"No Baby. I am an Alpha. We are all dominate," Jacks snapped back. "Don't confuse that with some storybook version of BDSM. We expect and honor submission. It is in our nature. Having a willing woman on her knees in front of me, waiting for whatever I desire, is my preference." He elaborated. "Her knowing that she will be on the receiving end of ecstasy that she could only imagine is a major turn on. The only thing better would be having her tied and blindfolded to my bed."

Ryleigh couldn't help but press her thighs together, Jacks was getting to her with what he was saying, even though she thought he shouldn't be. Definitely, something she needed to think about. Her reaction to this infuriating man was not normal.

"I like to leave my women wondering what I am going to do next; antic.i.p.ation is also a major turn on," Jacks disclosed to Ryleigh "not knowing what is going to happen from one minute to the next. Only knowing that it is going to feel unbelievable. What do you say, Baby? Do you want to be in my bonds or do you want to keep this a PG version?"

Ryleigh could feel her breathing speed up, and the b.u.t.terflies in her stomach turned into full blow birds the longer he talked. Oh, my Lord, she thought, I could see myself tied to his bed waiting for his touch. What the heck was wrong with her? She needed to shut this conversation down and fast.

"I don't know, Jackson, but considering that I was kept in a cage and treated like an animal for the first eleven years of my life, I don't think your bonds would do much except maybe trigger my flight or fight instinct," she replied with heavy sarcasm. "No worries, though, we will only be together a week. Although we need to put on a show for the Franklins household, I don't think that is the kind of show we want to project."

f.u.c.k, he could smell her arousal when he was talking about tying her to his bed. Was his bear that screwed up when it came to this woman? The bear couldn't tell the difference between arousal and fear at this point? No f.u.c.king way she liked what he was saying. Why was she shutting him down like this, Jacks thought? Time to give her a little s.p.a.ce for now, but this discussion was far from over.

"Rye, can I call you Rye?" Jacks said in an attempt to quickly change the subject. "I'm curious as to why your group is called the Holly Group. Was one of your first cases for a girl named Holly, or is it something else? NAC is pretty self-explanatory, Not Another Child. But the Holly Group is an enigma." He asked.

Ryleigh was both taken aback, but happy Jacks changed the subject. No way did she want to go into how aroused Jacks was making her. Things between them were getting too personal for her comfort.

"Wow, that is actually a good question," Ryleigh willingly responded. "People tend to make a.s.sumptions like you thought; maybe it was an individual or someone's last name, but it isn't either of those things. During my time with Naval Intelligence, I was in on the rescue of Mia Carpenter. The conditions she was held in were very similar to what I experienced as a child. One of the major differences was that her captors didn't feel that it was necessary to keep her brain stimulated."

Jacks almost shut her down; it wasn't his intention to make her sad, but by the look on her face, that was exactly what this conversation was doing.

"She suffers from many of the same things that I do, but again, her captors ignored her dissent." Ryleigh continued. "It was felt that as long as she was alive, they could continue their testing, catatonic or not. The funny thing was that we were not on a search and rescue mission. Instead, we were tracking guns. Finding Mia was a big surprise."

Jack's noticed that Ryleigh looked a little less sad, but he could tell the story still deeply affected her.

"After her rescue, she spent many months in the hospital and I kind of adopted her," Ryleigh revealed. "I was able to recognize that she needed brain stimulation in the same way that I did. First, I started reading to her; mainly technical manuals. My talents are more towards numbers and figures, puzzles if you will, so that is what I started with hoping that it would trigger a response."

d.a.m.n, Jacks' life hadn't been a storybook, but he had to acknowledge, at least to himself, that the things these women went through were awful. He also had to wonder how they became such productive members of society, helping others when they themselves had suffered so severely.

"After about a week she spoke to me and pleaded for anything but more accounting manuals," Ryleigh chuckled. "Not left with much in the hospital, I pulled out one of the textbooks I had from medical school. I had already dropped out of the residency program, but I found I liked neurology, so I kept the book. Within days, she was devouring medical books at a rate that even alarmed me. She was so into them that she refused to do anything else. We figured her brain was so deprived that once the switch was flip, she couldn't stop herself. Her body was already in a weakened state and only getting worse because all she wanted to do was learn, so I had to do something."

