Man Gone Rogue

Chapter 12

Life has never been as blurry before as it was for Jade as she raced back to the Moonshine packhouse with Colton on her tail. Arlis had clearly taken the car back with him when he returned, so that left Colton and Jade to stretch their legs a bit. It wasn't a big deal, except that they wanted to make it back as fast as possible, and Jade was working with human speed. Colton must've been moving slow on purpose so he could keep her ahead and in his sight.

As they reached the edge of the woods, Colton's hand clasped firmly around Jade's arm. He explained that the woods of their very home had proved to be unsafe, and the best course of action was to remain as close to Jade as possible, so that she couldn't get jumped again. Jade couldn't argue with him, his logic was sound. She chose not to think about how crushing it must be that their own home territory didn't seem safe anymore.

"Why would Arlis call you? Isn't mindlinking more effective?" Jade had managed to ask while they rushed.

"Well yes, in theory," Colton was willing to explain, but Jade noticed that in this moment of peril, all of the silliness and jokes that built up his personality seemed to fade away. It was almost more of a discomfort than the idea of a wolf dying because of a poison in his body that shouldn't have been anywhere near the pack.

"On a good day, mindlinking will always be faster. But in order to open a mindlink, it requires a certain amount of focus and mental clarity, depending on how many times you've linked before. If you just learned that one of your warriors has been perhaps fatally wounded by the only known werewolf poison, and your unmarked, unshifted, halfbreed mate is out in human territory with only one other wolf, I don't think you'd be able to focus properly, either."

Jade hadn't known what to say to that. It seemed with each passing moment the perspective of how important she truly was to Arlis was becoming clearer. The duo fell into an uneasy silence, green trees passing by in a hazy blob of sound and color. It wasn't long until the large packhouse was emerging from the dense overgrowth.

It appeared to be way less welcoming than the first time Jade had been escorted there. Likely due to the patrol that had returned, at least ten to twelve dangerous-looking warriors had been stationed in the front of the estate.

Jade's heart thudded dramatically in her ears as in the midst of the wolves stood Arlis in all of his disheveled, blonde, glory.

"Arlis!" She cried, immediately digging her sneakers into the dirt and pushing her legs to move faster. Call it encouragement from the matebond or natural attraction from spending time with him, but every fiber in Jade's being was pushing her onward, sending off all different alarm bells that said she needed to be by his side.

"Jade!" Arlis's warm eyes flashed a blazing metallic color as his voice became rougher. He met her halfway, his arms winding around her and quickly, almost aggressively, dragging her straight into his chest. Without another word, he buried his face in her neck, inhaling her scent.

Jade didn't consider stopping him for even one moment as her own arms wound around his broad torso. Her cheek was pressed against his hard chest and her eyes had snapped tightly shut. The pair clung to each other for a moment with no one saying a word. Jade's instincts were telling her that Arlis needed to calm down in order to avoid an unintentional shift.

When the moment seemed to drag on for too long, there came the sound of footsteps slowly shuffling towards them.

"Listen, Arlis–or Lito, whoever it is I'm talking to right now–I know you want to make sure your mate is safe, but there are people counting on you here. You need to take some deep breaths, and catch us up on what's going on."

Arlis, or apparently his wolf, Lito, was silent for a moment, and Jade almost thought he was just going to completely ignore what Colton had said. Just before she was about to attempt untangling the wolf's arms from her herself, he huffed, and slowly let her go. Jade caught a glimpse of his silver-eyed face for just a moment, before the gems of his eyes seemed to melt back into a dazzling liquid gold.