Chapter 24 Jo
twenty-four
Jo
Mabel is on guard when I ask if she wants to come to the house for dinner. She’s having a hard time understanding her feelings for Dec, which I get, but she needs to get a handle on her suspicion of me—I’m the last person who would ever try to force something onto her.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, lyubov' moya?” Kole has three sheets of paper in front of him, filled with rough sketches.
“I sure as fuck hope so,” I mutter, then excuse myself to the front door when I hear a knock. “Mabel!” I open the door with a smile. “You’re here!”
“Of course I’m here, Jojo,” Mabel chuckles, stepping inside and shucking off her shoes. Her hair waves slightly, and with the way it hits right at her shoulders, it seems very intentional.
Maybe I should be a hairstylist.
“How’re you feelin’?” I ask, gently guiding her to the living room where Kole is waiting for us. “You left in quite a bit of a hurry the other day.”
Now that I’m really looking at her, the dark circles under her eyes are obvious.
She sighs. “You know why. I can’t…I can’t be around him.”
“Right.” I quickly change the subject, motioning to an armchair adjacent to the couch. “I took the liberty of asking Kole,” my giant gives a meek little wave from his spot on the couch, “to draw up a few potential tattoo designs for you to cover up your marks.”
Her hands go to her arms self-consciously, even though she’s wearing one of Rory’s hoodies again.
“Jo…” she trails off, biting her lip. “I don’t know…”
“You don’t have to decide anythin’ right now,” I tell her quickly. “Just look. And…” I grab a box of tattoo body markers that I ordered before my heat hit. “He can always do temporary ones if you want to test it out first?”
Mabel leans forward, her gaze scanning the drawings on the coffee table. She fixes in on a drawing of vines and flowers. “Kole, you’re very talented,” she praises, her eyes lighting up as her fingers run over the vines in the sketch. “These are so pretty.”
“They are morning glory vines,” Kole offers, taking the design and a pair of scissors, cutting it out carefully. “They represent rebirth, which I think will be the perfect thing to help cover the sins of your past pack.”
She swallows roughly, shoving up one of her sleeves to reveal her forearm. Kole takes the design and gently lays it on top of one of her marks. “We could make it bigger, smaller, do whatever you like, Sestryonka. It is up to you.”
Nodding once, Mabel sniffs. “What…what does that mean? You called me that before too, the day you left to get Sam's dad.”
Kole smiles softly. “It is an affectionate term for a little sister. You know you have four older brothers now who will protect you just as fiercely as your sister will, yes?”
Her eyes grow glassy as she blinks rapidly. “I…thank you, Kole. Could…” her eyes dart over to the markers in my hands. “Could we start with those and see how I feel?”
“Of course.”
She shrugs out of her sweatshirt, revealing an oversized t-shirt underneath while Kole takes the markers from me, pulling out the different colors he wants to use.
“What color are the flowers going to be?” she asks curiously, watching as he takes out four different shades of green.
“They come in pinks, purples, and blues. So whatever you’d like.”
“Can we do purples and blues?” She sounds so hesitant.
“Are those the colors you want?” He diverts his attention from the markers, tilting his head.
“They are.” She sounds much more confident this time.
He smiles. “Then that is what you will have.”
Once his markers are sorted, he has her sit on one side of the coffee table and lay her arm on it.
He starts working, his touch barely-there and his lines delicate.
Perhaps if it was someone other than my sweet Mabel that my new mate was touching, I might be a bit more possessive.
As it stands, it only fills my heart with joy to see her accepting my pack as a part of me.
That is…until a shadow in the corner catches my eye.
Instantly on high alert, my heart pounds in my ears as I approach.
It can’t be anyone dangerous, Aidan’s cameras tell us if we have intruders. So that must mean…
“Nolan?” I hiss, rounding the corner. The blond viking of a man winces at having been caught.
Quickly, I grab his arm and drag him out back.
He doesn’t fight me, just walks behind me like I’m in complete control.
When we’re on the back porch, I turn around and glare at him. “Nolan. What are you doin’ here?”
He huffs, crossing his arms. Normally Nolan is the calm, cool, and collected one. “I saw…her…coming into the house, and I was curious.”
“I smell bullshit.” I snap, matching his stance and crossing my arms. “Even if that were true—which it’s not, by the way—she’s my sister. Why would you be curious as to why she would be visitin’ me?”
A little crease of frustration appears between his brows, and he won’t meet my eyes. I huff in irritation. “Is this about you and Dec?”
He whips his head up, startled. “What about me and Dec?”
“Oh come on.” I roll my eyes. “You guys are obviously involved in some way, and maybe it’s botherin’ you that he’s showin’ interest in her.”
“No offense, Jo, but you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” His tone is hard.
“Then maybe you should inform me,” I snap. “I’m not an idiot, Nolan, and neither are the other members of your pack. Just—”
A high-pitched scream from inside the house cuts off my words, followed by a mild pulse of alarm from Kole in the bond.
Mabel.
Nolan and I exchange a glance before rushing inside, and imagine my shock when I see Aidan standing over Kole, his hands fisted in my Russian giant’s collar.
