Torment (Dark Alpha #1) (5 page)

She gave him a lazy smile.

He zipped his pants while she straightened her clothes. As long as she left with a smile on her face, he’d be free to go. Maybe he could offer to walk her to her car. That would give him a fine excuse to skip out of the club early. Gage would be more than willing to let him go, if he thought Jak was getting laid.

If his alpha had any idea Jak was going home to fantasize about his brother’s mate, he’d haul him out to the alley in back and thrash some sense into him. And Gage would be more than justified. Wanting Arianna that way was stupid and dangerous, broke every pack law, and was contrary to the magic that bound the entire pack together… and none of that mattered.

Because Jak was going to see her again tomorrow.

“Woooooooo!” Arianna screamed for all she was worth, and her inner beast howled like it was a full moon, but the wind just whipped away her words and sent them sailing down the highway behind her. She was standing on the passenger seat of Jak’s car, half her body sticking out the open sunroof, arms raised to the glorious blue skies above. Yesterday had been miserable, rained all day, but today was gorgeous again. Beautiful days and Jak seemed to go together. It was another sign: this was how her life was supposed to be.

“Will you come down,
please?”
Jak said for the third time. His voice was barely audible above the wind whistling past her ears.

Arianna ducked her head back inside. “Why?” She scanned the road ahead, but they hadn’t reached the exit for the University yet.

Jak’s eyes were wide. “I don’t know. Maybe so we don’t get pulled over by Seattle’s finest?”

She scowled at him. “What’s a sunroof for, if not to stick out your head?” She kind of hoped it was illegal. She didn’t want to get Jak in trouble, but the idea of doing something—
anything
—that broke the rules tantalized her with a mouth-watering intensity.

Jak smirked. “I’m pretty sure it was designed to let the sun
in,
not the people
out.”

His eyes were dancing, and she was sure he wouldn’t object if she let out a few more whoops for good measure, but she dropped down the rest of the way into her seat anyway.

If they got pulled over, Mace would find out. He would be embarrassed, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone. Besides, she didn’t want anything to mess up today. She’d let Mace think bringing back Jak as bodyguard was really
his
idea: given that Jak was an alum, and things had gone fine the first day, whereas the second with Alric was one comedy of errors after another, starting with being late to class and ending with coming home late. The last one was what had set Mace off—he’d been waiting at the house for her. It was only logical that, since things had gone smoothly with Jak, he should resume bodyguard duties.

Jak’s smile dropped away, replaced by an uncertain look. “If you really want to—” He was clearly still thinking about the sunroof.

She waved him off, pushing the button to close the roof then giving him a cheesy smile. “You can make it up by taking me out to lunch after class.”

He smiled wide. “Actually I was planning on asking if you minded grabbing lunch then heading over to one of the labs. I have a potential client I need to do a site visit for.”

She frowned. “Oh.” She figured Mace wouldn’t begrudge them grabbing something to eat before coming back to the estate, but if she was gone much longer… “I don’t think Mace would like that.”

Jak’s smile settled into a smirk. “Gage already cleared it with Mace. We’re good for the most of the afternoon.”

His eyes glittered, but that was nothing compared to the surge of joy running racetracks through her chest. She leaned over to impulsively hug him. It was awkward and gangly, and Jak looked shocked, but he didn’t seem to mind. She retreated back to her seat and busied herself with buckling up. And trying not to blush too much.

This day was going to be
perfect.

When she was settled, and the heat had mostly gone from her face, she said, “Tell me about this client! I want to know all about them before we get there.”

“It’s a bunch of tech stuff. You probably wouldn’t be interested.”

“Try me.”

Jak raised an eyebrow. “Well, they’re researching quantum computing. They think they might have a new way to access some of the quantum states with a complicated series of lasers and switches and a new crystalline material. They’re looking to store data in the quantum state then access it again. It’s been done before, but they’re scaling up, trying to find ways to store lots of simultaneous data in the crystal then pull it out again very rapidly.”

“Okay,” she said with a grimace. She’d really only understood part of that. “So, they’re trying to make a computer from crystals and flashing lights. Sounds very high tech. Not to mention New Age.”

He chuckled. “Actually, that’s exactly what it is. Pooky New Age physics that seems a bit iffy. Especially when I look at their testing protocols. I’m not sure they’re actually measuring anything coherent. They could be influenced by power fluctuations from the laser for all I can tell, just looking at the reports.”

“So that’s why you’re visiting the lab? To see if their setup is legit.”

“Precisely.” He looked askance at her, but his eyes were filled with mirth. “You sure you weren’t a tech major at Bellevue?”

“Positive. Didn’t even have a smart phone back then.” She swallowed and looked forward again. “Not that I exactly have one now.” Mace won’t allow her to use the phone. Even though she was mated now, and her family knew there was no point in coming for her, he still didn’t want her calling them.
Stirring things up
was what he called it. Her heart ached to talk to her mom again, but Mace was her alpha, so that was that.

She avoided Jak’s concerned look and stared out the window at Seattle’s downtown towers in the distance. Silence reigned as Jak took the exit and wound toward the University. His sedan was one of the pack cars, wide and roomy for transporting lots of hulking shifter men to wherever they went when they left the estate. It wasn’t a luxury car, but the faux leather interior felt luxurious to Arianna. Maybe it was the freedom that driving represented. Someday Mace might let her drive again. For now, she was happy to have a driver… as long as it was Jak.

