Chapter 3 - Jace
After a restless sleep in which my wolf kept nudging me to go to Jasmine, to figure out what was so impressive about her, I finally got up at the ass crack of dawn.
With my thoughts tumbling over themselves in my head, I went for a run.
I kept thinking of the Goddess’s face when she called Jasmine.
There had been a secretive smile on her face, as though the situation was amusing to her.
That didn’t sound like how the alphas of Tyrell described their ritual. When the Goddess came to them, she had been all dignity and urgency. Perhaps it was because the darkness was encroaching more rapidly on their settlement?
The run didn’t help clear my head at all, so I returned to the house.
Killian, Owen, and Renz were all in the kitchen, busy with their morning routine, so I headed up the stairs and knocked on Jasmine’s door.
Regardless of how we had found ourselves in this situation, we were in it, and I required that she understand what was expected of her from here on out.
She didn’t answer my knock. I tried again, and when she still didn’t answer, I opened the door. I expected to find her inside, ignoring me, but instead, her room was empty.
Back downstairs, I asked the others if they had seen her.
Owen’s eyes immediately flared with suspicion. “She must have snuck out. We need to go find her and drag her back.”
I held up a hand, stopping him. “Or she could have gone for a run, like I did. So just calm down. I’ll go find her.”
Owen opened his mouth to protest, but when Killian nudged his ribs, he snapped it shut.
He glared at all three of us before shrugging and turning back to his breakfast. I headed out again, irritation spiking through me.
Was this what we should expect from our new bride?
That she’d take off at every turn, never telling us where she was going?
Maybe we’d have to install stronger security. Despite my words to Owen about not jumping to conclusions, that was where my mind had gone, too.
I found her a while later, whispering with another omega. The other woman was short and round, though not quite as round as Jasmine.
I slowed slightly, observing Jasmine. I’d seen her often enough through the years, but I’d never really looked at her before.
She was a plus-sized woman, tall and round and soft.
Her hair was dark brown, so dark it looked black in most light.
Her eyes were black, too, a large, liquid black that made her look doe-eyed.
She was quite beautiful, I had to admit that. Last night, when she brought up sex, my reaction caught me off guard. I felt that, of course, we were going to have sex eventually. Not yet, but soon. In fact, that was the one part of this upcoming marriage I found appealing.
I shook those thoughts from my head. “Jasmine.”
She jumped and whirled toward me. The other omega paled, bowed, and scurried away.
I strode over to my betrothed, noting how she took tiny shuffling steps back from me.
I scowled. “You better not be planning to run away. The Goddess declared our marriage, and there will be consequences to breaking her command.”
Jasmine shook her head. “I wasn’t planning anything like that. I thought I’d grab my things from my house and bring them back. I’ll obey the Goddess.”
I frowned at her. “But you don’t want this.”
“Neither do you.”
My frown deepened, and I folded my arms. What did she mean by that?
“As long as the three of you make an effort not to be cruel, I can endure,” she said, looking past me. Her cheeks took on a faint pink hue.
I let out a huff. Why did she have to be so confusing? “The three of us?”
Her lips pursed, then she lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “I’m not so na?ve as to think that it’s a possibility for Owen. I’m not going to ask the impossible of him.”
My wolf growled, wanting to defend my friend, but then I thought of the tension that had been radiating from him ever since last night. I really couldn’t argue with her, so I only shrugged. When she continued to just stand there, watching me, I gestured down the street.
“Well? Let’s go get your things, already.”
Jasmine winced. “You’re coming with me?”
I folded my arms. “Were you planning on actually doing something else?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Jasmine hesitated, opening her mouth, then shut it and shook her head.
We walked in silence through to the other side of town.
I frowned more deeply the longer we walked.
Why would she plan to do all of this on foot instead of using a car?
She must have been lying to me about what her plans had been. That was the only explanation.
When we reached her house, I was surprised to find that it wasn’t a house at all.
It was an old trailer, with a patchwork of boards nailed onto the side, under which was a hole.
The inside was terrible. The floor sagged, the furniture was repaired with duct tape, and there appeared to be only a camping stove to cook with.
“This is how you live?” I asked, startled by what bad condition it was in.
“I can’t afford rent. So, I just took over this place.
Technically, I think I’m squatting. I never got official approval to take over the trailer.
” Her shoulders hunched as she went through a sheet hanging in a doorway.
I followed her. Inside was a bedroom, with a single, narrow mattress and two laundry baskets, one with clean-looking clothes, the other dirty.
The closet held stacks of worn-out books.
“Do you have a suitcase to pack your things in?” I asked.
She reached behind her books and grabbed a plastic garbage bag. “I’m bringing the clothes back this time. I’ll make other trips for the rest of my stuff.”
“I’ll arrange for someone—”
“Please don’t.”
I frowned at her.
Jasmine stuffed the clean clothes into the garbage bag, her shoulders hunched. “I’d rather not have anyone mess with my things. I don’t have a job right now, so I have plenty of time to do it myself. You and the others have enough alpha stuff to take care of without this.”
Silently, I watched her work. I could put some books in the baskets and carry them back for her.
But did she really live like this? We weren’t doing well as a town, but this…
this trailer should be condemned. It wasn’t safe for habitation.
It was likely that she lived here because she relied on the pack stipend, if she didn’t have a job.
But why didn’t she have a job?
Ultimately, this was the responsibility of me and the other alphas. Even if she was an omega. Even if she was Jasmine Philips. We probably should have been aware of this, though I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to ask us for help.
