Page 22 of Chasing Secrets
Or he was just sucking his gut in and really didn’t have those perfect abs that Jalen was dying to touch.
There was no way the guy was this… him.
Chase turned to face Jalen fully then, his broad shoulders blocking the sun, casting his face in shadow. “Because you’re my mate. And that means something to me, even if it doesn’t to you yet.”
The words sent a strange warmth through Jalen’s chest, followed immediately by a surge of panic. Oh, hell no. This was too much, too fast, too soon. He’d only just learned about this supernatural world, about vampires and shifters and mates. And possibly unicorns. He wasn’t ready to accept any of it, let alone embrace it.
“I need to go home,” Jalen blurted out, patting his pants pockets for his keys. “My apartment. I need to... to clean up, get my stuff, maybe stop by the hospital for a head scan.”
Chase didn’t look surprised by the sudden need to bolt. Of course he didn’t. “I’ll take you, if you want. But the vampire who targeted you is still out there. He escaped custody.”
Cold fear trickled down Jalen’s spine. “What? How?”
How could his luck keep getting worse?
“Vampires have certain abilities. Speed, strength. He overpowered the deputies and disappeared.” Chase’s jaw tightened slightly. “He’s still hunting you, Jalen. That’s why I think you should stay here, where it’s safe.”
“I can’t just... live here indefinitely,” Jalen protested, though the thought of returning to his apartment alone made him feel sick to his stomach. “I have a job, a life.”
“I know. And I’m not asking you to give that up.” Chase ran a hand through his hair, the gesture surprisingly human for someone so ancient. “Just stay until we catch him. Please.”
The “please” caught Jalen off guard. There was genuine concern in Chase’s voice, not possessiveness or control. It was... nice, in a weird way, to have someone worry about him. To have someone who asked instead of demanded… or simply took.
“Fine,” he relented. “But I still need to get some of my stuff. Clothes, my laptop, things for work.”
“We can do that,” Chase agreed. “I’ll go with you, make sure it’s safe.”
Jalen wanted to argue that he didn’t need a bodyguard, but the memory of the vampire’s hungry eyes made the words die in his throat. Instead, he nodded, turning to look back at the mountains.
“This is all so...” He gestured vaguely, unable to find the right word.
“Overwhelming?” Chase suggested.
“That’s one way to put it.” Jalen sighed. “Before this happened, my biggest worry was making rent this month. Now I’m hiding from vampires in a house full of wolf shifters, and apparently, I’m cosmically bound to one of them.”
A man who made Jalen terrified of the feelings growing inside of him. He just wasn’t sure if he was afraid because he’d never felt this way before or if he could never be what the wolf shifter deserved.
Sooner or later, Chase would realize just how broken Jalen truly was. Then what? It was better to walk away than hope for something he could never have.
“Life has a way of throwing curveballs,” Chase said with a small smile. “Though, I admit, yours have been particularly dramatic lately.”
Jalen couldn’t help but smile back. “Yeah, no kidding.”
A comfortable silence fell between them, less tense than before. The sun was beginning to dip lower in the sky, casting long shadows across the lawn. In the distance, Jalen could see movement at the edge of the forest. A deer, maybe, or some other woodland creature.
“So what happens now?” Jalen asked.
Chase’s soft smile hurt something deep inside Jalen. He wanted so desperately to be worthy of it.
“That’s up to you. We go get your things, you stay here until it’s safe, and then... then you decide what you want.”
He's actually giving me choices. That alone meant everything to Jalen, like a precious gem in a world of shattered glass.
“And if I decide I don’t want... this?” Jalen gestured between them. “The whole mate thing?”
A flicker of something—pain, maybe—crossed Chase’s face before it was carefully masked. “Then I respect that. Like I said, I’m not here to tell you how to live your life.”
Jalen tried to reconcile this thoughtful, respectful man with the fierce creature who’d fought a vampire in his living room. Both are Chase, he realized. Just different facets of the same person.
