“Why are you sorry?” Jenn asked.
“Because of what Edi wished for.”
“Feeling what your feeling? Why would you want it to stop? I mean, I wouldn’t expect it to be taking this long but still, how could feeling what her mate is feeling be a bad thing? Especially with her former wingding. How could that possibly go wrong?”
“You always say that, and it always goes wrong.”
“No, Debbie Downers Edi, a girl can hope. Seriously though, it seems you found a loophole for your other thing-a-mi-bob. You fought against nature and won, how freaking cool is that? I’m having a hard time seeing the downside.”
“Jenn this is Jeff.”
She waved her hand, “Hi Jeff.”
“Jeff is an omega.”
Jenn made a face; she was starting to see the problem. “Like a really, really, good one?”
“Like, I’m Jeff Lupinski, Omega of the Lupinski Clan.”
“Oh, fucking hell. I guess Edi went from one extreme to the other.” Jenn tried to laugh, but obvious concern clouded her eyes.
“Can you fix it? Can we make another wish? Anything?” He grabbed my hand, “I don’t want Edi to go through what I do, it can be heartbreaking and soul-crushing.”
“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do, the future is already being rewritten.
“But you said she found a loophole. Maybe there’s a loophole for this too.”
“It took fifty years for that to happen.” Jenn sighed, “You should already be feeling something changing within you Edi; there’s no stopping it now. Do you remember the first time?”
“How could I forget?” I remembered it like it was yesterday. The fear I felt when I realized what I had done, the excruciating pain as part of my soul was cut off from the rest, and the adjustment to the empty numbness that took years for me to become accustomed was seared into my memory.
“I don’t expect this to go very easy for you, Edi. I’m sure you’ve pissed them off big time. You’ll feel the trickle of what’s to come for now you have got maybe an hour before the Fates realign the future—”
“I’m sorry, what?” Jeff interrupted.
“The Fates, they can’t revise the future of the entire planet like this,” she snapped her fingers. “Her what-cha-mi-call-it is going to have far-reaching consequences, it’ll take the girls—”
“The girls?”
“That whole bodybuilder not being the brightest bulbs stereotype isn’t too far off, is it?”
“Jennifer!” I admonished.
“Edith!” She sighed and relented. “Listen Jeffy.”
“Jeff.” He corrected.
“Whatever, winks can have a minimal impact, or they can be like the butterfly effect where the future fate of several…thousand…million of earth’s inhabitants need to be tweaked. It doesn’t happen like in the movies where it automagically resets everything. Like the world is an iPhone and has the autocorrect feature turned on. Could you imagine how many ducks would show up all over the world?”
“Ducks?”
“Who in the history of text has ever said ducking right?” She laughed, but Jeff didn’t respond and had a bit of a dumbfounded expression face causing Jenn to say, “Never mind, what I’m trying to say is, writing the fate of mankind takes a personal touch, and the Fates take their jobs very seriously.” She began examining her nails and flicking them as she said much more quietly, “Lazy bitches, so what if I’ve given them so much more work.” She began making faces as if she was replaying the conversation she’s had many times before completely forgetting that we were there.
Jeff brought her back to reality, “You know the Fates?”
“What of it? I’ve been sent to the principal’s office too.” She shrugged, “Listen, I don’t possess the amount of magic it will take to make it, no one does. And when the magic shows up if I hold onto it too long, I’ll blow up, literally, blow up.” She mimicked an explosion with her hands, and the appropriate boom noise then began nodding, “So, as soon as the future is rewritten and I start resembling a disco ball—trust me you can’t miss it—everything will be different, Edi you’re going to be different. Maybe instead of all this yapping, you two should enjoy this moment; you only get to meet your mate once.”
“She’s still not convinced she’s my mate.”
“You don’t need my mojo to convince her. You do know how this mating thing works, right?”
Jeff got a little smirk on his face, and a fleeting image of me laying back at the edge of the pool and his head between my legs filled my head.
