Cass nodded her head as he smiled and said “Goodnight”.
He went up the stairs to his room where he looked at Emily before he went to take a shower. Afterwards dressed in a pair of boxers, he slipped into bed next to Emily and placed an arm around her waist before he fell into an uneasy sleep. He had totally forgotten about Victoria’s visit.
Two days later, Victoria paid another visit to the house. This time Sasha was in the living room with Cass and her mom when she entered the house.
“Hello,” Victoria said with a smile although her eyes were dark with anger. She knew Jay’s mother did not really like her, but she could not believe that she would not tell her son about his mate’s visit. It never crossed her mind that Jay was told about her visit, but he did not even consider calling her that evening.
“Is Jay here?” she said after a few minutes of pleasantries were dealt with. Sasha frowned as she said, “Yes, but he and Mark are in a meeting with their father.”
Victoria settled down in a chair as she said, “Will it be okay if I wait for him?”
Cass said as she turned her attention back to the checkers game that she and Stacy were playing, “Of course”. She sent a message to Stan through their mate link as Sasha was doing the same thing. Stacy was focused on the game although she wished Jacob was there, but Stan sent him on an errand and he would not be back until the next day.
In the office, both Mark and Stan frowned as they were bombarded by their mates.
“Victoria is here,” Stan said as Mark rolled his eyes.
Jay looked up from the couch were he was sitting, “What is she doing here again?”
Mark just looked at him as Stan swore under his breathe.
Jay shook his head as he went back to the paperwork he was doing.
A few minutes later, done with the paperwork, Jay knew it was time to broach the subject with Mark about being Alpha.
“Dad,” Jay said putting the paperwork into its folder and standing up to give it to his father.
Stan took the folder but his eyes stayed on his eldest son as he asked slowly, “You want to do it now?”
Jay nodded his head in agreement as Mark asked confused, “Dad, what are you talking about?”
Jay smiled as he turned to him, “Mark, what would you say if I told you I wanted to step down from the Alpha position?”
Mark’s mouth opened in shock and he fell back against the desk stunned at what his brother was telling him.
“What?” he whispered back.
Jay’s green eyes gleamed with humor, “I just hope that you choose me as your second-in-command, but the choice is yours.”
Mark could not speak as he looked at Jay then turned his attention to their father.
“He already told me, and although I think he would make a good Alpha, I agree that you are actually a better choice for the leadership role,” their father said bluntly, and Jay laughed.
“Finally he gets it,” Jay said.
Mark laughed but he had some questions before he said yes to this proposal.
He looked at Jay and said hesitatingly, “Are you sure that is what you really want, Jay?”
Jay nodded his head.
“What about your mate? What would Emily say about this?” Mark persisted.
A knowing smile spread across Jay’s face, “Emily will accept me no matter whether I am Alpha or not.”
Mark continued to look at him and said bluntly, “If she dies, what would Victoria say about this?”
Although Jay smiled, Mark saw the pain that invaded his eyes as he replied, “Victoria has no say in what I do.”
Mark glared at him, “You know the reason she is here.”
Jay nodded his head slowly as he ran his hand through his black hair. “I know why she is here, but I do not care. Emily is my mate and if she dies, I will not choose Victoria.”
Stan stood there watching and listening to them until he interrupted.
“Mark,” he said quietly.
Mark looked over at him and he knew what he was asking him. He sighed as he glanced over at Jay who was staring at him.
“Can I talk with Sasha first?” he asked softly looking towards his father.
Stan nodded his head as Jay said softly, “I knew you would say that.”
Mark laughed as Jay chuckled, and Stan just shook his head at the both of them.
“Let us go and join the women,” Stan said, and he laughed when he saw Jay’s grimace.
“Go on up to Emily, Jay, and we will make your excuses.”
Mark laughed at the relief on Jay’s face.
Emily, you need to wake up soon, he thought as they left the office and Jay headed quietly up the back stairs to his room.
Stan was the first one into the room and seeing Victoria, he said “Hello, Victoria. What can we do for you today?”
Mark walked over to Sasha after he entered behind him and put an arm around her waist winking at her when he saw her confused look.
“I was waiting for Jay, Alpha,” she said demurely with a charming smile.
Stan was not fooled by her smile, but he said in a voice filled with sorrow, “I am sorry, Victoria, but I sent Jay out to do something for me. We did not know that you were here.”
Victoria’s smile left her face as she said, “I just got here.”
Stan saw the look of anger in her eyes and he said, “Would you like to stay for dinner?”
He watched as she hid her smile from them as she said, “I wish I could, but I already made plans.
Stan nodded his head, “We will tell Jay that you stopped by to see him.”
“Please do,” she said giving him a satisfied smile.
After she left, it was Stacy who had just been an observer said quietly, “Her mate mark…it is fading.” The room was quiet at what she had said.
