Chapter Five
Seeing their mate heading for the floor, Jacob employed every ounce of his preternatural speed to reach her before she hit the ground and hurt herself.
He lifted her against him and what followed was a rushed panic as he and Liam practically fought each other trying to get her to the couch, while Ursula ran into the other room.
They had Libby—no, Willow, their mate’s name was Willow, and they needed to get that right—laid on a soft piece of furniture with her head resting on a pillow as Ursula came back with a bottle of what looked like clear liquid and a couple of pairs of trousers with their legs cut off.
He and Liam had never seen anything like it but pulled them on when Ursula proclaimed she was “sick of seeing their junk swinging through the air as they moved.” Apparently, it was “distracting as fuck.”
He and Liam hovered around Ursula as she tended to their mate. As soon as Willow started to come around, Ursula moved so that Liam and he could crowd in.
“Are you truly okay, Willow?” Jacob asked his mate gently, sweeping the soft dark hair from her forehead as he stared deep into her gray eyes.
“Yeah,” she answered, sounding a little breathless, “I am not usually a fainting kinda girl, but like I said, it has been one hell of a couple of days.”
He and Liam gave her a little room as she moved to sit up, shifting back to sit on a low table that stood beside the couch.
“I would imagine,” Liam said in a gentle tone, “that seeing two men burst from a tattoo on your skin would also cause something of a similar reaction in most women. It is more of a surprise that you didn’t faint earlier.”
He watched as his mate took a drink from the clear bottle Ursula had handed to her. It was unlike any bottle he had ever seen before. Clear, with strange markings on it and as Willow drank from it, he could see that whatever material it was made out of, it was malleable.
Willow twisted a top on the bottle and handed it to him. “It’s made of plastic,” she said, having caught his obvious fascination with it. “Not the most environmentally friendly product in the world, but you can recycle it to be made into something else, so not the worst either.”
Jacob nodded like he got it, despite the fact he had not a clue what his mate was talking about and took the bottle from her.
He gripped it, felt the material move beneath his hand and the cool water beneath the surface.
It must be very thin for the temperature of the water it held to be so obvious to the touch.
There would be many things in this new time that he would need to learn.
He looked back toward his mate. Not the least of which was this stunning, intriguing, reincarnated Goddess of a woman who was apparently his mate.
He watched as the sweetest sweep of color rose in her cheeks. “I don’t look anything like—her, do I?” Jacob’s wolf whimpered at the sadness in her whisper.
“No, you don’t.” Liam answered frankly and Jacob leaned back and punched him none too gently in the arm. “Ow, what the hell was that for?” Liam practically growled, his eyes taking on the telltale sign of his wolf.
“Two hundred years older and you still have no idea how to talk to our mate,” Jacob shook his head and turned back to face Willow.
“Sorry, sweet—” his usual endearment for their mate fell from his lips and it felt right.
“One thing you will quickly learn is that Liam has absolutely no idea how to be tactful and can come across as a complete ass.”
Jacob definitely did not flinch when his brother punched him back and pointedly ignored the numb feeling that followed.
“Fuck off, Jacob,” Liam grumbled, and Jacob grinned at the sweep of color that rose on his brother’s cheeks.
“I do so know how to talk to you, love. I was going to add to my first statement and say that although you don’t look like Libby, you feel like her to our wolves.
Your spirit calls to ours in a way that only a truly fated mate could. ”
Jacob saw the shy smile that graced his mate’s face and almost wanted to take back the punch he’d laid on Liam. Almost, but hell no.
“And, you are beautiful,” Jacob added gently. “You have always been beautiful. Libby, Willow, it doesn’t matter to us what name you go by. You are our mate and what we feel for you transcends time.”
Willow swallowed and he was slightly distracted by the movement it caused in her throat. He longed to press open-mouthed kisses against the sensitive skin there, but figured that was probably way too soon.
Willow nodded and settled back against the couch. “Tell me about her. Your Libby. How did you meet?”
What followed was as wonderful a conversation as it was strange.
To sit there, staring at their mate, knowing that she was in fact their Libby, but was a different woman, was difficult.
All the same, they told her about how they had met and how the attraction had been instantaneous, the bond slamming into the both of them in that very same moment.
