BirthStone

by Sydney Addae

  He blew out a frustrated breath and gave her some space without releasing her. “I need you.”

  She nodded and looked up at him. “Likewise. But first…” She took a step back. His arm tightened around her waist, he refused to let go. That, he would not change, especially with an unknown male in the room.

  “Silas, meet my Mom, Victoria Channing, and her fiancé Mark…” She looked at Mark for him to supply his last name. He stood and stepped forward with his hand outstretched. Silas stepped in front of Jasmine to make sure the man did not come too close to his mate.

  “Mark Fulnory.” He shook Silas’ hand. The two men stared at each other for a moment and then Silas released him. Mark returned to his seat and retook Victoria’s hand.

  “Well, after that greeting I can see why you took offense earlier, Jasmine,” her mother said, chuckling. Silas nodded but remained silent. From his peripheral view he noticed Tyrone and Tyrese were seated a small distance from their grandmother. He didn’t know much about family dynamics, but he thought they’d be sitting closer.

  “Everything okay?” he asked the twins through their links.

  “Yeah, it’s good. I thought Nana was married, I’m surprised mom made a mistake like that,” Tyrese said.

  “Also, Nana forgot that you and mom were engaged, that’s not like her. I thought they didn’t age.”

  Silas redirected his attention to Victoria. The older woman could have passed for Jasmine’s sister. She was shorter and a shade or two lighter, but she appeared to be in good health. He released Jasmine and stepped forward. He took Victoria’s hand, held onto it for a scan, and then kissed the back of it.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet the woman who delivered my Jasmine. She is my world.” He turned and met Mark’s gaze. “And I take everything regarding her seriously.” He faced Victoria again. “You are welcome in my home for as long as my lady would like.”

  He stepped back and took Jasmine’s hand.

  “It’s time to eat,” Jasmine said. They stepped back while waiting for Mark to assist Victoria. Tyrone and Rose stood. Tyrese would bring up the rear. When they stepped into the hall, Cameron and Lilly were there waiting for them.

  “Hi Cameron, Lilly,” Jasmine said as she disengaged from Silas to wrap Lilly and then Cameron in a hug. Silas tugged on his black trousers to give his hard erection some ease. It didn’t help much. He caught Mark’s commiserating glance and nodded. The man wasn’t in much better shape as he stood behind Victoria for cover. Her wide smile directed over her shoulder was obviously her approval to her lover.

  After greetings and introductions were done, they moved to the large formal dining room. They took their seats and prepared for what Jasmine told him would be a home-cooked meal. Over the past year, Jasmine had changed the taste and variety of meals served from Silas’ kitchen. The chef embraced her love of soul food, often surprising her with added touches. He smiled at her constant attempts to domesticate him, to teach him about family living. He glanced around the table at his godson speaking softly with his mate. Rose and Tyrone chatted with Mark, while his mate sat at his right hand, speaking with her mother. Tyrese watched his Nana silently. Silas gave his mate high marks for the effort she put into turning his compound into a home.

  “So Silas, what is it that you do?” Victoria asked.

  Jasmine frowned. “I told her you were a corporate tycoon, owning a lot of businesses. Why is she so forgetful? This isn’t like her.” He picked up on her concern that her mother might be ill.

  He rubbed her hand to soothe her. “I own a company that buys, sells, and manages other companies. Jasmine should have told you this.” He wanted to see Victoria’s response.

  “I did. Don’t you remember, Mom?” Her voice rose at the end.

  “Careful sweet. You don’t want to offend her,” he cautioned.

  Victoria frowned. “I don’t know what’s going on with me. Seems I'm forgetting a lot of things, not the most important stuff…” She gazed at Mark, obviously not realizing she had just inferred the things she discussed with her daughters were not that important. Silas took Jasmine’s hand as the hurt flowed through their link.

  Mark reddened. “Sometimes things slip her mind. But that doesn’t happen often,” he rushed to say. “When we met, she talked about her grandsons all the time. She said you both joined the military and did really well.” He looked between Victoria and the twins. Silas thought better of the man for protecting his woman. He hadn’t been able to get as good a read on Mark as he would have liked. Scanning humans was hit and miss sometimes.

