“What do you think you’re doing?” I gasped, my husky voice surprising my own ears, as we came apart for breath.
How could it feel so right and yet so wrong on so many levels?
“Distracting you,” he deadpanned before pecking my lips, his lids heavy with hot promises, “is it working?”
You know it is. Less so now that you’re talking though, I wouldn’t be caught telling him that any time soon though –not that he needed any reassurance regarding his kissing abilities. That admission was simply not something I was ready to give up.
I merely averted my head to the side, evading his devilish mouth when he leant in to claim my lips again. Not minding the rebuff, he kissed my cheek before trailing soft kisses down my jaw, then my neck. A small nip made me gasp in a pleasure-filled surprise.
“How about I take you on a proper date this evening?” he suggested, sounding unsure –justified tone since I, too, was unsure of what to say.
The silence stretched painfully for a minute or so before I gave in. I nodded in acceptance from where I sat, straddling him still, and he visibly relaxed.
His electric blue gaze was too much for me and there was no denying any request of his as long as I was staring at them.
‘Dangerous, dangerous eyes,’ the temptress within me purred.
“I won’t dress up,” was my only halfhearted protest, “just so you know.” Everything was just so rushed, so overwhelming, I just needed to feel a bit in control.
“I was going for casual anyways, no worries,” he retorted, all smiles and twinkling blue eyes, making me all kinds of hot and bothered, my turmoil long since forgotten.
Where was all my compliance coming from? One may thank the now awakened witch within me that recognized the one who’d make her even stronger.
Witches and powers, I mentally rolled my eyes before leaving his lap and going back to my now cold place. He just scooted closer until our sides were almost touching and remained that way. I turned to him, a protest about to fall off my lips, but he was giving me a confident lopsided smile that made me slightly weak in the knees – good thing I was already sitting. But what had the most effect on me wasn’t that you-will-not-resist-me smile... His eyes were just so playful, I couldn’t bring myself to say a thing.
Ugh, damn those eyes!
Chapter 25
Lecture Time
“Is there something you’d like to share with us?” My father only used this sickeningly sweet voice when he was seconds away from exploding, and it made me wince on the inside.
“I don’t think you really need me to tell you what happened,” I pouted, knowing he must have been informed of all the gory details before I even got to eat the Chinese take-out with alpha dearest earlier.
“Humor me,” he drawled, his tone somewhere between a warning and pure sarcasm.
“Jonathan made me flustered and I took it out on the tree,” I sighed, looking up into his usually warm brown eyes to show him I didn’t have anything to hide.
“Flustered?” he chuckled darkly, “just flustered, neither angry nor furious?!”
I nodded in dismay.
“Besides your emotions running obviously high, the problem is you didn’t purposefully take it out on the tree, am I wrong?” the atmosphere was thick with contained anger.
“Yeah,” I sighed yet again, averting my eyes in shame, “I didn’t intend for it to happen.”
“Remind me again what your mother and I suggested you did on your birthday,” I kept quiet, ashamed as I was. “Oh yeah, we told you should stay home for a week or two, get used to your new level of power and all. And what did you say?” I pursed my lips, my shoulders slumped in defeat. “What did you say?” he repeated with more force, slowly articulating each word.
“I said I could handle myself,” I admitted in a low apologetic tone, feeling all kinds of stupid for having thought I could easily make it through the week without mishaps.
“Unintentionally blowing up trees should not be on your agenda,” he drawled, his anger scratching the surface, “your mate having to call for an eraser should not be an everyday occurrence just because he made you flustered,” he spat out the last word with venom –justified anger really.
“I’m sorry,” it was all I could think of saying.
“You’re a witch, Jasmine,” he admonished, his anger still intact, “and not a normal one, you know that,” he sighed, not knowing what to say.
Yes, our lineage was special. Our late grandmother had been a noble vampire’s mate, thus we, her descendants, although all witches and wizards, held special abilities. Blowing up a tree without having to cast a spell was not something common among our kind.
