Page 36 of Rejected By the Alpha King

“That would be a pretty targeted question for me to ask, wouldn’t it?” Jax responded.

Shivering, I turned my back and slipped off my wet shirt. We were in a cave that, according to Finn, was part of a system of rock dwellings. He believed the caves would lead straight to the witch’s den, but he hadn’t explored them. He said he’d only tried to go further once when he became ensnared in a spell trap. It was two agonizing days before a witch released him and warned him away.

Jax had commented that it was awfully nice of them for a group of blood-thirsty witches.

In any case, Finn had supplies stashed here, including some dry clothes.

I opened a bag and yanked on a musty-smelling T-shirt. It fell to my knees. That didn’t bode well for the pants.

“Well, you didn’t really present me with the kind of environment that fostered care and sympathy for difficult conversations and trauma sharing, did you?”

“I gave you Parker.” Jax sounded hurt.

With a short laugh, I turned around with the pants in hand. “You really think Parker wanted me to talk about…” my voice died when I caught the look on Jax’s face. He was pale and shaky, but there was an intensity in his eyes that I’d never seen before. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You’re wearing another man’s clothes.”

“Yes. I am. They’re Finns. That was the plan.”

“You need to take them off.” His voice had gone eerily calm.

“Um, no. I don’t. I’m freezing. What the hell is wrong…” he made a low keening noise, and my eyes widened.

No way. No fucking way. “You don’t even like me, and you’re going to be jealous that I’m wearing some stranger’s clothes?”

“Finn is of mating age. He’s only a year or two older than you.”

“Unbelievable.”

“I can’t control it, Anna. Take the fucking clothes off or my wolf is going to come out, and I’m going to hunt Finn down. I like Finn. I do not want to have to kill him.”

“You’re a grown man, the alpha of a whole pack, and you can’t control your damn hormones?” I snapped.

Jax growled and took a step toward me. “We’re not exactly in a place where I can feel secure about our mating bond, and that makes it hard to control.”

For a moment, I thought he might actually tear the clothes off me. Then he spun around.

“I’ll sleep outside.”

“Wait. Damn it, we don’t know for sure that we aren’t in rogue territory anymore, and if we aren’t, that just means there'll be a ton more spell traps.”

Swearing loudly, I turned and pulled the clothes off. Naked, I wrapped my arms around myself and stared at the wall. Now what the hell was I supposed to do? Be naked and shiver while I waited for my own clothes to dry?

“I can still smell him on you,” Jax said hoarsely.

“Well, I’m probably going to get frostbite, so we’re both going to have to suffer.”

Silence followed, and then I felt his hands at my waist as he drew me against him.

“Jax…”

“You think I want to do this?” he growled softly in my ear. “You think I want to care what you smell like? Or if you’re uncomfortable or in pain? Every time Marsh looked at you, I wanted to rip his throat out. I fucking hate this, but more than anything, I hate knowing that if I slip my hands between your thighs, I’m going to find you warm and wet for me.”

I swallowed hard. “You wouldn’t.”

“Liar.” With a dark laugh, his hands moved up my body and flattened against his abdomen. He was still dressed in wet clothes, but I could still feel the heat and hardness of his body pressed up against me.

The rigidness of his cock against the small of my back.

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