by Sydney Addae
Jacque leaned back and she removed the cup. “When I told her La Patron wasn’t here and that she couldn’t enter the gate, she grew angry.” He took a deep breath.
“Is that when she sent out a mating call?” Jasmine asked what Silas had been thinking. He sent a Thank you to her through their link.
“Is that what that was?” Jacque coughed and covered his mouth. “If…if that was a mating call, then I am grateful…to the Goddess…to be unmated.”
Silas frowned. If that wasn’t what he’d experienced with Jasmine, then what was it?
“What did it feel like, Jacque?” she asked in a soft voice while stroking Jacque’s hand. “If it didn’t make you think of sex, what did it do?”
Silas wanted to kiss her for taking the lead. Jacque seemed less reluctant to discuss everything with her.
“It was…” He wet his lips.
“You need something to drink?” She held up the cup.
“No.” He paused. “Thank you. I’m trying to find the words. I have never…I wanted sex, but not like La Patron wants it with you. There was this driving, pulsating… need to please her. To obey her. To make her happy. I can’t explain. But…” He sighed. “It may have started as sexual, but it ended up as so much more. Her will overrode my own, and I wanted that more than anything,” he whispered. He looked away. “I wanted to serve her in any way she wanted,” he whispered, sounding ashamed.
“Now do you understand why I must leave? Why I cannot be trusted? I told her about La Patron’s babies, about you and your sons. She knows about the tunnels, about the Alpha trainees. I told her everything,” he said, his voice full of self-loathing.
“Does she plan to kill Silas?”
Jacque frowned. “No.” He met Silas’ gaze. “No. She wants to be in your place, birthing his pups. At least she did until I told her…”
Silas stiffened.
“What’d you tell her, Jacque,” Jasmine asked in a quiet tone.
Jacque turned his face to the side, away from them. Silas braced himself for whatever Jacque had to say. Jasmine reached back and took his hand.
“I told her you were his mate.”
Of all the things Silas expected to hear, that was not on the ticket.
“What?” Silas asked, pulling Jasmine back and taking her spot near Jacque. “What did you say?”
“I told her, you and Jasmine were mated. That’s when she became really angry and enslaved the other men.”
Silas stared at Jacque, his mind in a whirlwind. Mated? No. An icy chill flittered across his flesh. He liked Jasmine, she was sexy as hell, a great bed-mate and mother to his litter. He could spend the rest of his life with her, have more pups. But, no. No. She could not be his mate. The Goddess wouldn’t be so cruel. He was La Patron. Leader of all wolves. She was…she was a human breeder who called him “wolfie” on occasion.
“Did you tell her that so she’d back off and stop waiting for Silas?” Jasmine asked when Silas remained silent.
Jacque looked at her and frowned. “No. Lying to her never entered my mind. It was impossible to lie.”
“Okay. After you told her about the mating thing, did she pick someone else?” Jasmine asked. “We know she has no interest in ruling wolves, she only wants to be safe. So who took her away? Who’s keeping her safe? The Alpha trainees?”
Jacque lips curled in a semblance of a smile. “The Goddess is indeed wise.” He glanced at Silas, who was still processing Jacque's pronouncement. “It was Felipe, the strongest trainee.”
“What? Felipe is mated.” Silas stepped closer to the bed. He’d had men searching for the trainees the past few days and no one'd had any luck. “Do you know where he is?”
“She chose the person she thought could protect her best. He was the strongest available until the Alphas came. And she knew Theron would kill her on sight.”
“Where are they?”
Jacque shrugged. “I’m not sure. They could be in the woods or caves or miles away by now.”
“Can she turn Felipe against Silas?” Jasmine asked.
Silas was impressed by how well she handled questioning Jacque and told her so.
“Comes with raising teenagers,” she answered through their link.
“Yes. If Felipe wasn’t strong enough to withstand her, and he was mated, there’s not much she cannot get him to do,” Jacque said.
“You think she’s planning to attack,” she asked.