Kole, to his credit, seems to recognize what’s going through Aidan’s head and doesn’t fight back. He remains still, markers still in his hand.
Mabel stands, eyes wide with shock.
“Aidan,” I growl, prowling towards the alpha. “I don’t know if Declan shared this information with you, but I don’t take kindly to people gettin’ handsy with my alphas.”
He doesn’t answer.
“It is alright, Lisichka.” Kole’s eyes don’t move from Aidan. “He merely…misunderstood what he walked in on.”
My eyes dart from his hands, holding the markers, and Mabel, a half-done vine up her arm.
Shit. I need to save this before Mabel decides Aidan is just as bad as her old pack. Despite not wanting her to know about the potential of a scent-match yet, I don’t want her to be scared away from them before she has a chance to get to know them.
“Aidan,” I say carefully, coming up beside them. Aidan’s eyes are black with fury, and he breathes out of his nose like a damn bull as he stares at Kole. “Kole wasn’t tryin’ to step out on me. It was my idea for him to give Mabel the temporary tattoos.”
Probably not what he thought, but it’s an explanation that both seems plausible and won’t alert Mabel to the potential scent match.
He still doesn’t answer.
Nolan speaks up. “What the fuck is going on?” His brows are furrowed as he looks between Kole and his packmate. “Aidan?”
But, again, the alpha is silent.
“Have you tried barking at him?” I ask, hoping for the least amount of conflict possible. I’ve never seen Aidan reach a state like this. He’s almost…feral.
“Right after he grabbed me,” Kole confirms. “It had no effect. It seems that his dominance is even stronger than mine.”
Damn.
So if he’s unresponsive, even to an alpha-bark, I don’t have many options. I grimace, coming to an unfortunate conclusion. “Whatever happens here in a second, I can handle it, okay?”
My alpha smirks and nods once.
Then, because even though I know Aidan doesn’t necessarily like to be touched, I also need him to snap out of whatever funk he’s in—so, I jab a finger in his arm. “Earth to Aidan!”
Instead of coming to his senses, though, he turns on me, snarling. Before I realize what’s happening, Mabel is putting herself between the two of us, shielding me with her body.
“No.” She puts one palm out in front of her, the other reaching back to grasp my hand even as she’s shaking. “Don’t touch her.”
Aidan freezes as if she’s slapped him, and then the black bleeds out of his eyes as he shakes his head. Suddenly, he’s releasing Kole, blinking like he doesn’t quite remember how he got here.
“Aidan?” Nolan asks carefully, taking a step forward.
The platinum-haired alpha is like a deer in headlights as he whips his head around from Mabel, to me, to Kole, and then to Nolan.
“I…I apologize,” he stammers, his cheeks going red. “I don’t know what came over me.” He takes a step back. “I came to tell you what I learned about Roland Olivier, and then I saw him…touching her…and…”
“And you thought he was makin’ a move on me.” Mabel nods once, repeating the lie I stated earlier.
Kole quickly jumps in. “I commend you for so quickly defending your adopted sister’s honor.”
Aidan frowns, scratching his head. Before he can tell us that he’s not so sure that’s what happened, I step around Mabel.
“I can assure you, Aidan, there’s nothin’ untoward goin’ on here.
So why don’t we let Kole continue his temporary-tattooin’, and I’ll grab Sam so you can tell us what you learned? ”
At the mention of temporary tattooing, Aidan’s gaze darts to Mabel’s exposed arms. It only occurs to me at that moment that he probably hasn’t really seen her without sleeves since she was rescued.
His eyes zero in on the jagged forced-bond marks on her arms, and they go dark again.
Not quite as dark as before, but still noticeable.
Fuck.
“The men that did that to you…” he trails off, swallowing hard as his hand goes to his own throat. “Are they the ones you killed?”
Her fingers run over the marks. She tilts her chin up in a move more defiant than I’ve ever seen from her as she steps out from behind me. “Yes.”
Catching me by complete surprise, Aidan steps forward, snatching Mabel’s hand. When he lifts it to his throat, her fingers brushing over the scar tissue there, her breath catches. His voice is rough, and his eyes never leave hers. “I killed mine too.”
He releases her just as quickly as he had grabbed her, running his hands down his shirt.
Then, like the last ten seconds never happened, he turns to me. “Shall we go?”
My brow furrows, and I glance back at Mabel, who is staring at her hand like it just gave her the world’s hardest riddle. My gaze darts back to Nolan, who’s looking at Aidan with pure confusion, then to Kole, who is trying his hardest to not smirk.
“Yeah,” I nod once, turning towards the kitchen. “Why don’t—”
“Who?” Mabel asks suddenly, her voice full of something that sounds an awful lot like possessiveness. “Who bit you?”
Aidan freezes, but doesn’t turn. “That is a story for another time, Little Viper.”
With that, he continues walking towards the kitchen, and Mabel gives me a helpless look as Kole gets ready to start drawing again. I can only look away, hoping to high hell that Mabel doesn’t start asking too many questions.