Chapter 27
JASE
My father squeezes the back of my neck reassuringly. “You’ll get there.”
“Fuckin’ frustrating,” I mutter.
The only thing remotely helping matters is that she still smells like I’ve fucked her, which made me very pleased walking into the Blackwood house and now my childhood home. I figured she’d lose the scent when she went to change her clothes, but it’s clear she didn’t swap out the bra.
Grey and Graydon have both got sticks up their asses about it, and I can’t exactly blame them for that, but informed Grey that he wouldn’t have it thrown in his face if my mate hadn’t taken off on me this morning.
“You think it’s funny to rub our noses in that?” he accused.
“She’s supposed to be with me, in my house, my bed until we’re ready to be around other people.
The only fuckin’ joy I have at all right now is that she almost smells like she’s supposed to smell.
Me bein’ pleased about that isn’t a slight to you or your pops.
You only smelled me on her because she took off on me this morning. ”
“I don’t wanna know what the fuck you did, because the notion makes me want to throw a punch,” he said through his teeth.
“She’s mine,” I said, looking straight into his eyes.
“Mine, brother.” I pounded my chest. “I’m being held back by magic instigated by your fuckin’ relatives to keep me from claiming my soulmate.
My soulmate, man. I don’t need to defend myself but since it’s you, I’ll say I didn’t intentionally mark her.
But if I had done it, it’s within my rights.
And frankly it’s the only good that’s happened to me in days, knowing she smells a little like she’s supposed to smell. ”
“You don’t need to bullshit me, all right? Just understand she’s my sister…”
“When do I bullshit you, Grey?” I demanded, insulted. “It’s on something she’s wearing.”
He blew out a hard exhale, looking remorseful.
“You’re right. I apologize. I just… this is Bailey!”
“Yeah, believe me, shits me too. I’ve never, not once looked at your sister that way.
That would’ve been a betrayal to you as far as I was concerned and it just didn’t cross my mind because she sorta felt like family to me, too.
Until she didn’t. She keeps givin’ me the slip and at least I’m not coming outta my skin like I was because when I follow my nose, I smell me on her. ”
The hint of my scent mixed with the fragrance of her skin is nowhere near enough. Now that I’m smelling a bit of it, I want to bathe her in it. Coat her skin with it, as well as every article of clothing that touches her body.
I snickered. “I didn’t mean to do that, so let’s label it like that painter dude on TV … a happy little accident.”
Grey rolled his eyes. “I know me and Dad’ll feel better when it’s official and we can get the fuck past this part because it’s got us in this weird place of protectiveness for both of you and also the desire to rip your nuts off.
I relate to you as an alpha but then there’s the older brother thing and older brother is edging the other out. ”
I’m sure he’d find it easier to get on board if my mark was on her neck.
“Man, you’re the head of the coven. If anyone can make this shit stop, I’d think it’d be you.”
He shook his head. “Like I told you, I’m a figurehead for the coven and day-to-day they work without me. They’ll only bring me in when they need to. So I’ve stayed out of it with them.”
“Well if they try to extend this shit tomorrow, I sure hope you’ll be on my side.”
He raised his hands like he doesn’t want to touch the situation with a ten-foot pole. “This is my coven, my sister, and you – my best buddy and council brother. This isn’t fun for anybody, Jase.”
“Except your cousin Danica,” I mutter.
“Naw, don’t think so. Don’t know her super-well yet, but I sense this is for Bailey.
Dani’s championing her. I’m not getting a kick out of the Jase and Bailey show like some of the other pack members are.
So I’ll be there tomorrow to support you and my sister, but know that whatever happens, I’ve got to stay out of it. ”
“For real?”
“I have to. I’ll stay out of it if she comes to me for help, too, brother.”
“Pack members are getting a kick out of this shit?” I asked.
“A lot of the females in the pack are rooting for her, saying you treated her bad and you’re a player who doesn’t deserve her, especially when she hasn’t had the chance to sow any wild oats of her own.
Some think you should work for it and grovel for a while.
Others are on your side, but bro… that group is smaller. ”
I’m not thrilled Grey won’t make this shit stop, but I guess I get it.
***
“Get there fast in case she makes headway with her petition,” my father suggests.
“Not much I can do until tomorrow night when they make a decision about whether or not they’re gonna extend the spell so I can’t claim her, Pops.”
“If she presents that petition to them, there’s a good chance they’ll give her more time so she can be heard, son. I suggest you come up with a plan.”
