4. Jake
JAKE
I’m trying my best to stay calm, but my mind is screaming at me from three directions at once.
It took falling on my knees to catch her, after all.
My ankle injury is the least loud and will heal quickly.
It’s easily overshadowed by my wolf, who is whimpering and clawing to reach my mate, even though I’m certain she’s human and might not be aware of the bond.
Then there is the connection that snapped into place when our eyes met, like the last piece of a puzzle you’ve been searching for your whole life.
Except I never predicted I’d find my fated.
Like most treasures in life, the mate bond is rare, and most end up choosing a mate for that reason.
Me? I never wanted someone to be bound to me, not when my entire life has been built on protecting my wolf family from danger, and especially not after I nearly lost a few people I care most about in this world.
Holding my mate in my arms, feeling her heartbeat quicken with each breath, I know this will need to remain a secret.
“Um, th-thanks.” The woman’s voice is hushed, timid even, as she stumbles over her words, saving me from my internal dilemma.
“Did I interrupt your workout?” She’s wearing a matching athletic set, but her espresso hair hangs over her shoulders, nearly long enough to touch the ground.
She blinks at me and shakes her head, her hand unwittingly gripping my bicep.
With every breeze, every small touch, my sense of smell activates to find a tangible pattern of magic.
There isn’t a sign of her being a shifter, or a witch, or a vampire.
I might not know what a demon smells like, but I’d have to imagine it’s not citrus and pine.
“You can let me go now,” she says, her voice faint as if the wind delivered the request.
I quickly stand, pulling her with me.
Her eyes dip to where my hand still touches her, then returns to me. “I won’t fall again, promise.” The smile on this woman’s face is small, but it would light up an entire room. Sun peeks through the trees, highlighting the freckles dotting her nose and cheeks, which are stained a light red.
“Sorry, I’m not normally this quiet.” I pull back my hand and shove it into my front pocket, so I’m not tempted to reach for her. “Or clumsy.”
“Ah.” She hums and pats the dirt off the back of her legs. “Are you lost?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
“I tripped because I didn’t see that root on this trail.” I turn my body to the side so I can point to the obvious obstruction I could have avoided if I’d paid attention to where I was going instead of staring at her.
She looks around me, tilting her head to the left. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve had worse.” I shrug, not wanting to tell her my ankle is throbbing from being twisted.
“Okay, cool. I mean, it’s not cool you’ve had worse. Just…you know, never mind. Can I get you ice?” She points to the ankle I thought I was doing a good job at hiding.
“From the gas station? I might need to rest if I’m going to walk—”
“No, my apartment. Um, we’re close.” She pulls her bottom lip behind her top teeth.
I raise my brows. “You’re inviting a stranger into your apartment?”
“Fair point.” She takes a step toward me and extends her hand. “Hi, I’m Jasmine.”
I chuckle, then settle my hand in hers. The bond, albeit weak, pulses. My wolf wags his tail. I have to fight every natural urge to move closer to her.
My lips curve into a sweet smile. “I’m Jake.”
“There…um, we aren’t strangers anymore.” Jasmine drops my hand, then turns to the left and walks away. She doesn’t say anything else. She doesn’t look back at me to make sure I’m following. And I realize she’s not going to.
So, I walk quickly after her, then match her pace.
I try to sneak a glance and curse myself when she does so at the same time. My cheeks heat, and I realize I have no idea what I’m doing.
My wolf tries to push forward, to take over just a little, which I have to attribute to being close to Jasmine.
Jasmine, who is no longer a stranger.
Jasmine, who is my fucking fated mate.
Every time I catch her looking my way, I know my cheeks turn red. I don’t remember the last time I met someone who caught me off guard like this—who gave me butterflies. Of course, now is the time I wish I’d asked Silas more questions about being fated.
I would have asked how he knew Junie was the one.
I would have asked how it’s possible to know someone for five seconds and already be so goddamn sure you’d throw yourself in front of them if it meant them living.
This is ridiculous, I know. How am I going to tell her? I can’t leave Fernhollow, knowing my mate is here. And I can’t tell Silas, not when a distraction could cause the Council to lose faith in my ability to hunt demons.
We aren’t leaving her, I think to reassure my wolf, who is in an angry fit. A satisfied grunt lets me know he’s content with my answer. For now, at least.
“Something funny?” Jasmine asks, breaking through my internal dilemma.
