by R. E. Butler
“It hurt,” she blurted out. “I know it’s supposed to hurt, but it was more than the physical pain. It was like the brand seared everything, not just my skin. In an instant, my life was different and would never be the same.”
She hadn’t liked the symbol. Had hated it, in fact. But without it, she never would have met Jair.
“You’re here,” she said.
He snuggled her a little closer and kissed the top of her head. “Where else would I be?”
“No, I mean that without these symbols our paths would never have crossed.”
He stiffened for a moment, and she wriggled out of his embrace until she was facing him. She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, when he gripped her shoulders lightly.
“It’s not pretty.”
“What isn’t?”
“My past.”
She snorted. “Whose is?”
Shaking his head, he lightly massaged her shoulders and said, “Sweetheart, you were put in a shitty situation by your father. I was the result of a shitty situation.”
He wasn’t looking at her, and her cat murmured in concern. She cupped his chin and lifted his head until she could look into his eyes. She found the place on his neck where she’d bit him and rubbed it. He purred, in what seemed like an almost involuntary reaction, and she smiled. “We’re mates. Whatever baggage you have, it’s mine to carry now, too.”
“I don’t want you to think differently of me.”
“Not possible. Well, I mean I could fall even harder for you, I guess.”
His gaze darkened, and he growled, hauling her close and crushing her against his chest. He was quiet for a bit, and she gave him whatever time he needed to get his thoughts together. She was an open book, and she wanted him to be that way with her.
“My mom’s mate died. She was a young tigress with a child. She was lonely. She left her son with family and went off pride lands. She went to a human city and happened to find a wolf shifter who was living among them. They had an affair, and she returned to the pride, pregnant.
“When I was born, she said I smelled enough like a pure tiger that she trusted my shift would be normal, so she never told me who my real father was. But my shift isn’t normal at all, it’s so fucking far from normal.”
She moved slowly, swinging her leg over his and straddling him. She cupped his face, tilting his head up until she could see into his lovely mismatched eyes. “You smell like home to me. It’s tiger and wolf together, and it doesn’t really make sense except that you’re mine. I don’t care what you shift into; I don’t care about the color of your eyes or your fur. You’re mine, Jair. Every inch of you.”
His gaze was intense, but their beasts were connected through their mating and she could tell he was wrestling with demons that had nothing to do with her.
“My aunt told me about Mona. She gave up her life to be with Dillon. When I look at her, I don’t see regret, I see a family. Our situation isn’t the same, of course—I didn’t choose to have an arranged mating, but I was being a good daughter and doing what my father said. Now I’m cut off from that world and I can’t go back unless I want to get dead fast. I wasn’t really thinking much about my future until I was driving here. Then it was all could think about.” She played her fingers down his throat, finding comfort in the heat of his skin. “I wondered what the symbol would mean for my future. I was told my whole life that exiled shifters are the worst of our kind. I don’t think I’m a bad person, but the brand made me feel that way. Then I see your brand, and I feel like it connects us.”
He clasped her wrist gently just underneath the mark. “You don’t care about the mixed-up beasts?”
“No. You don’t care that I’m a princess, right? What defined us in our past doesn’t have to define us in the present and future.”
His brows shot up. “Wait, what?”
She groaned, realizing she’d called herself by her old title. “My father was king of the chain.”
He hummed, his brows drawing down. “Why would your father exile you because your arranged mate was killed? Not that I’m not thrilled that you’re here, but princesses are revered.”
“I was given to my arranged mate’s father. I was told it was mate him or get the hell out of town, so I picked exile. I’ve only been gone for five days. It feels weird to think about life going on without me, you know? My father went to bed that night without having a daughter.”
Tears stung her eyes, and Jair wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, his wolfy purr comforting her as the tears fell.
“You’re my family now, Genesis,” he murmured. “The life we’ll build here will be one where no one in our family will ever be kicked out for their genetics or their choice in mates.”
She sniffled and put her arms around his neck, resting her cheek against his strong shoulder. “Thank you.”
He chuckled and kissed her forehead. “For what? I’m just being a good mate to you. You’re my whole world now, sweetheart. No one will take you from me.”
“I’m stuck with you, then?” she teased, feeling the tears ease.
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”
Chapter Eight
Jair hadn’t been particularly interested in leaving the house, or putting clothes on for that matter, but he’d promised Dillon and Mona that he would bring Genesis to dinner that night. The afternoon had rushed by, and when their time alone dwindled, his beasts wouldn’t stop snarling in annoyance. In a way, he was in awe of their continued agreement on things. Ever since he’d shifted as a teenager and felt the two beasts grappling for dominance in him, he’d been listening to them fight each other. The tiger and wolf had different ideas of what was important, and were quite vocal in their opinions. It was rare that they agreed about anything. But with Genesis, the two creatures seemed to morph into one, single-minded when it came to their curvy mate—her happiness and safety were the most important things in the universe to them.
Genesis didn’t have any clothes except for the ones she’d had on when they met. Her things were at Mona’s, but from what she’d told him, she’d only been allowed to take a few bags with her, and hadn’t been given much time to pack. Which meant he needed to take her shopping and make sure that she wanted for nothing.
