The woman remarked as she rung it up and put the case into a bag, “She must be a special woman.”
Jay’s smile widened as he paid for the ring sliding it into his pock before he answered, “That she is, ma’am that she is. Thank you.”
The woman waved away his “thank you” and she watched him walk out of the store. Whoever she is, the woman thought to herself, she is one lucky girl as she turned to help another customer.
He was heading for the exit to the parking lot when he heard a voice call out to him and he mentally groaned when Victoria walked up to him. She pouted as she purred, “Jay, honey, didn’t you hear me call you?”
“Victoria,” he said giving her a smile although it did not reach his eyes, but Victoria only noticed the smile.
“I have been looking for you, but your family told me that you had something to take care of,” she cooed although her eyes flashed with anger.
“I did, Victoria, and I have been away for the past six weeks,” he told her honestly.
Victoria let her smile become more genuine as she realized his family had been telling her the truth.
“So what about you and I getting together this evening,” she said seductively running a hand down his chest. “After being gone for the past six weeks getting ready to take your dad’s place, you must be starving.”
Jay made himself stay still under her unwanted touch although his wolf was snarling at her. He smiled mentally as he thought about Emily because she satisfied any of his hunger better than Victoria did when they were together.
He did not say this out loud though as he allowed a frown to cross his face, “I am sorry Victoria, but with the Alpha ceremony coming up I am needed at home.”
He watched as her eyes gleamed with satisfaction and her red painted lips curved into a smile, “You will need your mate for that, but I understand that you want to wait until then to mark me.”
She leaned forward and pecked at his lips before she whispered, “But I am more than willing to do that and so much more now.”
Jay stepped away from her as he offered, “Can I walk you to your car?”
She nodded her head thinking he was going to take her up on her offer and they walked out to the car park, and her car.
Once they stopped at her car, she started to wrap her arms around his neck and whispered, “We can head to my place.”
Jay was just about to say something rude to her as he unpeeled her arms from around his neck when his phone rung saving him.
He pulled it out of his pocket and reading the id caller, he said lied, “Dad”.
“Of course, baby,” Victoria said with a slight smirk accepting the lie. “Tell him I said hi and what we have decided to do.” She touched a finger to her mouth before placing the same finger against his lips.
“Bye, baby, see you later,” she cooed again.
Jay watched her leave as his eyes hardened and he turned away answering his phone, “Thank you Arnold, for saving me from doing something that I probably would not have regretted.”
Arnold laughed as he said, “Eve said she saw you and Victoria walking out together. I figured you were just being polite and offered to walk her to her car.”
Jay winced as he said, “Stupid me.”
Arnold laughed again before he said, “Okay, well, I will not disagree with you there. I just thought I would call to give you an excuse out of whatever she had planned. We will see you at the ceremony.”
“See you there,” Jay replied before he hung up the phone.
He slid into his car after pocketing his phone and headed home to his mate.
When he entered the house, he heard everyone in the kitchen so he slipped up to their room where he hid the ring with the necklace as he was planning on giving both to her on the day of the ceremony.
He headed back down to the kitchen where Emily looked up from where she was standing by the counter to smile at him but before he could say anything her eyes turned amber and the smile dropped from her face.
He knew immediately what happened as he hurried forward and pulled her into his arms. She could smell Victoria on him and she was reacting to it.
“She caught me in the mall as I was picking something up,” he explained quickly pulling back to look into her eyes and she sniffed a few more times before she nodded her head.
Her eyes turned back to their normal color and he sighed as he turned to the others keeping his arms around her waist.
“Victoria has invited herself to the ceremony. She believes that I will mark her then,” he stated and the others just looked at him in shock.
Then Stan said, “Then let her come so that she can see what is really going on.”
They all nodded their head in agreement as Jay tightened his hold on Emily.
Victoria, in her own house, shivered in excitement as she looked at herself in her vanity mirror.
“I am finally going to get what I want,” she moaned to herself as she smoothed lotion on her hands when a cold draft entered the room.
“Damn it,” she muttered, “Why can’t they keep the damn heat up?” She walked out of the room as the light shimmered in the corner and the figure of a man took shape as his voice filtered through the room, “Soon, my love, and then we will be together forever.”
Then he disappeared and in the secret room the book glowed before the pages seemed to catch on fire. By the time Victoria got to it, it was nothing but ash.
Chapter 26
The day of the ceremony dawned bright and early two days later. Jay and Mark were up early and closeted in the study with their father. Emily and Sasha had spent the morning with Michaela playing in the garden before she was taken away by her grandmother. Emily went to help in the kitchen later in the afternoon when Sasha was taken upstairs by Cass and Stacy although Emily offered to help. Jay found her a few hours later helping to finish up the desserts that were going to be served.
“Come on, Emily,” Jay said grabbing her hand and smiling at their loveable cook. He took her to their room where she asked, “Is something wrong, Jay?”
