Jason's Mate Read online

  Jason’s Mate

  The Quinton Shifters

  Abigail Raines

  Contents

  Chapter One: Jason

  Chapter Two: Jason

  Chapter Three: Carrie

  Chapter Four: Jason

  Chapter Five: Carrie

  Chapter Six: Jason

  Chapter Seven: Jason

  Chapter Eight: Jason

  Chapter Nine: Carrie

  Chapter Ten: Jason

  Chapter Eleven: Jason

  Chapter Twelve: Carrie

  Chapter Thirteen: Jason

  Chapter Fourteen: Carrie

  Epilogue: Jason

  Afterword

  Check out Aaron’s Mate, the first book of the Quinton Shifters Series.

  About the Author

  © Copyright 2019 - All rights reserved.

  It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental.

  Chapter One: Jason

  “Why don’t you shift?”

  The question comes from Rick, a shifter who’s in for murder. He’s told me the story of his crime a few times and I just tune him out. He seems way too happy about it. He reminds me uncomfortably of me and I’m in no mood. I don’t even want to be around me anymore. So I usually tune out Rick. Except that now he’s right up on the bars between our cells (there’s no real privacy at the Mulligan) and staring at me, and I know he’s not going to leave me alone until I talk to him.

  I’m really sick of Rick.

  He’s been shifted all day, pacing in his cage, and now it appears he’s shifted back just to bother me.

  “Didn’t feel like it,” I mutter. I’m sitting up against the back wall in the corner. That’s my usual spot.

  “Yeah, but you never shift.” Rick is glaring at me like this is a problem and awhile ago I would have agreed that it’s a problem. I should be a wolf for as long as it’s possible to be a wolf because that’s being a “real” shifter.

  I haven’t felt like that in a while.

  “Will you just shut the fuck up, man?” I say to Rick. “I’m just tryin’ to serve my time like anybody else.”

  The Mulligan is what we shifters call the shifter prison for this region of the country up in the Pacific Northwest. It’s not very big even though it covers so much territory because shifters don’t often get sent to prison. Most crimes or offenses against other shifters are handled within the pack. I have to think Rick’s murder was particularly heinous to get him sent here. Or maybe he murdered somebody from a different pack. That can get you sent to the Mulligan, depending. Or you can be like me; part of a pack that declared war on a pack in a totally different clan. All the guys like me who were dumb enough to think our alpha, Dax, would be our messiah got sent to the Mulligan when they were caught. That’s what we got for attacking a Tremblay and messing with one of our former wolves who turned out to be Micah Tremblay’s mate. Except me and my buddy Kyle weren’t caught right away. We had to go taking my little sister prisoner first. The thing is, it all made sense to me at the time. I was a true believer. I wanted to live like a “real” shifter and I believed this was how to do it. I was going to start up a new and better pack with my buddy and the only family I had left. Now I look back on that asshole kid I used to be and I wish Xander Tremblay had caught me and killed me. But he didn’t. I’m not that lucky. Instead I’m sitting here in a cell with just enough space to drive a wolf out of his mind. There’s no place to run and there’s no place to hunt. For a wolf like me who was taught that his true self is a wolf, it’s pretty much torture. I don’t know why Rick thinks it’s better to stay shifted in the cell. It drives me out of my goddamn mind. Most of the time, I just sit around staying human. Being a wolf hurts too much. And if I’m honest, it reminds me too much of who I’ve been for too long and all the mistakes I’ve made.

  “Such a prick, Jason,” Rick says, cackling.

  For some reason, Rick really wants to be my friend. I wish he’d just shut the hell up and let me serve my time in peace.

  My cell is about eight feet by eight feet just like everyone else’s. Sometimes I do push-ups and there’s a bar coming down from the ceiling that’s good for pull-ups. It would also be good for hanging if I had a belt or something but that’s really not my style. I’ve heard it’s happened here before though. The reason shifters don’t get sent to the Mulligan very often is because wolves sitting in cells all day can drive them not so slowly out of their minds, sometimes irreparably. It’s a kind of last resort. Which means I really fucked up. For the last couple years, since the last time I managed an escape, that’s all I’ve been able to think about.

