Secret Chapter 2

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*Corey*

I watched Jayden chuckle while looking at something on the phone in Finn's hand. They were seated on the couch, side by side with their arms against each other like there wasn't a whole lot of space right beside them on the three-person couch.

My jaw was beginning to hurt with the amount of teeth-gritting I was doing watching them. Jayden did not usually come that close to me, or anyone but Finn or Kaden. Finn was so fucking touchy with everyone, especially Jayden and my mate didn't seem to mind. Meanwhile, we mostly held hands. I didn't mind, but comparing it to how relaxed he was with Finn irked me.

I tore my eyes from the pair as something hard jabbed into my ribs and automatically turned to glare at the person before my eyes softened as they landed on Hayley's face.

'If you keep looking at him like that, you might hurt him with your magic, Corey,' she linked to me.

'Is that a bad thing?' I silently replied and she gave me a flat stare causing me to let out a deep sigh.

It had been weeks since our Jazz museum date and weeks since Jayden and I had kissed. I wanted to hold him so badly. I wanted us to hang out like we did on the road trip, wanted him to fall asleep in my arms again. I missed that so much.

Every waking second I spent keeping away from him made more hatred build towards the reason he didn't want to be near anyone.

My attention drew back to Jayden and Finn when Kaden leaned over the couch to tell them something that set all three of them off laughing before he motioned for them to follow him.

I had the strong urge to tear Finn's throat apart when he grabbed Jayden's hand and pulled him off the couch. My mate looked at me and grinned, instantly calming me down for a second as I smiled back before watching him jog after his friend.

Damn Finn.

I let out a low growl turning to Hayley. She began to frown back at me but stopped as her brows furrowed.

"Those bungee jumping tickets are for this weekend, right?"

I gasped. Wait. Jayden had kept those in the nightstand beside his bed, but he never mentioned them, probably because he was trying to make sure I didn't remember getting them for him. He wouldn't get rid of them, because he probably wanted to keep the tickets as a souvenir.

Izabella and Hayley were with me when I booked it.

"Yeah... Yes, they are." I smiled.

"Did you forget?" she asked.

"Yes, but we're not too late. Round everyone up."

My mood had already lifted. Part of me was thinking of using the occasion to snap Finn's cable once he was off the bridge, but another part had a better idea.

-----

"You are not planning to murder him, right?"

I heard Hayley mumble but kept my eyes on the hands that were on my mate's shoulders. We were waiting for the crew to ready the equipment and Finn had yet to move from Jayden's side since we left the house. Actually, he never left his side at all. It made it all the harder for me to get Jayden alone.

I didn't reply to Hayley and my silence was enough to make her grab my wrist.

"Corey!" she hissed.

"He wouldn't, Hayley. Jayden would never forgive him," Izabella assured.

"True..." I mumbled but smiled.

That crosses Finn's death off the list. No one said I could not 'accidentally' injure him.

He sure as hell deserved it for thinking it was acceptable to walk around touching my mate like he was. He had an idea of what mates were, we had explained it to him and Kyle. He knew Jayden was my mate so knew what he was doing.

I gasped feeling simultaneous elbows to my ribs.

"Would you guys stop doing that?!" I snapped.

"Corey, he just doesn't understand. You know that it took him three weeks to accept that we are werewolves."

Well, it wasn't my problem if Finn was a wimp, but it was if he was trying to steal my mate.

"Yeah, whatever let's go."

I didn't want to argue about him more, just wanted to get my mate the hell away from him. I heard Hayley sigh but didn't bother looking back as I walked up to the boy who made my heart skip a beat as he laughed with his friends. Finn's laughter somehow resulted in him leaning on my mate like he was struggling to stand. He really needed to keep his hands to himself if he wanted to keep them at all. I was on the verge of hurting him.

Jayden inhaled sharply in surprise as my arms circled his waist, the impulsive movement not even having reached my mind to consider whether it was a good idea or not yet.

I wasn't into PDA, and I knew Jayden wasn't either, but Finn apparently needed to be reminded whose tree he was barking up and this was better than harming him. Plus, it came with being able to hug Jayden, which I hadn't been able to do in a while.

The human stepped back and Jayden didn't move in my arms. I could hear his heart racing and was relieved he had not pushed me away. Instead, he lifted his fingers, brushing them against my arm gently.

'What's this?' Jayden linked to me.

'I missed you.'

I grinned seeing him try to bite back a smile, his eyes narrowing as they continued to avoid mine, staring down at my arms instead.

"Ready to jump off a cliff?" I chuckled feeling him shiver slightly against me as my breath brushed his ear.

He seemed content with our position though, I could feel no fear or annoyance from him. I looked at Finn and bit back a smirk seeing him the sour look on his face. I wished I could link to him to tell him to back off without Jayden hearing me say it. My eyes would have to do.

"I'm ready to throw you off of one," my mate said, turning in my arms to face me.

The fact that he still had not moved away from me was so surprising, it was almost overwhelming.

That Mike scum did a number on him, it was clear no matter how much he tried to pretend to be unbothered by the past. The good thing about Finn – and Kaden too – was that Jayden was comfortable close to someone. I was proud of him but scared. Yes. Scared. Only he could do that. I was worried about what he was hiding again.

