Chapter 17
We stayedup most of the night talking.
Laughing, too.
And snuggling the whole time.
It was pure bliss.
Vi was already two dozen cupcakes into the day when I finally trudged out of bed, leaving Jasper in the shower. Though I’d wanted to join him, I wouldn’t do anything to make Vi feel uncomfortable. We’d had an agreement not to bring any guys home for years, and I wasn’t going to break it without a conversation first.
Plus, we were leaving soon enough that I didn’t think we even needed to have that conversation.
I hugged her from behind when I found her adding flour to her stand mixer. She laughed, and after she finished, turned around to hug me back. “Sleep good?” she teased.
“For the one hour I slept, yes. Jas and I were up most of the night talking.”
“I’m sure it was worth the sacrifice.”
“It was. Every day, I start to feel a little better about the whole mate thing.”
“Good. You should. He seems to make you happy, and he did promise me he’s going to try all of the recipes I sent him. You’ll have an obligation to tell him it tastes better when I make them, of course.”
“Of course.”
She grinned, and hugged me tightly again. “You have to call or text me every day.”
“Deal,” I said into her hair before she released me and turned back to her stand mixer.
“What’s your plan? How long are you staying in town?”
I lifted myself up on the countertop and explained that we were going to see our parents, so they could meet Jasper. Vi thought it would go about as well as I thought it would go—which wasn’t well.
But she agreed she would go with us and spend the day there.
Jasper came out in a pair of fresh clothes a few minutes later, and caught me eating more cupcakes for breakfast.
He took a few for himself, and we enjoyed a sugary start to our day together before we launched into packing. When Vi finished what she was doing, she joined us too, though we were almost done at that point.
I really didn’t have that much stuff.
Of course, I did have a few more boxes at my parents’ house. But that was a problem for another day.
After we loaded everything into the back of my car, Jasper and I hit the road, with Vi right behind us. We’d be leaving my car at my parents’ place until we decided whether or not we were buying a house in Scale Ridge.
Jasper wanted to, but it seemed excessive to buy an extra house just to visit every now and then. I hadn’t decided what we should do, and I hadn’t asked him to choose yet.
Considering I still hadn’t figured out whether I wanted to ease into mating or jump right in, the Scale Ridge house thing wasn’t a priority.
The ride was only a few hours, but I didn’t like to drive fast, so I happily claimed the passenger seat and let Jasper take the wheel.
We turned on music—both of us agreed on laid-back pop, which was a pleasant surprise—and quickly fell back into another conversation. He asked how I’d learned to draw, and if it had always been a passion. I had no problem talking about that. I’d been obsessed with art since I was a kid.
The hours went by fast,and soon enough, we pulled up to my parents’ house. Worry had me biting my lip, staying in my seat and staring at the place I’d grown up.
It was a beautiful home, though so large it wasn’t very cozy.
And my parents were…
Well, I loved them.
I loved them a lot.
And they loved me, too.
But they weren’t the easiest people to get along with. Hence my go-with-the-flow personality, and Vi’s tendency toward intense independence and stubbornness.
Jasper opened my door and studied me.
I looked at him without moving. “Are you going to hate me if they’re rude to you?”
His lips curved upward in a hint of a smile.
“He’s your mate, Randa. He’s not allowed to hate you,” Vi called out.
“She’s not wrong. Even if she was, I’m used to dealing with difficult people. Won’t faze me,” he said.
His voice was low, and calm. Confident, but not annoyingly so.
I nodded.
Then I let out a long breath.
“I’m going inside,” Vi hollered.
I groaned.
Jasper bent down, tucking his gorgeous torso into my little car far enough to unbuckle my seatbelt. When he eased back out, he captured my hand and towed me to my feet. “I run a group of ancient assholes who guard a prison for a living, Sweetheart. Stop worrying about me.”
I sighed anyway.
He chuckled, slipping his fingers between mine and leading me into the house. “I’ll come back for our bags.”
The gigantic front door was open when we reached it. I leaned against his side, and he tugged me closer, so it didn’t look like I was basically being dragged.
I hated confrontation, and I had a strong feeling there would be Confrontation, with a capital C.
Or maybe entirely capital.
CONFRONTATION, confrontation.
I’d wanted Jasper to like and get along with my family before we got there.
But since arriving, I was just nervous. Very, very nervous.
“It’ll be fine,”he murmured into my mind.
Though sweet, the words didn’t settle me.
Vi and our mom were hugging at the bottom of the massive staircase when we stepped in.