Unintentionally doing it was something frowned up and rightfully so. Losing control was not a good thing, should you be a witch, a vampire or a werewolf.
“Don’t let it happen again,” my father warned before strolling out of the kitchen, his steps heavy.
“You should really sort things out with Jonathan,” since the lecture began, my mother had not uttered a single word, letting my father deal with me, and when she finally decided to speak, it was about the mighty alpha-ultra.
Why am I not surprised?
I nodded reluctantly, acknowledging the fact that the more I went against him, the more I was frustrated.
And the more I am frustrated, the more I am likely to snap again, I inwardly sighed, not liking the way his mere presence affected me, hating myself for my inability to remain in control of my emotions.
“I’m serious, Jasmine,” apparently, she had not appreciated the silent nod. It did little to convince her I was willing to make an effort. “You have to either accept or reject him as your mate so as to move on to the next stage of your life.”
For her to speak of possibly rejecting him must mean that she, too, was having doubts about whether I’d better off with him or without him.
“I know, mom,” I agreed, uncertainty filling my whole being, “I decided to get to know him before making my decision.”
“And whatever you decide, know that we’ll always be here for you.”
Her support meant a lot. It comforted me into thinking I wouldn’t be rejected by my family should I decide to reject him. I had had my doubts when she had insisted I get with him before, but now, I was much more confident in my family’s support.
“I promised I’d go on a date with him this evening, wanna help me choose an outfit?” this was the better thank you she could get. She loved dressing me up and I loved the smile she always got when doing that.
****************
“Looking good, Jas,” was Jonathan’s greeting as I opened the door to him.
I had chosen to wear a white sleeveless shirt with some navy-blue jeans and my usual black sneakers, my only accessory – which my mom had insisted I wore – being the red necklace she had offered me on my birthday.
“You don’t look too bad yourself,” I gave him a tight smile, fighting the desire within me to close the gap between us and just kiss him. The chemistry between us was simply insane. Since our first kiss in the restaurant’s bathroom, it had spiked to what I could only describe as impossible levels. Understandable since we had, through kissing, taken one more step into the mating process.
Mates don’t fall head over heels for one another at first but they sure are attracted to one another like there is no tomorrow... and it’s what makes rejection so damn hard to choose.
Despite knowing that my desire for him was genuine, I couldn’t help but wonder if it would have been as overwhelming had I not been his mate... but then again, had that been the case, we wouldn’t be having any problem to begin with.
“Shall we?” seeing him smiling as he did, one would be allowed to think he was a regular teenager coming to fetch his date. He was, however, no regular teenager – he wasn’t a teenager at all as a matter of fact although he definitely looked the part – and I was no regular date. I still hoped we’d get to spend a nice date as any regular
couple would.
Couple, huh? My thoughts came to a halt upon realizing what word I had used to describe us. We weren’t a real couple as of yet and I wasn’t sure we were ever going to be.
“Yes, let’s,” I grabbed my jacket in case it got cold and shouted a goodbye.
My father grunted from the living-room, still a bit annoyed, while my mother waved at us from the kitchen.
I took a step outside and was pleased to breathe in his lingering cologne. It wasn’t too strong, but it wasn’t weak either, it called to a deep place within me and I exhaled rather loudly.
“Something wrong?” his concerned blue gaze rested on my face for a brief moment before quickly scanning our surroundings.
“Never mind,” I gave him a small smile, feeling shy now that we were on a date –which wasn’t like me at all.
“Let’s get this evening started then,” he winked as he opened the passenger door for me before settling into the driver’s seat.
Chapter 26
Opening Up
“Where are we going?” I wasn’t very fond of silence and, admittedly, I was curious to know too.
“To a small Italian restaurant,” I could see a smile tugging at his lips. For an alpha-ultra that had to call for an eraser because his mate had messed up, he looked in an awfully good mood. It kind of pleased me to know I had this effect on him.
