“But do you want to know?” Anna’s smile was barely more than a grimace and it stopped Jess cold. “You keep insisting you don’t want to know. You can’t pick and choose, Jess. It’s all or nothing, and in this instance it’s going to be nothing.” Jess sat back, startled by the hard tone. “Sometimes, it doesn’t affect just you, and if things were different…..” She trailed off as Jess glanced down in remorse.
“You’re right,” Jess finally answered, flipping open her book, thumbing through the pages blindly. “There are things I don’t want to know and I appreciate you respecting that.” She paused the rapid flipping as Anna reached over and squeezed her hand.
“We’ll keep you safe,” Anna murmured, withdrawing her hand as she opened her own notebook.
“You should tell her,” Anna added after showing me the memory. Caleb disagreed, “Not after what she said. Clearly she doesn’t want to know.”
“The only way the Pack will protect her is if she’s one of us,” I stated, surprising them both. “The only way that’ll happen is if she accepts the truth of what we are, of what she is.”
I pulled into the parking lot of the motel and told them, “Take the path home. I need to talk to Jess.”
They nodded, piling out as Jess watched curiously.
“We’re going to go home from here. Cut through the woods,” Caleb explained, nodding to a faint trail right at the edge of the forest. They disappeared before Jess could even acknowledge him and when she glanced at me, I shrugged.
“It’s faster than the road,” I clarified as she shifted awkwardly on the ground next to my Jeep. “Nobody showed up here. We’ve kept watch. Your Dad is home. You should be fine,” I told her, seeing her shoulders relax as she nodded appreciatively.
I could see the question in her eyes, but she chickened out instead of asking, taking a few steps away from me. “The only way to truly stop them is to kill them,” I stated without bothering to sugarcoat it and her eyes shot open.
The corner of my mouth lifted slightly as she stared at me like I’d just read her mind. “Anna mentioned your earlier conversation.” Her nose twitched at my casual explanation, but she didn’t question it as I crossed my arms, the t-shirt pulling taut over my biceps. “I don’t relish killing a man, but I will to keep you safe.”
She shivered, but I didn’t think it was fear that caused it as her heart gave a hard thump. She cleared her throat as she murmured, “I’d rather you not have to do that.”
I snorted, shaking my head her response. She hadn’t told me not to kill anyone, just that she’d rather I didn’t have to. My cheek creased as I said, “Yeah, me either but it’s still better than the alternative.”
She looked like she was struggling with my answer, but gave it up finally. Her foot scraped the ground as she closed the door. “Thanks for the ride,” she muttered, staring at the ground.
“Same time tomorrow,” I answered, shutting my own door and watching her go into the apartment before driving off.
***
“How did it go?” I asked Trent, my gaze bemused as he shoved an entire piece of cake in his mouth. “I didn’t hear from you while you were gone.”
“Out of range,” he mumbled, crumbs falling out of mouth. “They were deeper than I thought. It’s like the pack pulled into a smaller area.” He wiped his mouth, clearly starving as he tore into a sandwich. “I had to go in on foot.” He pointed to his dirty toes. “As in these two.” He shook his head, rolling his tongue around his mouth. “They had the place booby trapped against intruders of the four legged variety.” My eyebrows lifted and he nodded jerkily. “Oh yeah, not the friendliest folks.”
I rubbed my jaw, letting him go through two more sandwiches before asking, “What did they say?”
“Get lost,” he answered, shrugging. “Basically. There was some stuff about being unwelcome, not invited, blah, blah, blah.”
“Oka-ay,” I drawled, not expecting that kind of reaction from a pack that had supposedly reached out to the Navarre Alpha. “Anything else?”
Trent hesitated, licking his lips as he debated his next words. “Man, I don’t want you to think I’ve been smoking shit,” he prefaced, peaking my curiosity. “But they, well, actually, it was just the one,” he shook his head. “I couldn’t tell you the first thing about’em. Except, the person came up to about here on me.” He pointed to a spot on his chest. “Beyond that, I got nothing.”
“Nothing? He? She?” Trent shook his head and I rocked backwards. “Even on two legs, your sense of smell is good enough to tell you if they were male or female,” I scoffed but he only shook his head.