Ryleigh knew she was sugarcoating the extent of the situation, but there was no way anyone would believe how bad it was without seeing it for themselves. Mia's body was shutting down, and she didn't care, and Ryleigh was desperate to help her.

"In the gift shop, I grabbed a book, not really paying attention to it at the time, and went back to her room." Ryleigh continued. "I had all the textbooks taken away from her. To say she was p.i.s.sed was an understatement. She didn't care that her body was literally shutting down. For the first time in a very long time, a void was being filled, and that was all she cared about. We made a deal that day that if she did her physical therapy and ate all her meals every day, we could read one chapter from the book I had bought and discussed it. I also told her that when she was healthy enough, I would sponsor her to attend college and medical school if that was what she wanted."

Ryleigh wasn't going to tell him that at the time, she thought Mia would turn her down. Mia was at a point that she didn't care if she lived or died, she just wanted something to take a little of the pain away and learning about medicine seemed to do that for her.

"The book was on Celtic legends," said Ryleigh. "Through our discussions, other aspects of our lives were brought up. I told her about my first eleven years, and she told me about her captivity. She had only been there for a couple years, but her family had been the people to sell her out. We had also talked about how I figured out that she needed the knowledge to bring her out of her catatonic state. Being that my brain worked the same way, I told her it was just a hunch."

Jacks couldn't imagine a life where if you didn't learn something every day, you would go into a catatonic state. s.h.i.t, somedays him and the guys just played video games and ate junk food. He wondered if Ryleigh or Mia were ever able to have a day like that.

"It took us forever to get through the book, as neither of us were really into mythology," Ryleigh divulged. "We prefer tangible evidence and factually based readings. However, on the day that she was to be released from the hospital, we read the last chapter, waiting for her discharge. It described the meaning of many things, but the description of what the holly plant represented resonated with both of us."

Ryleigh was afraid that she was going to lose Jacks by continuing this conversation. She knew what it meant to her and Mia, but realized others beyond the Holly Group wouldn't understand, and that was okay with her. She just kind of liked having his undivided attention on something other than her body. He was actually listening to her, and she loved it.

"You see, the Celtic meaning of holly deals with ruling the winter realms with style, dignity, and honor, even in the midst of great challenge," Ryleigh explained. "While most plants die, or hibernate in the cold, dark, winter months, the holly thrives. Celts consider holly a sign of good luck. In fact, they would often bring it into their homes, even planting it around them as a symbol of protection because of its light repelling properties, not to mention their p.r.i.c.kly leaves."

Looking up into his eyes, she didn't see the hazed over look that she had expected. He was listening to her story and seemed to like it, but she knew she needed to finish it off before he remembered he was an Alpha male.

"All of this together represents another metaphor for protection, vigilance, and stubborn victories won," Ryleigh p.r.o.nounced. "If you feel the walls of life starting to distend upon you, Celts believed you could call upon the holly plant to invoke its protective qualities, and you would no longer need to be on the defensive. The Holly will protect and push you towards victory; whether that victory is for your mind, body, or soul."

s.h.i.t, Jacks was at a loss. The whole holly thing was neat, but a little too deep for him. But he figured if it got those two ladies to help others, he was all for it.

"Like I said, the legend resonated with both of us," Ryleigh said. "We wanted to live by those properties and help others gain them as well. So, that is where the name for The Holly Group came from. We will repel the bad, help the innocent, and never give up. We will win no matter what."

"Wow, that is incredibly intense," Jacks replied. "I just thought that holly was a Christmas decoration."

Chapter 20.

"Come on we need to get to the plane so I can start the preflight testing," Ryleigh said. "We have a departure appointment soon, and we can't miss it or we will be forced to stay here for a while. We have places to be."