“Oh, my.” My body was on vibrate and my breath became shorter. The throbbing and the anxiousness that came with it, the need for this man to be with me completely overwhelmed me. Gazing into Jeff’s eyes, I didn’t need any more convincing, and I kissed him one of those earth-shattering, soul-shaking, eternal bond creating kisses that poets have written about since the dawn of time.
Jenn mumbled in the background, “I guess he does know about how mating thing works. Don’t mind me, I’m going to raid your fridge and eat away my anxiety.” Our kiss never slowed nor did we give her any indication that we had heard her and she said loudly, “One hour tops.” Then I heard her not so quick footsteps out; I’m pretty sure she was enjoying the show.
I didn’t give a shit though, that over crazed mating feeling had subsided some to be replaced with peace and contentment that I didn’t even know was possible. I held onto Jeff for dear life. Jenn’s words frightened me, his did too. After so many years of not feeling anything, I would soon be overwhelmed with everything. I had no idea how I would feel an hour from now. I purposely tried not to think about it and enjoy the moment like Jenn suggested, but it was peeking through. Jeff pulled me closer and stroked my back as if he knew I was concerned and perhaps he did–that was his job after all, especially so for his mate.
Jeff lifted me off my feet, and I wrapped my legs around his back. He began striding with purpose, to where I didn’t know, but everything stopped when there was another loud boom, and Jenn screamed.
We immediately broke the kiss. Jeff set me down and quickly turned around putting me behind him to protect me from whatever was happening in front of us. Jeff was so broad I couldn’t see around him, but then a voice rang out that sent chills down my spine, “I always knew you were a whore.”
Chapter Six
“Reef,” I said in disbelief to Jeff’s back and felt him tense up.
Jenn screamed again, “Mom!”
I grabbed Jeff’s shoulders and lifted myself up to see what was happening. Reef stood at the end of the pool surrounded by a little leftover purple magic mist. He was holding an iron chain that was attached to a collar around Jenn’s mom, Lucy’s neck. She was also wearing her Jinn uniform, sheer red harem pants and a red bra-like top both were covered in gold sequins and coins. The most significant distinctions between Jenn and Lucy were her tattoos were red not golden, and she kept hair down. At the moment, the collar around her neck was so tight, you could see her skin red and bulging around it, and her makeup was streaked down her face from crying.
“Let my mother go.” Jenn pointed her fingers like she was going to cast a spell but Reef yanked on her mother’s chain causing her to wince, and Jenn lowered her hands in defeat.
“What the fuck is this, Reef?” I asked as I stepped aside so I could face my nemesis head on.
“I could ask you the same damn thing. Did you forget that we are to be mated?”
“Whatever is going on between us, Lucy has nothing to do with it. Let her go, now.”
“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? How dare you speak to your Alpha and future mate that way.”
“I am not your mate.”
“I declared it, and so it shall be. Do you need a civics lesson?” I don’t think he expected an answer because after only a couple moments, he started talking again. “Apparently you do, considering the lengthy list of crimes you’ve committed. He began counting, yanking Lucy�
��s chain with each number. “One, disobeyed your Alpha; the penalty for that is death. Two, you disrespected your mate. Three, you left the pod without permission. Four, not only did you leave but you ran all the way to—” He scanned the yard with disgust “—this hellhole. I don’t know what you thought you’d accomplish, but it’s time to go.”
I could tell he was trying to exert some Alpha power over me. I’ve heard from others that it feels like someone is literally pushing your head down to force you to submit, but for me it was feather light and no more than a tickle. “Oh, stop embarrassing yourself, you know that doesn’t work on me.” Reef could barely contain his anger and shook the chain again causing Lucy to gag, “This works though, doesn’t it?”
“She had nothing to do with this. Let my mom go!” Jenn yelled through the angry tears.
Reef gave Jenn an annoyed expression, “I already know that. I used my first wish to punish your co-conspirators, she’d be dead soon too if she was involved. I’ve held onto my lamp for so long, and now I’ve wasted two wishes on you. You will pay for that.”
