Chapter Three
Conrad
Three days. It had been three days since I ran into Jasper accidentally-on-purpose, and he broke my heart. Three days and I still couldn’t get my tiger’s rage down, wanting to bring back to life and kill his mate all over again, and I wasn’t privy to any of the details.
Jasper flinching when I moved to fix a squeaky door? The flinch had told me everything. The way he immediately reacted by sheltering his baby. The way his eyes dilated. The way his voice quivered slightly, not enough so most people would notice, but enough that I did.
I tried to push the emotions boiling inside of me down, to convince myself it was none of my concern. He had a pack who was taking care of him. I was a stranger.
Except his pack hadn’t taken care of him, had they?
I stormed into Travis’s office, not caring some of his betas were there, including Holden, who, from my understanding, was like the alpha-in-waiting. Wolves had such a weird hierarchy.
“I need to talk to you.” I wasn’t messing around, and yet, as my words flowed through the air, I was met with Travis’s full-on belly laugh. What the fuck.
“Guys, I’ll talk to you later about the rotation schedule. Looks like our tiger needs a word.” Bastard didn’t hide his amusement. I was a tiger, not a possum, for goodness sakes.
They left with smirks on their faces. If I hadn’t been so focused on the reason for my visit, I might’ve been pissed at them instead of confused. Wolves.
“Have a seat, tiger.” He gestured to the chair in front of him, and I took it. “So, you finally are going to deal with things head-on, I gather.” His smirk clued me in to his train of thought. How had I been so obvious?
“He’s pregnant and alone.” I didn’t even pretend I was anything but worried. No point in it since Travis was one observant wolf.
“And as I said before, that is for the best.”
I believed him. I’d seen the aftermath, or at least the tiny bit he had been willing to show me. Brave omega.
Mine. My tiger roared. He didn’t understand the way of the wolf. They didn’t sense mates; they did blood tasting or something. My tiger’s sentiment was one-sided and needed to stay that way.
Jasper needed to heal, to feel safe, to feel confident. He was strong. Anyone could see it. He just needed to let his strength guide him.
“He’s scared of alphas. Of me,” I confessed, dropping my head.
“He’s scared for his child. He’s apprehensive around alphas, at least ones unmated.” He leaned back and put his feet up on his desk, the complete opposite of the alpha I’d presented my proposal to. “He’s not scared of you. At least his wolf isn’t. He just doesn’t trust those feelings is all.”
“What happened to him? What broke him so?” The compulsion to know outweighed any common sense I had as evidence of me sitting in the alpha’s office instead of working on the job at hand.
“It is not my place to say, and even I don’t know it all.”
“Travis. Really?” A new voice came through the door before it popped open.
Travis’s mate, Hayden, and their little one were standing there, and unlike Travis’s earlier amusement, Hayden’s face held none.
He came in, shutting the door behind him and settling in the seat beside me, the child sound asleep in his arms.
“Would you like to hold Holden?” He offered me the adorable bundle.
“He’s so new.” I stared down at him in wonder. His tiny little fingers were kneading his blanket. So precious.
“He is, yet here I am, having to set my mate straight instead of enjoying my babymoon.” There was jest in his voice.
“Or you came for lunch, omega mine.”
“Don’t you butter me up with your omega mine sweet talk. You need to tell Conrad, or I will.” He flicked his hands at his mate while shaking his head. “Never mind. I will. You wolves and your weird ways.” Hayden turned his chair to face mine. “Jasper is yours, yes?”
I opened and closed my mouth, not even sure how to begin to answer.
“Let’s start here. What does your tiger say?”
“He’s mine.” Once the words left my mouth, they became suddenly more real. He was mine. I was good and truly fucked because the Jasper I’d met didn’t want me to fix his door much less woo him. Not that wooing was my goal. My tiger was pouncing on me to keep him safe, to provide for his needs, to fix his dilapidated cabin.
“Told you.” Hayden stuck his tongue out at his mate who just shook his head with a smile.
“Here.” Hayden reached for his sweet baby. “No offense, but I don’t know your tiger nor how powerful he is. I’d rather he be with Travis.” He took the baby, handing him to his mate and then regaining his seat.
He was scared for his baby? Of me? I guess I couldn’t blame him. Tigers had a reputation for not being in control of their beast, but that was bullshit some tigers pulled out of their ass to get out of facing consequences for their actions more than actual fact. We held the same control any other shifter had.
“Try and remember this is in the past.” He spoke slowly, and I nodded, a knot building in my stomach. “The first time I met Jasper, he was brought to me because the pack didn’t have a healer and I was as close as they got.”
My hands grabbed the arms of the chair, squeezing tightly, my tiger and I in agreement this story was going to change us.
“He was hurt. Really bad. Too bad for his shifter healing to help. The only thing keeping him alive was the baby just starting to grow in his belly.”
I closed my eyes, holding in the growl forming, trying to digest it all. It was too much, yet I needed to know all of it.
“How. Was. He. Hurt.”
It was silent for a full minute, which I only knew because I counted to try and distract my tiger from what I instinctively knew was coming.
“His mate beat him.”
The roar I’d held in escaped me, a cry of sorrow for all my wolf—because he was mine even if I’d never be his, my tiger insisted—had been through at the hands of the one he should trust the most. How my tiger didn’t take over was only a matter of sheer will. He wanted out to find his mate to make sure he was okay.
I knew the truth.
He wasn’t okay.
He probably never would be.