It baffled me how much things had changed. How I teased him for being weak once when I adored how strong he was after all that happened, all he had been through. He still needed help though. I knew he was trying to act 'normal' and keep things to himself like he always had.

"As if you could," I smirked.

Even with Izabella's blood, he couldn't move me if I didn't want to move.

"I could!" Kaden inserted enthusiastically. "I could make you jump off it." He grinned.

I raised my brows at him. He was so full of himself because of his status and ability to compel. It seemed he had become way too comfortable with me. Even so, his strength was not that great of an advantage when he could not use it as well as I could. Still, I decided to play along with Kaden's imagination.

"But what would Jayden do then? Cry over me?" I asked, kissing Jayden's cheek. His skin began to heat under my lips, and I chuckled pulling back to look at his face. His flustered reaction always made me want to do more, feel more... but he wasn't ready for it.

"I wouldn't," Jayden said rolling his eyes at me.

I was glad we had come far from the days when his every word towards me was hesitant, seeing him without eyes full of fear as he told me off was a sight I had grown accustomed to, and grateful for. I chuckled at Jayden and thought about pulling him closer to me but had the feeling he would completely push me away if I did that. At least I got to hold him right now.

"Get a room you two!" Trent joked despite having just kissed Rita.

I narrowed my eyes at the hypocrite before sighing when Jayden left my arms. Any joking about anything slightly mature made Jayden uncomfortable. That obviously was not Trent's intention, but he caught the reaction and looked guilty. He tried to ease the tension with a joke.

"Alright everyone, notice there is a lake deep enough for you to not smash face-first into the ground if anything happens, so don't worry –"

I shot him a glare. What the hell? How did he think that would help with the fear some of our friends were feeling? He shrugged. It was better than saying nothing. I tilted my head back at him. Yeah, maybe.

Jayden was distracted enough to look for some issues with jumping. "Uh... won't our ankles still be tied if we land in the water?"

"You can swim," I replied.

"Ah, the best part of bungee jumping: swimming." I laughed with everyone else as Kaden rolled his eyes.

"Who wants to go first?" Ernie, the man who ran the towers and was also a part of my pack, asked.

"Jay, this is your gift! You go!"

Jayden's jaw dropped but nothing came from his mouth as he stared at Izabella wide-eyed. I chuckled as he was ushered towards Ernie.

The towers were on either side of the lake of Lysa and we were now standing on a bridge built between them. The lake had a legend of its own.

That was probably why nearly everyone who came there were either couples or they were planning on getting together. That was the main reason why I chose to go there instead of visiting the venue that was closer to our pack grounds, not that I would ever admit that that was the reason I brought Jayden out there. I wasn't superstitious... but it was a nice thought.

I wondered how red Jayden's cheeks were going to be when he learned the story; I was going to flat-out deny knowing about it if he ever brought it up.

My train of thought crashed when Jayden just croaked after he was asked if he was ready to jump and I saw Finn grab his arm.

"It's okay, I'll jump with you."

Hell no.

"Um...I-I..." Jayden stuttered, glancing at me and at that moment I realised that he knew I hated it when Finn acted like that with him.

He was never good at refusing anyone, but that was not happening, they were not jumping together. Not on this lake, in fact, not on any lake or bungee tower would they ever be tied together!

"No thanks, Superman. Jayden's doing this alone, you can jump with Zeke if Sam says it's okay."

I smirked seeing Finn get paler than humanly possible. If Finn was afraid of us, he was terrified by Zeke. No one understood why. Zeke's wolf was not even particularly large or terrifying. Zeke found it hilarious, so did I because he was not at all scary.

Jayden glared at me while patting Finn's shoulder to comfort him. I frowned.

"Oh, shut up. I will jump with you Finn," Hayley said, being the big sister she was to him, as always.

I looked to see Kyle's face drop as he began to object but when he saw his brother happily hug Hayley, he held it back. I wanted to laugh. Having Kyle as her mate softened her a lot towards humans. She practically babied Finn more than his older brother did.

"That settles it then, but Jayden is still going first. It's your birthday, Babe," I said and caught Jayden before he could escape as he began to back away from Ernie again.

I knew that if I let him see the others jump, he would be too afraid to jump.

"You know it isn't," Jayden hissed while I motioned for Ernie to finish buckling him in.

"Well, it's your birthday gift. Now go before the rope 'accidentally' loosens up again while you jump." I could not help bringing that up and laughed seeing his eyes filled with a mixture of fear and anger as he remembered the last time.

'I hate you,' Jayden could not even muster enough venom into that to make it sound mean, let alone real, and I laughed, gently pushing him up to Ernie.

I watched in utter amusement as the man completed strapping my mate in while Jayden mumbled the lyrics to 50 Cent's Many Men. Did he seriously think he was going to die?

"Are you ready?" Ernie asked, making Jayden turn to cling to me for dear life, well after weeks of him running from me it was nice to feel him hug me, even if it was out of fear.

"See you on the other side, Jay," Kaden joked as he punched Jayden's shoulder.