"Wait a minute. What do you mean you need to do preflight testing? Are you going to be flying the plane?" Jacks was shocked. "I didn't agree with you flying the plane. Don't you have a pilot? How are we going to go over the operation if you are flying the plane?" He was finding it increasingly harder to hide his unease.

"I know some pilots. I could call them," Jacks said, almost pleading. "They could fly the aircraft. That way we won't waste any time."

Jacks was sweating it. He didn't like to fly on a good day and generally only flew with his team, specifically when his second was at the helm. His bear didn't like flying in any way; it was unnatural, and the beast was scratching to run away and hide, for f.u.c.k's sake. Most of the non-feathered shifters felt this way. Jacks only flew with pilots he knew and trusted. There was no way he was going to let Ryleigh take him up in the tiny plane they were headed for.

"What? Is Jackson Thorp afraid to let me fly him to Tennessee?" Ryleigh asked, not sure whether she should be offended or amused. "I a.s.sure you, oh Alpha, I have a valid pilot's license, and I have only crashed three times. Nothing serious just small accidents," she said teasingly.

"There is no such thing as a small crash, Ryleigh," Jacks said, not being able to take a joke. "Yeah, I think I need to call a buddy to fly the plane. Actually, my Second, Cash, is a pilot. He even has his own plane. Let me give him a call. It just makes more sense because we can work on the case while in the air and he can fly the aircraft. Yeah, best leave it up to the professionals."

Just then, ramp supervisor, Ollie, walked up to the waiting pair. Ryleigh loved the old Airforce Pilot. They usually had dinner or drinks every time she came into JFK. He had been a pilot during Vietnam and would tell Ryleigh stories of the time he spent over there. He would also complain that the airport was, 'trying to get rid of his old a.s.s'. Ryleigh would never tell him but she had her Dad pull some strings to make sure that never happened.

Ollie needed this job; it kept the demons away, at least that is what he told her and she believed him. She kept her demons away by solving puzzles. He could no longer fly, but he could be around the machines that had saved his life back when he was barely old enough to drink. Ollie had been drafted and because he had been operating a crop plane, he was instantly put in for pilot training. His help and skills in Operation Frequent Wind were his pride and glory. He loved that he was able to a.s.sist in the evacuation of Saigon and Ryleigh was grateful for his service to their country.

"Hi Honey, you ready for preflight?" Ollie asked. "You're all loaded and ga.s.sed. And what does this guy mean leaving the flying up to professionals? Doesn't he know you are certified to fly anything that has wings? I mean Navy pilots are pretty professional, wouldn't you say?"

"You were in the military?" Jacks croaked.

"Yes, sir. I was raised military, just like my dad. I decided to do my residency with the Navy but figured out that medicine wasn't my pa.s.sion, so I explored the pilot's program. Dad had been taking me up in his plane since I was a little girl and I got my pilot's license even before I could drive" Ryleigh replied. "I have a little falcon in me even. The skies just call to me, kind of like how hibernation calls to a bear, you know what I mean?" she teased.

This woman could turn him into a pile of mush on command, but her calling him 'sir' had and immediate effect on his c.o.c.k. The only thing better would be her on her knees with her full, supple lips wrapped around his c.o.c.k. He could actually see it. She seemed kind of inexperienced so he would probably have to teach her how he liked to be sucked. Imagining her pink little tongue peeking out of that gorgeous mouth to taste his essence caused a shiver to crawl up his spine. He would then tell her to slowly trace the rim around his bulbous head, paying particular attention to the notch at the bottom.

After he had his fill of that, he would grab the hair at the back of her head, pulling her forward to take more of his c.o.c.k, encouraging her to suck. He would gradually make her take him deep in long slow draws at first, moving her head faster until he was f.u.c.king her mouth the way he wanted.

Snapping himself out of his little daydream, he couldn't help but think, f.u.c.k, who am I kidding? The one that was going to be brought to their knees in this relationship was him. That was if she didn't kill him first. It was then that he got his second epiphany. f.u.c.k, he thought of her regarding a relationship. He had never done that before, he was starting to resign himself to the fact that she was his something more; maybe a mate, definitely more than a one and done. She had to be, right?