“Only if she thought that was the best way to secure her safety. In her mind, she’s a woman using the only weapon she has to survive. It’s some kind of twisted justice that the very thing wolves crave from her, enslaves them. She shared some memories with me, she has been abused through the years by wolves and humans.”
“Why’d she leave?” Silas asked.
“She’s human and gets tired like everybody else and needs to rest. But they wouldn’t let her rest. I understood she had to choose the one who’d take her first. She’d carry pups for the first wolf who took her. The rest were just…well, fulfilling a promise.”
“You?” she asked.
Jacque smiled. “No. I got hurt and couldn’t, which is a good thing.”
“How’d you end up on the road? Samantha called and claimed you fell in the middle of the road.”
Jacque sighed loud and long. “I was hurt when La Patron…when you unleashed your anger, and I could not keep up as they escaped. I was left behind. I think the human females found me. I remember hearing voices arguing, but I can’t be certain.” His arm lifted and then fell. “At any rate, at some point I was walking on the road. I don’t remember much more after that.”
“Do you wish you had gone with her? Do you love her?” Jasmine asked.
The look of uncertainty Jacque gave Jasmine spoke volumes. “I have asked myself that question hundreds of times. I hated what I did. But I wanted to do it.” He glanced at her. “Does that make any sense?”
“Not really,” Jasmine said.
“It’s not love. It was more like being in a fantasy. A horribly wicked fantasy, where you knew you were wrong and that it’d cost you later, but you do it anyway. Both sides of my nature were at war. There were moments when I’d recoil from an action and step back, but not far enough to break free.” He sighed. “Going with her was never a real option, it was part of the fantasy. Her interest in me was La Patron.”
“If you saw her again?” Jasmine asked.
“I have no idea how I’d respond. I may try and kill her for what she did, or fall to my knees and worship her.” He paused and swallowed hard. “I have no idea.”
Chapter Seventeen
Silas and Jasmine returned to her wing. “Still want him to stay?” Silas asked her.
Inhaling, she walked into the kitchen without answering. Jacque had been honest, and while she felt bad for all he'd suffered, she wasn’t sure she could trust him around her babies.
“No comment?”
She pulled the pitcher of sweet tea from the refrigerator, poured a glass, and took a long sip. “I want him to stay about as much as you want to be mated to me,” she said dryly. Without looking at him she topped off her glass and walked past him into the living room.
“Really?” He followed behind her.
“Yeah, really…with your “Oh no, the Goddess saddled me with a human, who’s good enough for your bed, but not…” She threw up her hand. “You know what… forget I said that. No, I don’t trust his situation. I’m not sure who’d have his loyalty if she showed up again.”
“Jasmine.”
“I said forget I said anything. We are not discussing that right now.” She put the glass on the table. “Call the twins, tell them to bring Rose.” Her chest ached at his hard-headedness.
“We need to discuss—”
“I said no,” she yelled, pointing at him. “Now get them in here or leave. Right now I don’t give a damn which one you do.”
His eyes narrowed as he stared at her. “They’re on their way.” He turned and sat on the sofa, gi
ving her his back. Irritated, she took a seat on the opposite side of the room. The silence in the room crackled beneath the weight of unspoken words.
The door opened. Tyrese walked in first and frowned. He looked between her and Silas but didn’t say anything. Rose followed him and Tyrone entered last. Jasmine smiled as she stood, determined to erase the disconcerted looks on the faces of her sons.
“Hi, you must be Rose.” She stretched out her arms to take the young girl in a hug.
Silas growled.
Tyrese blocked her path.
“I will at least shake her hand. Now step out the way, Rese.” After a moment of hesitation, he moved, but not before he winked at her.
She clasped the soft hand and stared into intelligent eyes filled with uncertainty. “You like them both, don’t you?”
Rose licked her lips as her eyes flicked between Tyrone and Tyrese. Jasmine inhaled, wondering how to fix this before her sons came to blows. She patted Rose’s hand before releasing it. “Sit, talk with me for a few moments. You will be my daughter one day; we might as well get to know one another.”
