Secret Chapter 2.

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*Corey*

I watched Jayden chuckle when looking at something that Finn was displaying on his cell phone. 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 number of teeth-gritting I was doing watching them. Jayden never came that close to me, or anyone but Finn. Finn was so fucking touchy with everyone, especially Jayden and Jayden didn't seem to mind. Yet the most we did was hold hands.

I tore my eyes from the pair when I felt a hard jab into my ribs and automatically turned to glare at the person before my eyes softened as they landed on Izabella's face.

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

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

It had been a week since our Jazz museum date and a week 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...

My attention drew back to Jayden and Finn when Kaden told 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 out when he grabbed Jayden's hand and pulled him off the couch so they could follow Kaden. My mate looked at me and grinned, it instantly calmed 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 Izabella. 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 but he never mentioned them, probably because he was trying to make sure I didn't remember getting them for him. Izabella and Hayley were with me when I booked it so they knew when they were for.

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

"Did you forget?" She asked.

"Yes, but we're not too late. Get everyone." 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 of me had a better idea.

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"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 fix the equipment and Finn had yet to move from Jayden's side since we left the house – wait, he never left his side at all, did he?

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 Hayley.

"True..." I mumbled but smiled. That crosses Finn's death off the list. No one says I can't 'accidentally' injure him. He sure as hell deserved it for thinking it was alright to walk around touching my mate like he was. He knew what mates were, we had explained it to him and Kyle. He 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 that made my heart skip a beat. He was mine and Finn needed to keep his hands to himself if he wanted to keep them at all. I was really on the verge of hurting him.

I smirked when Jayden inhaled sharply after my arms circled his waist. I wasn't into PDA but Finn apparently needed to be shown (again) whose tree he was barking up. The human stepped back a little and Jayden didn't move in my arms. I could hear his heart racing and was happy he had not pushed me away immediately.

"Ready to jump off a cliff?" I chuckled feeling Jayden shiver slightly against me as my breath brushed his ear. He seemed content with our position though, there was no fear or annoyance from him in our link. I looked at Finn and bit back a smirk seeing him try to hide his glare at me. I wish 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. He was not pressed against me but was not trying to get away from me either which I was grateful for.

That Mike scum did a number on him, though lately he had been trying not to react to getting touched the way he had in the past. I was proud of him but scared. Yes. Scared. Only he could do that. It's funny how I teased him for being weak once when I adored how strong he actually was after all that happened, all he had been through. He still needed help though. I knew he was trying to act strong although still terrified.

"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 throw yourself off it." He grinned. He was so full of himself with his compulsion and the alpha voice he carried, but I bet I could take him down in a fight since he probably wouldn't get angry enough to fight seriously. Even so, I was stronger than him and had more training. I decided to play along with Kaden's impossible imagination.

"But what would Jayden do then? Cry over me?" I asked kissing Jayden's cheek. His skin was warm and I chuckled pulling back to look at his face. The bashful warmth that covered his cheeks 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, his attitude would have bothered me when I was being an asshole in the past but seeing him without eyes full of fear as he looked at me was a sight I had grown accustomed and even attached to. 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 while leaning to kiss Rita. It made me narrow my eyes at him. What a hypocrite.

I sighed when Jayden left my arms. I was not bothered by the others but he was. That's why whenever someone joked about something even slightly PG 13, he stepped away from me. It was driving me crazy. I knew I couldn't blame him though, it made him really uncomfortable and he was shy.

"Alright everyone, you see there is a lake deep enough for you to not crash face-first into the ground if anything happens so don't worry –" For some reason, Trent thought it was a good time to joke.

"Uh... won't our ankles still be tied if that happens?" Jayden always managed to see the bad side of things.

"You can still swim," I replied.

"Who wants to go first?" Ernie, the guy who owned and also ran the towers, said.

"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 pushed 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 being one. That was the main reason why I chose to come 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 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 when 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 while glancing at me and I realised that he knew I hated it when Finn acted like that with him. He was never good at refusing anyone, especially Finn since he was afraid of us after seeing our wolves but that was not happening, they were not jumping. Not on this lake, in fact, not on any lake or bungee tower will they ever be tied together!

"Ha. 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 found it hilarious, so did I because he was not at all scary.

Jayden glared at me while patting Finn's shoulder to console him. I frowned at the fact that he might have been just as touchy with Finn as Finn was with him.

"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, he wouldn't be as surprised and he wouldn't be as afraid as he needed to be because he would realise this was nothing like last time.

"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 laughed seeing his eyes filled with a mixture of fear and anger as he remembered last time.

I shoved Jayden up to Ernie and watched in amusement as completed strapping my mate up 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 wanted even when it was out of fear.

"See you on the other side Jay." Kaden joked as he punched Jayden's shoulder. I couldn't help but glare at him. This was Jayden for God's sake. What If he broke something?! Jayden just punched him 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 took small steps to the marked jumping area I linked to Ernie. He was one of the wolves from Galaxy.

'You sure the rope 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 to survive it.

'Yes, Beta. It can but it would be slower to get you back up.'

I heard Jayden whimper as he glanced down while others cheered for him to jump. He definitely was not catching their excitement at the moment.

"Don't be a wimp," I said as I pushed 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 realising what I had done but it was too late for him to stop, we were already falling.

"What the hell Corey?!" I heard Sean and others scream 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 to his body but I knew that he meant the safety harnesses.

"I thought you were afraid to jump alone?" I asked while smirking at his terrified face.

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 but instead bounced before we kept slinging from one side to another over the dark water. Just under the surface, fish reflected as the sun shone on them causing sparkling 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.

"What if I let you fall?! You fool, 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 making 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; I just wanted to kiss him, preferably all day, but he needed to take the first step. It couldn't always be me.

"Is that so? Alright, I guess then you wouldn't mind me falling." I said and let my legs and arms loosen from his body. He let out a shout realising he was holding me by himself now. We weren't being pulled up anymore but I knew he was too worried about my getting hurt because of the fall to notice that.

"Are you crazy?!" he squeaked while wrapping his legs around my waist and his arms tightened around my neck and back. This was my new favourite position, nothing was going to beat it. "You're my mate." He hissed.

"You need to say it," I said wiggling a little which caused me to slip slightly, just to throw him into a frenzy.

"Fine! Fine! I like you! Now hold the fuck on right or I'll kill you!" He was practically shouting at me which would normally piss me off but now, it was just making me chuckle. His cursing was cute.

"Prove it?" Was I pushing it? I knew there was only one way he could without actually letting me fall.

The blush he had intensified ten folds while his eyes fell to my lips. I knew he wanted to as much as I did and knew why he hesitated but I just wanted him to push by his fear and hesitation for a moment.

"I'll take that as a no then." I shrugged when he didn't make a move. I raised my hands to his that were wrapped around me as if to take them off of me but stopped when his lips brushed against mine. I couldn't help but gasp in surprise despite expecting it, how I missed the taste of him. I licked his bottom lip, asking him to open up and just as he did I muttered, "I like you too, Jay. A lot."

I didn't break our kiss as I detached the harness and we both went 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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Thank you for reading :D and thank you to my Dory for suggesting and writing half this chapter 💜