to protect you.”

“Jax?” her voice cracked, hoarse and hollow as she tried to look at him, her lips quivering. It was everything not to slip fully into instinct. But he forced his wolf down, making sure he appeared as human as possible.

“That’s exactly right, Mara. It’s the guy who can fit his whole life in a duffel. The food snob that doesn’t like pineapples on his pizza, okay? Come on, let’s get up, yeah?” Her knees wobbled as she tried to unglue them from her chest, but he held her steady. Those bright brown eyes were dull when she looked up at him.

“Tell me what happened. Are you okay?" He looked at the dry blood under one nostril. It was a small wound, probably a contact nosebleed but his blood boiled anyway. His wolf whined and scratched at his skull.

"He was here…” Mara’s response pulled him back out of his mind. Her voice was too quiet and she paused for so long that Jackson thought she wouldn’t continue, “He… w-wanted to take me with him. I think. And s-something about… an a-animal?"

“Okay, it’s okay. You’re doing great. We’ll figure it out. I’ll figure it all okay?”

He laid her head against his chest as he scooped her up into his arms. She collapsed into him, wrapped her arms around his neck and nestled herself closer, crying into his shoulder. And he had a strange feeling that these tears had nothing to do with the stalker. That glassy look in her eyes. That rage. Something didn’t fit.

But Jackson tried not to get distracted by what was going on in her head. He had to stay present with her. Nothing in the world had ever felt more right than her body in his arms and he wasn’t sure how he would go back to before he felt its softness. He held her tighter and brought her out into the bedroom.

When he tried to put her on the bed, she tightened her hold on his neck, tensing her whole body.

"It's okay Mara. I'm just setting you down so I can check the room."

"Please… please… not yet," she sniffled. So he didn’t put her down. He sat on the edge of the bed and held her, cradled her as he waited for her to calm down. Her sweet scent wrapped around his head, squeezed his heart, made his wolf curl up and rest. She was like a balm to him. A comfort. And a compulsion. She overruled any rational thoughts he had. Her scent was intoxicatingly fragrant, her skin wonderfully soft. He felt the heat under his skin and the pull so strong and heady. But he couldn't give in. This certainly wasn't the time. She was vulnerable and his head was a mess. And truthfully, he needed to do his job now that he wasn’t half feral. He needed to secure the scene for the police that would surely arrive.

Jackson finally released her, tucking her under the covers and returned to secure the suite door as best he could. When several dozen hotel staff descended outside the suite a moment later, he locked Mara’s bedroom from the outside and checked all the hinges on the door before pulling out his phone.

“The police are on their way, sir,” the hotel manager said. We saw him on the security footage. Is Ms. Luxe okay?” Jackson nodded, barely registering the words as he caught the scent of dirty water and mud. Mara was secure enough for his wolf to settle so he raced down the hallway towards the emergency exit stairs, chasing its lingering odor. Now that he understood what he was looking for, the scent was obvious. He dialed Derrick and continued the chase.

He knew it was a longshot. At this point he was at least a half an hour behind the target, but he had to try. His wolf wanted to sink his teeth into something and now that he recognized the smell, his mind wouldn’t stop turning. Mara was in far more danger than he thought.

"What's up, boss? Thought you’d be in bed with your mate already," Derrick joked as he answered the phone, the television blaring in the background.

"Mara's stalker was here and I need your focus" Jackson barked, letting his Alpha energy force the words into a command. “I’m in pursuit of the scent.” He said, running full speed down the flights of stairs as he chased the waning scent.

"Fuck sake, Alpha is she okay? What do you need from me? I’m on site with a client but I can shift things around."

Jackson could hear the television cut off and the sound of his Beta texting. He was good like that—thorough and responsive to the needs of the pack. Which now included his Alpha’s mate.

"Her stalker is a rogue fucking wolf. I'm chasing the scent now and it’s pungent—probably hasn’t been a part of a pack in years." Jackson felt like his wolf was too close to the surface. His mate could have been hurt and he wasn't there to help her. That rational fear in his human mind, became an unstoppable need to protect in his wolf's mind. The beast in him wanted to rip someone apart, wanted to burst free and hunt to the ends of the earth.

"What are the odds, Alpha? To be not only mated to a wolf but stalked by one too? It just doesn’t seem—"

"None of that matters right now. I need you to gather a team, discreetly, no more than four trackers and meet me here in an hour. Bring your mate so she can sit with Mara until we're done. There’s no way I can leave the premises otherwise."

"Done."

Jackson didn’t bother hanging up, stuffing his phone into his pocket as he burst through the exit door at the bottom of the staircase. The scent was strong but fading fast as he worked through the floors of the parking garage until he reached the main road.

"Fuck," he growled as the scent mixed and diffused into the regular smells of city life. He'd have to wait for his trackers to arrive. His wolf whined, damn near pacing a hole in his brain as he waited. It was a miracle he hadn’t run into any humans already, but this close to the edge, he was playing a risky game.

Exhaling, he considered the security camera feeds they would have to wipe and how he would have to corroborate the last few minutes with the police. It was suspicious behavior to leave his ‘client’ unattended. Fuck, he hadn’t considered how the police would find Mara unconscious, locked in her room.

He shook his head, knowing he needed to get back quickly. Once he felt his wolf calm down enough that he wasn't bursting at the surface, he took one last survey of the crowded street and turned back to the entrance of the hotel.

Somehow he managed to beat the police and wade through the crowd of hotel staff blocking off the floor without issue. When Jackson walked back through the broken suite door, he finally noticed the yellow mailing envelope beneath the doorway. He picked it up and slipped out the series of photos. It had a note stuck to the top of the stack.

Do you know the big bad wolf?

"Fuck."