38

"Your mate is Mara Luxe and you're sitting here...?" Rolf's blue eyes bugged out of his head in confusion. As the pack barber, he was usually the first to know the latest gossip so Jackson took pride in the fact that none of Mara’s security detail were gossips. Or maybe they just hadn’t figured out the bond pulling their Alpha toward a human. Jackson scrubbed the regrowth under his chin while Rolf continued talking to himself. "I guess I should be honored to be one of the first to know, but..." He pursed his lips in judgment, pulling the scissors off of his shelf.

Jackson didn't open up to many people. As the Alpha, he couldn’t. But Rolf had been cutting his hair since he was a boy, and there was a closeness between them, especially after what happened with his family. And Rolf just had one of those personalities that unintentionally made everybody feel comfortable. Which is how Jackson knew whatever the older Beta was going to say wouldn’t be what Jackson wanted to hear from the unofficial pack therapist.

He wanted to come get his hair cut so he wouldn't be thinking about his beautiful mate, and yet the first ten minutes in Rolf’s chair, Jackson had told him damn near everything about Mara. Everything except her real name. Something about calling her Amara, and being the only one to do it, settled his wolf. She was perfect in every way and at this point, his attraction was damn near undeniable. To see her dreaming of him night after night, and all the things he wanted to do to her… He adjusted himself discreetly and cleared his throat.

"Will you just cut my hair without all the dramatics?" Jackson rolled his eyes, burying his face into his phone, "I really don't want to think about my mate for five minutes..." After getting Mara settled in his pack house, Jackson drove around scouting for a long while. Anything to give them space. And then he did some interviews and investigations around the closed movie set. He unfortunately hadn’t picked up a trace of the rogue scent. Several of his Detlas came with him on a run in their wolf forms but even after he’d exhausted all his wolf’s muscles, Jackson didn’t want to return home. There was something about ignoring her pheromones in Mara’s home. But there was no way he’d be able to ignore her scent covering everything. His walls. His furniture. Wafting down the hall from the guest room.

So, having no idea what to do with himself, he went to the only place he could think of so early in the morning, his pack barber. That man never slept and since he never mated, he roomed in the back of his shop. Rolf was always home. Always available. And maybe that was a bigger part of why he got so many of Jackson’s honest thoughts. He helped him think when he was restless.

Rolf grunted. Jackson went back to his phone where he pulled up the newest intel from their police contact. He’d have somebody take notes later, but for now, he just wanted to skim it for the important parts. Mara's investigation still hadn't uncovered the man's identity or narrowed down his potential location, and despite it being a hindrance to the police case, he hadn’t informed them of the latest sightings. They didn’t belong in wolf business. Nor a Fae town for that matter. But they were useful in the fact that they tracked the stalker’s online presence a great deal.

That online persona they tracked said he was spending a worrisome amount of time scouring the city map. He was checking all the areas Mara usually dwelled in. Probably hacking cameras and computer data to find a new hotel to check in under one of her aliases. That made Jackson's throat tight. He knew the rogue was actively looking for Mara and that, if he had really wanted to, he would’ve found her already. It was what drove all the protective details and led to his sleepless nights.

What was this male’s end goal? To scare her? Maybe Jackson shouldn't have left her. He began nervously tapping his leg, wishing for once, Rolf wouldn't take his sweet time then linked to his packmates watching the house.

No one saw anything suspicious.

"So Alpha, what's on the agenda today?" Rolf asked, a mischievous smirk on his face, "I heard Sheila's doing another one of those orphan outings with our pack..."

Jackson groaned, "That's today? Fuck." He was normally supposed to be present for any large-scale pack activity but he didn't want Mara anywhere near Sheila again. Especially not after last night. It was bad enough they'd agreed to some sort of charity publicity in the near future. He'd rather have a bullet to the head. He went to rake his hands through his hair but was slapped away, eliciting a growl.

"I'm working here," Rolf glared but quickly remembered who he was talking to. He cut on the clippers to line up the edges, "How are things going on that front? Especially now..."

"I told her we needed space," he shrugged.

"And she believed that? That suddenly you just needed space?"

"It's true, Rolf. She's my chosen mate. That's all there is to it," Rolf combed through a section of hair quietly, the only sound being the grind of the clippers.

"Trying to ignore your mate bond doesn’t work… and it isn't smart Alpha, I think you know that. Tsk Tsk, it's not smart at all... Bound to blow up at some point..."

