Jagers Mate

Chapter Five

He was gone. Daylen heard her front door close behind him. He’d given her one hell of an orgasm and then just got up and left. Realizing her shirt was still pushed to her chin, she roughly yanked it down to cover her breasts.

What the hell was the matter with her? She had never been the type of woman to get swept away by passion to the extent that she lost the use of her higher brain functions.

And she sure as shit had no business letting a man like Jager touch her so intimately. He was a bad guy. Good cops did not go around letting the bad guys make them come, no matter how good it had been.

Disgusted with herself, Daylen sat up. Her body still thrummed with little aftershocks of pleasure. It also craved more of Jager’s touch. A shiver went through her when her thoughts strayed to how good it had felt to have his large body pressing down on hers, and how big his cock had felt against her pussy. Daylen gave herself a hard shake. She had to snap out of it. Her reaction to Jager was totally uncalled for. When he came back this evening, and she had a good feeling that he would, she would steel herself against him. If he touched her again, Daylen knew without a doubt she would let all her guards down as she had done this time. One touch and the man turned her into a quivering pile of jelly. She could blame it on sleep deprivation, but Daylen knew she would only be fooling herself. Both times when he had kissed her, here and in the alley, she’d hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything but getting more of him.

Pushing thoughts of how good a kisser Jager was out of her head, Daylen then remembered about the wolf. She quickly stood and made her way over to the bathroom.

She hadn’t heard a sound out of him since she’d awakened to find Jager standing over her. Daylen soon found out the reason why he had been so quiet. The bathroom door stood wide open with no sign of the wolf anywhere.

“Terrific.” At this rate she wasn’t going to get any sleep at all.

Daylen did a quick search of the rest of the house, but the wolf wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The only thing she could think of was that somehow the wolf had managed to get out of the bathroom when Jager had broken into the house. He must have left the front door standing open. Daylen figured Jager had to have picked her lock since there were no signs of forced entry, and none of the windows in the house were open. The wolf must have just walked out while she had been busy with Jager.

She went to the front door one last time and opened it. No wolf sat on her front porch or ran around in her front yard. He was more than likely long gone. Daylen just hoped he stayed out of trouble.

Closing and locking the front door, Daylen went back to bed. So far this had been one hell of a strange morning. She crawled under the covers as sleep tugged at her. How much she was going to get of it remained to be seen, especially since what had taken place earlier in her bed started to play through her head when she closed her eyes. Rolling to her side, she punched the pillow under her head, determined to forget about Jager and how he made her body go up in flames.

The feel of someone shaking him had Jager reaching under the sheets for the sword that lay next to him. Not completely awake, he still managed to get it out from under the covers in case he needed to use it.

“Jesus, Jager. How many times do I have to tell you to knock it off with the sword already?” asked a very exasperated female voice. “And please don’t tell me you sleep with that thing in your bed every night.”

Shaking off the last vestiges of sleep, he looked up to find Roxie standing beside his bed with her hands on her hips. She stared down at him with an expression that matched the tone of her voice. Jager searched the room with his gaze and saw that Roxie had come up to his bedroom alone. “Yes, I sleep with my sword. What time is it?” he asked in a sleep-roughened voice. “And what the hell are you doing in my bedroom, let alone here at the mansion?”

Roxie shook her head. “Blunt as usual I see. It’s twelve-thirty. As for what I’m doing here, well, when you didn’t show up for your scheduled babysitting of me, and Leif arrived to take your place, I of course had to rush over here to find out why you were still sleeping.”

Jager groaned and rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “Damn it. Leif told you.”

“Of course he told me,” Roxie said with a laugh. “The man is scared shitless that he’ll be next to find his mate.” She reached up and brushed a length of her long golden brown hair over her shoulder. Her hazel eyes flashed with amusement. “Get out of bed.

We’re going to have a little talk.”

He laid his sword back down on the mattress. “Can’t it wait? I think I got all of two hours sleep.”

Roxie crossed her arms over her chest. “No, it can’t wait. Now get up.”

When it didn’t look as if Roxie had any intention of leaving his bedroom, Jager figured she’d asked for it. Flipping back the sheets, he got out of bed to stand in front of her.

