by Hazel Gower
“I drove, so I don’t need you to come and get me. I’m going to stay with Travis. He needs company and isn’t doing too good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
It was quiet on the other line for a moment before Brandon roared, “Over my dead body. No way. I’m coming to get you now.”
“N—” Jess didn’t even get to respond. Brandon hung up.
She looked to Travis, who sighed. “I know what he is to you. I know about shifters because my sister Tessa is mated to one. My nephew is one.”
“Travis, how long have you known?”
“I didn’t know until my nephew was born.”
“Oh Travis, I’m so sorry you had to go through this and keep it from Zeck and me.”
He shrugged. “I had my family at least. Steve is a wolf. He’s a part of the Fierces’ pack. He is pretty good at answering any questions.”
A knock sounded on Travis’s door, and his sister Tessa, nephew Ben, and her husband Steve came in. “Hey buddy, I came to see y—”
His sister was cut off by her husband. “Fucking hell, Travis, she can’t be here. She reeks of Pride. She’s your friend who you were asking me about, isn’t she?”
Travis levied himself up better on the bed. “Yeah. Jess is who I was talking about.”
Jess looked back and forth between Travis and Steve. Steve scrubbed his face, and his gaze caught hers. “Does he know you’re here?”
Jess didn’t need to ask who “he” was talking about. “Yes. I called him about five minutes ago.”
Steve broke out into a fit of curses and turned to Tessa. “Get Ben out of here. Go tell your mother to expect a guest and leave the door open.” Steve turned back to her. “Off the bed now. I want my wife’s brother to live.”
Jess rolled her eyes. “I think you’re overreacting. I stayed here on the weekend, and he didn’t kill him.”
Steve groaned. “That explains a lot.” He glanced at Travis. “I told you to stay away from that friend you told me about. We shifters are possessive. We are half animal. We don’t share well, at all.” Steve sighed. “You need to go downstairs, Jess. Travis is fine … or he will be.”
“He doesn’t look fine.”
“He isn’t back to his old self because he is being punished. He knew what boogiemen were. He took a mate into danger. Your mate was told this. I’m surprised he even let Travis live especially with the smell he gives off around you.”
Jess stared at Steve. He sounded like he was talking gibberish. She understood bits and pieces. “What does he smell like around me? Why would that matter?” Jess glanced at Travis to see him shaking his head at Steve.
Steve scrubbed his face. “Shifters have excellent smell. We smell anger, deceit, happiness, depression, and lust. All emotions have a smell, and we all have an individual smell. When you mate a shifter your smell will combine with theirs and your own. It warns other beings you are taken, and other shifters know whose you are. It also works vice versa. He’ll have your smell. You get it?” Jess nodded. “So your mate, Jess, will smell like you.” Steve paced before her. “Some say mating is our weakness, and in a way it is. Our mate is like a drug to us. But they have a calming and happy effect on us. They can tame our beast, calm our animal side. When you receive a mate your strength grows and your abilities enhance. You gain a treasure. Shifters cherish their women, but they, we, are extremely possessive. Our mates are our one thing that is ours, and we don’t share. We share our time and resources to help protect the world from the nightmare creatures.”
Jess remembered Brandon telling her from the time he was a teen he had gone hunting to make the world safer. “Brandon has told me some of this. What has it got to do with me being here?”
Travis held her hand. “Steve is telling you that you can’t stay here today or ever again, Jess.” Travis closed his eyes and slowly opened them. “I love you, Jess.”
