Leo Rossi: The Rise of a True Alpha (The Rossi Legacies Book 2)
Precious Bonds Chapter 3

JAX.

I leave Shane's room silently; he wasn't too bad to put to bed at all.

He's a good kid.

I glance over my shoulder at him. He's damn cute, fast asleep and sucking his thumb.

I leave the door open a crack, so we'll hear if he wakes up and make my way downstairs.

Kareena's in the kitchen cleaning up the counters. She's in denim pants that hug her figure nicely with a white t-shirt knotted at the front, showing off her taut stomach and narrow waist.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare?" she asks without turning as she rubs the back of her neck.

I smirk as I lean against the door frame. "The view's pretty good, so why not?" I reply cockily.

She turns and rolls her eyes. "Yeah, this is a good view. I'm a mess," she says, motioning at herself as she shakes her head.

I look her over. Does she really think she looks anything but fine?

I'm doing it again.

"Now that you mention it... you do look a mess." I joke, but it draws a small smile from her.

I'm just not sure from what angle.

"Exactly." She says as she walks over to the sink and washes the few dishes.

"You hadn't eaten, right?" I ask.

"No, Shane was upset. I only managed to feed him his mashed potato. I was going to throw something together after he went to bed," she says, rinsing off her hands and she's about to grab the tea towel when I lean around her and grab it first. "I'll dry." I say, moving my arm back. My arm brushes her waist and I try to ignore the tingles.

She narrows her eyes suspiciously. "What's your incentive?"

"I don't know? Maybe helping out a tired Momma so she can stop trying to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders?" I ask, running my hand down the back of my head.

She tilts her head as she brushes past me, nudging me with her shoulder playfully. "I don't think you realise you already carry a lot of it for me," she says softly.

I look over my shoulder at her sharply, but her back is to me.

"Always, Peaches," I smirk as I dry the dishes quickly.

She comes over, taking the ones I've dried and begins to put them away.

The sound of the rustling leaves in the garden is soothing through the open window as I watch her. Noticing that she massages her shoulder again and I frown. Has she pulled something?

I finished off the last of the cups and carry them over to her. I stop behind her and place them on the counter in front of her.

"Jax..." she says, her heart racing and I look down at the back of her head.

Not replying, I place one hand at the top of her sternum, above her breasts as I massage the back of her neck. No wonder the pain isn't going away. She's pulled something. She tenses, but I focus on what I'm doing. With my thumb, I knead the back of her neck downwards, pushing out the kink.

"Oh, fuck." She gasps, letting out a breath as she relaxes.

"Better?" I ask quietly, massaging down the centre of her back and between her shoulder blades with my knuckles slowly.

The feel of her skin beyond the thin fabric is tantalising and my knuckles graze against her bra strap...

"Mhmm..." she sighs softly, her eyes fluttering shut.

My own heart is racing despite trying to remain calm.

Her scent invades my senses, the brush of her ass against my thigh...

How far will she let me go?

I brush my hand that rests on her sternum up, resting it against her throat, watching her breasts rise and fall over her shoulder.

"Good..." I whisper, my voice coming out far deeper than it was meant to be.

I can feel my wolf stirring in my mind, wanting a piece of our mate. She's bound to me.... we've formed that connection...

She turns her head slightly as if about to say something when the doorbell rings, jolting us both out of that moment, and I close my eyes for a second, irritated with the interruption. "It's late, can't they flipping mind link?" I growl, moving back.

I hear her let out a shaky breath, not replying to my remark. As I leave the kitchen, I can feel my own heart still racing.

What am I doing?

I pull open the door and glare at the scrawny bastard.

"Ever heard of mind linking?" I growl, but as the words leave my lips, I realise he probably hasn't even shifted. He doesn't look much older than sixteen.

"Sorry Beta! I haven't shifted yet," he says, giving me a goofy grin.

I sigh. "Right, then call or knock. You shouldn't just go ringing the doorbell at this damn hour. There's a pup sleeping." I scold.