She let out a little squawk and turned her back to him. “You’re naked! And…and…”

Jager chuckled. “Well, you did tell me to get out of bed. And I do sleep naked. As for being aroused, with the mating urge riding me, I don’t have much control over that at the moment, as you very well know.”

“Just put something on.”

Reaching for the jeans he’d worn earlier and thrown on the floor, Jager slipped them on. “I’m decent. You can turn around now.” Roxie turned and then went to sit down on his bed. She reached for his sword, but he picked it up before she could grab it. He shook his head. “No you don’t. This is not your house. It’s mine. I’m not going to let you take it.”

Roxie wasn’t always thrilled with the idea that he carried his sword wherever he went. She especially didn’t like it when he came running with it drawn when he heard something out of the ordinary while he was protecting her. One simple mistake and Roxie was forever trying to take his sword away from him. If he’d known that she and Beowulf were only having sex, Jager wouldn’t have busted in on them with his sword drawn. He’d apologized more than once, but so far Roxie had yet to forget about that particular incident.

“Fine. Keep the damn thing,” she said. “We’re still going to have our talk.”

“About what?”

“About you having found your mate.”

“And why exactly does that warrant you coming into my bedroom and waking me up to talk to me?”

“Since your brother almost blew it with Ansley, I thought I would lay down some ground rules for you.”

He gaped at Roxie. “Some ground rules?” he asked warily. “There are no ground rules when it comes to a male werewolf claiming his mate.”

“With your mate being a mortal, there are now.” When Jager opened his mouth to protest, Roxie stopped him. “I’m the one who holds the power to turn a mortal mate into a werewolf, remember? If you want her to have the lifespan of a werewolf instead of a mortal’s, you play by my rules. I know what it’s like to be blinded-sided with this whole werewolf mating business without having a clue as to what is going on. Lately it seems to be a trend. Now sit your butt down.”

“Ah, fuck me,” Jager said as he glared down at Roxie.

She smiled. “No thanks. I’ll leave that job to your mate.”

He ran his hand through his long hair and pushed it behind his ears. He’d kept it down ever since Daylen had pulled out his hair elastic. It still had to be on her bedroom floor somewhere. Jager could still feel her hands buried in his hair. His cock jerked in his jeans before he pushed thoughts of Daylen away. They would just work him up even more than he already was.

“Roxie, is this necessary? I really don’t need you to add any more stress on top of what I’m already feeling,” he said.

She patted the spot on the bed next to her. “Stop your griping and sit down. You’re giving me a sore neck having to look up at you like this.”

Reluctantly, Jager sat down next to Roxie knowing full well if he didn’t let her say what she wanted to he would never get her out of his bedroom. “Okay, I’m sitting. Hurry it up already.”

Roxie shook her head. “I hope you aren’t this rude when you’re with your mate.”

“I haven’t had a chance to be rude. Most of our conversations have consisted of her ordering me to put down my sword so she can arrest me, or her telling me I’m a criminal who has broken the law.”

“I heard your mate was a cop.” Roxie started to laugh. “I also heard she got the take on you and almost managed to cuff you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m glad everyone thinks it’s so funny. Can we please get on with this?”

“All right. No more laughing at your expense. I promise.” Roxie’s face grew sober.

“Now, the rules. First, you are not to take any advice from Beowulf on how to claim a mortal mate. He’s the one that gave Roan the oh so excellent advice of not giving Ansley the chance to refuse him as her mate. And that worked out so well too. Ansley freaked when she found out Roan was a werewolf. Just as I freaked on Beowulf when I found out about him.”

Jager clearly remembered the day Roan had told Ansley. He’d been at Roxie and Beowulf’s place when Roan had brought Ansley there to tell her. He’d thought Roxie would have been able to help Ansley better accept what he was. Ansley hadn’t exactly reacted well.

“All right. I won’t go to Beowulf for advice, not that I intended to anyway.”

“Good. Rule number two. You will not claim your mate until you have told her what you are and what being mated to a werewolf entails. Which means no getting carried away with the moment.”

“So far I’ve managed to stay in control,” he said.

“Rule number three. No using head games or coercion to get your mate to allow me to use the spell to turn her into a werewolf. It will be her choice when, and if, she wants to take that final step.”

“Not a problem.” Jager knew Roxie meant well, but her rules were starting to grate on his nerves. All this talk about claiming mates was only causing his mating urge to dig its claws deeper into him.