When she asked about the mating bond, they answered as honestly and openly as they could.
“Did we ever—you know—” a blaze of color swept Willow’s cheeks once more and Jacob grinned.
“Did we ever—what, sweet?” Jacob knew exactly what she was asking but desperately wanted to tease her in this sweet moment.
“Did we ever—” Willow moved her hands back and forth together like she was clapping, but they never touched “—you know. Together.”
“Did we ever clap our hands silently?” Liam asked dryly, joining in with the teasing. “Together?”
“All the time,” Jacob deadpanned and grinned as their mate threw her head back and roared with laughter. The sight of her bewitched him, man and wolf and enslaved both of them forever.
“Fuck, you guys suck,” Willow wiped the tears of laughter from her face, still giggling. “Fine, let me say this straight. Did we ever consummate our mating in that life?”
Memories of the carnal, sweet, etched-in-his-mind-forever night the three of them had spent together swept over him.
“Yes, sweet,” his voice sounded deeper than before.
“We did. We celebrated our mating and our love one evening after a pretty awful day of war. Fighting, bleeding, grieving. Everything that comes with the violence of that time.” The mood in the room dropped and Jacob regretted what he had shared. “I am sorry, sweet, I should have—”
Willow moved forward quickly and laid her soft fingers against his mouth. “Shh, you do not need to apologize for anything you tell me in truth. I want to know, I-I need to know.”
Jacob pursed his lips to leave a kiss against her fingers, then reached to pull them away from his lips, but held her fingers in his hand, gently. “We will always tell you the truth, sweet. That is what it means to be mated.”
He kept his eyes on Willow, but caught the movement as Liam reached forward and grabbed her free hand, lifting it to his own lips.
Jacob felt the power of the bond swell within them as the connection between the three of them strengthened at the touch.
From the way Willow’s eyes widened, Jacob knew that she had felt it too.
“It was the best night of our lives,” Liam murmured, and Willow’s gaze slid from his to meet his brother’s.
“We had only known each other a short while, but with the uncertainties of war, the stress of not knowing if we would survive the day and the intensity of the attraction between us, we allowed ourselves that moment in time, to cement our bond.”
Willow took a deep shuddering breath and Jacob’s heart ached at the tender look on her face. “I am thankful that you were—we were able to take that moment. I might not remember it, but I am glad that we had it.”
Jacob started to feel a strange wrenching within him, and he frowned. “What is this?”
“The sun is rising.” Ursula’s voice was sad and soft, and he turned to see her standing in the doorway. “It’s time for you to return, but you will be back when the sun sets this evening.”
The feeling began to intensify. It wasn’t painful, but it sure as hell wasn’t pleasant. Knowing that they were leaving their mate alone and without their protection, made it damn near unbearable. Not enough time, not enough time in this world. It would never be enough.
“Willow.” His voice sounded distant, and the world began to disappear from the edges, turning black. The last thing he saw was his mate reaching out to him and Liam, as silent tears slid down her beautiful face.
****
Willow sat at Ursula’s kitchen table, staring out at the world.
She had always loved the hustle and bustle of New York streets.
The sights and sounds comforted her and there was always something to see and do.
But today, the city appeared entirely too busy.
And way too bright. She stared up at the sun, shining mockingly high in the sky and wished for the millionth time for the damn thing to move quicker.
“That was a pretty big sigh,” Ursula said as she took the seat across from Willow and set a steaming cup of coffee in front of her. “Is that the result of only a couple of hours’ sleep, or are you thinking heavy thoughts?”
Willow took a sip of the hot, strong brew.
“A bit of one, a whole lot of the other.” The four hours of sleep she had managed after watching Liam and Jacob literally vanish into a stream of what looked like black liquid flowing toward her had been shocking, but she was still dealing with all the emotional turmoil she had faced in the hours leading up to that.
She had cried when they were gone, cried when she lifted her shirt and saw her stunning tattoo back across her body, and cried over everything she had heard that night until she fell asleep on Ursula’s couch.
“You wanna share those thoughts?” Ursula asked as she took a sip of her own coffee. “It might help to talk it through.”