“You bastard, Jinn haven’t lived in servitude for millennia, and you stole my mother’s lamp? Our willies are ours to give.”
“That could change like that,” Reef snapped his fingers. “I do have another wish left.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jenn asked.
“It means that with a well-worded wish, I could change everything back to the way it was when female Jinn understood their place in society. That their only purpose was to serve men.”
Jenn and I gasped, and she said, “That’s not possible.”
“It is possible. Unfortunately, Lucy will be a casualty.” he gazed at her longingly and stroked her hair, “Not even the most powerful Jinn alive could handle that much magic.” He grasped her chin and spoke three inches away from her face, “But, I don’t care. You’ll be all used up and no good to me after that anyway.” He pushed Lucy’s face away from him with considerable force causing her to stumble and fall to her knees. “Edi, leave with me now, or you’ll be picking Lucy’s guts out of your hair for weeks.”
“I have to go,” I whispered to Jeff.
You’re not going anywhere, I heard in my head. My family and some others are on the way. Stall.
I might not have that long. Reef won’t hesitate to make that wish.
Try!
“Hey, what’s going on over there?” Reef yelled.
“Nothing, Reef.” I gazed lovingly at Jeff and said out loud, “I’m discussing the situation with my mate.” Then telepathically to Jeff, That should buy us some time.
Sounding like a petulant child Reef said, “He is not your mate, I am.” He even added a little foot stomp at the end.
“You are not my fated, Reef.”
“How would you know with your condition?”
“Because I—”
Jeff stopped me from replying by saying, I don’t think it’s wise for you to show your hand yet.
“Because what Edi?”
I put my finger up to silence Reef for a moment and to piss him off more to buy the Lupinskis a couple more minutes to arrive. I could hear him sputtering in the background as I asked Jeff, You think me feeling everything you feel is an ace in my hand?
I believe everything happens for a reason.
Even a screwed-up wish?
If it was screwed up in the first place.
What does—
“Stop that!” Reef was getting more annoyed, “Stop talking to one another in your heads,” Reef interrupted my thoughts. “Talking like that doesn’t mean you’re mates.”
“Then what does it mean, Reef?” I asked while giving him a knowing smirk and putting my hands on my hips.
Reef’s face was beginning to turn red. “It means nothing to me. I declared that you will be my mate for the Good of the—”
“The Good of the Clan law has been abolished,” Jeff interrupted.
“I don’t give a shit that their law was abolished. I am the Alpha of the Highlands Plesiosaur Pod where my word is law.”
“That doesn’t give you amnesty.”
“Amnesty? What do I need amnesty for?”
“Fifty years of crimes against your pod is a lot to answer for.”
“Crimes? Who said I committed any crimes? These two,” he took his time pointing at Jenn and I. “Two members of my pod that has disobeyed my direct order? That in and of itself is a serious crime, punishable by death.”
“I think we’ll see past that considering what they’ve brought to our attention.”
Reef’s expression didn’t change, but I could see the fear in his eyes as the situation became more evident, and he asked, “Who the hell are you?”
“Jeff Lupinski, Omega of the Lupinski Clan.”
Reef seemed scared for a moment, but then a light bulb went off and he said, “Then you should know better than most that I have the final word on how I rule my pod. It’s in the Lupinski Clan bylaws. The law is not on your side.”
“We are the law.” I jumped a little the sound of Walt’s voice from the other side of the pool. He was angry and ready to punish Reef for his treatment of us, and when he saw Lucy, he could barely contain his rage. Andy, the Alphas Mate, Andy was on his right and ready to use whatever power she had to right Reef’s wrongs. On his left was a female water sprite who was ready to unleash hell when she saw Lucy collared and leashed.
Whoa, how did I know she was a water sprite? Where the hell did that come from, I thought.
Look at Jenn, Jeff replied.