"So how long were you in?" Jacks questioned. "I mean you're not that old?"

Yeah, he was also trying to delay the flight from h.e.l.l for as long as he possibly could.

"I was only in for one term," Ryleigh replied. "I graduated medical school at 17 and immediately joined. I wanted to be like my Dad and serve my country. Like I said, medicine wasn't for me, but I had always liked flying. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. The other pilots we not happy with a female in the program, let alone one that was so young. I was quickly moved to Naval Intelligence, but some stuff happened and I decided military life wasn't for me in the long run. I have been running The Holly Group full-time for about six years now."

"Well then, let's get this over with. Where do you want me?" Jacks said, trying not to let his thoughts become evident.

Jackson went somewhere for a while mentally, and by the bedroom eyes he was giving off Ryleigh could only a.s.sume where that was. Was he as attracted to her as much as she was to him or was this fascination just one sided? By all accounts, he was a man wh.o.r.e that flirted with anything that had b.o.o.bs. Yeah, she just guessed at that, but he did work with 'professionals' as he had stated before. She hoped this feeling was mutual. He could have been thinking of one of his many "professionals," jerk. Ryleigh decided to push him a little more.

"Why up in the c.o.c.kpit with me. Jackson, you are going to be my copilot." She joked with a smug little smile on her face. "You don't have any problems with flying, do you? How about confined s.p.a.ces?"

Ryleigh couldn't help but think to herself, I hope he is claustrophobic, it would serve him right for making me feel this way, she giggled. Why him? Twenty-eight years and she had encountered no such problems. Men barely penetrated her radar, and now this man was making craters in it. c.r.a.p.

Trying to save face Jacks said, "No need, honey. I wouldn't want to be a distraction for you while you are flying the friendly skies. I will sit in the back like pa.s.sengers are supposed to."

That way you can't see the white-knuckled grip I have on the armrests of my seat and the sweat that will most a.s.suredly be dripping from my brow, Jacks thought to himself. I wonder if she has liquor on this thing; a couple of shots, f.u.c.k, a bottle might calm down my bear. He had joined the Navy just because of this; bears liked water, not so much tin cans that flew through the sky. He was finding increasingly harder to hide his unease. Was she sensing his weakness?

"Got yah, almighty Alpha," Ryleigh laughed to herself, "no, the copilot's seat has your name on it. You're not scared, are you?"

"Touche, Miss Quinn, touche," Was all he said. Jacks knew he needed to man up, or in his case, bear up. There was no way he was going to let Ryleigh see him sweat, at least that is what he told himself.

Once the preflight check was completed, you could have broken Jackson in half with a swift kick by how tense he got. As soon as the engine started and they began taxiing down the runway, he literally went white. Which is saying something because the man had a golden tan that you could tell was from working outside, not from any artificial means like lotions or tanning booths. He then started hyperventilating when Ryleigh called the tower for departure approval.

She felt sorry for him. Maybe in her attempt to one up him she had pushed a little too hard. Ryleigh took Jacks hand and placed it within her own.

"Jackson, if you want to sit back in the pa.s.senger area it okay with me," Ryleigh said soothingly. "Just leave the headset on and we will be able to communicate. I just thought this would be easier if you were up here. It can be kind of intimidating to the untrained or people with flying issues in general."

d.a.m.n, no way was he going to take pity from his woman, any woman, honestly. He could jump out of planes into hostile territories; he just didn't like sitting in them. That was the problem. If he and Ryleigh had any chance at a relationship, it needed to start like he planned; to continue it with him in the dominant position. And that to him meant showing no weaknesses. Time to ball up.

"No, that's fine. If you can do it, so can I. Just give me a minute," he said, trying to regain his composure. "Holding my hand is helping," Jacks said while looking her in the eyes.

At that moment, she could see a future with this man. Ryleigh liked that she could give him comfort, but she had to put a stop to it; this time not for personal reasons either.

"Thanks, I am glad I can help but, Jackson," Ryleigh said trying to be as gentle as possible, "I kind of need that hand for lift off and right now your grip is about to break at least two of my fingers."