“Oh.” So, he hadn’t lied when he had told me to dress casually. We weren’t going anywhere fancy but somehow, I was sure it’d be worth it.
“It may be a small familial business, but the food is fabulous,” he briefly turned his face towards me, temporarily dazzling me with his beautiful eyes, “trust me on this one.”
“Fabulous food, huh? I can live with that,” I teased after my dysfunctional brain decided to work properly again. I was smirking like a fool for no particular reason by the end of the sentence. It felt as if his good mood was infectious.
“So, since the drive’s going to take us about twenty minutes, I’d like to know more about you,” he drawled, deftly shifting gear, making the short sleeve of his black shirt brush up almost sensually against his bulging biceps.
I swallowed and tore my eyes from the tantalizing show, glaring ahead at nothing as I grew frustrated with my raging hormones, “What do you want to know?”
I had decided to be more open with him, to give him a chance, and that was exactly what he was getting. I wasn’t going to close off at every other moment. I was going to make huge efforts tonight. I was going to fight every ingrained habit that told me to never drop my guard, and also every instinct that told me to jump on him and kiss him.
Double the trouble, double the fun, huh? Or not, a snarky voice taunted in my head. Yeah, it probably was easier said than done to act deliberately against what I had been thought since I first knew speech. Never let your guard down was the first rule to permeate my mind as a child.
“Would you rather I asked you questions, or would you prefer just randomly telling me things about yourself?” the fact that he was giving me a choice was a little bit surprising. From what I knew, werewolves were rather demanding of their mates, alphas even more.
I let out a small noncommittal “hmm” as I contemplated my two options. “Well, as you already know, I’m a green sixteen-year-old witch with huge trust issues.” I put emphasize on huge while the rest of the sentence flowed in a blasé tone that was meant to be sarcastic.
“That, I know,” he chuckled, “tell me something I don’t know.”
“Well,” I decided to start by sharing something that wasn’t all that personal, “although I’ve skipped grades twice and I’ve already been offered several scholarships, I don’t know what major to choose.”
“Aren’t you passionate about anything in particular?” He was puzzled, I could sense that, but he was also genuinely interested.
“I love listening to music,” I offered meekly, feeling a little bit stupid for I knew that was hardly a passion.
“Who doesn’t really?” His brief chuckle was absurdly deep and insanely hot.
Get your head out of the gutter, Jas. What’s with you? My fiercely independent side didn’t like the lust crazy teen within me. Don’t fall under his spell.
He’s a werewolf, a definitely mouth-wateringly-hot alpha-ultra, but a werewolf, nonetheless. He doesn’t do spells, there was the voice of logic making an appearance, trying to settle matters calmly – rationally.
Just don’t fall for his charm, idiot!
“Jas, are you okay?” I turned to find his electric blue eyes looking at me with concern. He must have said something when I had been too busy dealing with all that went around my head to hear him, much less answer him.
I blushed, feeling like a troubled teen with a non-diagnosed multiple personality disorder... but then again, he was a werewolf and thus had an independent entity within him that might take over at a moment’s notice, he couldn’t possibly judge me.
“Sorry, I spaced out?” It came out as a question rather than a statement and I mentally groaned and face-palmed at that.
How pathetically hormone-driven can you be? Where’s all this coming from? The little goody two-shoes within me was flabbergasted, glaring at me from a distance. Oh, just shut it!
“It’s fine,” he drawled, smiling, as his eyes shifted to the road, “as long as you’re okay.”
“So, where were we?” I broke the strangely pleasant silence, not enjoying the sweet tension between us.
“We were speaking about passions,” he readily provided the answer, not taking notice of the innuendo – or maybe he did. “Or lack thereof,” he smirked while making his way through the evening traffic.
“Yeah, well, I don’t know what to do with my life,” I admitted in a low voice, feeling awfully exposed all of the sudden, “aside from being a witch, I mean.”