  “You ever talk to Didion’s guys?” Rick says.

  “Fuck no,” I say, rubbing my eyes. “I don’t even want to talk to you.”

  “Wish I could’ve been there when they took on those Tremblay assholes,” Rick says, cackling.

  “Why?” I say with a snort. “They got clobbered, idiot.”

  “Still, they must’ve given em’ a fight,” Rick mutters.

  I roll my eyes. I have an urge to bang my head against the wall and yet Rick sounds a lot like I used to.

  You’re scared. My sister Alice’s voice rings in my head. The last time I talked to her, I came away feeling somebody had stripped my skin off. You’re terrified.

  Somehow, my little sister, who I’ve always managed to keep in line with not much more than a threatening look tore me into pieces just by telling me the truth. It was a while back. I hadn’t been in the Mulligan long. Mason Tremblay was looking after Alice and she was working in some bookstore, like a real assimilated shifter. I remember feeling so desperate to see her. I told myself it was just sticking to the plan, starting up a new pack. I told myself I was following the rules I’d been brought up with since I was a pup, to keep the pack in line. Except there was no pack left, and the truth was, we’d destroyed ourselves. I had nothing left, and it was all my fault. All there was left was Alice.

  They hurt you just like they hurt me.

  The last time I saw my sister, she spoke all my darkest thoughts aloud, and I left with my tail between my legs. But I don’t talk about that. I guess I don’t talk about anything most of the time. I just serve my sentence; one day after the other. The thing is, I don’t really mind the Mulligan. I don’t even like to think about getting out of it anymore since they caught me after that last escape when I went to find Alice. When I’m here, I don’t have to think about what to do or how to fix anything. All I have to think about is how I messed up so badly and became the wrong kind of wolf, the wrong kind of man and the awful things I’ve done. Which isn’t ideal. But I’ve gotten pretty used to it. At the Mulligan, it’s just me and my regret.

  “You ever gonna try escaping again, Jason?” Rick says.

  “Nope.”

  “Why not?” Rick says, laughing. “You’re good at it. Escaped twice like it was easy peasy.”

  “Because I got nowhere to go, Rick,” I say, staring up at the dirty ceiling. “I got nowhere to go and nobody to see so what’s the point of escaping? Now will you shut the fuck up before I reach through these bars and tear your goddamn face off?”

  “Alright, alright,” Rick says. “Christ. No need to get your panties in a twist.”

  I once put a gun to my sister’s head to make her come with me and my buddy so I could start that new Hardwidge pack. I was going to force her
to be Kyle’s mate whether she wanted to or not because I believed that was being a good shifter. Now when I look back all I see is a brainwashed kicked dog trying to be an alpha and hurting the only family he has left in order to do it. And yet, I can’t just blame the way I was taught and grew up. Took me about a year to realize that. I made my own choices. I decided to hurt Alice. I kidnapped her and beat her and kept her hostage in a cave and scared her nearly out of her mind. I did that. The only reason she got away from me is because of those Tremblays.

  Honestly, they should never let me out of the Mulligan.

  It’s all I deserve.

  Unfortunately, sentences do come to an end and I could potentially get an early release soon. There’s a chance they will let me out. I’ve only been here a couple years, but I’ve gotten used to this life. And more than that, I’ll probably be sent off without a pack. I’ll be a lone wolf and have to figure out how to live outside a collective. Or I’ll have to go find a pack myself that would take me, which is doubtful. I have no idea how I’d get by on the outside, if I’m honest with myself.

  Luckily, people who mess with the Tremblays don’t do so great with early release.

  I’m guessing they’re not going to let me out any time soon.