“I love you, t—”
“No, not that type of love. I am in love with you. I have been for a long time.” She flinched as he reached over and brushed hair out of her eyes. “I fought it. Not only are you my best friend, but you’re not what I thought I wanted. I didn’t want people to see you as the type I went for if it didn’t work out. Zeck knows how I feel. He was—is—okay with it, but I’ve been scared to act in case I ruined our friendship. Your birthday night Zeck and I argued. He said that I should do something before you get taken away. I told him he was just overreacting because of what happened with Sasha. I said, ‘Jess doesn’t go anywhere without us. Who’s she going to meet? She’s never been really interested in anyone. I have time. No one around here wants Jell-O Jezebel.’ Then that night Brandon wanted you, and I knew you’d had a crush on the Prides. I thought it would be just like all his other one night stands. The Prides are known for being ladies’ men. I mean he is a Pride. I never thought he would be your mate. I mean you’re you.” Jess choked back a sob as he raised his hand to encase her. “No supermodel shifter. I thought even if he kissed you it would build up some confidence. It wasn’t until you called the next day I realized my mistake.”
Jess scooted off the bed. What the hell was going on? Her best friend that she’d been friends with since childhood was tearing her heart out. She took a deep breath to hold back her tears and stammered out. “Y-you … I … you just called … m-me—” Jess couldn’t finish. She felt her vision blurring, and her stomach churned at the words Travis was saying. How could he have called her that dreaded name and been ashamed of her? She’d thought he was her friend. She never thought he cared about her weight or what she looked like. She couldn’t believe her best friend was ashamed of her.
“Steve is saying that I smell of lust when I’m around you. Shifters can smell it. It is why Savron, Sasha’s boyfriend, knew about Zeck and was so angry with Zeck. He thought I lusted after Sasha, but it was you I desire.” He tried to scoot to her. “You’re human, Jess. If you want you could choose someone else.”
“Travis.” Steve’s growl had her glaring between them. She’d forgotten Steve was here to hear and see this embarrassment.
Jess opened her mouth, shut it, and opened it again. Her heart hurt at the things Travis had just told her and what he’d called her. She backed up, unsure of what to do and say. She looked him over to see he looked even more deathly pale than she’d first thought. “Why aren’t you healed? Steve said you’re being punished?”
“I knew about shifters and the creatures, and I took you two without protection.” Travis’s sad gaze caught hers. “They told me they could sever the mate bond. You were covered in my scent. The boogiemen were supposed to change that to the scent and person you would want.” Tears slid down Travis’s cheek, but Jess felt no sympathy for him. “I almost killed us all. All because I figured out I wanted something after it was too late. I’ve had years to act.” Travis shook his head. “Well anyway, if I hadn’t caused all this I would have had a very small dose of shifter blood every day for a week, but when they found out what I’d done, I’ve have been cut back.” Travis grimaced. “Brandon came to see me after he dropped you home.” Jezebel snapped her gaze back so she could look into his eyes at the mention of Brandon. “He came to talk to me. My room and bed smelt of you. I’m lucky Mac and Carter were here to hold him back. He went crazy and turned to a lion. When he calmed, Brandon turned back, and we chatted. I’m being punished further for provoking a shifter and attempting to take a mate away.” Travis gazed back at her, and for the first time she saw longing there. “What I did if I was a shifter is a death sentence, but Brandon stood up for me and said it would upset you if anything happened to me and he never wants you unhappy.”
Oh God. Jess’s heart sank, and she couldn’t stop the tear that slid down her cheek. She felt numb all over even as her heart broke and her mind screamed at her for feeling the way she did over someone who had betrayed her. A sob escaped her lips, and she covered her mouth. Anger started to seep through her overcoming the numbness. “You took me to the boogiemen lair. You called me
Jell-O Jezebel. You didn’t want to want me because I’m not like all the perfect shifter women around us.” Travis didn’t say anything, but she knew. He’d said it. She wiped her eyes and straightened her back. Travis didn’t love her. She had someone who loved her, Brandon. He would give her the stars and the moon if he could. She’d only been with him for a short time, but she knew from every action that he loved her. He’d known what Travis had done, and instead of telling her and getting her to turn on her friend so she’d spend more time with him, he’d spoken on his behalf and saved him from further punishment because he knew it would make her unhappy.