“You have all the time to figure it out, you know,” his words, although spoken in a reassuring manner, only unnerved me.
“You don’t understand, my parents have great expectations for me...” I trailed off, not knowing how to explain, not sure I wanted to even. Opening up to a stranger turned out to be much more difficult than I ever thought it would be. How did people ever feel comfortable talking to their shrinks?
“I do understand,” he countered calmly, unfazed by the change of the atmosphere, “I’m an alpha-ultra, baby.”
“You have responsibilities, not expectations, hanging over your head like the sword of Damocles,” I couldn’t understand whether I was this conflicted because of his proximity or because of my powers’ awakening. Maybe the fact that I hadn’t talked about this to anyone also contributed to my confusion and flaring annoyance.
“Never mind what anybody expects of you, only act according to what you want to do, to what you feel you need to do,” he reached out for my hand and gave me a gentle squeeze before shifting gears.
“You sound quite wise,” I muttered, my tone somewhere in between bitterness and amazement.
“Well, I’m quite old,” he retorted in a way that let me know he was smiling without having to look at him.
“That, you are,” I smirked, my good mood from earlier returning, mildly confusing me and making me wonder whether I was a closet bipolar witch, “just how old are you?”
“Sixty years old,” he informed me.
“You look good for an old man,” I teased, giggling at his mock murderous glare.
“I shifted at 10.” He shrugged nonchalantly, his eyes returning to the road.
The younger werewolves shifted, the stronger they were –and vice-versa. Ten was most definitely not the usual age, even for alphas, I knew that much. And since they aged slowly when they were unmated, he had had more than enough time to learn a thing or two about life.
“How many times did you have to go through school?” The question just popped in my head and wouldn’t settle for anything but tumbling out of my lips.
“I’ve only been attending high school for four years,” he
readily admitted, “I transferred a lot in my search for you.”
“Your mate could have been a college student, you know,” I commented, eyes narrowed slightly in a rather suspicious manner.
“Only The Oracle told me you were in high school the second time I went to see her,” he explained smugly, his eyes not leaving the road, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“The Oracle?” I all but squealed. “You met The Oracle?”
The Oracle was a witch that lived in a supposedly unknown isolated place and whose clairvoyance ability was off the charts.
“Pretty cool, huh?” It didn’t feel like he was rubbing it in, but he sure sounded a little bit proud.
“Damn right it’s cool!” I was so excited to hear the rest of the story, it was all I could to remain seated in the car, “What is she like? Is she old? Is she beautiful? Does she live really far from here?” I couldn’t stop babbling even if my life depended on it. I was just that excited.
“My little finger’s telling me you want to meet her,” he teased, obviously amused.
“What kind of witch would I be if I didn’t want to?” I repressed the urge to roll my eyes at him because the matter didn’t require any confirmation, “Never mind my earlier questions, what did she tell you the first time you went to see her?”
“She told me my mate was a witch.” He turned towards me and unbuckled his seatbelt, making me frown momentarily, “we’re here.”
I hadn’t noticed he had parked the car and I wasn’t even spacing out.
Damn it, girl, focus! The Oracle!
“This conversation isn’t over,” I muttered as I got out of the car, without waiting for him to open the door, making him purse his lips in brief dismay.
“I should hope so,” he drawled good-humoredly, “I want to know you better after all.”
Chapter 27
Restroom Rendezvous
The Italian restaurant wasn’t quite as small as I imagined it. The store front might have been admittedly a bit small and the first floor not that spacious, but the atmosphere was really agreeable, jolly even. We followed a waiter upstairs and I was surprised to find out that the 2nd floor’s dining room was noticeably bigger. There were only 3 couples already eating and that made the atmosphere somehow more intimate – the dimmed lights played their part well too.
The Alpha's Seduction (The Forbidden Mates Book 1) Page 9