Rose’s brow lifted. “How can you be so sure?”
Jasmine chuckled. “I know my sons. The only thing that’d have the atmosphere in my home as tense as it’s been the past three days is a woman. No, not a woman, but a mate.” She sat in the chair and motioned for Rose to sit nearby.
The young wolf sat, but held her hands tight in her lap. “Tell me about your family? Where are you from?”
“Excuse me?” Rose said, looking up at the twins with a frown.
“Your family. I’m big on family. Tell me about yours.” She placed her hands over her belly to calm her babes.
“It was just my sister, my brother and my mom. I…I don’t know my father. Mom said he was killed after Thorn was born. She took us and left.” She shrugged as though that was the story of her life.
“Where’d you go to school? Did you play sports? You’re very pretty, I bet you were homecoming queen.” Jasmine felt Silas trying to link with her, but she blocked him.
Rose blushed and looked away. “No…no, we didn’t go to public school. I didn’t do any of those things. Mom…she taught us at home.”
“How did your mom teach you about your differences? I mean, I had no idea my sons changed into wolves, and if my ex-husband hadn’t taught them control and how to survive with their dual natures, they’d be in a world of trouble.” Although she made light of it now, every now and then it still pissed her off how they'd kept that from her.
Rose smiled. “Mom had a bitch who was a friend, Pam. Pam taught us the basics and nature did the rest. She was there for our first shift and made it seem like fun. She explained our strength, and why we had to stay away from human boys.”
“Why?” Jasmine asked, watching her sons from the corner of her eyes.
“Because we could hurt them.” She looked at Jasmine as if she should know that.
Jasmine looked at Tyrese and then Tyrone, remembering all the girls they’d dated. Had they been human? Neither son would look her in the eye.
“How old are you, Rose?” Jasmine asked after sending a glaring look at her sons. They would have a conversation about that.
“Twenty-four.”
Jasmine smiled. She was slightly older than the twins. “Why’d you stop Tyrese on the road the other day?”
“Mom,” Tyrese said, but stopped when she looked at him.
“Forgive him, Rose, for interrupting our conversation. Go ahead and answer.”
Rose glanced at Tyrese and then looked at her. “Mom said he was my mate and that he wouldn’t be able to drive away if I was in trouble. But after he loaded the full-bloods in the back of the truck, he offered to call a cab, said he couldn’t kill them like I wanted him to do.”
Jasmine choked back a laugh at Tyrese’ reddened face. He couldn’t have left Rose behind if his life had depended on it, but it warmed her heart that he wasn’t going to be a pushover.
“A cab?” Tyrone said turning on Tyrese. “You offered to put her in a cab?”
“If the two of you cannot remain silent like the furniture while Rose and I talk, leave,” Jasmine said, glaring at them. “We aren’t interested in your crap, so stuff it.”
The shock on their faces was comical, but they remained silent in the room.
“Why’d he offer a cab?”
Rose appeared more relaxed. “I refused to ride in the truck with the full-bloods. I wanted him to take me back to the hospital and he wouldn’t.” She laughed and it had a clean tinkling quality. “He called my bluff and I got in the truck.”
Jasmine glanced at her sons. They stared at Rose as though she held the mysteries of the universe in her hand. Was this what Jacque experienced with Arianna? God, she hoped not.
“Why’d you join the fight?”
“What?” Rose frowned.
“Tyrese said the other wolf had him on the ground and you and your brother came and knocked the wolf off. Thank you, by the way.”
Rose smiled and nodded.
“I just wanted to know what made you do that.”
“I…I don’t know. One minute, Thorn and I were walking back to the hospital. The next, a feeling came over me, I shifted and ran. When I saw what was happening, my wolf took over.”
Jasmine nodded. “Where’s Lilly?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been trying to reach her, but she hasn’t returned my calls. She may have returned home to Massachusetts, but I can’t imagine why. We never liked it there. I thought she would’ve been here by now. She’ll show up sooner or later. She always does.”