When she packed her garbage bags, I loaded up one of the baskets with books. Jasmine protested, but I only told her that I was heading back anyway and could save her a trip. Honestly, I was probably saving her at least two, given how much stronger I was.
But then again…
“I’ll give you the keys to my car so you can move your stuff all at once,” I said as we headed for the door.
“If you’re going to do that, then you might as well leave the books behind,” she answered.
I grunted, disliking that she saw the logic before me, and set the basket down on the kitchen table. She dropped her bags and grabbed it as the table wobbled, then plunked it onto the floor with a groan. Her cheeks were red as she reached for the bags again.
“We don’t have to take those. We’ll come back for them,” I told her.
Jamine shook her head as she picked one of them up. “I don’t want to waste the trip.”
I picked the others up before she could and pushed open the door. “Come on. The others will be wondering where we are.”
We were quiet at first as we headed back the way we came.
Jasmine lagged behind me, and I adjusted my pace so I could walk beside her.
It wouldn’t be appropriate for the town to see the alphas being callous toward their wife-to-be.
If we wanted to keep harmony in the pack, it was important to present a look of harmony ourselves.
Though speaking of harmony… “Last night, when the Goddess called you, you didn’t seem as surprised as I expected.”
Jasmine shrugged. “I was surprised.”
My mouth pinched. “But you had some idea it was going to happen?”
“Not this, specifically. I never would have guessed that the Goddess would choose me. At the time, I thought it must be a mistake.”
That made sense, considering how the Goddess had to repeat her name. That still didn’t explain what she was saying. “I don’t understand.”
“I thought there was a reason I needed to stay. Now that I’ve had more time to think about it, this must be the reason.
So I knew I was needed, but I’d never guessed it was in this way.
But now that it’s happened, I think…” Her shoulders hunched inward, and she bit her lip.
“I think I might have an idea why the Goddess picked me. You’ve heard about how Penelope has visions, right?
She’s psychic and can see glimpses of the future? ”
I stared at her, my jaw going slack with shock. “You do that, too?”
“In a sense. I haven’t ever had a vision the same way she’s described.
It’s more of whenever I made plans to leave Tyrell, I’d always get this flash of me remaining here.
My intuition, I suppose, telling me not to leave.
So, I guess this was the reason why it was telling me to stay, and my intuition is the reason the Goddess picked me. ”
My mind churned over this new information.
I stared at her hard, trying to see anything different about her.
She looked the same as she always did. Pretty, but an omega, and one that I didn’t particularly like.
She’d always caused trouble, always made things worse for us four who would become alphas.
My brow furrowed as I turned forward again. What exactly had she done to make things worse for us? I recalled my dislike for her, recalled the way Owen used to rant about her, and the way the rest of us agreed with him.
But now, I couldn’t actually think of what she had done.
I shook myself. She was lying about the visions. She’d never shown any signs of having some sort of psychic intuition before. That said, it made sense if that was the reason why the Goddess picked her.
My wolf was oddly quiet in my chest, and I shook my head. “Right. Well, don’t tell any of the others about your gifts.” I barely managed to bite my tongue and not call them ‘supposed gifts.’ “They won’t like it, and I don’t want things to get even more argumentative.”
“Meaning—” Jasmine cut herself off. “Alright. I won’t say anything.”
I stared at her openly as we kept walking, not bothering to watch where I was going.
What had she been about to say? It was impossible to read her.
It always had been. She always took everything with a blank face.
There were times in the past when I had deliberately pushed hard enough that later I regretted my actions, just to try to make her crack.
I supposed that was a pretty big reason for her not to want this. Was that what it was? She’d asked me not to be cruel to her. Just what was she imagining we’d do to her?
Thinking back to some of the things we had done to her in the past, I could imagine. We’d been terrible bullies to her. It didn’t take laying hands on her to make her life miserable—something we had never done, except Owen, and even then, only a few times before any of us had turned seven.
I turned my face back toward the direction we were walking. “I…don’t like where you’ve been living,” I said brusquely, unsure of what else to say.
She peeked at me from the corner of her eye. “You don’t have to live there.”
“None of the pack should be living in those conditions.”
Jasmine stared openly at me now, as though I’d started spouting French poetry. “I don’t understand. I’ve lived like that for years. I’ve applied for other housing. I’ve tried to receive a higher stipend so I could at least fix it up a little. Everything was denied, every time.”
I sucked on my teeth, biting back the defensive retort that I couldn’t manage everything. Instead, I asked, “Are there other omegas in similar situations?”
“None as bad as mine. Most of them are able to share housing.”
“And you couldn’t?”
Jasmine sighed. “They didn’t want to end up being targeted.”
“By us.”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. Guilt filled the pit of my stomach, and I wished I could do or say something to apologize.
No, I wished I could talk myself into believing it wasn’t my fault.
Somehow, our stupid behavior from when we were kids was still hurting people.
Who else in the pack was suffering because of us?
“Now that you’re our mate, perhaps you can create some sort of housing initiative. To make sure everyone has a safe place to live,” I said stiffly. “The pack will expect some sort of action from you.”
“I suppose.”
We didn’t say anything else as we got back to the house. The other three were still there, just coming out, as though they were going to start looking for us. Owen caught sight of Jasmine and glared at her, more hotly than I thought necessary.
“There you are,” he snapped. “What the hell have you been doing?”