He embarra.s.singly let go of her hand. He was disgusted with himself. Some strong Alpha male he was having to hold a girl's hand to just get through take off.

"I kind of need them for our mission and to fly this plane, if you don't mind," Ryleigh jokingly said. "Hey, I got something that will take your mind off of the flight. There is some sunscreen in the cabinet above your head. Why don't you put some on? If you're flying up here, you're going to need it; closer to the sun and all that. Make sure you use a lot."

"s.h.i.t, sorry. Okay," Jacks stammered. "I don't need sunscreen; I don't burn ever."

Jacks didn't like any of this, and he felt like Ryleigh was treating him like a child now. He didn't need any d.a.m.n sunscreen. He was a Shifter for f.u.c.k's sake he had never had a sunburn in his life. He knew he was overreacting. Ryleigh was just trying to be nice, and he had to attempt. He kind of like the idea that she cared but he hated this weakness that he was displaying. Even more that he was showing it to her.

"You know, I was only joking about crashing, right?" Ryleigh tried again to change the subject. "I have never crashed a plane, even in simulation. I have one of the best flight records in both the public and while I was in military sectors. I could land this plane on a dime if I needed to. You just need to trust me," she said trying to a.s.sure the apparently uneasy Jacks.

"Also, if you have never been this up and personal with the sun before please humor me and put some sunscreen on. Seriously, you will burn," she tried to warn Jacks.

Jacks grudgingly slathered the gross lotion all over his face and arms not wanting to admit that he would do anything to please the woman he was sitting next to.

"I will get us to Fort Campbell in no time, and I won't even offer to fly you back after the mission is over," Ryleigh offered. "You can drive if you want or have one of you buddies fly you out." Jacks was clearly uncomfortable with her flying the plane and she just wanted to placate him. "But please trust me, I will get you there in one piece. I have been flying since before I turned twelve. I couldn't even drive a car, but I was able to fly. It seems that the powers that be think that letting children play around in the open sky is a good thing. Who would have thought, right? I could fly without a.s.sistance before you were able to join the military, so please trust me. I have you."

"Okay, Rye, I am literally putting my life in your hands," Jacks exhaled. "Let's get this bird off the ground and on its way."

Chapter 21.

After they had leveled off and Jackson caught his breath, he thought another distraction was in order. He didn't even want to think about the landing, those were the worst for him. He always thought they would plummet to the ground if a flaming inferno. Tin cans were not meant to fly. They were intended to stay safely on the ground, along with him. Yeah, he needed to get his mind off landing, and they needed to talk about the case; it was almost perfect in his opinion.

"Jackson, do you think you're going to have a problem with the safe?" Ryleigh questioned. "My part in this operation is easy. All I have to do is act like a physical therapist and your wife. Considering medical training, the physical therapy part won't be an issue."

No way was she going to tell him how scared she really was about acting like his wife. She had never been in a relationship and her Dad never let her see him with a woman. Her friends were all pretty much like her; if they had relationships or boyfriends, they kept it to themselves. So, she severely lacked information on how a real relationship worked. Her only knowledge came from books and she really didn't think that she would be able to portray the relationships she read about in those books, without embarra.s.sing herself further.

"And although pretending to be your wife may be a little more challenging because of my lack of experience in that area," Ryleigh divulged, "- I think we can pull that off easily. We seem to have a lot of chemistry between us."

Yeah, chemistry was an understatement, Jacks thought. What they had could be fated; she just didn't know if yet, and he wasn't quite ready to accept it. He needed more information before he decided if this was plain old l.u.s.t or more. Even if he felt it deep down, it was definitely more. It just wasn't something you said to a woman you only just met.

"Just out of curiosity, though, and because I really don't want to step on anybody's toes, is there a Mrs. Thorp I should be worried about or maybe a girlfriend or something?" Ryleigh asked. "I wouldn't feel right causing any relationship problems, even on a mission this important." She didn't want to appear too curious about his relationship status. "We could always spin it off as you being my gay a.s.sistant or something. That way you could preserve any relationship you have," she said, trying to hide the true intentions of her questioning.

