Page 44 of Jager's Prey
Jager nodded.
“Actually, that only makes you sexier.” I nuzzled her throat with my mouth.
Jager giggled. “Be serious for a second, would you?”
“I’m being serious.” I replied. “I’m not letting you go, Jager. Adopted son or no, you’re mine.”
Jager stared up into my eyes for a moment before tears rolled down her cheeks. I tried framing her cheeks, but she pressed her face to my chest and sobbed softly. I held onto her until I lost track of time, until she lifted her face.
“Why the tears, Jager?”
“You’ve claimed me.” Her voice wavered. “I never though I wanted a man to ever do that to me, for me. But hearing those words leave your lips and knowing they were directed at me—it felt good.”
I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger to top it upward. “You don’t have to always be the strong one. I’ll need you to protect me and Cage from time to time but I don’t need you doing it on your own. Let me be your protector too.”
“I know as a man you want to protect me.” She smiled beautifully up at me. “I understand that gene in you that makes you want to—need to.”
“And?”
“I’ll try to respect that.” Jager promised. “Just know, I’m so used to being on my own, so used to having to have bigger balls than the men in the room.”
“Lean on me, Jager.” I told her. “I won’t ever let you down.”
We kissed under the water, made out for as long as we could before the water began running cold. I was disappointed because with Cage in the house, it wasn’t as if I could do to her what I really wanted to. My body trembled with arousal, but I helped her dry off before attending to my own body. She brought fresh clothes in for us to dress then we wandered out to sit with Swede on video chat.
We explained to him what Jager was thinking about adopting Cage—it wasn’t as if she didn’t have the money. If things worked out between her and I, I would have to consider moving and we’d have to get a bigger place, but Cage would be safe and healthy.
Swede nodded and promised to run it by Montana to see if they could pull a few strings. He explained that Reaper’s wife, Star, had some contacts we could reach out to.
I knew who Nova Forge was—she’d been an investigative journalist turned bestselling author.
Small world.
We said nothing to Cage just in case things didn’t pan out.
The days drifted by and turned into weeks.
My gunshot wound healed—mostly and I could use the arm again without a sling. Jager and Cage took care of me—a few times I stole a private moment with Jager. Touching her, making love to her seemed to have become my weakness and I didn’t want to be saved.
Eventually, Jager had to go talk to her fight people and I went back to working as a social worker and volunteering at the center. Jager placed her loft on the market and bought an actual ranch. It had no animals on it yet, but Cage had his own room and space to breathe.
He loved the peace of the ranch and spend a lot of time using the camera Jager and I bought him.
The first evening I walked back into the center, Karen was once again flirting with me. I ignored her, which was probably not the smartest thing, since my girlfriend knew a million ways to kill a person and made it look like an accident.
“Where have you been?” One of the boys asked when I took my regular seat on the desk at the front of the class.
I wondered how much I could tell them.
“Many of you know I was once in the Army.” I began.
They all nodded.
“From time to time they ask for my help.” I continued. “Especially when it has something to do with a child. There was an American young man in trouble, and they asked me to help out. In the process, I was hurt.”
“Hurt?” Another one asked. “How hurt? I mean, you were gone a while.”
I cleared my throat. “I was shot.”
