Asher cringed but made no move to defend himself from her. Large arms wrapped around her from behind, lifting her up and off her feet.
“No killing the colonel, darling,” said Roi, holding her to him. “Not until he explains what just happened.”
Jinx wiggled. “Let me down. I’m going to tear his head off now.”
Confusion covered Asher’s face.
Jinx pointed at him. “Your woman?”
Asher paled, his gaze whipping to Lukian.
Lukian nodded. “Yep. You said it.”
“Shit,” said Asher.
Jinx stopped struggling. “That is how you feel about me being your mate?”
He shook his head and reached for her, but stopped as blood dripped freely from his hands. “No. That isn’t it at all, Jeneathea.”
She hung limp in Roi’s arms, unable to believe Asher was really her mate and that he’d spent so long shutting her out. She closed her eyes and hung her head. “I wouldn’t want me either.”
Roi loosened his hold on her and set her on her feet but didn’t release her. Instead, he hugged her as she broke down in tears. “There, there,” he said, awkwardly patting her back. “No tears.”
“Jinx, no,” said Asher, sounding like he was on the verge of shifting again.
She kept crying.
Chapter Five
Lukian said nothing as he watched his friend, a man he had known for some time held deep secrets, work to control his beast. A beast that he, like the I-Ops, had learned to mask the scent of. Lukian had certainly never caught whiff of it and he was better than most shifters at catching scents.
Now that Asher’s beast was out, the air was thick with the smell of it as well as with magik. Lukian had heard of shifters who were born possessing magik. They were thought to be rumors. Several of his teammates now could wield small bits of magik because they’d gained the ability through mating to a Fae. They’d not been born with it. None of his pack had the ability, and truth be told, he’d thought the rumors of the born magik shifters to be just that—rumors.
He’d been wrong.
Jinx had said Asher was even more than what Lukian now thought. What the hell else was left?
Asher had his reasons for keeping what he was to himself. Lukian would respect that. He’d also respect what he was guessing was about to happen. The colonel was going to do something Lukian could only guess he’d wanted to do for a very long time.
Take his woman.
Lukian motioned to Roi. “Brother, this is our cue to leave. Give Jinx to him. They have a lot to discuss.”
Roi swung his head around, still holding the redhead against him in a protective manner. But, there was no denying Roi was shit at comforting anyone. “Are you fucking seeing what I’m seeing? The colonel is a shifter?”
“With magik,” added Eadan, looking as surprised by the events as Roi.
Nodding, Lukian stood in place. He was taken aback by it all as well but had lived long enough to know things would work out on their own. Additional interference on the part of Lukian and his men could cause more damage than good. “I see. Now let’s go.”
Roi turned Jinx away from Asher. “She’s not very happy with him right now and I can’t say I blame her. I’m pissed with him too. Shifter?”
Eadan stood next to Roi, attempting to pat Jinx’s back as well. Neither man seemed to be worth his salt in the soothing department. “Magik.”
“It’s amazing I can take you two anywhere,” said Lukian. He eased Jinx from Roi and touched her shoulders. “Are you okay to be left with Asher? He won’t hurt you, you know that, right?”
She hiccupped as she cried. “I might hurt him.”
“Understandable,” returned Lukian. She had every right to be angry with Asher. He spoke to his men, “We need to get out of here and call our wives back. Or do you want them thinking we ended up spending the night here?”
That seemed to snap the men out of their stupors.
Roi shot forward. “Bye, Colonel, we’ll get you in the morning. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do. Wait, strike that. Don’t do anything Green wouldn’t do.”
Lukian laughed as his men hurried out the door.
Chapter Six
Asher had to temper his breathing. His thoughts remained on Jasper, and what he’d been about to do—kill Jinx. Asher had nearly failed her again. His memories went to the past. Of when Asher had been too late to protect Jinx from an evil man—a man he’d put her with. He would never be able to fix the wrong he’d committed long ago—the one that had allowed her to be in the presence of the madman, Fabianus, at all. Killing him had given Asher no peace on the matter.
Nothing ever would.
The part of himself that he kept hidden away from everyone, normally himself included, surfaced again at a degree he couldn’t stop. He felt himself losing control. This was the moment he’d feared would come to pass. The moment he turned into his father’s son and repeated history. The very idea of it all pushed him closer to the brink of no return.
Jinx stayed a few steps from him, hurt and tears on her beautiful face. Her eyes looked haunted and he knew by what, or rather who—him. He’d caused those. His sole goal in life had been keeping her safe and far from him. He’d caused her pain again. It was what he did best.
“Why?” she demanded, her voice clipped.
He swallowed hard. The truth of it all had been on the tip of his tongue for so long yet it didn’t seem to want to come. He half considered running away like the coward he’d been in regards to Jinx. He held his ground. She knew of his past. Of what he shared a bloodline with. “I wanted to protect you from me.”
“Asher, you are not your father,” she said, making him flinch. “You’re a good man. You’d never do what he did. Ever.”
“You do not know that, Jeneathea,” he said, knowing he was slipping into old speech habits again. He’d thought he left them behind in his toga-wearing days. Clearly, he’d been wrong. “I look just like him.”
“That means nothing,” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks.
He wanted to comfort her but stood rooted in place, fearing he’d done too much damage already. She’d turn him away for good now. “I would never forgive myself if I hurt you.”
Jinx came right at him and pushed on his chest. “Idiot.”
He didn’t respond. After all, she was right. He was a total idiot.
She walked over Jasper’s body and the pooling blood on the floor and went behind the bar. She returned with a damp washcloth and began to wipe his face as though he were a child. He let her, enjoying her touch too much to tell her no. She moved to his hands next, cleaning them as well.
“You are a giant idiot,” she said.
“You mentioned that already,” he returned with a small quirk of his lips.
“How long have you known I’m your mate?” she asked.
He glanced up at the ceiling. “So, do you the think the blood will wash out of there?”
She hit him in the gut. “Asher!”
He sighed. “From the moment I met you.”
She was quiet a moment. “That was well over a thousand years ago.”
He whistled and rocked on the balls of his feet. “Give or take a few centuries.”
She hit him again and the tears returned. He couldn’t take the tears. He grabbed for her, pulling her against him. His lips met her temple and he held her there, wanting to keep her near him forever.
“Why?”
“You know why,” he whispered. “I wanted to keep history from repeating itself. My father caused the deaths of so many in his fit of rage with my mother. I didn’t want to repeat that. It was better if you found happiness elsewhere.”
“You mean with Fabianus?” she asked, venom in her voice.