Glaring at Travis she snarled, “I know what love is, and you don’t love me. You never did. If you did it wouldn’t have mattered what I looked like or what people thought. You put not only me but Zeck in danger because of your selfishness. To think I chose to stay with you today over the people who do love me. I’m not Jell-O Jezebel. I’m not the girl with only two friends anymore.” She narrowed her eyes on Travis not letting him see her pain. “I am Jezebel Pride. Or I will be.”
With that she turned and stormed out of Travis’s room. Jess was surprised to see Brandon standing by the open door with a huge grin on his face that had his dimples popping and his eyes shining in satisfaction. As soon as he saw her staring he tried to conceal his face in a blank mask, but he still looked like a grinning loon.
“Take me home.”
Brandon nodded. “Anything for you, Jezebel Pride.”
Jess walked down the stairs and out of Travis’s parents’ house. They both got into his car, and he drove away in the direction of his house. Her father could drive her mother to come and get her car later.
“I’ll take you to my place. I have a feeling you’ll want some alone time.”
In that moment Jess realized she loved Brandon. He had been everything she could dream of for a lifetime mate and more, patient, committed, understanding, just to name a few. Brandon had even given into her parents’ demands. Family was clearly everything to him. Even hers. A sudden thought popped into her head. Was it possible? Had he truly seen her reaction to her brothers’ thoughtlessness and done something about it? Ha. Of course he did. Everything he had ever done was to protect her, even from the horrible truth. Brandon was a good man. If he could protect Travis from his own mistakes, then he would no doubt do anything for her. His mate. Everything he did, he did for her.
“You called them, didn’t you?”
“Called who?” Brandon didn’t take his eyes from the road.
“My brothers. You called them to tell them not to bring a girlfriend.”
He shrugged. “Your mother mentioned something. I just thought I’d call and see if they were bringing anyone to have lunch at my parents.”
Her heart leaped at what he’d done for her, at everything he’d done for her. She sat quiet for a while, her love for the man beside her exploding through her. How’d she get so lucky? “I don’t deserve you.”
Brandon pulled into his street. He didn’t say anything just shook his head. He drove down to his house and pressed his garage remote and drove in. He parked and got out of the car and came around to her side and opened her door. Brandon gathered her into his arms and walked into his house and sat with her in his lounge room.
“Don’t ever say that again. You, Jezebel, deserve only the very best. I’m not perfect, but for you I’ll try damn hard.”
“I love you.” Crap. She hadn’t meant to blurt it like that. Jess stared up into his big dark green eyes, reached up, and stroked his cheek. “I love you, Brandon Pride. How could I not? You strip naked in front of my parents, for God’s sake, just to change into a lion and show them what you are. You saved my friends even when they are causing trouble. You talk to my brothers. You go to dinner with my parents. You massage my feet and give in to my demands of being wooed. You do everything you can to make me happy. I know I’m the luckiest girl to have you. I love you.”
****
Brandon felt like his heart would burst out of his chest at Jezebel’s declaration of love. He loved her, had almost from the minute he saw her. “Oh Jezebel, you have no idea, do you? I’m the lucky one. I’ve loved you from day one. I don’t know anyone as loyal and loving as you. I mean it was your birthday, and you came over to comfort Sasha. You never got angry at your friends for forgetting your birthday. You’ve always made sure to make time for your friends. You, Jezebel, have put up with years of discomfort when your brothers come home with girlfriends that were nasty and disrespectful, so they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. You keep quiet to keep the peace. My God, you didn’t even complain when that bitch we saw at the movies called you those names.”
“I’ve demanded a lot from you when you do so much saving us all from the creatures,” she whispered.
“You deserve everything you asked for and more, Jezebel. I should have wooed you. Not mated you and expect you to fall in line with everything. Learning shifters exist is a lot to take in, but to learn the way you did was even worse. You got bombarded with everything.” He cupped her face. “I love you, Jezebel Pride. I will make sure your life is perfect, how it deserves to be.”
Jezebel moved to straddle his lap. Her fingers came up, and she stroked his cheek. “You silly lion. Things won’t always be perfect, but as long as we can work through it, we’ll be okay.”