“Maybe she took your mom home for burial?” Jasmine wondered why no one had mentioned a funeral yet.
“Mom was cremated. From what I understand, all breeders are cremated, something about not allowing anyone to study them.” She shrugged. “Anyway we had strict instructions that she never go into the ground.”
That surprised Jasmine. She sensed Silas’ surprise as well. “Really, I hadn’t heard that. Seems someone has a rule book and forgot to send me a copy. Are there any other breeder rules I should know?”
“I’m…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Rose sat back in the chair and looked away.
“No…please. I need your help.”
Rose looked at her with skepticism.
Jasmine nodded. “Seriously. This is new to me. I just discovered I was a breeder a few months ago.”
“What?” Rose searched her face.
“Long story, we’ll have years to discuss it. But I just don’t want you to feel… awkward about sharing information. I want you to tell me anything you know about breeders.” Jasmine sighed. “I really don’t like that term, but, it is what it is.”
She refused to look at Silas. Tyrone and Tyrese smiled.
Rose laughed. “I will. I promise. As I remember things I’ll tell you.”
“Thanks, you are a sweetheart. Was your mom meeting with the other breeders nearby?”
“I’m not sure. Sometimes she’d leave and not tell us where she was going. But I do know she came to West Virginia because of some other breeders. They were getting together and convinced mom to get involved. This morning she got a call to go to the hospital and meet Samantha. Lilly and I didn’t want her to go, but she thought it was important. I went with her. Thorn and Lilly stayed behind. I called my sister to pick us up when we left the emergency waiting room. I had convinced mom to leave those women alone, we were on our way back to the hotel.”
“They’ve been trying to convince me to come and meet with them. What do you think?”
Rose shook her head. “I wouldn’t. They’re fanatics. They only care about their own agenda, everything else, like my mom being dragged out the car and beaten, is collateral damage. Fodder for the propaganda machine,” she said with a bite in her voice.
Pleased with the answer and high level of animosity, Jasmine looked at Tyrone and Tyrese. “I need you to leave until I call you.” When they did
n’t move immediately, she gave them the eye until they walked off.
When they’d closed the door behind them, Jasmine looked at Rose. “I’m going to ask you a question, think about it and then answer me, okay?”
“I like them both. I don’t know which one is my mate,” Rose said, speaking fast. “Silas shut it down. I know they’re asking you questions.” She spoke through their link without bothering to look at him, she knew her sons.
“Rose, I understand, but my question is this, is it possible that you’re confused because they’re twins and your feelings bleed from one to the other? Can your wolf tell the difference between them?”
Rose’s mouth opened and then closed. She bracketed the bridge of her nose with her fingertips and shook her head. “It’s possible, but I don’t know.”
“Okay. That’s good. I’d like to try an experiment if you’re alright with it. I’ll blindfold you and call them back in here. Then I’d like you to inhale and scent your mate. Would that be alright?”
Rose bit her lip and nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“Good.” Jasmine stood and retrieved a scarf from her room, her mind on the breeders and their rules. Was it possible the women reaching out to her were trying to teach her? She tied the scarf. “Can you see anything?”
“No.”
“Call them back in,” she said to Silas, avoiding his gaze.
Tyrone and Tyrese returned with a wary expression. “I want you to pull yourselves out of each other. No more mixing, it’s confusing her and I suspect, you as well.”
Their eyes widened and she wanted to smack them for not thinking of it earlier. “Have you done it?”
They nodded. She waved them forward and had them stand close to Rose. Tyrese smiled wide and yelled. He slapped a silent Tyrone on the back. “Congratulations, baby bro.”
Rose pulled off the scarf and stared hungrily at Tyrone. “It’s you.”
He nodded and walked slowly to her. “Yes, and it’s you.” He pulled her close and kissed her.
Jasmine looked at a relieved Tyrese and shook her head. “You are so bad,” she mouthed to him.
He nodded and left the room.