Primal (Wrong Side of the Tracks 2)

Even Jag’s father, a hard man of the land, had made some compromises when it came to his family. And if he hadn’t done that, Dane was still right about one thing—Jag couldn’t keep on living his life according to the rules of someone he’d been forced to run from. He now had a family of his own after all.

He stopped by Frank’s, to take two bottles of the beer Dane liked so much off the windowsill and, armed with that treat, he returned to their home, where his mate had been busy since morning, smoothing out the walls with the same white paste Frank and Shane had theirs covered with.

Jag saw it as an unnecessary fancy, but if his man needed something like this to feel at home, then who was Jag to stop him?

The silence hanging around the house struck him as strange, since Dane was in the habit of humming and singing tunes when he believed himself alone, but perhaps he’d taken a nap? Eager to surprise him with the gifts, Jag crept up to the door, but his mate hadn’t dozed off, and was instead looking at a little watch of metal and plastic they’d scavenged yesterday.

Putting the collar back on him during the times Jag wasn’t around was an unpleasant necessity, but after the initial fight, Dane had accepted his fate. Jag in turn made sure that whenever Dane was left chained, he had access to water and shade in case it got too hot, since the summers could get so volatile.

But a primal part of Jag loved seeing Dane in the collar he’d crafted himself—unmistakable proof that this man was his. The broad, colorful shoulders, the odd hair, the eyes that didn’t match, the soft, big body and the sweet, sweet mouth that took Jag’s cock so well. All his. This bird of paradise in the body of a bear, was Jag’s only.

He put down the bag, trying to make no noise, and snuck up to Dane before pouncing on Dane’s back with a roar.

Dane shrieked and shoved his elbow back so hard it struck a particularly sensitive part of Jag's ribs. Fighting for air, Jag managed to hang on to him nevertheless despite opening and closing his mouth like a fish taken out of water.

“Jesus, you scared me,” Dane said, shivering as he looked back. “Why do you keep doing that? If it was an intruder, I couldn’t defend myself,” he roared and grabbed the chain attached to his collar, making it jingle.

Jag half-purred half-groaned and rubbed his cheek against Dane’s. Not this again. “Sorry, I can’t help myself when I see you so vulnerable and available for the taking. My instincts get the best of me.”

Dane huffed and pushed back the blond side of his mane. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? I am vulnerable. And defenseless, and can get creeped up on, but you leave me here in chains!”

Jag groaned, eager to change the topic. “Do you want to see what I got you?”

Dane fastened the black watch to his wrist and sat cross-legged in the middle of the unfinished interior. His face seemed relaxed but there was something bleak in his eyes, as if all his energy had poured out and sunken into the ground under their feet. “I checked the date today.”

“Oh?” Jag had learned to use a watch, because time was sometimes of essence, but he didn’t pay that much attention to dates. Being mindful of the weather was way more important.

He sat by Dane’s side and pulled out the beers first.

Dane rocked back and forth. “I’ve been away from my family for over two weeks now. I didn’t buy my mom a birthday present in advance, because I thought I could just do that any time. Her birthday’s today,” he mumbled, staring into their new window.

“She has five more children and a husband to take care of her. I’m sure she’s fine,” Jag said, but the light in his heart dimmed, because this was exactly why Dane needed to remain chained. Jag was ready to give him the world, but until his mate settled in and understood his place, trust wouldn’t be enough to keep him here. They’d just have to take it one day at a time.

“So what? Are you saying it doesn’t matter to her that I’m gone?” Dane asked and pushed Jag away, shifting back toward the wall with a sore expression. “Just like you wouldn’t care if I disappeared as long as you had someone else around?”

The words stabbed Jag in the heart. “No, but a parent expects their child to leave the nest at some point. All my married brothers had—”

“I don’t care what your brothers did,” Dane snapped and yanked at the chain so hard Jag cringed when the collar squeezed that lovely thick neck. “It’s my mother we’re talking about. And she’s out there, not knowing whether her son’s even alive!”