The truck door opened, the man stepped out and Jackson’s jaw dropped.Holy shit on a shingle!He stood way over six feet tall—Jackson bet it was closer to seven feet. The man’s face was in shadow, but he could see the rest of him was all muscle?big muscles?chest, arms, and legs. Drooling over the sight of his fated mate, Jackson’s hands tightened on the torn pants, frantic to hide his cock growing by the second. He could smell his arousal and felt the cloth grow wet.Damn! The man would smell it, too.
~/~/~/~/~
Steel stood next to his dirty truck while inside him his wolf was doing a happy dance. He could smell the man’s arousal swirling in the air along with his. His wolf was demanding a claiming immediately, which he was all for, though something made him hesitate. He inhaled deeply—the man had no wolf scent. He must be human, Steel thought, but that didn’t make any sense since his blood was boiling in want and need which could only happen when he found his mate. And then there was his agitated wolf—clawing to be let loose, demanding to claim the man. Steel was damned confused—he knew his future mate had to be a wolf, but this man wasn’t a wolf. He wondered if the Oracle was wrong.Was his mate a human? No, impossible.He needed another wolf so his line would continue.Oh hell! Now what?
Chapter 2
Jackson inhaled sharply as the walking, living, sex god moved toward him.Oh fuck, I’m in so much trouble, as his mate’s face became visible for the first time.Sexy? Yes! Beautiful? Oh Gods! Yes!If Jackson could have sketched his dream mate, this dude was it—tall, long dark silky hair, wide eyes, high cheekbones, full bottom lip, closely shaved beard and those muscles.Shit! A mate who has the power to fuck me into the next room just as I always dreamed.Jackson could feel his ass clench and his hole flutter, knowing his mate would send him out of this world with pleasure.
He pushed against his cock, trying to hide his hard-on from his mate’s gorgeous brown eyes. But that wasn’t the only problem he had—his wolf was demanding his mate and Jackson was fighting to control him. He had to, because his life and the lives of his pack members depended on it.Better answer before his mate got too close. “Yeah, I need a lift to the outside of the next town, if you can.”
~/~/~/~/~
Steel’s cock was now straining to be free from the confines of his jeans—thathadto be his mate. That voice causing his blood to boil and his need for the man was driving him over the edge. But it made no sense. Something had to be wrong because he’d never had a reaction like this during his long life. Shit, he needed to get home and search the archives to see if there was a mistake as to who his mate might be.
Dammit, until that was sorted out, he wouldn’t be able to touch this man. It would cause too much trouble and damage if he fucked the wrong one while his body wasin itstoirchighperiod.Shit, Shit, Shit! Think! Need to find out who this is and where he’s from.
“I’m Steel Valentin. I can give you a ride. Is that where your home is?”
“I’m Jackson. That would be great. I’ll ride in the back, if that’s okay,” he said, not answering Steel’s question.
Steel thought for a moment. His wolf wanted Jackson in the cab near him but he knewthatwould be a disaster.No, better to keep some distance between them until he could do his research.“That’s fine,” said Steel, “there’s plenty of room back there.”
Jackson gave Steel a wide berth as he headed for the rear of the truck. Steel was talking but Jackson was so involved with keeping his wolf under control, he missed most of it.Oops!Jackson suddenly realized Steel was offering him sweatpants.
“Oh man, that’s great. Thanks,” he said.
“Where’re your clothes?
Jackson could feel himself blush as he remembered his stupid decision to help. “Uhhh, they were stolen,” he said, not meeting Steel’s eyes.
Steel thought how cute Jackson looked with deep pink cheeks and whoops, hehadto stop thinking that way. He offered the sweatpants to Jackson and glancing at the torn pants Jackson was still holding in front of him, asked, “How did that happen?”
Jackson took the gray sweatpants, carefully avoiding touching his mate and mumbled, “I stopped to help these dudes. They had other plans because they knocked me out and made off with my money, clothes, and car.” Jackson hoped this would end the conversation, and he quickly dressed, then climbed into the back of the truck.
Hearing that Jackson had been attacked, Steel’s wolf demanded to hunt down the assholes and kill them. Steel braced himself against the truck and breathed deeply. His wolf was asserting itself and he was strong. Steel’s mouth filled with fangs and the hair on his arms and chest started to elongate. His claws left scratches on the truck’s door frame as he retracted them. He couldn’t shift in front of this human no matter how much his wolf wanted to. It took several deep breaths but he pulled back his wolf. Anxious for it not to happen again, Steel climbed into the truck, put it in gear, and started down the road.
Steel kept glancing in his rearview mirror at Jackson, still puzzled why his wolf and body were acting as if Jackson was their mate. Why couldn’t he smell anything? Nothing—no scent, just arousal but nothing else. That just didn’t make sense. Well, maybe he’d have his answers after his research. Steel wondered what the chest tattoo on Jackson meant. He’d never seen one like it and hmm-m-m, yes—he’d take a picture of it with his phone, secretly. It seemed familiar but he just couldn’t place it.
Steel could feel Jackson’s anxiety and his wolf was telling him this man was in danger. But according to shifter laws he couldn’t offer his protection to a human even though his wolf was demanding it. Any involvement in the affairs of humans was strictly forbidden. His wolf was more upset than he’d ever been, and he’d need an extra-long run tonight to see if he could quiet him down.
Tomorrow he’d start researching this man that both his bodyandwolf were insisting was destined for him. He hoped the answers were in the archives because he needed to cool his blood soon; once his body started heating in anticipation of mating, the only thing that would work was fucking and claiming his mate.
~/~/~/~/~
Jackson could feel Steel’s eyes on him but he ignored them.No sense in pursuing what I can’t have. Crap! Why did this have to happen now when my pack is under attack?They’d been through so much and still had so far to go before they could be free of the danger that threatened them. Jackson covered his face with his hands and tried to relax but it was hard as he thought about the massacre that killed most of the pack. He needed to call Logan soon or there’d be a search party out and he didn’t want to expose the pack to more danger. As the truck ate up the dusty miles, he thought back to that fateful day when his world changed forever. Damn, he wished it never happened.
Jackson felt the truck slow down to enter the paved highway. Just another 20 miles and he’d be near the outskirts of the town where the remainder of his pack lived. While he enjoyed riding in the back of a pickup when he was younger, he now felt too exposed because he was afraid someone might see him and call Silver Point.
It’d been a long time—a couple of years for sure —since he was so out in the open and it was rattling his nerves.Better to lie down and reduce the chance of being seen. There wasn’t much in the truck bed except a bag of rags which he used to rest his head on. Not very luxurious but he’d been in worse situations and at least he had a kick-ass man driving the truck—not that the man knew he belonged to Jackson but he just knew Steel was the kind of dude who would stand by his side. He fervently hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
The last thing he needed was for Steel to get a whiff of his blood; the protection spell only masked his body scent—one drop of blood and Steel would have himpinned and ready to claim as his mate. And then Steel would be in danger—a target by association.Fuck, I just can’t take that risk because I’ll be unable to protect both my mate and my pack if the fight comes.
~/~/~/~/~
Steel saw Jackson lie down, at first thinking he was tired. “He’s hiding from view,” Steel said to himself. “Now why would that be?” Steel hadn’t detected any deceit coming from Jackson—right-t-t-t, stupid thought, why would I be able to smell deceit when I couldn’t smell anything except Jackson’s arousal. Duh… I must be more tired than I thought.
He jolted himself back to reality, surprised to see he was about five miles from the next town, Blackwood Pass. Pulling over to the side of the road, he killed the engine and got out. Jackson lifted his head and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