  Tyrone glanced at Jasmine before answering. “Yes, we did. It was an interesting experience. I got out last year. What about you? Where are you from?”

  Mark smiled and Silas noticed it reached his eyes, another good thing in the man’s favor. “I’m from Miami, but my family is from Egypt. My parents came to America before I was born, and lived in Homestead, that’s closer to Key West than Miami. They were farmers until we sold the land twenty years ago. It’s now a large subdivision.” He chuckled.

  “You met Nana in Miami?” Tyrone asked. Silas wasn’t sure if the young wolf was interested or just stepping forward to do the interrogation. Hands down, Tyrone excelled at that particular skill.

  “We met online and then she came for a visit.” The man smiled so wide it was no wonder he missed the horror that flashed across Jasmine’s face.

  “Mom said the two of you met on a cruise,” Jasmine said, slowly watching her mother.

  Victoria’s brow furrowed. “We did. I took a cruise with my girlfriend Cathy to Mexico. That’s where I met you, Mark. On the ship.”

  His smile dimmed. “That wasn’t me, Victoria. The only cruise I have ever been on was the one we took together last month.”

  The room went silent.

  “Well that’s awkward,” Victoria murmured, although her eyes flashed with what Silas recognized as fear. It bothered her to get her facts wrong on something she deemed important.

  Mark held her hand but remained silent. Silas had no doubt the younger man was thinking about the mental capacity of his older lover. According to Arianna, breeders remained young. But in the end she had gone off the deep end, attacking his Alphas and using his godson as cannon fodder. There was still a lot he didn’t know about breeders.

  Jasmine squeezed his hand. “She’s embarrassed, what should I do?”

  Silas slid back in his chair, there was only so much family drama he could stomach. He had met his quota for today. “Cameron, I need to talk to you and the twins. Follow me.”

  He felt his mate’s glare on his back as he and the men, minus Mark, escaped.

  Chapter 14

  “Well, that was embarrassing,” Victoria said to Jasmine, Lilly, and Rose as she poured some lotion on her hands and massaged them. Mark had excused himself a few moments after Silas escaped with the boys. One of Silas’ security team members escorted him to the room he and her mom would be sharing for the next few days.

  “How long has this been going on? You forgetting things?” Jasmine asked. Was this another unknown hiccup with breeders? Thinking back, neither Siseria nor Julie suffered memory lapses. If anything, their memories were too good. They'd played their roles to perfection until they were caught on the cams. Afterward, Jasmine had Siseria sent to the basement to keep her from corrupting Julie with her ideas. The plan backfired once they discovered Siseria was locked and loaded with an internal bomb. She'd died on the operating table when they tried to diffuse the device. Julie had sunk into depression and barely ate or spoke these days.

  “I guess before I met Mark.” She shook her head. “Strange, some things are perfectly clear, like you, Renee, the twins, Mark, even the exes. But my short-term memory acts up on me at times.” Her gaze slid over Lilly and Rose before landing on Jasmine. “Have you heard anything about that happening?”

  Jasmine picked up the reference to their previous conversation almost a year ago in which she had told her mom the twins had
learned something about breeders. That was the first time her mother had admitted to being raped as well as being a breeder.

  “No. Nothing like that,” she said. “But I’ll check into it.” She would talk to Julie, maybe the woman would rouse herself from her self-induced stupor for another breeder.

  Silas and the other men entered the room. He winked.

  She shook her head at his antics. He was a handful but she wouldn’t have him any other way.

  “Mark left?”

  Jasmine gave him credit for acting as if he cared when she knew he didn’t.

  “Yes, he was…tired and went to lie down. I’ll be joining him shortly.” Victoria stood, looked at everyone and spoke. “It was nice seeing you boys again, we’ll spend more time together before I leave.” She nodded at Tyrone and Tyrese, who tried unsuccessfully to hide their winces at being called boys.

