Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,50

him now—a call to violence pulling at his primitive nature.

He surprised himself by growling. The sound reverberated through his chest, a physical confirmation of his strength. Jasper growled back. He sank into a crouch and raised his hands, responding to Elias like he was a threat instead of a joke. Elias sprang. Jasper parried him easily but Elias managed to make contact with his face. His claws were nowhere near as long as Jasper’s, but they drew blood. The scent of it burst into his nostrils, as tempting as slick, riling up his inner animal. His opponent was bleeding. Now was the time to go for the kill.

He tackled Jasper, managing to land on top of him, and snapped at his neck, but before he could catch any skin with his teeth, he found himself on his back again, all the air gone from his lungs and Jasper’s teeth against his neck. His aggression drained away in a heartbeat as he realized how easily Jasper could kill him right now.

Jasper released him with a light laugh. “Nice.” He licked Elias’s neck, an affectionate gesture meant to be comforting. “That was great. A little sloppy on the execution but a huge improvement in approach.”

Jasper got to his feet, and this time when he offered Elias a hand, Elias took it. His killer instincts were gone, nothing remaining except gratitude that Jasper had more control over his own killer instincts. Elias hadn’t been playing. If he’d been capable of killing Jasper, he would’ve.

“I hurt you.” He gestured at the red slashes marring Jasper’s cheek, both appalled and proud.

Jasper prodded at them, as unconcerned by them as if they were on someone else’s face. “I’ll heal. You got a blow in though. Better than you thought you could do, huh?”

Elias nodded, not sure how much of what he’d done had been the result Jasper letting him. But his instinct for violence—that’d been real.

“Now we know you can fight,” Jasper said. “We just need to work on your technique.”

Jasper didn’t challenge him again, only gave him patient instruction about how best to angle his claws and where to bite for maximum damage. They covered techniques that didn’t require teeth or claws too—basic wrestling and boxing moves. Elias had always ducked out of the fighting units in Phys Ed because he’d assumed he couldn’t compete, but maybe he’d been wrong about that. It was true that bulk helped, as did longer claws and fangs, but Jasper taught him how a lack of those things could be overcome.

“We’ll keep working on it,” Jasper said when they were both sweaty and tired. Well, Elias was sweaty and tired.

Jasper dragged him close to press a kiss to the side of his face, and Elias didn’t object. The kiss was more fond than sexual, and the hour they’d spent with their bodies touching had made him less shy, though he wasn’t sure it’d strengthened the bond. He wanted the pack to survive, and he wanted his connection to it to be as solid as everyone else’s, but he still couldn’t bring himself to let Jasper fuck him.

SAUL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elias talked to his parents almost every day, calling them from the library during working hours. Jack Henry used the phone at the studio to call his folks too. The only one who hadn’t phoned home yet was Saul, and though he pretended it was because he was never in town, that wasn’t really why. If he wanted to, he could use the phone at the farmhouse. Jasper’s mother, Alice, offered often enough. But who would he call? There was no one in Ferris he missed.

His life was a hundred percent better here. He didn’t regret a single thing about their new pack. He had Jack Henry and Jasper, both of whom were better mates than he’d ever expected to find, and there was Elias too, who was clever and kind and never shrank from handling his fair share of their responsibilities. Saul didn’t feel much of a bond with Elias, but he liked him more and more as they got to know each other.

Their new house was shaping up beautifully. After years of following orders and keeping his mouth shut, he hadn’t been sure he’d be able to build something all by himself, but it turned out he didn’t have to. So many folks came by, all of them eager to help. Some had no idea what they were doing, which Saul didn’t mind because then he could go slow and figure