“It’s so good to see you!” my mom exclaimed when they parted. “How’s the restaurant? It’s been too long since we’ve been in.”
It hadn’t even been a month, but I was glad they cared.
Even though her words meant Vi hadn’t told her about quitting her old job.
Yikes.
More CONFRONTATION was on the horizon.
Red alert.
“You haven’t met Jasper yet,” Vi said, stepping back and gesturing to me. “And I’m sure Randa is glad to see you too.”
My mom’s gaze jerked upward, her eyes narrowing when they landed on the man beside me.
My grip on his hand tightened.
He squeezed lightly, then led me forward. “Hi, Mrs. Taylor. My name is Jasper Sky. I’m the lucky bastard fate paired with one of your daughters.”
“I’m aware.”
I groaned inwardly.
Loudly.
His lips twitched. He must’ve heard my groan.
“You’re a dragon shifter,” she said.
It wasn’t a question. It was a statement, and not a happy one.
I tried not to shrink backward.
Vi had totally dodged the question about her job and pinned the tense conversation on me and Jas. It would’ve been rude, if she hadn’t taken the heat off me over and over throughout our lives.
I guess she figured Jasper could handle it.
And he had claimed he could.
“I am. I lead the group of dragons that run the supernatural prison outside Scale Ridge.”
His words seemed to surprise her. Or maybe his confidence did. “How long have you led it for?”
“Officially, around a year. I spent the last three decades in the position behind the scenes, so the role isn’t new. Just the title.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “There’s a large age gap between you two, then.”
“Immortality changes the way you see age.”
Her eyebrows lifted higher. “And you’ll stay young, while Randa ages?”
“No. As my mate, her life is tied to mine. She’s just as immortal as I am.” He didn’t seem bothered by her questions, or her obvious unhappiness.
And hey, no one was yelling.
It still felt like confrontation, but with a lowercase c. Anything was better than CONFRONTATION, so I’d take it.
“So you’re telling me you’ve not only magically married yourself to my daughter, but you’ve also extended her lifetime and changed her physically?”
“Not physically, but everything else is correct. Fate paired us together, and I’m glad it did.”
His words made me warm, but her gaze landed on me.
I tried not to shrink.
The CONFRONTATION was coming.
“And you’re okay with this, Randa?”
“I…” I began, but trailed off because I had no clue what I could say that wouldn’t make her more worried.
Vi snorted. “It’s still new for both of them. It’ll take her time to decide how she feels about it. Jasper treats her well, though.”
I nodded quickly. “He does.”
“That seemed defensive,” mom said.
My face flushed. “I’m worried you’re going to scare him off.”
Jasper squeezed my hip lightly.
Vi snorted again.
My mom’s face softened just slightly. “I’d like to speak to my girls alone, Jasper. My husband is in his office, down this hall.”
She didn’t ask him to go speak with my dad, but the request was implied.
Or maybe the command was implied.
Jasper didn’t protest, though.
He kissed my cheek and murmured into my mind, “Let me know if you need me out here. I’ll come back, whether she likes it or not.”
“She won’t like it.”
“Then it’s a good thing I don’t follow commands unless they’ve come from your lips.”
“You’d follow my commands?”
“In an instant, Sweetheart.”
An image flashed into my mind of me giving him a command in bed—which had definitely never happened before.
His chuckle filled my mind as he finally released me and walked down the hall my mom had gestured to. “I’m not opposed to that.”
My face heated further.
“Why is she blushing?” my mom asked Viola.
“They can communicate mentally. It’s weird, but kind of adorable. She always gets really flustered.”
“Not always,” I protested.
A door closed down the hall.
Jasper must’ve made it to my dad’s office.
Yikes.
Obviously, my dad couldn’t hurt him. He wouldn’t have, even if he could’ve. But Jasper was ginormous. And my dad was… not. He was average height, but all human guys were small next to supernaturals.
Plus he was a doctor. A surgeon. So despite his temper, he’d never hurt anyone unless it was a necessary part of the process to heal them.
“Come on.” My mom turned on her heels—literally, she was wearing heels—and strode through the house. Her tailored slacks swayed with the motion, and her expensive but simple top remained in place.
We followed her to the kitchen, which I knew without checking was stocked with ready-to-heat meals left by her chef, and healthy snacks that had been carefully planned for both of them by a dietician.
When we were kids, there had never been freedom in what we ate. Part of me thought that was why Vi decided to go to culinary school.
I’d dealt with it by consuming copious amounts of candy whenever I had the chance.