Upstairs in their room, a sleepy Jay thought he felt a movement from the woman in his arms, but when he opened his eyes nothing had changed. His green eyes shadowed with pain before they closed and he drifted back off to sleep his arms tightening on Emily.
Chapter 18
Victoria slammed the door behind her as she entered her house. She was enraged for the last week she had been going over to Jay’s house everyday and yet she had not been able to meet up with him once. She chewed on her bottom lip as she headed to her bedroom ignoring the woman she had in the house who cleaned and cooked for her. Stan assured her that they were telling Jay about her visits. She had even been offered to have dinner with them every evening, but her eyes gleamed with worry for a second. She thought about the little human woman female that had came with Sasha and her family, but she shook her head as she snickered.
“No way Jay would pick her over me,” she said aloud with confidence. Besides, there has been no mention of her at anytime so she assumed that she had left. She could not even smell her in the house although she did not take into account that Emily’s scent changed when Jay marked her as his mate.
She was getting undressed when she glanced up and saw the picture of her mother and her mate. She sneered at it the picture as she picked it up.
“You got your rightful mate, and I am going to get mine,” she said snidely before she threw the picture into the garbage pail next to her vanity. Clad in only her lingerie, she walked over to what looked a like a bookshelf and calmingly pulled down a book. The shelf began to shift back to reveal a secret room and she walked in before switching on the light. She did not look around but walked straight to the table where a book lay and as she looked down, she began to smile. Then she said aloud, “Everything will work out. As soon as Jay sees me again, and realizes that I am free, he will want me.” She nodded her head once, and then she walked back out the room. She turned out the light and stepped out as the shelf moved back in place, and the room went dark.
Then there was a light as
if a candle had been lit and in the dark, one could see the book she had been looking at Black Magic: Spells to Enchant and Confuse. Also the light gleamed for a second on a photo of a young man and in the photo he was smiling with his arms wrapped around a scowling Victoria. Although the man did not notice it for he was staring at the camera, her eyes gleamed with an undisguised hatred.
The light brightened on the picture before the frame shattered and the picture itself burst into flames. Then a masculine voice said with a touch of laughter although there was no humor in it: She is stronger than you, Victoria. I will be waiting for you, my mate.
Back at the pack house, Emily’s body jerked a couple of times before it became still. If Jay had been in the room, he would see how, behind her eyes lids, her eyes moved rapidly.
Emily looked around the wild field of flowers and she sighed as she sunk to the ground Her mind was going a mile a minute as she thought about everything that has happen since she came here and met the Caine family especially Jay. She sighed again wondering why she was chosen as Jay’s mate, why did her mother and father choose her. So many questions running through her mind, and there was no one to answer them.
“Dear,” a voice said, and Emily jerked up turning around to see an older woman standing off to the edge of the field of flowers.
“Who are you?” Emily asked quietly although she did not feel threatened by the woman.
She smiled at her and stepped closer as she said, “My name is Myra. People call me the Old One.”
Emily’s brown eyes gleamed with amusement before she asked, “So why am I here, Myra?”
Myra settled herself next to Emily as she looked over the young woman. She knew the answers to the questions that was running through the young woman’s mind, and she sighed gently as she said, “You ask yourself why you were chosen.”
Emily looked at her in surprise before she admitted quietly, “Yes, I do. I wonder if I am worthy enough for all of them.”
Myra laughed as Emily shook her head in embarrassment.
“Many of the mates in the Caine family who were human never questioned their worthiness, but they questioned their love and trust for their mate. You love and trust Jay with your whole heart.”
“I do,” Emily admitted in a soft voice.
Myra nodded her head, “Do you want to know why you were chosen? Why destiny or fate chose you for him?”
Emily turned to look at her noticing that her eyes were silver and it felt like she was probing her mind. Emily put up a block fast and quick because unlike Michaela, Myra’s power was stronger.
Myra smiled as her eyes shined, “Very good, Emily. You blocked me very well when I tried to probe your mind.”
There was silence for a few minutes when Emily asked, “Why did my parents pick me out of all the children at the orphanage? Maybe it would have been better if I had never survived that night.”
Myra shook her head as she said, “Would you like to see what may have happened if you had not survived?”
Emily hesitated for a moment, and then she nodded her head.
All of sudden, Emily noticed that the field of wild flowers changed into a house. She looked around shocked as Myra said, “Watch.”
A little girl around seven or eight ran through the house her laughter ringing out and Emily gasped, “Sasha.”
There was laughter as Jacob and Stacy came after her, and then there was a flash.
“About eight years later,” Myra said softly.
Emily nodded her head as she walked forward and she heard the arguing. Her astonishment as she turned the corner stopped her as she viewed Jacob and Stacy arguing while Sasha just sat there flipping through a magazine. She watched as Jacob stormed out.
“I never saw Jacob and Stacy argue like that,” she murmured.
