“Please, you have to help me,” Jax said, holding a hand out to Benjamin. “The other ones tell me I should just try to get used to it—just accept what’s happening, but I-I can’t.”

Benjamin looked down at his hand impassively. “If he fucked you, then it goes without saying he bit you, so you’re not exactly human any more either, boy. But your odor is odd. I don’t know what the hell you are. A freak of nature, maybe. An aberration, like Todd warned us about.” He grabbed Jax’s arm and twisted it behind him. “You need to be put out of your misery.” A low whine came from the back of Cade’s throat, but Benjamin ignored him, shaking Jax so hard his head rocked back on his shoulders. “Tell me what I need to know. These others you said you got away from. Where are they now? Was one of them Marco’s mate, Nicky?”

Marco strained against the ropes again, but they held fast. He cried out to Jax. “Don’t tell him anything, Jax! Please!”

“Shut up!” Benjamin said and reached Marco’s side in two strides, giving him another vicious blow with the butt of the shotgun, this time to the side of his head. Blood flew from the wound and splattered onto Benjamin’s pants. Marco slumped forward, and both Zack and Cade flinched visibly, growling and casting furious glances at Benjamin.

“You’ll pay for that, you son of a bitch,” Cade said, spitting out the words. Benjamin snarled and came toward him, but before he could reach him another figure stepped out into the clearing.

“Goddamn it,” Zack said as Gabe stumbled from the bushes and out into the open. “Zack!” Gabe rushed over to Zack, passing up a startled Benjamin and threw himself down on top of Zack, kissing him wildly and running his hands over his body. “Did they hurt you?”

One of the gammas with Benjamin rushed forward and yanked Gabe away, pushing him roughly back toward Jax.

Jax steadied him, and they both looked back at Benjamin with twin looks of shock.

Benjamin turned around and threw back his head, laughing in delight. “Two of the mates. Well, this is just delicious.” He came up to Gabe and drew him into his arms. Zack growled menacingly as Benjamin smirked at him. He ran a finger down Gabe’s jaw before putting a hand around his throat. “Tell me, sweetheart. Where’s Nicky?”

Benjamin pulled him closer, grinding his hips into Gabe’s, tightening his grip on his throat as Gabe choked and struggled to get away. The other members of the group had drawn closer and were watching with open mouths. They almost seemed stunned at the violence Benjamin was inflicting on the alphas and now on their pets. The ones with guns still had them cradled in their arms, but when Benjamin drew Gabe into the rough embrace, they seemed to be at a loss. They glanced nervously at each other, but Benjaminignored them, murmuring in Gabe’s ear. “Tell me where Nicky is, and I won’t choke the life out of you. At least not yet.”

Benjamin jerked his head at the men standing beside him. “Tie the other one up with the wolves for now. I need to uh…interrogate this one.” He began to draw Gabe toward his tent, Gabe’s face by now an alarming shade of purple as he struggled to breathe. Zack strained against his ropes, making noises that were increasingly less human-sounding. As the first man reached Jax and jerked at him roughly, Cade added his own inhuman howls to the mix. The gammas seemed paralyzed by the sounds and looked at the alphas fearfully.

“Wait a minute,” Jax cried. “I came to you for help.”

Benjamin glanced over his shoulder at him. “Well, now that was your first mistake, wasn’t it?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Jax said. “Now, Nicky!” he shouted and all hell broke loose at once. Nicky jumped out from behind a tree on the opposite side of the clearing and fired directly at a tree just over Benjamin’s head, making him duck down and momentarily loosen his grip on Gabe. Gabe gasped and wrenched away, falling to the ground and rolling. He managed to roll himself right into the legs of the closest guards, just as Jax fell straight down to the ground at their feet, making the one holding his arm stumble and try to regain his balance in all the confusion.

With a loud roar, Zack suddenly ripped himself away from the tree and charged toward the guards, moving so fast he was almost a blur. Jax could see that he seemed to be in a partial shift, his long fangs hanging from his mouth and his hands formed into claws. In seconds, he’d torn the guns away from them and threw them into the trees, and with another sweep of his hand, he slashed the throat of one of the guards, sending the other two running screaming into the forest. Jax could see the blade Gabe had slipped him gripped in his claws, both dripping with blood.

Jax rushed toward Cade, pulling another sharp knife he had hidden in his waistband and using it to slice through the bungee cords holding Cade to the tree. He moved around to the back and sawed at the ropes on his hands.

Cade pulled at them desperately and managed to free himself even before Jax cut through the ropes, springing away to help Zack, now locked on the ground in a struggle with Benjamin and another guard. Jax made it over to where Nicky was crouching beside Marco, trying desperately to bring him around. Gabe was back unsteadily on his feet beside Zack, dodging the blows and trying to help until Zack turned and pushed him roughly down on his backside. “Stay there!” he said in a rough, hoarse voice, and Gabe nodded, blinking rapidly.