  The two weeks before my hearing go way too fast. I think I’m the only guy here that doesn’t actually want to get out of prison. I sit there in a cheap, plastic chair and stare down at the table as Mason Tremblay talks about what a shitty human being I am. I can only agree. But I don’t say that. I don’t say much of anything. I’m mostly grateful that Alice didn’t come to this thing. A lot of my time is spent dreading ever seeing her again. I don’t know what I would say to her. I guess that makes me a coward on top of everything else.

  “In summary, no I don’t believe this man should be released,” Mason says. He’s so calm. You wouldn’t know I’d kidnapped his mate. But Mason is known to be that way from what I’ve heard. I don’t look at him. I’m staring at the scratches in this table top. I picture other assholes like me, sitting here and waiting to hear their sentence or waiting to hear if they will be let out. I wonder if any of them have been like me, hoping they don’t get out.

  “Will the prisoner rise?” Elroy Finch is presiding because he always adjudicates these things. My hearing isn’t well attended which makes sense, I guess. I’m not a big priority at all. It’s probably only Alice and the Tremblays who care whether I get out or not.

  I get to my feet and force myself to turn a little and look at Mason Tremblay who’s standing diagonally behind me. He’s staring daggers at me. I’ve never seen anybody looks so calm yet murderous. I want to tell him I’m sorry. I want to tell him to tell Alice I’m sorry. But I don’t think I deserve to ask. How do you say sorry for something like what I did? It’s not something that can be made up for. I have to just live with it and keep doing my time and feel like I’ve felt since that night I saw Alice for the last time and she told me I was nothing but scared and alone. There’s no making up for this. Not ever.

  “Jason,” Finch says. “Do you have anything to say about the possibility of being released? Do you feel remorse?”

  I hate this question. I knew it was coming, but I don’t know how to answer it. All I feel every day is remorse but there’s nothing I can say that even begins to express how much I wish I’d done things differently and how much I wish I hadn’t caused my sister so much pain the way I did. I wish I’d realized that everything I was taught by the Hardwidge pack was bullshit and it all messed me up so much that the only way I knew to deal with it was to dole out some more pain to the person I should’ve been protecting…

  All those thoughts are racing through my head. I can feel them in my throat and it makes me choke. I feel myself start to shake and I clench my fists where they’re shackled.

  The irony is that if I do say I’m remorseful, they’ll let me out. But I don’t want to be let out. I should tell them I’d do it again or something stupid like that. But I can’t get those words out. They’ll choke me.

  “I…” I take a deep breath. I feel the weight of everything I’ve done on my shoulders. I feel it wrapping around my neck and choking me. A lot of times I wish the Tremblays had just killed me.

  “Jason?” Finch says.

  I shut my mouth and shake my head. I don’t have to say anything. My eyes are watery and I clear my throat, willing them away.

  You don’t deserve to cry, you piece of shit, I think to myself. I clear my throat again and stand up straight, head held high. I try to look blank and pretend I was not just quivering like a scared little kid.

  “I got nothing to say.” I take another breath and stare straight ahead at the wall. There’s a murmuring in the courtroom.

  There’s no way they’ll let me out now.

  “I’m disappointed,” Finch says, “in your refusal to speak for yourself. But I have some things I’d like to put on the record here.” Finch clears his throat. He runs these things kind of casually. Now he takes out a folder full of papers and puts on a pair of reading glasses. “You are noted as behaving like a model prisoner since your second escape which was two years ago and which you did seem to show remorse for. You are also noted as having attempted to dissuade fellow prisoners from their escape to join Jack Didion in their attack on the Tremblays-”

  I choke up a little bit and cover with a cough. I feel my cheeks burn and I feel Mason Tremblay’s eyes on me. I’d sort of forgotten about that. But when a whole bunch of prisoners busted out of here a while back to go declare war on the Tremblays, I did kind of try to talk them out of it. Mainly because it was the kind of dumbass thing I would have tried and look where all that got me. But I really didn’t do much. I just talked to a couple guys like Kyle. I don’t know how Finch knows about that. I guess he must have interviewed them.