"What? No, I am not playing your gay a.s.sistant!" Jacks snapped back. "Besides, if I were in a relationship, which I am not, that person would know the mission comes first for me. So, you don't have to worry about stepping on anyone's toes, not to mention most of our missions are cla.s.sified. I wouldn't even be able to let the nonexistent person know what was going on either would you."

Jacks knew that Ryleigh was fishing for information about his relationship status, but to pull the gay card was a little bit much considering all the things he had already said to her. No way in h.e.l.l did this woman think he was gay. Not that there is anything wrong with that, different strokes for different folks and all that, but he was 100% heteros.e.xual, and she knew it. He was kind of curious to see how far she would take this overt questioning.

"We are, after all, just playing parts," Jacks a.s.sured her. "It's not like it is real. All undercover operations require some type of subterfuge. It's not like it means anything."

Well, he got his answer. It seemed the little minx was going to take a page from his own book and play off her curiosity as part of the mission. He was arrogant enough to think that he was the only one that could get away with that. No way was he going to let her think the feelings they were having for each other we just a part of the mission, but he couldn't resist the urge to push her just a little further.

"Sometimes we have to go beyond things we are comfortable with on a mission, and I am willing to make that sacrifice," Jacks said, with a smirk on his face. "Are you Riley?" He turned to her, trying to size her up. "Would you do anything for a mission or is this just some half-a.s.sed play acting trip for you?"

Yeah, he just caught her. Ryleigh wanted the mission done, and she was willing to do just about anything to achieve that goal, but one thing she wouldn't do is put her heart on the line. She needed her and Jacks relationship to stay superficial, or she was afraid this mission would change her life in a way that couldn't be undone. After all, it was already happening, and it scared the c.r.a.p out of her.

"If we don't go in there with a solid cover, this mission will fail," Jacks continued. "We have to make these people trust us. With the amount of security in this house, it is evident that they are expecting something. We already know some of the things they are hiding, but there could be more. Are you up for this?"

Ryleigh wouldn't come right out and tell him but she was scared to death. This mission needed to get done quickly and she needed to be on this mission. She just didn't want to be left in the dust with her heart stomped into the floor when it was over.

"The safe will not be a problem," Jacks said with confidence. "I have a low odor emitting corrosive that will eat through anything. As long as I plan it correctly and take new brackets and joints, I should be able to get into the safe within minutes and be out of the office before anyone misses me."

It was good to hear that Jacks was ready, but Ryleigh had some questions. She needed to make sure that the mission would go off without a hitch and that Jacks had explored every possible outcome. If he was confident, then she needed to feed off of that because her nerves and brain were about shot. She didn't go out in the field often, but when she did, she learned that knowing every possible outcome took away some of the fear.

"What stops the corrosive at the brackets and joint and why wouldn't it go right through the casing?" a concerned Ryleigh asked. "We still have two hours in that house after you break the safe. If anyone notices the odor or damage to the safe, our cover could be blown. Are you sure this is the best alternative? Can't you just crack the combination? Wouldn't that be the least intrusive and obvious way to go about this?"

Jacks wanted to laugh. Ryleigh was cute when she didn't have a full grasp of something. It could be interesting to see what else confused her.

"Actually, no, this is an electronic combination mechanism. I could crack it, but there would an electronic record of when the door opened," he replied. He had another gosh darn sneer on his face. "And if I am a betting man, which I am, I would bet you a million dollars that every time the safe is opened someone in the house is alerted. These people wouldn't go to such extreme lengths only to leave out that little detail."

Jacks didn't like Ryleigh's line of questioning. He was prepared for his part of the mission, and she needed to realize that. It was a blow to his ego that she would think he would half-a.s.s his role. He wasn't the one they needed to be worried about; she was. Jacks had been on hundreds of missions, most of which were successful. He wondered how many Ryleigh had been on.

"My team is bringing me replicas of the safe as well as my tools and the corrosive," Jacks explained. "I will practice as many times a possible before we have to leave for the Franklins."