Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,49

the tips of his claws settle deep enough that a spot of blood blossomed beneath each one. With his full weight on top of Elias and their bodies pressed together, the position was both intimate and menacing. Jasper pushed warmth outward from that spot in his chest that tied him to his mates and received an answering pulse. It was weaker than he’d like, but it was there.

ELIAS

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Elias felt like a puny, useless idiot. He’d known Jasper was bigger, quicker, stronger—all those things—but he’d been way off in estimating how much. Jasper didn’t have some marginal advantage that could be overcome by intelligence or craft. Jasper could kill him with a single swipe.

But instead of killing him, Jasper cradled him softly to the ground in a move all the more impressive for its delicacy, leaving him breathless and embarrassed but physically unharmed. The weight of Jasper’s body on top of his gave him mixed feelings. The bond in his chest was unquestionably, hopelessly loyal to its uber-alpha, loved his scent, and was deliriously impressed by his prowess, but the part of Elias that had felt insufficiently alpha ever since he’d presented screamed its familiar insults.

“You made your point.” He pushed at Jasper’s chest.

Jasper sprang to his feet. He reached down to help Elias up, but Elias insisted on standing without any assistance. He could do that much, at least.

“Ready for some tips?” Jasper asked with a smirk. “Tip one: the best defense is a good offense. I’m not saying you want to attack anyone who looks at you side-eyed, but hoping your opponent will go away and leave you alone isn’t a strategy. It’s a wish. If you show them you’re ready to fight, maybe they will go away and leave you alone, but what I saw when I was looking at you just now was someone trying to avoid a fight.”

Fighting was for brutes, for animals, for uber-alphas. Not doing it seemed like a solid strategy. But Elias didn’t want Jack Henry getting hurt on his watch, and those rumblings that floated out of Ferris about Lon made him nervous. Every day when he picked Jack Henry up from the dance studio, he half expected to find Lon there ahead of him.

What he found most days was Jack Henry on the floor, either stretching or running through a routine. He was so beautiful, so lithe and sinuous and strong, dressed in nothing except a tight pair of shorts that left every toned limb on full display. On Fridays, the blinds were pulled down over the picture window to shield Jack Henry’s omega students from prying alpha eyes. On those days, Elias used the key Dee had given him to the back door and waited for Jack Henry in Dee’s office.

Jack Henry had a full dozen students already. Dee was impressed he’d found so many and loved how patient he was with them. But when they were driving home after class, Jack Henry would express the kind of doubts Elias could relate to—that he wasn’t qualified to teach or that interest would die out over time. Everyone had self-esteem issues, it seemed. Even Jasper, Elias reminded himself.

This time when Jasper told Elias to come for him, Elias didn’t taunt him into attacking. That hadn’t worked out so well. But he still didn’t see how launching an offensive would work any better, so he approached warily, circling around as he looked for an opening. Jasper stood coolly in the center of the dirt circle, rotating to keep him in view but clearly unthreatened even when Elias extended his stubby little claws.

“There you go,” Jasper said, like he was encouraging a toddler taking his first steps. “What have you got for teeth?”

Elias bared his teeth. His canines had a bit of a point to them. They were nothing like Jasper’s, but he’d always been proud of them.

“Nice. You look intimidating.”

He didn’t, and he knew it, but the praise did something to him. He swelled up, raising his arms to make himself bigger, trying like hell to be intimidating. The tips of his fingers tingled as if his claws were hungry for blood, and he opened his mouth wider, pulling back his lips to show off his fangs. Something like aggression welled up in him—a desire to engage. It was like when the moon had risen and with it Jack Henry’s heat. His alpha had risen then too, smelling what it wanted and ready to fight for it. That same feeling pulsed in