He’s right. I can’t have the coven giving her more time. I’ll lose my fuckin’ mind.
“What would you do?”
“You heard your mother and I didn’t have an easy time in the early days,” he says.
“You say that like it’s easy now,” I volley.
He smiles. “Things are great with us.”
“Coulda fooled me with the way you two bicker.”
“Banter,” he corrects. “Playful teasing is all. You’ve teased Bailey for years, son. I’ve heard it myself and never hear you teasing anyone else the way you do with her.”
I frown. Yeah, I’ve always been playful with Bailey. She’s now acting like it was all cruel.
“It was always that way with me and your mother. Pissed off her best friend that I was dating. That banter translates well when we’re alone, let me tell you. Sometimes I rile that woman up so tight, when she unfurls…” He gives me a big grin loaded with innuendo as he elbows my gut.
“Fuck, Pops, that’s my ma you’re talkin’ about.”
He laughs and slaps my back. “And your little lady has been crazy about you for years. I know you’ve got a lot of folks with faith in you, son, but gotta tell you, hearing she’s yours after watchin’ that little thing look at you like you can do anything you set your mind to has been a treat.
Fix it, Jason. Only you can do that. Fix whatever you broke and then enjoy havin’ a life with someone who is gonna be the ideal person for you.
She’s a great girl who adores you and like you, she’d do anything for this pack. I think Fate did a great job.”
“I don’t know how to fix it,” I admit, gut clenching, because she did adore me. And now she doesn’t. “Apologies aren’t helping.”
“Her hurt is deep, son. You gotta dig deep, too. Actions speak louder than words.”
“I’ve gotta go chase her down. Not knowing where she went feels like an itch I can’t reach.”
“Say bye to your mother. Gwen just left to go meet friends in town, so I’m callin’ Tay to tell her to bring the grandkids over for dinner to cheer her up.
This stuff with Sherry had her down and that’s one of the reasons Gwen came to stay for a couple weeks while on break from her classes.
News about you and Bailey perked her up.
She’ll need more perking after seeing where Bailey’s at today. ”
“All right.” I thrust my hands through my hair. “Keep me posted on Sher?”
My dad’s gaze darkens. “Will do. Me and your mother have got her. You worry about your mate right now. I’ll have the news we all want once we catch your scent on the breeze. But son… my advice?” He waits until I give him a nod to let him know I want that advice.
“Fight the rutting urge when you get the green light from the coven. Better if you ignore any green lights that don’t come from your mate. Suspect she’s inexperienced. Don’t know if that’s a hundred percent or…”
“Pretty sure it is,” I say.
“I got that gift from my mate, son. But I was too hasty and it took some work to fix that. It’s a gift you don’t wanna squander.
If you can, I recommend you take it as slow as you can even if it’s difficult.
Try and make it about her instead of yourself at the start.
Do that the first time and it’ll be all about the both of you from then on out. ”
He doesn’t wait for me to reply. He slaps my back again and reaches into his pocket, pulling his phone out to call Taylor.
Time to find my mate and settle my senses so I can breathe well enough to get enough oxygen to my brain to problem solve. I need to find a way to get her to let me off the hook before this meeting tomorrow.
I phone the surveillance room and ask, “Is Bailey in the village? Her car leave the four corners in the last ten minutes?”
***
Joel confirmed she hasn’t left the village, so I follow my nose to find her at her parents’ place.
I park behind her, not two inches from her bumper, and find myself in the yard, shooting the shit with Graydon and with Riley’s dad, who teases me good-naturedly while I help them take down a dead tree in the yard. But while this is going on, once again Bailey gives me the slip, on foot.
I drive, following her scent to the library and again need to use the spare keys to let myself in as she’s locked it and pretends not to hear me knocking.
“Do you mind? I’m busy here,” she snaps, not even looking up at me when I approach.
“You showered.” She changed her clothes again, obviously including the bra.
She singes me with a glare.
“Whatever it was you did… do not do it again.”
“No promises,” I say, meaning it to come out as a light quip, but I miss the mark.
I’ve got a foul taste in my mouth. A foul feeling in my veins, too.
Not sure how much more of this I can take.
She wants me to leave so she can work on finding a way to stop me from making her mine.
I’m more than irritated that she no longer carries my scent and I’d really like to do something about it.
She looks at me like she can sense the danger brewing in my blood.
“Busy with your petition?” I ask.
“Yes, if you must know,” she practically hisses, not looking at me. “Please fuck off.”