"Leave him, Jax, there's no harm done. Shane's asleep." Kareena says, holding out some money. "Here."

"Put it on my account," I say,

"Yes, put the pizza on his account, but this is a tip," she says, giving me a pointed look with her bluey-grey eyes.

"Oh, thank you..." he says before casting me a furtive glance, passing me the pizza boxes as he quickly backs away. "I-I'll remember next time!"

"You better," I say, closing the door.

He came at the wrong damn time...

I shut the door as Kareena chuckles before disappearing into the kitchen. "You really are something else."

"He didn't deserve that tip." I say, watching her reappear with two glass bottles of coca cola.

Poor Shane didn't get his pizza...

"Mhmm, says you, come on," she walks into the lounge and I follow her.

I watch her place the bottles down, pulling the table closer to the sofa, and showing off more of her back.

The question is... how far do I want to go?

I had my last haze about three weeks or so ago, meaning there are still at least three before the next one hits, so I know for certain the haze isn't clouding my judgement...

The haze... the longer I delay, the closer the gap between each round is getting smaller, and it is becoming harder...

I place the boxes down as she drops onto the sofa and grabs the remote, switching the television on.

"Oh shit, I forgot the plates!" She stands up quickly, but I grab her wrist and yank her down again.

"Who cares? We just washed up, just eat out of the box. Everything tastes better from the source." I glance over at her freezing when an image of me eating her pussy flashes through my mind and I reinforce my walls. Fuck.

I know I'm not one to be careless to let anything slip through the mind link, but what the fuck was that?

She raises an eyebrow, looking concerned.

"Earth to Jax? You ok, tiger?" she snaps her fingers in front of me.

"Yeah, perfectly." I say, looking away from her as I try to remove that image from my head.

I have seen her partially naked... but I never looked at her like that back then. I'm not even sure what her pussy would look like.

Ok fuck, clean your mind, Jax.

I run my fingers through my hair, trying not to get fucking turned on. No matter how much I try, I'm unable to get rid of that image... and the hunger for sex is growing.

"What shall we watch..." she muses as I rip into a pizza slice that I'm unable to taste.

"Anything works," I mutter.

She looks at me curiously and yeah; I know it's not the usual for me. I always like to have a say in what we are watching.

I'm sitting forward, my elbows resting on my thighs, hoping she can't see my damn hard-on.

This is fucking embarrassing.

"Li Sheng's birthday is next weekend. You are planning on coming, right?" I ask, trying to focus on something else.

"Yeah... I think this year I will go." She replies softly.

I look over at her. She was always with Shane...

"Wanna go together?" I ask, knowing it'll be hard for her to go to a club without Shane.

I don't even know if she's been to one since Shane Jr.'s been born.

"Me and you?" she cocks a brow and I shrug.

"Na, I'm talking about Granny Beth down the road." I reply sarcastically.

"Ok, point taken. I think she'll make a good plus one," she teases, nudging me as she pokes her eyes out at me.

That isn't the answer I'm looking for.

"We both don't really have anyone else to go with. Why not just go together?" I ask, cocking a brow.

She nods slowly.

"Hmm... I don't know..." she says, biting into her pizza slice before she licks her lips slowly.

I finish off my slice, and turning to her I lean closer to her.

"Then let me rephrase..." I say quietly. She leans back. "I want you to come with me, understood?"

She smirks as she places her hand on my chest and pushes me back. "Don't get all dominating on me. It doesn't work." "Sassy... but I'm not done," I say, taking hold of her chin. "We're going together."

How about that?

She cocks her eyebrows before nodding slowly as she tugs free. "Mmm, ok, but I get to dress you."

"Dress me or undress me. I'm cool with it." I shrug as I grab another pizza slice, feeling like I just scored a win.

I glance at her when she doesn't reply and raise an eyebrow.

She shakes her head, grabbing one of the glass bottles and snapping off the metal cap on the table edge.

"Thanks." I say, snagging the bottle from her hand before she can even take a snip, and giving her a cocky smirk. She glares at me, but I'm not bothered, realising there's a faint blush on her cheeks...