“You okay?” he asked, looking at her sideways. He turned the car into the University grounds, and soon they were descending into the plaza’s underground parking. She had Business Finance again today, and this was the nearest parking to Kane Hall.

“I’m great.” She gave him a broad smile.

“On Wednesday, you seemed… not so happy at the end.” He looked nervous again.

She frowned. She had liked everything about the first day of school… except when she faced the prospect of going home. “I was just sad to see it end. Didn’t know if I’d have a chance to dunk you in the fountain like I was planning.”

“Um… when exactly were you planning to do that?” He gave her a mock look of shock.

“Well, if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?” She grinned with all her teeth again, and it made him laugh. The sound of that lightened her heart even more.

Perfect day.
She knew it.

They parked and took the elevator up to Red Square. It was late Friday morning, and the plaza was practically empty of students: maybe they started the weekend early and decided to skip out on Friday morning classes. Arianna sighed, wondering how her life would be different if she could live on campus, stay in a dorm, have normal friends.
Boyfriends, all night study sessions, and way too much alcohol.
That’s what she had always assumed her life would be like during her college years. But there was no use in wishing for something that would never be.

They reached her classroom early, and there were only four students instead of the usual hundred or so.

“Light day,” Jak said. “Get in there and sit in the front row. Your professor will remember you as one of the few who bothered to show up for the whole first week of class.”

Arianna took her backpack, which Jak had been carrying. She bit her lip. “You know, you could go get a coffee or something. You don’t have to stand in the hall for the whole hour of class.”

He laughed. “Not a chance. You’ll run off without me, and then I won’t have a date for lunch.” His smile did strange things to her stomach, and his dark eyes were sparkling again.

She ducked her head in acquiescence, but the heat was back in her cheeks. He was handsome and funny and… he was flirting with her. It ran a thrill straight through her heart, made of equal parts danger and desire for…
more.
More banter, more talking, more smiles. It was like he was feeding liquid friendship crack to her, and she couldn’t get enough. But that innocent flirting was dangerous. She knew it. If Mace found out, he would rip out Jak’s throat. And she didn’t want to think about what Mace would do to
her.

“I… better go in,” she said, feeling suddenly awkward. She hiked her backpack up on her shoulder and turned to hurry inside the classroom.

She felt Jak’s stare on her back all the way in.

Jak lurked in the hall, messing around with his phone but making sure not to miss when the doors to Arianna’s classroom opened this time. Right at the hour, students started filing out. His heart almost quit beating when the students stopped coming, and he still didn’t see her. But then she hustled out, scribbling some final notes on her tablet before stuffing it in her backpack.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

She beamed. He was pretty sure his whole body lit up with it.

“Great!” she said. “This stuff is really easy. Nothing like your magic crystal computers. Can’t wait to see what that’s all about.”

His smile was going to break his face if he didn’t get it under control. “Well, our appointment’s not for another hour. How about lunch at the HUB? They have sandwiches, soups, pizza… there’s even a killer curry place I think is still there.”

“Anything sounds awesome. Except the curry. Not so sure about the curry.”

He tamed the smile a little. “And now my life will not be complete until you try the Thai Green Curry.”

She smirked. “Then I think your life will remain sadly incomplete.”

They’d reached the outside of the building and strolled down the steps before Jak looked around enough to realize the plaza was empty. They turned to head toward the far end of Red Square, but he was thinking he might take her by the fountain again before they hit the food. He was tucking his phone back into his pocket but somehow managed to bobble it—the thing flew from his hands and skittered under the leaves still coating the red bricks.

He swore under his breath and bent to fish through the leaves to find it. Just as he did, Arianna tripped or something and fell.

“Hey!” he said, alarmed, and hustled back to her side. “Are you—” He stopped short.

She had shifted into her wolf form and was twitching and thrashing on the ground.

“What the—” Then he saw them: two figures in hoodies, coming at them from barely a dozen feet away, one with a giant, black sack held high, the other with a gun of some kind. Jak didn’t speak or think, he simply dove to the side, shifting as he went, flinging off clothes, and coming up wolf.

Then he lunged for them, teeth first.

The one with the gun got a couple shots off, but they were silent whispers and bee stings that bounced off Jak’s thick fur coat. He reached the man, fangs clamping on his gun hand, bones crushing under Jak’s snapped-shut jaws. The man screamed. The gun tasted metallic then fell into a rustle of leaves and brick. Jak released the hand to go for his neck, but the second man pulled him off from behind. Jak whipped around and went for that one’s throat. They both went down on the pavement, but Jak had a strong grip on his neck. He squeezed. The man flailed, hands trying to pull Jak’s jaws away, but Jak just clamped harder. The flailing grew weaker but more frantic. Jak flicked his gaze around, searching for the first one, judging his next move.

What the hell was happening here?
The men were both mid-twenties, gray hoodies and combat boots. The first one was desperately searching through the leaves for his gun. A gun that shot darts not bullets. The second one’s bag was lying on the ground where he dropped it.