The Runaways: Book 1 of the The White Goddess Series

29. Fallon

Bark! Bark bark bark bark! Bark! 

Fallon's moans of pleasure turned to a frustrated groan as she gripped her mate's broad, sweat-slicked shoulders. One of the kids must have changed Jackson's ringtone again. Normally that would make her smile. But not right now.

Early morning was their time. Before the boys woke up, before the landscapers' trucks came rattling down the street, before the demands of their jobs and parenting three energetic sons dragged Fallon and Jackson into everyday life. In the early morning silence, the birds chirping outside and the early morning light creeping slowly across the bed, they weren't parents or partners or spouses. They were just mates. Mates who couldn't—and didn't—get nearly enough of each other.

Bark! Bark bark bark bark! Bark!

Jackson propped himself on his elbows and looked down at her regretfully. "You know I have to get that."

"I don't care if he is the Alpha." Fallon pouted, rubbing herself against him. "It better be important is all I can say."

Jackson grinned. "That is definitely not all you can say."

"Calling you late at night is bad enough. Now it's first thing in the morning?" Fallon said, not caring she was proving him right. The phone finally stopped ringing, but that didn't matter. She knew Jackson would never pretend he'd been sleeping and hadn't heard it. He was annoyingly responsible that way.

"It might not be him. Could be a pack member having an emergency. Or maybe we're being attacked by rogues." Jackson leaned in to kiss her angry lips. "Would that make you feel better?"

"It would, actually," Fallon grumbled as her mate sat up. She shivered as the cool air replaced the warmth of his body. "It better be something really, really big, something that no one else is capable of handling but you."

Jackson pulled the comforter up from the end of the bed to cover her. "Let's find out." 

Fallon threw an arm under her head and stared at her mate's broad back as he reached for his phone. Jackson's dominance, power, and natural authority had attracted her from the beginning. 

They met while she was at UBC, her first time away from home. Her mother had wanted her to go to UC Davis, but that wasn't far enough away for Fallon. Vancouver was perfect: Right up the coast from Willow Beach, close enough to drive to but far enough not to do it often. 

Fallon still remembered the first time she laid eyes on Jackson...the hottest man she'd ever seen. Her roommate had been obsessed with some indie band and dragged Fallon to a dive bar to hear them play. This was no college bar. Fallon was overdressed—which in club terms meant she was underdressed—and had been attracting more male attention than she'd wanted, from the types of men she didn't want attention from at all.  

Later, Jackson would call it 'the pull' but at the time, Fallon had no idea what drew her eyes past the guy trying to talk to her, over the noisy crowd to the tall, handsome man staring at her from across the room. Not in her direction, not at the group she was standing with, at her. The only word that came close to describing the moment their eyes met was electric. 

Those dark, glittering eyes never left hers as he crossed the busy club towards her. A path opened in front of him, people naturally stepping aside as if he was a celebrity or someone important. A celebrity or someone important coming for her. Fallon wouldn't lie: It was hot. 

Jackson chased away the other guys and backed her up against the bar, his broad chest blocking out the room beyond them. Trapping her with his arm on one side, he rested his opposite hand on her hip possessively. Mine, he'd said. Just that one word. And stared at her in a hot, demanding silence until Fallon nodded. Accepting his claim without even really knowing what it was.