  Finch stops talking and peers over his glasses at me and I feel like a bug under a microscope.

  “Do you deny any of this, Jason?” He says.

  “Don’t let me out,” I say, sputtering a little bit. Mason Tremblay is frowning at me and I hear a rumbling among the few other attendees in the room. “Don’t let me out. I don’t deserve it. I don’t want to be let out.”

  Finch gives me a long look and I don’t meet his eyes. I can’t. “You are very sorry for what you did,” he says slowly. “You’re so sorry, you can’t even stand to be with yourself. Can you?”

  I feel like I’m going to be sick.

  You’re scared, Alice said. You’re terrified.

  I don’t say anything to that. I don’t know what to say.

  “I’m releasing you,” Finch says.

  Fuck.

  I would think Mason Tremblay would put up a fuss. But he’s just staring at me like he doesn’t even have a problem with this.

  “I will ask you this,” Finch says. “Do you wish to be assigned to a new pack?”

  “No,” I say quickly. “I’d...I’d prefer exile.”

  Finch seems a little bothered by that. Call it self-inflicted punishment. I don’t have any idea how to live as a shifter without a pack but I know that I definitely don’t deserve one. I’d probably just poison whatever pack they assigned to me. I shouldn’t even be around people… I’m briefly considering pulling some kind of stunt that would put me back in a cell. I could attack somebody right here and now as they lead me out. I could attack Finch? I’ve been swearing to myself I wouldn't hurt anyone again who didn’t deserve it but if it kept me in here, it might be for the greater good-

  “Very well,” Finch is saying, before I can make up my mind. “You will be released into exile as a lone wolf. If you change your mind at some point and decide to join a pack, you may do so-”

  “I won’t,” I mumble. I can’t believe this is happening. I actually wanted to stay in prison and they’re letting me out.

  Son of a bitch.

  Chapter Two: Jason

  When they release me from the Mulligan, they give me forty dollars and the clothes I came in w
ith. There are no extended goodbyes and I don’t offer any. I don’t even say goodbye to Rick who I’ve been living next to for the last year. I never tried to make friends at the Mulligan. Then again, I don’t know that I have any idea how that works. At Hardwidge, we were all just kind of thrown together. I wouldn’t say I was friends with anyone there. We worked together as a pack against any enemies and the rest of the time it was wolf versus wolf. I had my buddy, Kyle. But honestly, he wasn’t much of a friend. He was just weaker than me and latched onto me because that’s what the weaker wolves do in a big pack; latch onto the stronger wolves.

  It’s a cold, grey day in Washington. The Mulligan sits south of Seattle, not too far from Portland. When I get out, I stand there on the street in the middle of the town of Castle Rock where the Mulligan hides away. My stomach rumbles. I was so freaked out about my release all night that I didn’t sleep and I couldn’t eat dinner. Didn’t feel much like eating breakfast either. So I guess a little chunk of this forty bucks will go to a meal since I’m an ass hat who couldn’t make myself eat before they got rid of me. There’s not much here though. The Mulligan is in a kind of industrial area. All the buildings are squat cement blocks, maybe manufacturers or offices or something. Anyway, I don’t see anyplace to get cheap food and I don’t even see any place to get some shelter and compose myself. Finch met up with me on my way out. He directed me to the bus stop just like he does all the prisoners who get out, and gave me a couple tokens.

  I got no plan, forty bucks, and I’ve never lived among humans.

  I’ll probably be dead in a week.

  On impulse, I cross the street and find the bus stop for a line heading north. Hardwidge was based in Oregon. I don’t want any part of it even though my old pack is done. I just don’t want to risk even running into any shifters who know me or know where I come from, much less what I’ve done. And I definitely need to get out of Washington.