I glanced over at her, the swirly shapes and intricate patterns of golden tattoos were beginning to pulse and shimmer occasionally. She noticed it too and was so afraid that this wish would turn out like everything else she did horribly–horribly wrong.
What the Fuck is happening to me?
Your wish is being granted.
Then more shifters came into the backyard through the kitchen door. With each new arrival, I knew instantly what they were feeling. So many showed up, and it became overwhelming to the point of physical pain.
Breathe through it. Try to focus your attention on one shifter at a time. Jeff advised so I did.
For the first time ever, Nate regretted giving up being Alpha because he wanted to make Reef’s head explode, literally. Graham, the former Alpha, was disappointed in himself as was the previous clan’s Beta, Abe. They weren’t in charge when Reef killed Alpha Angus but regretted not visiting in person when they were and letting our inactivity go without question. Sydney, Melanie, and Samantha, were upset by what they saw but unsure how they could help in any substantial way. The sight of Lucy in a collar and chain was freaking Ja’Lyn out from something other than what was happening at the moment. A fey I hadn’t seen earlier wanted to rip Reef’s head off before going to Scotland and freeing his people from their imprisonment. I guess the Lupinskis filled them in on the situation. And George had an almost genetic and inherent need to save me, his family.
That felt nice, but with all these feelings crashing into me like mini tsunamis it was getting harder to hide my discomfort. Jeff, Can you explain to me how you think feeling what you sense is going to be an asset? I feel overwhelmed.
I think it’ll make you a stronger Alpha.
I’m not an Alpha.
I know you are and I think you do, too. While it did not affect me, I could feel what Reef was trying to do to you, only an Alpha could resist that. Plus, I could feel the moment I met you. The untapped power running through your veins is practically causing a force field around you. When you feel what I feel, you won’t have to trust me, you’ll know it for yourself.
“This is ridiculous,” Reef blustered interrupting Jeff and my conversation by yelling at Walt. “You have no authority over me. My plesio pod haven’t been active members of the Lupinski Clan since I became Alpha fifty years ago.”
“You can’t have it both ways. Using the bylaws to protect your treatment of the shifters in your pod and claim
you’re not members so, therefore, we have no authority over said behavior. And then there’s this,” Walt exerted his Alpha power on Reef and said, “Let the leash go.”
Reef tried to fight the order for maybe a second before he dropped the leash like it was hot to the touch and as his head started to tilt to show his submission; that anger in his eyes turned to rage and he said, “Fuck this. I warned you, Edi. I wish—”
I screamed, “No!” as the Water Sprite flicked her hand in Reef’s direction and said, “I don’t think so.”
Reef’s mouth continued moving, but there was no longer any sound coming out. She said to Walt, “That won’t hold forever, it’s a temporary band-aid.”
He nodded at her and then said to me, “Jeff is right, Edi.”
“What are you talking about?”
You are an Alpha. Walt said in my head.
How did you do that?
All of the Lupinski family members can communicate with one another no matter how far apart they are.
But I’m not a Lupinski.
You will be. It’s good that it’s not official yet because Reef is right.
Reef is right about what? Jeff jumped into the conversation.
What is this a party line?
Another Lupinski perk. Jeff said.
If you say so.
So, what could Reef possibly be right about?
The Lupinskis never wanted to be dictators or supreme rulers where we have a say in all things shifter. We oversee the group as a whole, we make the final decisions when it affects the whole, but for the most part stay out of the individual species, familial, or smaller clusters of multi-shifter communities. We do have a bylaw, that will need to be rewritten to prevent this from happening again. But that could take years.
Jeff nodded at what Walt was saying, But Edi, we don’t have to wait years. You have power to stop it all right now right now.
What the fuck are you talking about?
You are an Alpha, they both said together
That is ridiculous, I am not an Alpha. What difference would that… Wait, you think I should challenge him for Alpha. Both their eyebrows raised and they nodded. Curious guys, have you seen him? He’s gigantic, and he’s even bigger almost twice my size in his shifter form.
Covet the Curves: a Romance Collections Anthology Page 6
