Chapter 4 - Jasper
Tara’s face drops as soon as she sees me. I can’t say that I’m surprised.
Her hair is still wet, her eyes look puffy and sultry, as though she’s just woken up. What is it, midday?
I ignore her flushed, sleepy expression along with the curve of her breasts resting beneath her tee.
I’ve come here for a reason, to present her with an offer she won’t be able to refuse.
After I kissed her yesterday, and she left me high and dry, which I can’t blame her for, but she didn’t have to say all that she said. I was hardly able to get through my day without thinking about her.
I thought about the kiss, what I said to Penelope, and her promise of discretion.
Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if half the valley knew about that kiss by now. Given the history, I know better than to trust a witch.
But even as I turned my attention to the more pressing matters of business during an afternoon council meeting, I still had this strange feeling lingering in my chest.
I couldn’t focus.
Usually, my idiocy leads me somewhere; there’s usually a positive outcome or a lesson that makes it all make sense. Something to be learned.
What was the point of all this?
It bugged me.
Was it just that I was horny and made a stupid mistake? Was it just that I, avoiding an uncomfortable confrontation with Penelope, now know better than to ever go to the witches’ market again?
As the afternoon turned to evening and I spent the time drinking and feasting with my pack, my mind still raced.
It was like I could still taste Tara on my lips, like there was something she was reminding me to pay attention to.
Again, it was either that or I was ridiculously horny.
As I settled down for bed, I closed my eyes and prepared to drift off. Usually, with all the shit I have to deal with, I’m out like a light in seconds.
But hours passed, and my chest continued to tighten; my ears were acutely attuned to everything happening outside.
Much of my pack stays out late, and usually I don’t hear them because I’m out by ten. But last night, I heard every conversation, every shift, every singular pulse of music from their portable speakers.
I was going insane.
I considered going for a run, and then things got worse.
Soon I was transported back to the night I first met Tara, to everything we shared, and to that horrible morning after.
The memories filled me with such an overwhelming amount of shame and dread that I couldn’t even think about moving. How could I have gotten involved with a human like that? How could I have kissed her again?
But at least one good thing came out of this, I thought, at least Penelope will think I’m more open and hopefully leave me alone.
The idea of marrying a witch is crazy. Imagine if my pack thought I was marrying a human?
Then I froze.
My eyes shot open, and I smiled.
There it is.
I stand before Tara, running on hardly any sleep, but certain of the genius plan I’ve concocted in my head.
“What do you want?” She groans.
“I would say good morning,” I smirk. “But I hope you know it’s not actually the morning.”
Rule number one of persuading someone is to flatter them first, but I can’t help myself. Tara makes it too easy.
“That’s funny,” she sighs, rolling her eyes before going to slam the door.
“Hold up,” I stop her, wedging my arm between the door and its hinge. I’m careful to apply as little pressure as possible; I don’t want to split her in half with the door.
“If you’re here to tease me,” she murmurs. “Trust me when I tell you that I’m not in the mood.”
“I can see that,” I respond. “But I’m not going to tease you anymore, I promise. I have a proposal for you.”
She squints her face, loosening her grip on the door, but eyeing me as though I’d just told her I killed her cat.
Humans, I know, love their cats.
“What kind of proposal?” She says.
“Will you let me come in?”
Her cabin isn’t exactly in the center of town, and I know that her neighbors are definitely out of their houses by now, as most sane people are at this time of the day. But still, what I’m proposing isn’t something I can risk anyone hearing.
“You’re not coming in,” she sighs. “Quite frankly, I don’t trust you.”
I wince. “What do you think I’m going to do, Tara?”
I’m an Alpha. A little aggressive, sure, but I’m not a monster.
She puts her hands on her hips, throwing me sass in that frustrating way of hers. If anyone else spoke to me like this, they’d be punished.
“I don’t know what you’re going to do,” she says. “Given yesterday's events, it’s clear you’ve lost your mind, so you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t want to hang around long enough to find out. You can tell me whatever it is you want out here.”
I resist the reflex to scowl and remember to try to put on a little charm.
“Fine,” I say, with as much of a smile as I can bear. “Fine, I’ll tell you out here.”
I notice the way that her hazel eyes look like fiery orbs of magic beneath the light. She’s the most in-human looking human I’ve seen.
“So,” I say. “I wanted to explain a little about my behavior yesterday. You see, the reason I kissed you is because I was trying to get that witch—"
“Penelope, you mean.”
“Yes,” I continue. “Penelope, off my back. She’s been on me constantly about setting up an alliance between her coven and my pack. Apparently, we haven’t exactly been the most open to the changes that have been happening around here.”
Tara scoffs.
I pause, my wolf ridiculously excited by the movement in her chest.
If I give off any impression that I’m watching her body, I hope she knows it’s not about her. My wolf is just a little frustrated at the moment, is all.
“Is something funny?” I challenge.
She shakes her head. “Nothing funny about it, actually. Please, go on.”
“Okay,” I say. “So, the thing is that the coven marriage arrangement doesn’t exactly work for me and my pack. But it seems like even Sawyer and Ellis are on the witches’ side.”
Tara huffs. “As much as I’d absolutely love to listen to your problems on this fine afternoon, I’d appreciate it if you could get to the part that includes me? And the non-consensual kiss?”
Given the sound of her groans, I wouldn’t exactly say non-consensual, but that’s beside the point now. I won’t let her get a rise out of me.
“I was trying to get away from Penelope, and then I panicked. You were just there, and at first, I thought it was a mistake, but then I realized that my instincts were guiding me toward the solution.”
Tara is moving her eyes and nodding her head in a way that’s pleading with me to hurry up.
“The solution is we get into a fake relationship.”
She leans against the wall behind her door.
“I don’t follow.”
“If I pretend that I’m with a human, everyone will realize that me and, by extension, my pack are actually more open to inter-species mixing than everyone thinks.
It will get everyone off my back and allow us to focus on the real problems at hand, which is what we truly need.
Then, once everyone’s convinced, we can split up and go our separate ways.
“Now I know what you’re thinking, how does this serve you?
And if I’ve already thought about that. You’re the only human living among us, right?
Everyone’s being welcoming to you, but still, it must be hard to feel fully accepted.
If you’re with me, you won’t have to worry about that; you will be properly integrated.
Everyone will accept you. It’s really a win-win. ”
I feel good about this. All the logic is there; it makes too much sense.
Tara is gazing back at me with a blank expression, one I can’t make out. Man, she looks good.
I bark an internal command at my wolf.
He must need to get laid more badly than I thought.
A breeze settles between us, and still, Tara stays quiet.
She must want to rebut my proposal with some sassy, scathing response, but the idea is too solid.
I bet she’s grateful, in fact; I bet she wishes she had thought of this herself. Not like she could propose such a thing to someone like me, but still—
“You can go to hell,” she barks, slamming the door in my face.
For the second time over the past couple of days, I’m shocked by Tara’s response.
In the past, when I’ve teased her, she’s usually just ignored me or quietly told me to shut up in response.
Something's changed now, though. She’s more biting, sassier, and while my stupid wolf likes it, it’s not convenient for what I want.
She knows I’m an Alpha. She knows that none of my pack, or Ellis’, or Sawyer’s are allowed to talk to me like that.
This is going to be more difficult than I thought.
I hang outside and then knock again, but there’s no response.
Then I curse beneath my breath.
It’s not like I can talk to anyone else about this. No, if I’m going to get my way, I’m going to have to convince Tara, who conveniently hates me and just loves biting my head off.
I turn, channel my pent-up frustrations into shifting, and race toward my pack.
I will convince her; it’s just a matter of how.