Vi sat down on one of the stools in front of the island, and I sat beside her. Mom walked around to the other side of it, like she always had when we were kids.
“Tell me how this happened,” she said.
I looked at Vi.
She shrugged.
So, I launched into the human-approved version of the story.
Sitting down by Jasper, and accidentally giving him my drink after talking his ear off. The way he’d flown me to Mate Mountain (minus the heat bit). Living together while we “waited for the bond to seal or break”.
After making fancy stovetop popcorn to further enhance her enjoyment of my retelling, Vi added the insanely good sex to the story. I wasn’t about to give my mom details about that, so I barely acknowledged it.
When I finally got to the part about our bond sealing and us flying back to Scale Ridge immediately, she looked slightly less concerned.
Only slightly.
“This is absolutely ridiculous,” my mom said, when I stopped talking.
“She knows that,” Vi said, tossing a few more pieces of popcorn in her mouth.
“I do,” I agreed, taking some for myself too. I also needed a drink, but that would require getting up, and getting up could propel me closer to Confrontation.
So, no water.
“How do we get you out of the situation?” she demanded. “There has to be a way to break this mate bond. We can at least separate you from him, and?—”
“It’s not possible to break a mate bond,” I said. “And even if it was… I don’t want to.” I bit my lip after the admission.
It wasn’t something I’d ever admitted before. Not even to myself.
But when it came down to it, did I want to go back to the apartment I shared with Vi? To the life that consisted of drawing in my old college’s library long after my graduation, and spending my nights alone on my couch while my sister worked?
No.
Not even a little.
Not when the other choice was the life I’d sort of started to build with Jasper.
Yeah, the sex had been great, but it wasn’t about that. It was about having a companion. A friend.
Someone to make pancakes with because we were shitty at cooking.
Someone who would learn how to make Muddy Buddies for me when I was having a hard day.
Someone to take the wheel so I didn’t have to drive.
Someone steady, in ways I never had been and probably never would be.
Jasper was that person.
And even though we’d only just started figuring our shit out, I wasn’t going to back out or change my mind.
Our mate bond was permanent, and I wanted it to be.
“You can’t be serious,” my mom argued.
“She is. Elodie told us mate bonds with dragons are permanent way before Randa hooked up with Jas,” Vi said.
“No, she can’t be serious about not wanting to break the bond.”
“Sure she can. When has Randa ever had a guy look at her like Jasper does?”
I bit down harder on my lip.
Never.
I never had.
Hell, I had never even let that become a possibility.
“That kind of attraction, devotion, or whatever it is can’t last,” mom argued.
“We saw dozens of supernatural couples who proved that wasn’t true at Elodie’s wedding alone,” Vi pointed out. “And you and dad are still together.”
“Not looking at each other like that. We’re still together because we’re friends, Viola. There’s no romance.”
“Romance is bullshit anyway,” Vi said.
I didn’t disagree.
I didn’t agree either, though.
I didn’t know what to think, honestly.
I just knew I didn’t want to walk away from Jasper. That wasn’t technically a huge development, since it wasn’t an option to begin with. But if felt like one.
Footsteps sounded on the tile behind me, so I turned around. For whatever reason—probably a magical one—my body relaxed immediately when I saw Jasper walking next to my dad, neither of them bleeding or sporting bruises.
His gaze slid over me. “You okay?” he asked me mentally.
“I should be asking you that question.”
He chuckled into my mind. “I’m fine, Sweetheart. I’ll tell you about the conversation later.”
“See, they’re doing it again. She’s totally flustered,” Vi said, giving our mom a knowing look.
“I am not,” I protested, slipping off my chair and turning to face the men.
“You are,” Jasper said, his lips curving in a small smile as I crossed the distance between us and gave my dad a quick hug. When I stepped back into place beside him, Jasper’s hand found my lower back.
I couldn’t stop myself from leaning against him just a little, though I said, “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I am. I just like it when you blush.”
My face heated further, and Vi laughed.
My dad gave me a grudging smile.
And my stomach rumbled, loudly.
The popcorn hadn’t cut it.
“I can put tonight’s dinner in the oven,” my mom said, though her expression was still tight.
She hadn’t accepted our mate bond yet, but there hadn’t been anywhere near as much confrontation as I expected. That alone felt like a victory.
“I think tonight warrants a celebratory dinner, don’t you?” Dad asked, looking at mom.
She grimaced, but nodded.
And after everyone took a few minutes to freshen up, we got back in the car and headed to a restaurant we’d frequented when Vi and I were kids.
It felt a little bizarre, but not in a bad way.
Not at all.