Territory Lines

Jax collapsed against the excavator tire. He slid down into the mud, shifting back into his human form as his exhaustion claimed him.

Mara shifted back. She didn't care about the nudity. She didn't care about the cold.

She crawled over to him. She checked his pulse. It was stronger. The adrenaline had burned through the worst of the silver block, allowing his natural healing to finally start attacking the poison.

Jax opened his eyes. They were hazy, but they tracked her face.

"You came back," he rasped. "You took the shot."

"I missed the first time," Mara said, wiping mud from his forehead. Her hands were steady now. "I wasn't going to miss again."

Jax let out a wet, rattling laugh. He reached up, his hand trembling, and cupped her cheek. "My brave girl."

"Don't call me that," Mara said, her voice cracking. "I was terrified."

"That's what makes it brave," Jax whispered.

He tried to sit up, wincing. "We have to... warn the pack. The invasion."

"I know," Mara said. "But first, you have to survive the walk home."

She stood up and offered him her hand. "Get up, big guy. Lean on me."

Jax looked at her hand. Then he looked at her eyes. He saw the change. The skittishness was gone. The doubt was gone. She looked like a Queen.

He took her hand. He groaned, hauling his massive frame upright. He leaned heavily on her, his arm draped over her shoulders. She buckled slightly under the weight, but she didn't break. She wrapped her arm around his waist, anchoring him.

They began the slow, painful trudge out of the quarry.

"Mara," Jax said after a while, his voice slurring slightly.

"Yeah?"

"Back in the blind. Did I say... did I say anything weird?"

Mara looked straight ahead, fighting a smile. "You said a lot of things. You said I was distracting."

"I stand by that."

"You also said I was your Mate."

Jax went stiff. He stopped walking. He looked down at her, terror warring with hope in his eyes.

"I... the silver fever," he stammered. "I didn't mean to presume. I know I'm not... I'm just a brawler, Mara. You deserve someone better."

Mara stopped him. She turned in the mud, grabbed his face with both hands, and pulled him down.

She kissed him.

It tasted of rain, and iron, and dirt. It wasn't a fairytale kiss. It was a promise. A seal. A claim.

She pulled back, looking into his golden eyes.

"I don't want better," she said fiercely. "I want the idiot who took an arrow for me. I want the partner who watches my back. I want you."

Jax stared at her. Then, slowly, he smiled. It transformed his scarred face, making him look younger, lighter.

"Okay," he breathed. "Okay."

"Okay," Mara repeated. She shifted his weight, taking more of the burden. "Now move your ass, Enforcer. We have a war to stop."

They walked out of the Gray Zone together, leaving the blood and the bodies behind. They were battered, broken, and freezing cold. But as they crossed the territory line into home soil, neither of them had ever felt safer.