Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,84

down, to heal the bond as well as their bodies.

“You’re sure you wouldn’t rather sleep at the farm?” his father asked him. “Miller might come back with reinforcements.”

“If he does, he’s dead.” As far as Jasper was concerned, Miller’s reprieve lasted only until the next time Jasper saw him.

“Don’t do anything that’ll land you in jail, son.”

“Don’t I have the right to fight someone who’s trying to hurt my mate?”

“Sure. That’s why you’re not in jail right now. But starting something yourself is a different matter. Let the law deal with Miller. Keep your head on your shoulders.”

Jasper nodded tightly. His head was in a hundred different places, most of them angry and dripping with blood. He wouldn’t seek out Miller tonight because he needed to focus on his mates, but he couldn’t make any promises about tomorrow.

For now, he went to the pump to draw bucket after bucket of water to slosh around the house, trying to dilute the smell and the hazard of all that gasoline until Elias came up to him.

“I think Jack Henry’s in shock. We should’ve had the EMTs look at him.”

Jasper’s father was helping Saul hobble to the cabin, which left Jack Henry standing alone, looking out over the empty field behind the house. He had his arms wrapped around him, as if the autumn air was too cool for the costume he had on.

“What happened to you two anyway?” Jasper had yet to understand why Jack Henry was in a leotard and Elias was covered in blood.

“Lon. He went to the dance studio, found Jack Henry alone, and—”

Jasper’s roar expressed so much psychic pain that Saul, barely hobbling on a busted knee, tried to come running for him. He didn’t make it. He staggered, tilting wildly when his bad leg landed on uneven ground, and Jasper sprang forward with all his uber-alpha speed to catch him. Elias and Jack Henry came running too, so that they all four landed in the dirt together, supporting each other in a circular, seated hug.

Tears pricked at the backs of Jasper’s eyes, and his breath came more heavily than when he’d been fighting all of Miller’s men at once. He squeezed any part of his mates he could reach, desperately clinging to them.

“What’s wrong?” Saul asked Elias.

“I was telling him about what happened in Galvetta. Lon came for Jack Henry. But he didn’t get him, Jasper. I promise you, he didn’t.”

“This wasn’t a coincidence,” Jasper muttered darkly. “Miller set it up—sent a bunch of men out here to distract me and Saul while Lon…” He couldn’t even say it. Miller would die for this. And Lon—Lon would die slowly.

“But Lon didn’t,” Elias insisted.

“Elias saved me.”

“Then where are your clothes? Why are you dressed like that?”

“He tried to rape me, but Elias got there before he could. Only my clothes got hurt. I’m fine, I swear.” The hysteria in Jack Henry’s voice made it hard for Jasper to believe him. He pried Jack Henry off him and stood up.

“Where are you going?” Jack Henry asked, reaching for him pitifully. “Do you hate me now because Lon touched me?”

“What? No. Of course not.” He scooped Jack Henry into his arms and covered him with kisses. “There’s nothing that could happen to you that would make me love you less. But I’ve got to find Lon and kill him. He can’t ever be allowed near you again.” Jasper didn’t care if he spent the rest of his life in jail. Lon wasn’t getting away from him again.

“He’s gone,” Elias said.

“Gone isn’t good enough.”

“No, he’s gone. I killed him.”

“You did?” Jasper and Saul asked in unison.

“Guess those lessons paid off,” Elias said shyly.

“Here.” Jasper handed Jack Henry to Elias, then sat back down on the ground, dizzy with relief. He rubbed his hand over his chest, which panged with conflicting emotions. He was grateful his pack had responded so well to the challenges they’d faced—that Saul had saved the house and Elias had saved Jack Henry—but ashamed he hadn’t foreseen and forestalled those challenges, that he hadn’t been a bigger part of staving them off.

“You did good,” he told Elias. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me, but I guess you didn’t need me.”

“I was scared.”

“But you did what had to be done.”

“My hero,” Jack Henry murmured into Elias’s chest.

A spasm of pain ricocheted through Jasper because he ought to be the hero. Someone had tried to rape his omega, and he hadn’t been there to prevent it. But