  Jasmine, Rose, and Lilly grinned at their discomfort.

  “Night, Nana,” Tyrese said, placing a kiss on her cheek. Tyrone and Rose followed suit. Cameron and Lilly remained seated on the sofa holding hands in a rare show of solidarity.

  Victoria stepped forward, placed a kiss on Jasmine’s cheek. “We’ll talk more tomorrow, when I’m more rested.”

  Jasmine nodded. “Okay. Renee gets in before ten tomorrow morning. We can get together for lunch and catch up, if that’s good for you.”

  Victoria nodded, although her gaze slid up, watching Silas. “That’s fine. Silas, thanks for your hospitality and for making my baby happy. That last man gave her two sons and left her heart-broken. I don’t see that trait in you. Something tells me you are exactly the man she needs, and that makes me happy.”

  Jasmine felt Silas preen and knew he would repeat her mother’s words in the near future.

  “You are right. I am the only man for Jasmine.”

  Jasmine rolled her eyes while everyone else coughed to cover their laughs.

  “I think my daughter agrees with you.” She patted his cheek, and glanced at Cameron and Lilly. “Congratulations you two. You make a lovely couple.” She looked at each one of them again with a large smile. “This is a wonderful family you have, Jasmine. Just wonderful.” With that declaration she turned and left the room.

  “Hold up, Nana. I need to show you where you’re staying,” Tyrese said, moving quickly to catch up to his grandmother. Once he left the living room, Silas slid into the seat next to Jasmine and pulled her close. Inhaling, she relaxed against him while waiting for his verdict. She didn’t have to wait long.

  “I couldn’t get a good read on Mark or your mother either. Sometimes it’s like that with humans. He seems to care deeply for her.” She gazed up at him and relaxed. That declaration was about as good as she was gonna get from him.

  “He acted like he was really into her,” Tyrone said, frowning. “But I don’t understand why she’s forgetting stuff. Arianna was crazy at the end, but she when we met her in Mexico she had perfect recall. I verified most of her information and she had been on the money.”

  “That bothers me that she’s forgetting stuff,” Jasmine said, concerned.

  Silas pulled her close. “I’ll ask Matt if he heard anything about that and you can ask Julie. She’s been refusing to speak, but maybe she’ll tell you something.”

  “Why are you keeping her around?” Cameron asked, gazing at Silas. “I mean she refuses to cooperate, she’s mean and nasty to Jasmine.” He glanced at Jasmine as if to confirm, and then back to Silas. “I’m just curious why you continue to take care of her when she is no longer an asset.”

  “You think they should release her?” Lilly asked from her perched position next to him on the sofa.

  Cameron blinked and then smiled. His large grin made him appear more boyish instead of the fifty-year-old man Jasmine knew him to be. “Yeah. Maybe we can turn the tables on them. Install a bug up her…somewhere on her,” he amended, grinning sheepishly at Jasmine.

  Silas nodded slowly. She could hear the wheels turning in her mate’s head. “That might work.”

  “It could at least lead us to the local contacts. Maybe even the people behind the deal with Jennings,” Tyrone said, his voice softening at the end. Every wolf in the compound who'd met Jennings while he trained at the complex had felt the impact of his demise intensely. Jasmine had sensed the increased testosterone levels all day. The wolves wanted to fight, someone, anyone, over the situation. Not only did Silas deal with the humans today, but he had to combat the natural aggression of a lot of wolves.

  Silas’ grin turned feral. She saw his wolf behind his eyes and exhaled. It was going to be a long night. Vengeance took careful planning. Jasmine tried to feel sorry for Julie and simply could not. The woman had rebuffed her numerous times, and had resorted to offensive name calling. She'd even spat in Jasmine’s direction once. That had been her final trip to the cell. “Should I ask about the memory thing first?”

  No one spoke for a moment or two. Rose broke the silence. “I think so. I mean she is probably ready to hear a voice right about now after all this time in solitary.”