He smiled, “Not a thing, but you need to get ready.”
She frowned, “But…” and he interrupted her by kissing her passionately before spinning her around. Lying on the bed was a gorgeous dress and she froze as Jay walked around her to pick it up.
“I know that you like simple so I thought you like this,” he stated.
She swallowed as he let it slide through his hands to hang down and she stared at it in awe.
He was right for it was simple but classy. The dress was a peach spaghetti strap chiffon dress with sequin designs on it and it had an asymmetrical hemline with a back zipper and straps that tied in the back.
“These go with it,” Jay said producing a pair of sling back silver sandals that had a decorative band of jewelry over the toes, a wraparound strap for the back of the heel and they had low heels.
“I know that you really don’t like heels, but for tonight, could you please wear these,” Jay asked with a pleading look in his eyes and Emily sighed as she nodded her head.
He smiled as his green eyes brightened, “I will leave you to take a shower and get ready.” He laid the dress back down on the bed and sat the sandals down on the floor in front of the dress. He gave her a kiss and left the room.
Emily laughed softly as she went to run the water for a bath to help her relax before she took her shower.
She lay back in the water as she let her mind drift as she wondered what Victoria would due when she realized that things were not going to go as she thought. She was relaxing when she felt the drugging quality that happened sometimes before a vision begin and her body tensed slightly:
“Victoria move,” the man shouted before he shifted into a gray wolf to launch himself at the scarred wolf. Victoria stood their in terror although Emily standing off to the side saw a flash of
anger in her eyes before they turned to shock.
Emily looked over to see the gray wolf had killed the scarred wolf and he turned back into a man, a very handsome man.
“Victoria,” he said walking over to her and pulling her into his arms. Emily watched as Victoria began to sob into his chest and she glanced up to catch the look on his face and she stepped back in shock.
“You knew,” she whispered to herself.
“Victoria was not that a good of an actress,” a voice said startling her and she spun around to come face-to-face with the same man that had been holding Victoria.
The young man stood before her with his brown eyes staring directly into her and Emily swallowed in nervousness.
“When did you find out?” she asked softly.
“I always knew that she did not want to be my mate and unlike what my brother thought, I was prepared for her rejection that was why I told her before she shifted,” he confided as he ran a hand through hair darker than Garrett’s. “Imagine my surprise when instead of a rejection, she accepted me that I did not think about my earlier conclusions or even think too hard about her condition that we wait until she shifted before I marked her.”
Emily looked at him as he winced and answered her unasked question, “Victoria loves sex so we did mate in that sense at least but without the marking, it is just sex.”
She felt jealousy flair for a brief moment as she thought about Jay and Victoria at his comment, but she pushed it to the side as he spoke again.
“He loves you,” the young man said and her amber eyes widened at his comment.
“Are you a spirit?” she asked him in curiosity.
He laughed although was no humor in it, “Something like that for when Victoria poisoned me, it had never before been done in our world. We heard of mates abusing their mates and of the common rejection, but to actually murder their mate,” he shook his head. “So when I died the powers that be, I guess you could call them, decided I would not go just yet to my next life. I have been watching Victoria since then waiting. I watched her when she used her attraction and her spell to triple that attraction on Arnold and Jay before you came. When she allowed Arnold to mark her, she lost the hold she had on Jay although meeting you destroyed it completely. When he met you, everything changed as it was meant to be. Now, there is one last thing I have to do before I can rest in peace.”
Emily looked at him in confusion but he just smiled, “You will know it when you see it. Do not worry about Victoria, Emily Jackson, for she will not bother you much longer.”
Emily looked at him although she was still confused but he sounded so confident that she nodded her head. She looked at him studying him for although he was not Jay and he did not make her heart rate increase, he was a very good-looking young man and strong from what she saw with the scarred wolf so why did Victoria not want him?
“I was not an Alpha although I was respected in the pack,” he mumbled to answer her unspoken question.
Emily stared at him in surprise and then she laughed as another question ran through her mind. The man smiled as he answered again before she said it, “Even Myra does not know EVERYTHING.”
“You will be fine, Emily Jackson,” he remarked before he began to disappear.
“Thank you, Taylor,” she said softly and she watched him smile briefly before he was gone.
“Emily,” she heard Jay holler and felt his hard grip on her shoulders as her vision faded and she sat up quickly in the cooling water.
“Yes,” she said hoarsely before she cleared her throat to speak louder. “Yes, Jay?” she said looking into his anxious green eyes as his hands tightened their hold for a brief moment.
His head fell into the curve of her neck as he mumbled, “You scared me. You have been in here over thirty minutes and when I called your name you did not answer neither were you moving.”
“I am sorry,” she said wrapping her arms around him as he slid down a little to kiss their mark and pulled her closer.
They sat there for a few minutes until he laughed slightly, “I know I need to get used to this with your ability, but it still freaks me out.”