“What are you thinking about so seriously?” she asked as she stepped into the bedroom, where he sat on the bed, tying his shoes.
She looked so lovely. The jeans she wore were curve-hugging, accenting the indentation of her waist and the flare of her hips. Instead of the top she’d had on when they met, she’d paired one of his long-sleeved plaid shirts with a tank top. She rolled the sleeves up to show her wrists and tugged on the collar. “You don’t mind that I borrowed your shirt, do you?”
“Hell no,” he said. He finished tying his shoe and stood, joining her so he could pull her into his arms. “You look good.”
“So what were you thinking about?”
“Clothes.”
She chuckled. “Oh?”
“I mean, we need to go shopping so you have plenty to wear. Not that I don’t like seeing you in my clothes…or out of them.”
A frown tugged the corners of her mouth down. “I don’t really have any money.”
His beasts snarled together. “It’s my duty to take care of you.”
She blinked slowly as she stared up at him. “Duty?”
He cupped her face and rubbed his thumb along her bottom lip. “Duty. Honor. Pleasure. I want you to have everything I can give you.”
“I really don’t need anything but you,” she said. Moving onto her toes, she brushed her lips across his with a smile. “And some socks.”
He laughed, lifting her off her feet and holding her tight. “Whatever you want.”
“Just you.”
Although he wanted to toss her onto the bed and strip her slowly, he didn’t want her friends to be pissed at him. Even though Mona and Dillon weren’t actual family, they’d been willing to take Genesis in, and that made them golde
n in his book. He wanted to treat them as respectfully as he would any other member of her family. Although he suspected that her father would have exiled her for wanting to mate with a hybrid.
He set her on her feet and kissed her. “We should leave before my beasts decide it’s better to stay in then go out.”
“We can stay in after we get home tonight.”
He loved that she thought of his place as home. That word had been a foreign concept to him when he’d been exiled, and the cabin had been just a place where he lived. With her, though, it felt like home.
Leading her outside, he helped her into his truck and climbed behind the wheel. It took only a few minutes to cross town to Mona and Dillon’s house. Jair didn’t know them personally, but he knew of them. The word on the street was that they’d lived in the human world for many years, but as their children grew older it became harder for them to keep their shifter natures under wraps, so they’d moved to Cider Falls. He couldn’t imagine trying to fit in with the humans. It was hard enough to fit in with other hybrids and shifters, without attempting to hide the essence of what they were.
“How do you know Mona?” he asked as he parked the truck.
“She and my aunt were childhood friends. I hadn’t met her before I came here, but I feel like I know her because of what Geraldine shared with me.”
“Dillon said you were his pseudo-niece,” he said.
She smiled. “I guess that’s one way to look at it. I wouldn’t have minded if he said I was his real niece, but I’m not.”
“We’re making our own family here, sweetheart. You don’t have to be anyone’s pseudo-anything.”
“Family, huh?” She grinned, and her eyes danced.
He opened and closed his mouth, trying to find the right words. Should he tell her that he wanted to have a big family with her because he felt like he’d been robbed of his own? That he wanted to be the best dad to their kids because she’d gotten a raw deal with her own dad, and his had been non-existent?
From what he’d learned about her in the short time they’d been together, he knew that honesty was very important to her. Linking their fingers together, he said, “I want us to have a big family.”
“I always wished I’d had a sister or brother.”
His beasts mourned for the briefest bit of time over the loss of their mom and brother. It wasn’t just blood that made a family, though; it was so much more. Glancing over her shoulder, he could see Mona standing in the open door. He kissed Genesis and said, “We should go before Mona drags us out of the truck.”
“Okay. We can finish our talk later.”
Nodding, he kissed her once more and then got out, moving swiftly to open her door. He could hardly stand to be apart from her. His beasts wanted to plaster her to their side with glue.
Mona greeted them, hugging Genesis tightly. “Come on in, dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”
When Mona shut the door, Jair caught an all-too-familiar scent in the house.
Growling, he pushed Genesis behind his back as his father appeared in the hallway. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Language! There are kids in the house,” Mona chided.
He didn’t apologize. He couldn’t think past his rage at seeing his father.
“Jair?” Genesis said, her gentle voice helping to soothe some of the anger flooding him.
“Why are you here?” he asked again, pressing his mate more firmly against him. He wanted to keep her as far away from him as possible.
“I came to talk,” Veron said.
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Genesis, why don’t you help me in the kitchen?” Mona asked.
The sound that came out of his mouth was from deep inside, a twisted furious roar and howl mixed together. Over his dead body would his mate leave his side right now.
“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll stick around,” Genesis said. She leaned to the side and said, “I’m Genesis. Who are you?”
Veron’s brows rose. “I’m Jair’s father.”
She made a curious sound in her throat, and Jair wondered if she was angry. He had purposely spent the day learning about her, and avoided talking about his past. She knew he was exiled; she knew his father was a wolf. But that was as far as her knowledge went. He had planned to tell her about Veron eventually. Not tonight. Not less than twenty-four hours after meeting her.