He grinned as her voice turned sultry and her fingers trailed down his body. “Oh? And how do we work through things?” His body was growing hard, and he was eager for his mate.
She smiled coyly. “I’ve got a few ideas you may just be amenable to…”
He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. “Do tell, sweetheart.”
“Tell you what,” she said, easing from him and standing before him. “If you can reach me before I make it to the bedroom, I may just share my ideas.”
They both knew she didn’t stand a chance of beating him, but that wasn’t the point. He laughed as she ran towards their bedroom flinging her clothes to the ground as she wiggled and jumped out of them in her awkward run. Smiling, he stood and went after his mate eager to work through a lot of things.
Epilogue
Brandon sat across from Jezebel’s father. They were in a staring match. Brandon knew he was going to have to let the man win. Sighing he turned his head away. “I’ve come here today to ask you an important question.” Brandon looked back up and caught his gaze. “I would like the honor of marrying your daughter.”
“Why? She already lives with you, and from what you told us about you shifters she is already more than what marriage is to you.”
“Yes, she means more than anything to me. The mate bond is stronger and more powerful than any human marriage. But I want to make your daughter happy. She wants a human wedding, with you walking her down the aisle and a white dress. I will do anything for her to make her happy.”
Jezebel’s father nodded. “What about her schooling?”
“What about it? She will finish and go to college. She was going to the local one, and I won’t stop her. Anything she wants, I want to give it to her.”
“You’re going to spoil her, aren’t you?”
Brandon didn’t even hesitate to answer. “Yes.”
“Good. My baby girl deserves to be spoiled. I look forward to seeing her in her white dress.”
Brandon smiled and stood. He had a lot to do to get ready for what he had prepared.
****
The park was filled to the brim as everyone waited for the countdown to the New Year to begin. All her family and friends were around laughing and talking.
It had been a crazy couple of weeks. She’d moved in with Brandon, and she loved it. She fell more in love with him every day. Jess’s whole life had changed, and she knew without a doubt it was for the better. After everything that happened with Travis, Jess cut him out of her life. She didn’t need people like him. She saw Zeck very rarely, but even he didn’t have anything to do with Travis. Jess’s life now was with Brandon. She h
ad been spending more time hanging out with Britney, Sasha, and Mac. A couple of their friends came over and joined their little group, and Jess now had some great friends. She’d started college next year and was really looking forward to it. Her life was better than anything she could have imagined.
“Quick, hide me.” Jess smiled as Britney ducked down low.
“Who are you hiding from?” Jess knew, but she loved niggling at Britney.
Jess bit her lip as Britney glared up at her. “You know who. I turn eighteen in a couple of minutes, and the bossy dog hasn’t left my side.” She sighed. “I’ve tried begging him to give me more time, but he says he waited too long. That if he doesn’t claim me soon the next time Mac come home with my scent on him he’d kill him. I still don’t think he’s even my mate. Surely I’m not that unlucky. I mean, Carter is an overbearing, way too good looking for his own good, Alpha Jerk. I have way too much of that around me as it is.”
Jess giggled. She knew Carter wouldn’t appreciate Britney calling him a dog or thinking fate was being a bitch giving her Carter as a mate. “Have you rolled up a newspaper and whacked him on the nose and told him, no, to leave you alone?”
“Ha-ha, very funny. Laugh it up. I came over here for some sympathy, and what do I get?” Britney shook her head and squealed as Carter grabbed her by the waist and dragged her to the other wolves.
“Woman, come ring the New Year in with your mate.”
Jess laughed as Britney squirmed in Carter’s arms and cried out, “No way, buddy, I’m not your mate. Fate isn’t that cruel.”
Arms circled around Jezebel’s waist, and feather light kisses trailed up her neck. “Now that she’s gone we can ring in the New Year just the two of us.”
Jess turned and rolled her eyes as she looked up at Brandon. “We are not alone. There are thousands of people around us.”
Brandon shook his head. “I only see one person.”
The counting sounded around them. “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”