“It’s beautiful, Marco. Even better than I hoped for. It’s remote, but I like it. ” “It’s not as remote as it might seem, actually. ” Marco pointed toward the east. “Back over that way about five or six miles through the woods is a mountain resort with a good road leading up to it. We might even want to look at building a road to your lodge from that direction. We own the land next to the resort. ”
Cad e nodded eagerly. “I’d like to run the perimeter later, if you’ll take me. ” Zack nodded. “I need a good run. Sounds great to me too. ”
“We’ll make sure they have firewood and something to eat,” Marco said, nodding toward the three younger men. “Then we can get started. ”
“I can gather firewood myself, Cade, and I know how to fix myself something to eat if I get hungry,” Jax said. “You guys can go ahead if you want to. ”
Ignoring him as if he hadn’t spoken, Cade spoke directly to Marco. “I’ll get things ready. ”
He headed off down through the woods, back to the campsite and Jax glanced wonderingly at Nicky. Nicky was leaning against a tree, and he shrugged gracefully with one shoulder. “This is why I don’t even fight it,” he said with a little smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Three alphas together riff off each other. Just save your breath. ”
Jax shook his head and followed Cade down to the tents, anyway, coming up behind Cade as he rambled around in their gear. “Let me help, Cade. ”
Cade looked around at him in surprise. “Okay, you can gather some firewood if you’d like. I thought maybe you and the others would like to go fishing later. Marco brought a couple of rods. ”
Jax shrugged. “How long will you be gone?”
“Only a few hours. We’ll be back by lunchtime, probably, but just in case, the food is in this pack. ”
“I know,” Jax said, rolling his eyes a little. “We’ll be fine. ”
Cade straightened up and came to stand next to him, sliding his arms around Jax’s waist.
“Sorry. I forget you’re becoming an alpha now. ” He bent to kiss the side of Jax’s neck. “My own little alpha. ”
Jax pulled away and made a face. “Why do you always have to do that? I keep telling you I’m not a child. ”
Cade smiled and held up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, sorry. I’ll try to remember. ”
Marco called to him, and he regarded Jax carefully. “We’ll shift to run the perimeter. You’ve never seen that before, so prepare yourself. ”
Jax swallowed hard but nodded and followed Cade out to the clearing. Marco was handing Nicky a shotgun. “This is just in case you need us for anything. Fire up in the air—we’ll hear it and come running, okay?”
Nicky nodded, and Marco caught him by the shoulders to make sure he was looking up at him. “Don’t fool around with it, and if something
threatens you, get away—don’t stick around and try to fight it. ”
“Oh for God’s sake, Marco,” Gabe said. “What could possibly threaten us up here?” “Snakes, bears, wild cats, trespassers,” Zack said, counting them off on his fingers. “I never had any trouble all the times I camped up in the mountains on my own,” Gabe retorted.
“And you were lucky. You probably won’t have any trouble at all here, either. We wouldn’t leave you otherwise, but the shotgun is just in case. ”
“Okay,” Nicky said, tucking it back inside his tent. “Duly noted. Now go on your run—we’ll be fine. ”
Cade was looking uneasy, his frown deepening as Zack had enumerated a few of the possible dangers on the mountain. “Maybe this is a bad idea. I don’t have to do this now. Maybe one of us should stay with them. ”
Jax bumped his shoulder. “Would you go already? You stayed behind last time and absolutely nothing happened. Go on. ”
Cade gave him a brief, fierce kiss, and turned to take off his clothes. Jax blinked in surprise and saw the other two alphas stripping as well. Jax had seen plenty of boys naked in the locker room at school before, but those had been kids, not fully grown, gorgeous men like these alphas.
He was fascinated and embarrassed at the same time, and saw Nicky smirking at him. He dropped his gaze and looked back at his own alpha mate, loving the look of his lean muscles and the impressive package between his legs. Cade sensed his regard and smiled over at him before straightening up to follow Marco and Zack to the edge of the woods.
Cade gave him one last look before he leaned over at the waist, and a strange popping and cracking sound echoed around the campsite. All of them fell to their knees and their bodies seemed to elongate and shift, bony protuberances morphing their forms into an animal shape. Jax took an involuntary step backward, a loud gasp leaving his throat before he could pull it back.
Cade turned his head to gaze back at him—at least he thought it was Cade for a moment before his face seemed to melt before his eyes and his mouth pushed out and reformed into a long wolf’s snout. Thick gray fur sprang up over his body. Within seconds, a huge wolf stood where Cade had been.
Despite the fact he thought he was prepared for the shift, Jax found he couldn’t catch his breath. Gabe and Nicky came to stand beside him, and Nicky put a comforting hand on his shoulder, murmuring quietly to him. “It’s a shock the first time you see it. But he’s still your mate. Look at his eyes. ”
Jax dragged his gaze back up to the gray wolf’s face, and sure enough, something inside him leaped in excitement. It was Cade staring back at him, and his own newly-formed wolf spirit called out to him. For the first time since their mating, he could feel something wild and not human inside him, yearning toward its mate. It was both primal and powerful, and scared the hell out of him. He took another quick step backward and Nicky looked down at him anxiously. “Are you okay? Jax, they would never hurt you. ”