Jax made quick work of the ropes holding Marco, and he helped Nicky lower the unconscious man to the ground. Nicky frantically tried to find a pulse. Marco took one big gasp and then stopped breathing. Nicky looked up at Jax in horror and without hesitation, without even knowing what he was really doing, Jax bit down on his wrist until the blood was flowing freely. He pressed his bloody wrist against Marco’s mouth, rubbing it across his lips. Some of the blood trickled down into Marco’s throat and he reacted convulsively, arching up toward Jax’s wrist and latching on.

Nicky looked over at him in shock, and Jax grinned and shrugged. “Alpha blood.”

Marco was sucking so hard at his wrist that it soon became painful, and Jax began to feel lightheaded. After only a few minutes, he was pulled gently away, and Cade was beside him, offering his own wrist to Marco, but never taking his eyes away from Jax.

Jax grew uneasy under his close scrutiny and glanced over to see Benjamin’s lifeless body stretched out on the ground and Zack bending over Gabe, checking the already-black bruises on his throat. The camp behind them was in a total rout, with the wolves falling over each other to get away into the woods. Anxious to protect their mates, Cade and Zack allowed them to escape, confident they could track the rogues down later, especially now that their leader was dead.

Jax saggedagainst Cade’s shoulder, feeling weak as the adrenaline drained from his body. He was aware that Marco began to come around, and he could hear Nicky sayingMarco’s name softly, over and over.

Cade pulled away from Marco and took Jax in his arms, bending his head to whisper in his ear. “Well done, cher. Of course you realize I’m going to blister your ass because you put yourself in that kind of danger, don’t you?”

Jax’s mouth fell open in surprise, and he looked up at Cade to find him looking down at him with one raised eyebrow. He sighed and leaned back into his chest. “You’re safe. So it was totally worth it,” he said.

Chapter Eight

Jax sat on the bank of the stream watching Mason splash near the shallow edge. Rayce was beside him, pointing out the rapids in the middle of the stream and cautioning the boy about the fast water that led to a small waterfall and the treacherous, slippery rocks. Jax knew Rayce had been assigned babysitting duty for both him and Mason while the others were felling trees nearby. He resented it, but was taking Nicky’s advice not to fight it so hard. Not all the rogues had been rounded up yet, and until they were, Cade was being extra cautious with his safety.

He looked up in pleased surprise when Cade dropped down next to him.

“Taking a break?” Jax asked and Cade nodded, wiping his brow.

“A little one. Ian, Marco’s beta, has everything under control up there. We’re making good progress, and we have a good start on the foundation. Plenty of rock over by the cliffs and Connor’s got a group over there hauling it to the building site. I was beginning to feel superfluous, so I came to check on you.” Cade had kept Jax close by his side over the last two weeks since they’d returned from their adventure with the rogues. They’d stayed at the lodge until they were sure Marco was completely recovered, and then after Zack and Gabe left to go home, they’d sent for the rest of the pack and come back up to the site to get to work. They’d been camping here ever since, and Cade had set up nightly patrols to make sure the area was safe.

“Have you been in swimming yet?” Cade asked, and Jax shook his head.

“Too cold for me.”

“Mason seems to be having fun. He’s settling in well here, though we’ll have to figure out something about his education. One of the mates, Brittany, used to be an elementary school teacher. She said she’d work with him for a while. When we get the road built, we can take him down to Marco’s pack and he can go to their little school.”

“Sounds good,” Jax said, smiling over at him. “Thanks for worrying about him. It means a lot to me.” Cade nodded, shrugging it off, but Jax knew he had something more on his mind. He waited him out.

“About his father…”

“What about him? He sacrificed any rights he had to Mason when he started to sexually abuse him.”

“I know that, Jax, and I wasn’t suggesting we take him back.”

“Good, because that ain’t happening.”

“Jax, be honest with me. Are they looking for you? Am I going to have to fight off federal agents who come looking for you on kidnapping charges? I will, you understand, but I would like to be prepared.” Cade smiled down at him, running a finger along his jawline.

Jax sighed, shaking his head. “No. I made a deal with the son of a bitch before I left. The two of us wouldn’t go to the police with what he was doing to Mason and had done to me, if he let me take Mason and go. I don’t feel good about that—I’m afraid he’ll molest some of the kids at his school, but he said it would be my word against his. The word of a little queer and a kid against an upstanding member of the community—his exact words, I believe. I didn’t have any real proof, so I agreed to leave quietly if he let me take Mason. I don’t really trust him though. If he knew where to find me, he could change his mind and come for Mason.”