Chapter 15

Elena

Two days later

Alisha is our eyes and ears in the city. She says Axton has turned the entire city upside down. She has also been under surveillance and can’t make it back here. Our only communication is her using the phone at her work. We have a sneaking suspicion with everything going on that Axton may have done something to her phone, judging by the strange buzzing she noticed when calling in late to work the day after she left.

Hearing that, I’ve decided to hunker down in Jake’s apartment. I am going stir-crazy and can’t go anywhere because alerts have been placed in every shifter-populated city. My only chance right now is to stay in this human town and hope no one has access to the supernatural news.

“Come to work with me. It’s a slow day today. Hardly anyone comes in on Wednesdays. Besides, no one here will question you. You know how superstitious this town is,” Jake tells me as he pulls on his work shirt. Jake works at the café he owns. It also has an arcade attached to it where the local kids come in to play after school.

I shake my head, worried about being spotted. No doubt Axton is still looking, and I know he has probably expanded that to the neighboring towns.

Jake sighs. “You can’t stay in the apartment all the time. You haven’t been outside since you got here. It isn’t healthy,” he tells me as he wanders over to where I sit on the bed. He drops his hands on either side of my hips and presses his forehead against mine.

I let out a breath, knowing I would lose my mind if I spent any more time here. Shifters are pack creatures, and being unable to leave is like locking a dog in a cage. Every day, I am becoming antsier.

“How about you come to the commune with me, then? We can stop by the shop quickly; I just need to pick a few things up and do a delivery.”

“Commune?” I ask him, having never heard of this commune in the three years I have known Jake.

“The rogue settlement. They will not care who you are. They’re outsiders, too. And they are far enough away from the town that no one would see you. No one really goes out there besides me, anyway.”

“Wait. Why do you go out there? And how do you know about it?”

“The lady I bought this place off of. It was one of the conditions of me buying it. She wasn’t like the rest of the folk around here. She ran supplies to rogue settlements every few weeks. When she sold the place, she made it a condition of me getting this place so cheap,” he tells me.

“And they let you out there? As a human?”

He shrugs. “Mary introduced me to them before she went into the nursing home. It took them a little while to get used to me, but I am the only way for them to get decent supplies under the radar of the councils.”

My brows furrow, and I chew the inside of my lip. It would be nice to get out of here, if only for a little while.

“Don’t look so worried. You’ll be fine. You can wait in the car,” he tells me before pressing his lips to my forehead.

I lean away, finding his growing affection toward me odd. He smiles at me goofily, and I roll my eyes at him.

“Is that a yes?” he asks.

“Fine, but I am waiting in the car. They may know you, but I have never been to one of those settlements. I wasn’t even aware there was one here.”

“Deal,” he says, pecking my lips, and I jerk away.

“Jake!” I scold him.

“Yes, Elena?” he says, and my head becomes fuzzy as he stares at me with those dazzling blue eyes.

A cheeky smile graces his face as he leans closer while I lean back before falling backward onto my elbows.

“Jake,” I growl at him, pushing on his shoulder.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like me, Elena,” he says, leaning closer, his knee pressed between my legs.

“Of course, I like you. You’re my best friend, but you’re being a creep,” I tell him with a nervous laugh.

“What if I don’t want to be your friend?” he asks. “What if I want to be more?”

My eyes widen at his words. Lexa also comes forward, just as confused.

“But you’re gay?”

Jake laughs, pressing closer, forcing me completely onto my back as he presses himself between my legs.

“I am not gay,” he all but purrs at me when I feel his hard erection pressing against the cotton of my shorts.

I gasp, wiggling up the bed. “What?!” I demand, and he shakes his head but allows me up.

“I allowed your father to think I was. There was no way he would let me hang around you had he known I was straight,” Jake tells me.

He has a point. If my father had known, he would have banned me from seeing Jake. The same way he has dictated my relationships and every aspect of my life for as long as I can remember.

I still remember how angry he was when he caught me with Jake and Alisha after sneaking out of the city that night. Alisha had told my father that Jake was gay. I didn’t realize it was a lie, and it didn’t save me from the ass-whooping I got.

“Does Alisha know you’re not gay?”

Jake shrugs. “Well, you all assumed I was. I just went along with it, so I could still be your friend.”

This is absolutely insane to think I have never questioned it. For three years, he’s pretended to be gay? How did we not know?

“Think, Elena. Have you ever seen me with another man? Surely you weren’t that blind to me liking you?”

“I thought you were gay!” I tell him.

“Well, surprise! I’m not,” he says, passing me a jacket. “Put this on. It is a little cold out.”

I take it, eyeing him.

“Well, some good news finally, our eye candy is fuckable,” Lexa purrs in my head, watching as he finishes getting ready for work.

I roll my eyes at my horny wolf.

“We are not looking for a rebound, and I am damn pregnant,” I tell her.

“Axton was not a mate but a one-night stand. He made that perfectly clear when he put that video out. Mates don’t hurt mates! Therefore, it became nothing more than that. So, Jake can’t be a rebound when our mate was a prick. We rejected him. Doesn’t mean we have to become celibate. Either you take him, or I will,” Lexa tells me, licking her chops and making vile noises in my head.

Ignoring her, I turn my attention back to Jake. “And we are not going to talk about how you lied to me for three years?”

“I never lied to you. I lied to your father. Had you asked instead of believing the drunken ramblings of Alisha, I would have told you,” Jake tells me.

I try to think back to everything I know about him. But he is right. I’ve never known him to have a boyfriend; he has never spoken of another person.