Roxie nodded. “Rule number—”

He cut her off. “I think that is more than enough rules. Give me some credit for not being a complete idiot. I know claiming a mortal as my mate is not the same as claiming a female werewolf. I saw how Ansley reacted. I was there, remember?”

Roxie’s eyes narrowed as her gaze landed on the sword he still held. “I remember. I also remember you came in running with that weapon in your hand ready to do battle when you heard the raised voices.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Jager said as he moved his sword well out of Roxie’s reach.

She sighed then stood. “Just promise me you won’t sleep with that thing in your bed once you’re mated. I’m sure your mate doesn’t want to find you cuddling your sword instead of her some night.”

“I don’t cuddle my sword. I sleep with it so it’s always on hand in case I need it.”

Roxie smiled. “Sure. I believe you.”

After Roxie left the room, closing the door behind her, Jager grabbed two fistfuls of his hair and gave it a good yank. He’d have to get things settled with Daylen very soon. If he didn’t, he could easily see Roxie driving him completely insane.

Early that evening, Jager went to talk to Saskia before he left to go see Daylen. He found her down in the basement with her mate, Eli. She was giving Eli another sword lesson. Since Eli had been a mortal up until recently, the same as Ansley had been, he’d never had an occasion to learn how to handle a sword. But given how Saskia was the leader of Roxie’s Protectors, Eli had decided he should learn.

Jager watched Saskia cross swords with Eli. She was definitely taking it easy on him, though Jager could see Eli’s potential to become quite skilled. At least he already had the muscle mass that was required to swing a sword for any length of time. As a personal trainer at his family’s gym, Eli had been lifting weights for years.

When Saskia noticed Jager, she signaled Eli to lower his sword. She pushed her sweat-dampened almost white blonde hair out of her eyes and walked over to where he stood. “Are you going to see your mate?”

“Yeah. If I don’t work on claiming her as mine soon, Roxie will continue to hound the shit out of me to make sure I don’t screw it up.”

Saskia chuckled. “Roxie told me about the rules she said you had to follow.”

Eli moved to stand beside Saskia and put his arm around her shoulders. His black hair was just as sweaty-looking as his mate’s. “It makes me glad I was just a regular mortal before Saskia and I became mates. I would have hated to go through the mating urge and then have a bunch of rules to follow on top of it.”

“Yeah, you lucked out with that one,” Jager said. He then turned to Saskia. “Is there any way we can put a muzzle on Roxie? I seriously don’t think I can handle any more of her talks.”

Saskia grinned and shook her head. “Sorry, I can’t help you out with that one. She rules over all the packs, which includes us. Roxie can pretty much do what she wants.”

“Well, you’re no help,” he grumbled.

“Go to your mate, Jager, and forget about Roxie. Also, don’t worry about having to take your turn protecting her until you’ve claimed your mate. I know Roan was pretty much useless before he claimed Ansley. And you look to be just as stressed as he was.”

Oh, he was stressed all right. The need to make Daylen his was a living, breathing thing inside him that he knew would not go away until he’d made love to her. Plus the lack of sleep wasn’t helping any. After Roxie had left him, he’d tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Daylen.

“You can say I’m stressed” he said. “I guess I’ll leave you two to get back to your sword practice. I should be back later tonight.”

As he walked away, Eli said, “Try not to get arrested.”

Jager turned back around and flipped him off. He doubted he would ever be able to live it down that Daylen had almost gotten the better of him.

Parked across the street from the entrance to the long driveway of the Protectors’

mansion, a lone wolf sat in his car watching who came and went. When a black Camaro pulled out onto the street, he quickly started his car and started to follow it. He smiled, knowing the werewolf who drove the Camaro was the one his leader wanted followed.

Keeping a discreet distance between it, he followed the Camaro out of Marin County and into San Francisco. When the werewolf pulled his car into the driveway of a bungalow in a residential area of the city, the lone wolf slowly drove by, making note of the house number and the street name.

Sure that Miles would be more than pleased to learn the address of Jager’s mate, the lone wolf turned his car in the direction that would take him to their new headquarters.

They now had something that would put one of the Protectors at a distinct disadvantage.

And maybe this information would make up for the fact that Jager had cornered him in that alley.