The movement automatically sparked protectiveness in me. Despite my human mind trying to reason that it was just a playful punch, my wolf stirred. This was Jayden. What If he broke something?! Jayden just punched his friend back, and I was sure Kaden felt nothing.

"Alright buddy, you need to step down to the mark over there," Ernie said while releasing the rope from a machine that would help to get Jayden back up.

As Jayden slowly shuffled up to the marked jumping area, I linked to Ernie.

'You sure it can hold us both?'

It would hurt like if it snapped, and we plummeted down into the lake and I was not sure Jayden was strong enough for that.

'Yes, Beta. As it showed on the specifications the dozens of times we checked, it could hold a few people.'

I heard Jayden whimper as he glanced down while others cheered him on, trying to hype him up. He definitely was not catching on to their excitement at the moment.

"Remember the view. It'll be fine," I said as I edged him further.

After glaring at me one last time, Jayden closed his eyes while opening his arms wide preparing to jump.

He couldn't have made it easier for me.

I heard Izabella and Rita let out surprised cries as I sprinted forward and grabbed hold of Jayden just as he jumped. He cried out in shock, realising what I had done but it was too late for us to stop, we were already falling.

"What the hell Corey?!" Sean and the others' screams came from the bridge, but I knew Ernie would explain what was going on to them.

It had taken me a couple of hours to convince him to let me do it.

Jayden's arms were tightly clamped around me as my arms and legs wrapped around him. Funny that I had to jump from a bridge with no safety harness just to get him to hug me.

"Corey! What are you doing?! Oh my – Oh my god! You don't have – you're not wearing anything!'' I was actually wearing more than necessary with the close proximity, but I knew that he meant the safety harnesses.

"I thought you were afraid to jump alone?" I asked, feigning innocence.

I knew his fear of jumping was long forgotten. He was clinging to me so tightly that I was getting drunk on his scent, it even riled my wolf making me want to shift. The rope finally came to an abrupt end and we stopped falling, bouncing before we began slinging from one side to another over the dark water.

Just under the surface, fish reflected as the sun shone on them causing fleeting sparkles that reminded me of the evening sky before they disappeared deeper into the water. We began to slowly be drawn back up once our swinging slowed. It wasn't hard to understand why some people believed the lake to be magical. It was really beautiful.

"Jay, seriously, open your eyes. Look!"

Jayden did open his eyes, only to glare at me.

"What if I let you fall?! You idiot, what were you thinking!?" Jayden hissed, still not looking at the water at all.

"Nah, I knew you'd hold onto me. You like me too much to let me fall." I grinned showing the dimples people swooned over just for him. Our faces were so close, I could see his eyes dilating as they stared back into mine. Well, it was good to know I affected him just as he did me.

"You wish. I don't like you any more than I used to. You're insane," he lied, even though he was blushing. He was so cute.

"Is that so?" I asked.

"Was this just to get me to hug you?" he suddenly furrowed his brows.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Corey. Just because we're werewolves doesn't mean you get to be this reckless all the time. You seriously could have gotten hurt."

"You're afraid of me getting hurt?" I asked, raising my brows in surprise. I healed instantly, what was there to be afraid of?

"Are you... sure you finished high school?"

I laughed at the simplicity with which he delivered that insult.

"Seriously, next time just ask for a hug. Now we have to jump again just to get a good view." He shook his head.

I smiled.

"Jump again?"

"I mean... we'll go together. You'll hold onto me, right? I'll be fine."

"I've got a great view right now, though."

He smiled, shaking his head as I stared at him before sighing as he looked behind me.

"You know... there's a saying about this lake..."

I pulled my head back, and Jayden's arms instantly tightened around me as my arms loosened slightly in my shock.

"You know?"

"You thought I wouldn't do research on this place after the last 'bungee-jumping' experience we had?"

I laughed, nodding as I tightened my arms around him. It made me realise I was slowly slipping. I doubted we could make it back to the bridge together. Maybe it was about time to ask him, since he already knew what this lake meant.

"Well, since we both know... How about it?" his asking surprised me.

"Really?" I asked.

Jayden's head tilted up to look down towards the water. His heart was hammering against mine.

"I'm scared," he mumbled. "But... I kind of want to. Since this is crazy anyway."

"I like this crazy," I whispered. I couldn't have been happier than I was dangling above that lake in his arms.

I chuckled as his eyes met mine again, his face becoming fervent.

"I like you," he mumbled.

I was so stumped by the admission, that my brain went blank, and I just stared at him, grinning like an idiot. Jayden eventually gave a chuckle leaning into me and I couldn't help but gasp in surprise as his lips pressed to mine.

I had not expected him to lead the kiss, and it made me realise how much I had missed the taste of him. I leaned into it, tilting my head to reach him further as I licked his bottom lip, asking him to open up and just as he did, I muttered, "I like you too, Jay. More than you know."

Jayden's arms tightened around me signalling the go-ahead and I didn't break our kiss as I detached the harness, sending us both falling towards the water beneath us.

I never believed cheesy myths, but hopefully, this place was like the Apocalypse peaks and falling into this legendary lake together like this would keep us this way forever.

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