Shit, I must have laughed without thinking about it because this entire situation is enough to make me go mad.
“Just thinking about how I avoided this forest all week, and the first time I set foot in it, I twist my ankle. That’s some shit luck, right?” I inwardly cringe, because even though my ankle is slowly healing and throbs with each step, I feel like the luckiest man in Fernhollow.
“Mm-hmm.” She offers a thin smile, then returns her gaze forward.
So, Jasmine isn’t the talkative type. Or maybe she prefers to keep things to herself until she feels comfortable with the other person? Either way, it’s making me want to break through her hard exterior.
Calm down, Jake, you’ve only just met the woman. I have to remember this and not come on too strong, otherwise she’ll think I’m some weirdo with attachment issues.
“My apartment is right up there.” Jasmine points ahead as we exit the forest.
We’re in a back parking lot. I recognize the brick building and the road in front of it, but I don’t remember which business it was.
Jasmine must notice my gaze bouncing around because she adds, “I live above Fernhollow Vet.”
I stick my hands in my pockets as we approach the back door, and I wait for her to grab her key.
With the door unlocked, Jasmine hesitates with a single hand on the door handle.
“Is something wrong?” I ask, looking around to see if anything is out of place. When I meet her gaze, she shakes her head, as if she’s dissolving some thought before she mumbles to follow her.
After we climb the single flight of stairs, she unlocks a second door. When we enter, she lets me pass her before she closes and relocks the door.
“Thanks again for this,” I say, walking into her space.
There’s not much in terms of stuff. There’s a single three-seater couch on the left-hand side with a coffee table in front of it.
There’s no TV anywhere, but she has a single bookshelf filled with loads of books.
I hobble to the shelves and browse through her collection.
There are a lot of nonfiction books and some language books, but also various fantasy-esque titles.
“Have you lived in Fernhollow long?” I ask, thumbing through the paperbacks.
“A few years,” Jasmine responds, walking my way from the kitchen with a bag of ice.
“Thank you.” Our fingers touch when I take the bag, and our eyes meet when static passes between us. Jasmine quickly averts her gaze and walks past me to the couch. I follow and sit on the cushion next to her. “So, you moved to Fernhollow two years ago?”
I want to learn more about her without making her feel like we’re playing twenty questions.
Jasmine shakes her head.
“No?” Her responses are short or nonverbal, and I worry I’ll push her too far and she’ll stop talking to me altogether.
“I’ve lived here for ten years.”
I catch my jaw from dropping, covering it up with a swipe of my palm over my mouth. “Whoa, ten years?”
“Yup.” Jasmine glances at me, and at the dip of my head, she bites her lip.
“I feel like there’s a story there,” I muse, crossing my injured ankle over my leg so I can lean back on the couch.
Jasmine laughs. “There is.”
I wait a beat. And another. Finally, she catches me staring at her.
“What?” she asks.
“Not going to tell me?”
“If I told you, I might have to…” One corner of her mouth quirks upward.
“Oh, you’re funny. Should I have been the one worried about entering a stranger’s apartment?”
Jasmine claps a hand over her mouth to hide her laugh. I wish she wouldn’t. If I knew her even a fraction more than I do now, I’d lean over to pull her hand down and hold it near her side while my mouth took over the space.
“I’ve never thought this was my forever home.”
“I get that,” I say in earnest, dropping it. I don’t miss the way Jasmine’s shoulders fall in relief when I let her change the subject.
“Right. You’re here visiting?”
I nod.
“Makes sense.”
I chuckle. “Why’s that? Is it obvious I’m not a native Fernhollowian?”
Jasmine grimaces. “You said it was your first time in my forest. And we aren’t called that.”
“You’ve only been here for ten years, Jaz—you never know.”
Her smile drops when I let the nickname slip. Why does it feel like I’ve known her for longer than the thirty minutes we’ve been together? “Shoot, sorry, I should have asked if it’s okay if I call you that. I didn’t mean—”
“It’s okay. I was caught off guard, is all. No one calls me that.”
“Your friends don’t have a nickname for you?”
“I don’t—No, they, um, don’t. But you can.”
“Are you sure?”
Jasmine nods, her fingers fidgeting with the blanket on her right.
“Okay, Jaz.”
A blush creeps up her cheeks, and I’m officially smitten.
She leans back on the couch, mocking my position, and asks me a question I haven’t needed to prepare an honest answer to. “So, why are you in Fernhollow?”