Chapter Ten
LANE
The room where we sit is spacious but cozy, all honey-colored wood and soft golden light. Wide windows line one wall, looking out over the pine-dense slopes below Moonstone territory, where sunlight filters through the trees and dapples across the floor in shifting patterns.
The air smells faintly of pine resin. A great stone fireplace dominates one wall, its hearth framed by carved wolves running in relief across the mantle. The fire inside burns low and steady, casting a soft orange glow that warms the edges of the room.
Plush armchairs and worn leather sofas are scattered in a loose circle.
There's a small round table between Marion and me, draped with a handwoven runner and covered in plates of cookies, a steaming teapot, and more of the same earth-tone chunky cups that I saw in Jesse's house.
I look under one of them and see a wolf pawprint there.
Marion smiles at me. "That's from a Shadowpine artisan family. They do a lot of beautiful pottery and weaving."
Every surface holds a piece of history: framed photos of wolf runs, a wooden carving of the Moonstone crest, and pictures of the pack Alphas throughout the years.
It's a room meant for gathering, for family – a family I ache to be a part of.
"These cookies should come with a warning label," I say, as I finish my eighth one. "May cause addiction and intense cravings." Much like Jesse.
"I will give you the recipe if you forgive my son for being an impatient, overbearing ass.
His father, my late mate, was very much the same way when he first met me.
" Marion's eyes twinkle, but they also hold a gleam of sadness.
"I came from the Lowlands Pack, about fifty miles from here.
He met me when he was delivering cattle to my father.
He didn't even want to give me time to pack a suitcase.
Him and daddy almost tangled over that."
I smile wistfully. "That sounds intense, but romantic. I don't know, I may have scared him off for good." My heart twists at the thought.
I want him. I do. I don't just want to have sex with him, I want him.
I want the way he looks at me, with such fierce possessiveness, and the way he makes me feel beautiful and needed, and the way he jokes with me and the way he holds me in his arms, gently caressing my back as I drift off to sleep.
Marion shakes her head. "You didn't scare him off.
My son said you are his fated mate, and that means he will wait for you forever if he has to.
He'd be bitching and moaning the whole time, mind you, but he'll wait until you're ready and I will make sure that he doesn't pressure you anymore.
You can stay at my house if you like, there's plenty of room. And, what is going on outside?"
She cocks her head, listening intently.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Sirens. A lot of them."
I look at her in puzzlement. "I don't hear anything."
"Well, this building's pretty soundproof, but shifters have excellent hearing." She stands up. "And the sirens are not from Cedar Run EMS or police, either. I know what our sirens sound like."
She sets down her tea and leaps to her feet. I stand up hastily, and we make our way out of the room, down the long hallway, and to the front door.
There are six police cars parked in front of the pack headquarters, and they're from Fayetteville, an hour west of us. So that means they're human police.
Shifters are hurrying towards the headquarters. There's that pack telepathy bond.
I spot Jesse and Cole coming out of the woods.
"Dax!" Marion calls out. A virtual mountain of a man with a military looking cut is jogging towards us with a grim expression, followed by eight other men who bristle with muscles and look a lot like him.
"He's our pack chief of security," Marion murmurs.
I also see Jeremiah, moving towards us from a couple of blocks away, accompanied by four other shifters- two men and two women. I recognize them from a photograph that's on the wall in pack headquarters; they're the shifter council.
All of the police officers climb out of their cars. I can see from the looks on their faces that they're terrified, which makes sense. Half a dozen humans aren't a match for even the weakest shifter.
One of them pulls out a bullhorn. "Lane Davenport!" he shouts. "We need to see the human woman Lane Davenport!"
My heart stutters in my chest.
I make a move to stride forward, but Jesse and Cole barrel over and stand in between me and them. Dax and his men move to stand with Jesse. More and more shifters are showing up now. There are close to a hundred of them already here. The humans are completely outnumbered.
"You're not taking her anywhere!" Jesse snarls.
The man with the bullhorn swallows but stands his ground. "We have received word that she's been kidnapped and is being held against her will."
What the…."Oh, hell. Alexis." I turned my phone off and she freaked out.
"Who is Alexis?" Marion looks at me in confusion. "Wait. She was one of your job references."
I quickly pull my phone from my pocket and turn it back on.
"Yes, she's my best friend. I was really mad at Jesse the first day I met him and I was complaining about it and then I changed my mind and told her I actually wanted to stay here and…
" I have twenty-seven missed calls and forty missed texts.
Oops.
I glance at the police officer who is trying to sidestep Jesse.
"Sir, step aside! We have silver bullets and we don't want to have to use them!
We have been notified that a human female is being held hostage here in violation of the Shifter-Human Accord of the 1960s!
You are legally obligated to release her to us. "
"She is my fated mate and if you lay a hand on her you're a dead man!" Jesse growls.
Fear swells up inside of me.
"You see?" Jeremiah yells at the crowd. "Humans don't belong here! They're going to re-start the war!" There are two men and two women gathered near him. The pack council. Frowns crease their foreheads. They're glancing at each other, nodding at each other without speaking.
My heart sinks. I could just climb in a car with the police and run away, leave behind Jesse and all the messy, complicated things that go with being in a relationship. I could find a job somewhere else.
I could break his heart, and mine.
It would be easier in a way. The pack is going to be suspicious of me after this. I'm going to have to work hard to win acceptance.
But I won't do it. Too many people gave up on me in the past. I will not give up on Jesse and I will not give up on this pack.
"Wait!" I cry out, pushing my way forward. I scowl at Jeremiah. "Human beings are reasonable. You're not giving any of us a chance."
I walk up to the police officer.
"I am Lane Davenport, and I am not being held against my will.
This is all a huge misunderstanding. I got in an argument with this guy and complained to my friend Alexis about it.
She's the one who called this in. When I told her today that I'd worked everything out and he's actually my mate, she argued so much I hung up on her and turned off my phone. "
The police officer stares at me like I've taken leave of my senses.
"Look," I say, in my most reasonable, calming tone, "I am standing five feet away from you.
If I wanted to leave, I'd jump in that squad car and shut the door, and you have silver bullets so you could stop anyone who tried to get in the way.
" Actually, they couldn't. There are now about fifty shifters gathered on the sidewalk, strong enough to tear doors off cars, and he and his fellow officers might be able to shoot a few of them before the shifters killed them all - but why bring that up?
I take a deep breath. "I came here to interview for a job, I got the job, and I'm staying. These are my people now." I wave at Marion and Jesse and Cole. "And this is my man." I point straight at Jesse.
The fierce red glow in his eyes dies down a little bit.
"Are you sure?" the officer asks doubtfully.
"I have never been more sure of anything in my life." I smile at the officer. "You wouldn't understand. It's a fated mate thing."
And I turn and walk back to Jesse, seizing his hand in mine.