Dillon stepped into the hallway and gave Mona a gentle push into the kitchen. “If you want to be angry at anyone, Jair, it can be me. I called Veron to let him know that you two were mated, and he told me that there’s a rift between you. There are a fuck lot of people in this town who would love to have a blood relative willing to talk to them. You need to give Veron a chance to tell his side of the story. Stop being an asshole and start being a good son.”
Genesis growled, and Jair felt her claws dig into his side. “You don’t know what’s going on between them, Dillon, and frankly, neither do I, but nothing good’s going to come from you surprising him with a family meet-and-greet. When Mona invited us to dinner, I thought it was because she wanted to get to know me and Jair. You ambushed us.”
Dillon rolled his eyes. “If my dad bent over backward for me the way Veron has for Jair, I’d be falling on my knees in gratitude.” He snorted in disgust and turned on his heels, disappearing into the kitchen.
“Give me ten minutes,” Veron said, striding into the living room as if he expected that Jair would follow.
Jair’s grip tightened fractionally on Genesis, but she still managed to wiggle out of it. Coming to face him, she rose onto her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck. Pulling him down to her, she rubbed her lips up his throat with a purr that was so soft he barely heard it.
“I don’t know why Dillon did this,” she whispered in his ear, “and I don’t like it. Mona and Dillon are important to me, but you’re my mate. If you want to go, we can, but if we stay, I’m by your side the whole time.”
He slid his arms around her waist and drew her closer, burying his face in her neck and inhaling her thunderstorm scent. “The tiger hates him,” he said into her ear, voicing things he hadn’t shared with anyone before. “When I see him, I think of all I missed out on because of his fucked-up genes.”
She nipped his throat. “You wouldn’t be you without him. If you were a full-blooded tiger, I would have spent the night alone.”
Well, wasn’t that the fucking truth?
Easing away, he said, “I need you right with me, okay? You’re keeping the tiger calm.”
She smiled. “I wouldn’t be anywhere but by your side right now.”
Moving together, they walked into the living room and found his father standing in front of a large picture window. He turned slowly, arms folded across his chest. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for the last year, Jair. You’ve never given me an opportunity to tell you what happened between your mom and I. When she called to tell me that you’d been exiled, she also told me that she hadn’t ever explained anything about our history together.”
Jair clenched his teeth together to stop the snarl that was building in his chest from escaping. He didn’t like hearing this male talk about his mother at all. He especially didn’t want to hear about the night that led to his conception. Genesis moved in front of Jair and pulled his arms around her like a coat, hugging herself close to him. The tiger settled down, knowing that talking to Veron made Genesis happy, and the tiger wanted her happiness above all else.
“I’m listening,” Jair said.
Veron sat on the couch and rested his elbows on his knees. Jair wasn’t interested in sitting down. He liked where he was just fine. When Jair made no move to join him, Veron cleared his throat and said, “I moved to the human city because my family was all gone. My pack was small, and when my parents died, they disbanded. I didn’t want anything to do with shifters or pack life, and living with humans wasn’t too hard once I got used to thinking and acting like them.
So I registered with the Federal Shifter Alliance to be on my own, got a job, and minded my own business. I’d been on my own for a while when a beautiful tigress walked into the bar while I was working and, man, I couldn’t even form a coherent sentence.” He shook his head with a laugh.
Jair grimaced. “Feel free to skip ahead.”
“Right, sorry. She spent a week with me. The best damn week of my life. Then one morning, I woke up and she’d vanished. I’m a pureblood, so it wasn’t hard to track her down and she didn’t go out of her way to hide her scent. I found her back in her house with her son—your brother—and I thought she was happy. I wasn’t happy to be without her, but I figured she saw me as a fling and that was it. Taking her away from her pride was one thing, but she had a pureblood son to worry about, and I was packless and living in the human world.”
He paused for a moment, and Jair found himself simply staring at the male in front of him. His mother had never said that he came to the pride looking for her.
“I left her my number and told her that I would love to see her again. We weren’t truemates, but it was just about as damn close as you can get. I never heard from her. About ten years later, I went back to the pride to see her. I snuck up to the house at night and what I saw there surprised the hell out of me.” His gaze lifted and he met Jair’s straight on. “I saw you, and I knew you were my son. I waited until she put you and your brother to sleep, and then I broke into the house and confronted her. She said that you were all tiger and just barely wolf, and that she wouldn’t allow me to take you with me or to be part of your life. She’d built a life for you and your brother, and she wasn’t willing to give up the pride to take a chance with me. Especially since your brother was turning out to be a powerful tiger. I made her swear to contact me if you showed signs of being a wolf, and she said she would. I moved here and sent word to her that I was living in a place where we could be a family, free of judgment.”
“She never contacted you, though,” Jair said.
He shook his head. “Not until last year, when she let me know that you were on your way here. She apologized for keeping me in the dark, but she had been terrified of losing you. I would have taken good care of her, and you. Maybe you wouldn’t have hated me so much if you’d known that I wanted you both in my life.”