  Silas had wanted to kill Julie when he heard she had spit at Jasmine and she didn’t doubt he would have if the woman had made her target. Jasmine had pleaded long and hard for Julie’s life. Silas didn’t kill the woman, but he'd stripped her of every comfort, including light and company. The only thing she received was a weekly shower and two meals a day. It was the most Silas would give and Jasmine had been glad another death had not been added to her conscience.

  Silas looked down at her, no doubt remembering what happened on her last trip. “You and I will go and ask her tomorrow. If she does not respond, I will ransack her memories to see if there is an answer to your questions.” The look he gave said 'I won’t be too gentle either.'

  “Okay, tomorrow.” Jasmine knew when to drop a subject and Julie was one. The older woman was on her mate’s shit list.

  “I’ll talk to Passen to get his take on this.” Silas rubbed his hands together, obviously pleased with the idea.

  Jasmine squeezed her thighs together to quell the ache that had been on a slow burn since her mate arrived earlier that evening. She glanced at the clock and was surprised how late it had become. Standing, she tried to control her irritation of being left alone again tonight while Silas took care of Patron business. She hated her conflicting emotions. A part of her was uber proud of her mate’s status of being the top man. The other part, her more womanly side, wanted all of his attention on just the two of them. Finding a balance was becoming harder and harder because he spent so much time at work.

  Inhaling, she glanced at her son and then Cameron. “I’m headed to the nursery to check on the kids. Make sure each of you stop by at least once a day to check on them. It’s important to me that they know and recognize you. Rose and Lilly are already doing that…” She let the sentence hang.

  “Will do,” Cameron said, meeting her gaze. “I apologize that you had to even remind me of that. I promise to do better.”

  Touched by the sincerity she read in his gaze, Jasmine nodded.

  “I was sick, but that’s no real excuse I suppose,” Tyrone said with a grin and chuckle.

  Rose smacked him on the shoulder. “No, it’s not.”

  Jasmine shook her head and turned to leave.

  “Hold on,” Silas said, taking her hand and stopping her. “I’ll walk with you.” He stood. “Cameron, Tyrone, go find Dr. Passen and Matt, tell them what we discussed and get their feedback. It was a good idea, so follow up on it. Rose will schedule a meeting for all of us to discuss it tomorrow.”

  For a moment, Cameron’s eyes widened and then he smiled. Tyrone sat forward in his seat as he listened intently. Rose and Lilly both preened at the important assignment Silas gave their mates. Jasmine hoped they didn’t mess up or it would be a long time before her mate ever again followed her advice to delegate.

  “You want me to give you an update later?” Cameron asked as if he couldn’t believe Silas would wa
it until morning.

  “No. I’m spending time with my mate and pups. I prefer not to be disturbed.” On that note he ushered a happy Jasmine out the door.

  Chapter 15

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Renee said as she gazed at the artwork and furniture in the hall leading to the suite assigned to her. “Who knew a man could have a body like that and be loaded…no, I take that back. This is beyond loaded.” She laughed. “Only you could meet a rich guy while seeing about your son on his death bed.”

  “I know, right?” Jasmine joined in the laughter. Having her sister here felt good. The two of them had always been close, even as young girls. When Renee realized she was interested in women, she had called Jasmine crying that she would never have children. Jasmine had been surprised at her sister’s leanings, but as a mother of twin boys and an absent husband, she'd allowed her sister to experience motherhood through her. It worked. While the boys grew, Renee had always been a phone call away. She had spent vacations and every major holiday with them.

  They hooked each other arms and Renee spoke candidly in a soft voice. “He any good? Do you at least get a nut?”

  Jasmine’s cheeks burned at the intimate question, but that had always been her sister’s way. Nosy.

  Renee stopped, grimacing as she stared into Jasmine’s face. “Oh no, Jas. Not again. I don’t give a damn how much money he has, if he’s not getting you off, leave his ass.”

  Jasmine’s head jerked as if slapped. She had no idea what her sister saw just now but she quickly straightened the matter. “What are you talking about? I can’t halfway walk now because of the loving he laid on me last night. Trust me, Silas handles his business.” That was as much as she was comfortable saying.