This girl who followed me around for years, who Fate decided is perfect for me, she hates me this much? How has it gone from the former extreme to this?
Anger rises in me. Yes, anger that she’s fighting me this hard but more than that… I’m angry that things are this fucked up.
How do I un-fuck this?
“Give. It. Back,” I demand.
“Give what back?” She’s frowning at me. But at least her eyes are on me.
Fuck, I’m so fucking frustrated. I want what she used to give me.
Getting as close to me as she could, whenever she could. Looking at me like everything I had to say mattered.
“You know what,” I inform.
“I don’t know what,” she retorts snottily.
I want to throw her over my knee and spank some sense into her. Spank her, fuck her, hold her and have her look at me the way she used to do.
“Yeah, Bay,” I rasp. “You do. Guess I have to earn it back.”
She scoffs with doubt, but her eyes change. She knows what I mean. She doubts it’ll happen. She’s wrong.
“Watch me,” I warn. “It’s inevitable, Bay. You’re getting claimed.”
She sighs. “Clearly it’s all about sex to you.”
I smash my fist into the nearest wall.
She jolts with shock.
Shit. Bad move. But I can’t help it; I’m seething. “This is about way more than sex, baby. Right now it’s also about urges that are innate for me, but if you think that’s all this is, you don’t know me all that well.”
She swallows and looks down.
“Look at me.”
She doesn’t.
“Bailey. Look at me, please.” My voice comes out choked and as she lifts her chin up, the pain in her eyes feels like a hot knife sinking into my gut.
“I can’t protect you if you take off on me.
I can’t breathe properly if I don’t know you’re safe.
I can’t hack you being around other males because you don’t wear my mark and you don’t smell like you’re mine.
You did for a couple hours and now you don’t and I’m losing my shit over here.
I hate that I hurt you. I was trying to turn your attention away so it wouldn’t hurt so much when I mated.
Can’t you understand where I was comin’ from? ”
“And you never, not in a million years thought Fate would be so cruel as to stick you with the little pest that’s followed you around for all these years. Sucks to be you, I guess.”
I growl.
She jolts. “Don’t damage our library anymore, Jase. That’s not cool. If you can’t keep your shit together, please go.”
I stare at the hole in the drywall beside her desk.
“I’ll fix it.”
She says nothing.
“I’ve always cared about you, maybe not the way you wanted, but you’ve always mattered to me, Bailey. In fact, you’ve always been one of my favorite people in the pack.”
Her chin quivers. Her eyes are full of wetness. But she stares at her screen instead of answering.
I’ll fix it. The wall. And the rift between us. Though I know which one will be a breeze and there’s no telling what it’ll take to fix the rift. I fish my phone out of my pocket and message Rye to ask if he’s home.
Since I can’t settle my shit down right now, I should run off some of this aggression. I send another text to say I’m swinging by Savage Construction to grab some drywall repair supplies in an hour or two. First, I’ll run.
Yeah. Run off some of this aggression, fix the wall, and hope that by the time I get back, I’ll have some ideas of how the fuck I can fix what I broke in my mate.
She’s typing away on her laptop again, pretending I’m not here, so I walk out, running into the beta she made a date with. He’s walking toward the building with Brody. He nearly trips when he sees me. Brody rears back at the sight of me.
“You good, Jase?”
“No.”
“Anything I can do?” Brody asks.
I eyeball him and find myself really fuckin’ unhappy that I can’t ask him to watch Bailey for me. I can’t do that because he still hasn’t mated. This means he’s probably as bad off as I am. Though he did get something from the coven to take the edge off.
Maybe I should do the same.
No, fuck that. The last thing I’m about to do is ask a Young witch for anything.
“Maybe keep everyone out of the library today.”
“I can do that. I’ll ask a couple betas to watch the door.”
“Not that one.” I point at his sidekick who straightens up and swallows before speaking.
“Actually, Jase,” the beta says, “I’d be happy to do that for you. I won’t go in. I won’t even look at her. I’d like to mend fences and…”
I step up so I’m two inches from him, towering over him. I bare my teeth.
“Honest…” he says, showing me his neck. “I’ll just sit right outside the door and if anyone comes or goes I’ll tell you.”
“If she leaves?”
“I’ll tell you.”
“Don’t fuck up,” I mutter and stalk to my truck, dropping my clothes on the hood before shifting to four paws, crossing the road and sprinting westbound into the strip of forest that’ll take me to Chariot Lake.