“And now?” he asked, lifting his chin proudly as he looked down at her.
“Now, I’m not sorry.”
“That’s my girl,” he growled. Jaxon leaned down and kissed her. It was soft at first, his lips moving against hers with gentle ease. His tongue brushed against her bottom lip, and she opened just enough for him to slip inside of her mouth. Jaxon angled his face the other way and dragged her closer until their bodies pressed against each other. His tongue drove deeper and harder, and his hands went rough in her hair, causing a helpless whimper to crawl up the back of her throat. She clung to him, gathered the soft fabric of his outer shirt in her clenched hands to keep him close. The cat inside of her was letting off a soft growl with every breath she took, but she didn’t care about that so much right now. Not when Jaxon was growling, too. Not when he was gripping the back of her neck and sliding his other hand around her back, pulling her so tight against him as if he never wanted to let her go again.
“That’s enough,” Ben called in a pissed-off tone, one that made Annalise wince and her inner panther hiss in defense.
Jaxon huffed an angry-sounding snarl but didn’t stop kissing her. If anything, his lips were more urgent against hers.
“Hands off my panther, Grizzly!” Ben yelled.
Jaxon ripped away from her kiss with a feral sound, and he rounded on the alpha. “Go ahead and call her yours again. I fuckin’ dare you.”
“Jaxon,” she whispered, tugging his hand. This couldn’t go to battle. They would hurt each other, and already She-Devil was snarling to escape her skin. She would hurt Ben, too, and Jenny’s words about how easily this crew could fold were pounding against her skull. She couldn’t bring Red Havoc down. “Babe,” she murmured, squeezing his hand and running her other palm up the length of his rigid spine. “He didn’t mean it like that.” God, why was it so hard to breathe around him right now? It felt like a hundred pounds had just been placed on her shoulders and she was standing in quick sand, sinking inch by inch under the heavy power radiating from Jax.
Jaxon ran his hand over his hair and swallowed the snarl down. His muscles still tense under her hand, he said in a low, gravelly voice, “Best not to get Titan riled up, Panther. I was in control yesterday. It ain’t always like that.”
Whuuut the fuuuck? Titan? He named his damn bear, Titan? That was almost as bad as She-Devil.
“I invited you into my territory for a meeting,” Ben growled. “Let’s get this done.” Ben turned on his heel and sauntered back toward his cabin. “Now, Grizzly,” he barked over his shoulder.
When Annalise looked up at his face, Jaxon was smiling like a green-eyed demon, but there was no humor in the curve of his lips. There was the promise of murder. And now she was starting to understand why the boys didn’t want him in their territory. Their rapport would always be like this—defensive and right on the verge of a bloodbath. The panthers were brawlers, but Jaxon’s animal was different. Jenny had been right about him being too big and dominant to stay in the territory, especially with the crew on unsteady ground.
The realization blasted pain, dark and deep, through her chest. As she watched Jaxon walk away with those graceful, powerful, inhuman strides of his, she inhaled deeply, forcing her lungs to expand to ease the ache behind her sternum.
It was in this moment she realized she couldn’t have both Red Havoc and Jax.
Hands shaking from how damn close Jax and Ben had come to clawing each other, she blinked hard and picked up the box off the ground, then watched Ben open the door to his cabin and disappear inside. Jaxon hesitated on the porch, then raised those fiery green eyes to hers. She couldn’t read his emotions because he’d closed down, but a strange possessiveness overtook her. Even monstrous, Jax was hers.
He dipped his gaze away and disappeared into Ben’s house. The firm click of the door closing was loud in the silence of the clearing. And she felt alone again.
This was her least favorite feeling. It had been her only companion for months, and she was ready to move on. Ready to connect with people and build herself up again. She was ready to get out of the ashes she’d been wallowing in and be the damn phoenix already.
Just to make herself feel better, she marked off number one on her short-term goals checklist.
1. See Jaxon again asap.
Juggling her notebook and the box, she shoved her door open and squatted down in the small living room where she didn’t exactly use her claws, but she did rip and pull at that tape until she could wrestle the lid open.
Inside was a huge stack of papers. On top of the stack was a cell phone with a gold glittery case with a skull on it. There were black jewels for the skull’s eyes. It was cute, and badass, and sparkly, and so her. With an emotional grin, she read the top page. He’d really done it. Jaxon had printed off all their text messages, starting from day one, when they’d found each other on that dating site and exchanged phone numbers. He’d highlighted a part of their first conversation in purple, her favorite color.
Jax: So, you’re telling me you’re a girly girl then? Deal-breaker.
Anna: Totally girly girl. In fact, if you saw me right now, you would be appalled by my girly-ness. Guess what I’m wearing? And don’t be gross about it. I’m not into dirty talk on a first text-date.
Jax: Okay, I’ve got this. You’re about to be so creeped out and think I’m hiding in your bushes, looking at you through the window.