Myra watched Emily as she watched the scene change again, “Jacob and Stacy could not have any more children after Sasha was born. They looked into adopting another child, but they were looking for a child who was closer in age to Sasha. Although they saw many children that they liked, they never could agree on who they wanted so they never adopted. Sasha grew up with no siblings so she became spoiled and much more.”
The scene shifted again to a few years later, and Emily watched as her sister was rude and degrading to people like Emily. Emily continued to watch as each scene flashed until they stopped at Sasha and Mark meeting. Emily froze as she watched the scene where Mark rejected Sasha and she watched as Victoria became Jay’s mate. The pain she felt when she saw this made her pale, and Myra wanted to stop the scenes, but there was one last scene she needed to see.
“Oh, no,” Emily muttered as she watched the last scene.
Myra explained, “Without you there, Sasha became unruly and conceited. She started to hang out with the wrong crowd, the wrong werewolves so that when she met Mark although they were mates, he did not accept her. Her parents were not the happy couple they are now because they could not help her. Also without you, Jay mated with Victoria and as you can see, she was not what the pack needed.”
Emily was pale as she asked, “All this happened because I did not survive?”
“When they found you although you were human, there was something about you that they both loved. Sasha and you connected from the moment you met, and you being human helped Sasha to understand the concept of other species other then werewolves. You made an impact on their lives so when Sasha met Mark they connected in the right way. As for Jay…”
Emily interrupted here, “But Victoria is not Jay’s mate and if I had not survived that would not have changed.”
Myra nodded her head, “Correct, but Victoria was taught to go after what she wanted like her mother before her.” She looked at Emily as she said, “Victoria was taught to use black magic to entice men to her. She chose Arnold first because his mate died, but she was attracted to Jay so she made sure to keep him close to her. After Arnold marked her though she let it go until Jay had gain his reasoning back, and once he met you she had no more power over him. She does not see that in her belief that he will always want her.”
Emily turned around to look at her, and then they were back into the field of flowers.
“If I never wake up, what happens to them?” she asked quietly.
“Jay will not accept Victoria, but Victoria may not take kindly to that,” Myra answered honestly. There was silence then Myra said quietly, “You need to wake up for him. Victoria is plotting to see Jay thinking that once he sees her, then he will accept her as his mate.”
Emily did not understand that as Victoria already had a mate, but Myra explained, “Arnold found his true second mate which boots Victoria out so she has decided to latch back on to Jay. She does not know that Jay is handing off the Alpha position to Mark” Myra watched the smile cross Emily’s face, “which I see does not upset you.”
Emily shook her head at her comment.
“Sasha will need you to help her when the time comes,” Myra replied.
Then Myra said bluntly, “You are special, Emily, and that is why you were chosen for Jay’s mate. Right now, your body is making changes due to his marking you and his blood running through you due to the transfusions.”
“Marked me?” Emily asked confused, “I thought…”
“It was a dream,” Myra finished for her, “It was in a way, but it will be more later on. He will still need to mark you when you wake up and I suggest that the marking should happen at the same time that you two mate.”
She laughed as Emily blushed at her comment.
“Emily, you will be a mate most worthy of Jay and he will choose no other but you,” Myra said confidently.
Then she began to disappear, and Emily heard the last thing she said, “It is time for you to wake up, Emily, and Victoria is already making her plans to get herself invited to dinner in two nights. What do you plan on doing, Emi
ly?”
Emily smiled slightly to herself as the Old One disappeared. Her family needed her and so did her mate, the one male that has ever looked at her and made her feel things she never felt before. She was not going to give that up.
The room was dark as Jay let himself quietly into the room. He was tired after a long day and he was glad that Victoria had left before he got home. He sighed deeply as he took off his shirt, and he was about to take off his pants when he froze. There was a difference in the room although he did not understand it.
“Jay,” a voice whispered, and he could not help the gasp that escaped as he quickly switched on the light.
“Emily!” he said loudly stunned as he watched his mate blink her eyes at the brightness of the light.
Chapter 19
Jay stared as Emily closed her eyes briefly before she slowly opened them again to adjust them to the light of the room. Damn, he thought to himself, another dream. He was about to turn out the light when he heard her voice.
“Jay,” he heard and this time it was a little louder although it was hoarse from not being used. “Emily,” he croaked as his body froze where he stood. He slowly turned so he could look at her. Her eyes had adjusted to the light and she turned her head to look at him. Her eyes glowed as the amber hue in them eclipsed the brown and she smiled before asking hoarsely, “Can I have some water, please?”
He nodded his head jerkily as he went into the bathroom to fill up the cup that was kept in there. He looked into the mirror over the sink noticing the look of shock on his face, but the feeling of excitement began to stir in him especially when she smiled at him like that with such warmth.
“Please do not let this be a dream,” he whispered softly as he headed back into the bedroom.
The minute he walked into the room, he knew that it was not a dream for Emily was trying to sit herself up, but he could see the grimace of pain that crossed her face as she forced herself up.
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