"What would you do if you were in my position? Mara is human and Sheila is a wolf. The choice isn't clear."

"Of course the choice is clear," Rolf laughed like Jackson was stupid, "It's simple. If you loved Sheila, you wouldn't even consider Mara. You would be trying harder not to be around her to keep better control of yourself ...I suspect that's not what's been happening, right?"

Jackson fidgeted.

"That's what I thought, which means, your heart has already made its choice but your brain is being difficult. Let me ask you this, what's the worst thing that could happen if you let yourself be with Mara?"

"A woman with her kind of reach, she could potentially expose us all. That'd be a nightmare," Jackson growled, his eyes shading darker. It was his most potent fear, "I can't put the pack in that kind of danger."

"Okay...I'm not going to lie to you, that’s a compelling downside, but... has she ever given you the impression that she's the kind of person to gossip? Or spread people's business? Or hurt others who haven’t hurt her?"

Jackson paused, rubbing his chin, "No, I guess not. She's pretty closed off about things in her life naturally. She doesn't talk about her family but from what I have learned, she was exposed to our kind as a kid and there’s tension between her and the rest of her family. But she isn’t writing them off. She isn’t cruel. She hasn't even mentioned her agent or publicist since the night they made her do that press conference. But she didn’t retaliate except to fire them. The more I think about it... the more I realize, I don’t think she would do anything to hurt our pack."

Rolf smiled, folding down one of Jackson's ears as he tapered the cut. "Just as I suspected. So why would you think she would go shout our secret from the rooftops? Or the nearest news station? Even if she rejected you, even if it didn’t work out, it would take a certain kind of person to expose others to danger for no reason. And based on what you've said, she's not that kind of person."

"T-that's true," Jackson admitted, not liking the way Mara's face began playing in his mind. He was supposed to be not talking about her. Thankfully, Rolf began to brush off his neck and remove the protector around his clothes. Jackson's phone vibrated in his hand, a text from an unknown number appeared on the screen. His blood seemed to freeze in his veins at the first few words:

Hi Alpha, long time no speak.

He continued to read: Just wanted to stop by and say hello, lovely mate you have there. It's a shame she doesn't know...isn't it? A real shame you plan on rejecting her too, as I've heard through the grapevine. Don't worry, I'll take great care of our mate, in your stead. She's really so exquisite.

I hope you didn’t think moving her to your packlands would keep me away. It only made this easier…

Jackson jumped up in a flash, startling Rolf damn near out of his clothes, sending his clippers clattering to the floor. He dashed from the room, down two flights of stairs and out onto the street below. He cursed roughly, knowing he’d walked here with nothing better to do. But now he needed to get back to his house quickly and there was only one way…

His wolf barrelled out before he could finish the thought, shredding his comfortable clothes without a care. Then they were off. He linked to his packmates who began doing sweeps but he couldn’t wait for their confirmation of all clear. He couldn't slow down, Mara was depending on him.

Jackson blazed through the dirt roads. He almost couldn't even see the rest of the world because he was so focused on getting back to her in time. He could feel the tension rolling off his wolf, who was in protection mode, hair sticking straight up in agitation. When he finally reached the packhouse, his body shifted as he leaped for the stairs. One or two large leaps and he was through the front door.

His mind swirled with all the things he could potentially find. Would he have to fight the rogue? What if Mara was hurt? He growled thumping his way upstairs to her room.

Without knocking, Jackson burst into her room and slammed his hand on the light. Mara jolted awake, her sleep clothes precariously falling off the most delicious curves. He blinked, scanning the room, and finally allowing himself to take in the scents of the house. To hear his packmates insisting no one had crossed into their territory.

"Jax, what the fu—why are you naked?" she whispered, groggy and so damn sexy in her sleep-mussed state. He swallowed roughly, covering himself. It was too late. Mara’s gaze was fixated between his legs and the scent of lust hit him so hard he stumbled into the door.

“S-sorry. My mistake.”

"Are you okay?" she asked though her eyes were more alert and the scent of her arousal had thickened. “Is there something you need?”

She had no idea. No idea how dangerous that offer was. “Like I said, my mistake,” he managed to growl, shoving backward through the door. She started to say something else, but he slammed it closed. He went to his room and closed himself off in the bathroom.

Why would her stalker lie like that? What was the point of insisting he was going to attack her? Of saying he was alread—

The realization hit him like a baseball bat. "Fuck!" He growled, shattering something against the tile wall, "I led him right fucking to her."