“Freaks me out, too, and I am more use to it,” Emily said with a sigh. Then she said, “This is very comfortable, but I need to finish up, Jay.”
Jay nodded his head as he let her go and his eyes gleamed with male pleasure as his eyes devoured her body.
“Jay,” Emily warned although she was laughing.
“Finish your shower, sweetheart,” he said with a wink before walking out of the bathroom.
Emily shook her head as she finished up by taking her shower and walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her body, and her hair up in a smaller one. The room was empty as she began to get herself ready.
She dried her body and hair before she dusted herself with powder and light spray of perfume while she waited for the curling iron to heat up.
By the time Jay came back into the room, she was sitting on the bed sliding into the silver sandals that he got to go with the dress. Her hair she had pulled up into a high ponytail but she had curled it so that it fell into a cascade of curls except for a few strands that she curled to frame her face. The dress fit perfectly and she had put on a light touch of makeup that emphasized her eyes.
The door opened and Jay walked in straightening his tie nervously as she looked up from putting on her second sandal.
“Hi, handsome,” she called out with a smile as she buckled the strap. Jay stopped dead where he was at as she stood to her feet smoothing down the dress.
“So do I pass inspection?” she asked with a giggle as she did a slow turn for him.
“Gorgeous,” was all he could say as he stared at her. She laughed as her eyes shined at him and it snapped him out of his daze.
He glared at her playfully and Emily placed a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing again.
Jay smiled and winked at her as he stepped towards her. Before he left the room earlier, he grabbed the necklace and ring from its hiding place. He was nervous but he wanted to do this before the ceremony took place so he cleared his throat as he looked down at his mate.
“Emily,” he began, “I never thought I would find someone like you who loves me unconditionally. You make me smile when I least expect to, or when I am just having a bad day. I love you more than I could ever say in words.” Emily dropped her hand and smiled at him as pleasure made her eyes shine brightly.
“Would you do me the honor of marrying me?” he asked as he dropped to knee on the ground opening up the ring box. Emily looked at him in stunned shock for she had not been expecting a proposal and then she looked down at the ring. She gasped as tears filled her eyes for the ring was beautiful with only one stone in the center, a amber stone, and it was in the shape of heart with two hands clasped on either side of it.
She looked up at him with stunned filled eyes, but there was excitement in them that made Jay catch is breath.
“Yes,” she breathed, “I will marry you, Jay Caine. I love you, too.” He slid the ring on her finger and he was amazed that it fit because he had not gotten her size for the ring before he ordered it. He stood swiftly to his feet as he pulled her into a deep, but sweet kiss that was more accurate than any words.
He pulled back so that he could put a hand in his other pocket to pull out the necklace and Emily looked at in awe.
“It resembles are mate mark,” she said softly and he nodded his head as he put it on for her.
He adjusted it so that it sat low on her neck where the dress revealed most of their mate mark.
“The jewel matches the jewel in your ring. I want everyone to know that you are my mate,” Jay said his voice full of pride in her for being his mate.
Emily looked at him with tears in her eyes and she raised one hand, the hand with her ring, to play with the n
ecklace. “Thank you,” she whispered leaning up to kiss him.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and was leading her out of the room when he asked, “For what?”
Her answer was instant, “For loving me.” He stopped and turned her around to kiss her not caring that Mark and Sasha were standing right there.
“For the rest of my days,” he said soft enough for ears to hear and she blushed.
“Are you ready?” Mark said noting the blush and his eyes twinkled with humor.
Sasha squealed as she pounced on Emily, “You look gorgeous.”
“So do you,” Emily said with a smile as she looked at her sister. Sasha was dressed in a flowing green gown that had no straps but cupped her breasts and flowed down until it reached her thighs before it flair out.
“Let’s get the show over with it,” Jay said teasingly and Mark threw a punch at him as they walked down the stairs heading for the backyard where the actual ceremony would take place.
Downstairs, their parents were standing next to the unlit fireplace when Victoria walked into the room. They had been talking with other members of the pack as she walked up to them in an elaborate dress that revealed more than it covered.
She had a satisfied smile on her lips as she greeted them.
“Alpha, Alpha Female,” she said bowing her head in respect although she ignored Stacy and Jacob who looked at her narrowly.
“Victoria,” Cass said coldly and Victoria smiled at her although there was a look of triumphant in her eyes that Cass would love to destroy.
Then Arnold and Eve arrived and Cass smiled as they made their way over to them.
“Jay told me he invited you, Alpha Arnold,” Stan said with a smile.
Victoria narrowed her eyes as she asked sweetly, “When did you finally get the position, Arnold?”
“After I met Eve,” Arnold replied politely before he turned his attention back to the others.
“You remember my mate Cass, Arnold, and this is Jacob and Stacy Jackson,” Stan continued when he turned back to them.
Arnold smiled as he said, “Nice to meet you and this is my mate, Eve Shaw.”
Marked in a Vision Page 16
