“Kelsey,” Jackson said, a note of warning in his voice.
At the same time, I said, “Try me.” I’d face her down same as Vicki. As for having babies, who knew, but I wasn’t overly concerned about it because, no matter what everyone thought they knew, I had never been a true null.
She put a hand to her chest, an innocent expression on her face. “Oh? Have I said something wrong? Sorry.”
I looked at Jackson and was surprised to see he accepted her blatantly false apology. This bitch knew exactly where all the buttons were and had no problem pressing them. Surely he could see that? But from the warm expression on his face, I could tell he was blind.
“What was it you said to Chloe outside?” Jackson asked, aware enough to at least know he should change the subject. Unfortunately, the topic he chose added fuel to the fire instead of establishing neutral territory. “The look on her face was--“
Kelsey cut him off with a giggle. “Priceless, I know. All I said was, are you the bitch who thinks she can have my mate?”
At Jackson’s shocked expression, she paused. “Too much?”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s a little aggressive.”
She grimaced. “Sorry. You know me, all action and no thought.”
I sipped my beer, my glance ping-ponging back and forth between them. Did Jackson really buy her brainless ditz defense? How could he miss that her apology was directed at him and not me. She wouldn’t even look at me. How could he not smell the desire that permeated her scent? It was faint, but I hadn’t missed it.
Wanting to remind her I was alive, I cleared my throat and asked, “How do you guys know each other?”
Kelsey waved a hand. “Jackie and I go way back.”
Jackie? I sputtered as my beer went down the wrong pipe.
Jackson pounded me on the back. “We grew up together.”
“His momma practically raised me. I didn’t know my daddy and my momma, well...” Kelsey trailed off and her facade of good cheer faded a bit.
Jackson reached across the table and took her hand in his. “Her loss, Kels.”
My eyebrows went up at the exchange. It sounded like there was some painful history there. A pang of sympathy went through me for Kelsey. I knew what it was to have a shitty childhood without the parents you deserved. Of course, the tiny pang I felt wasn’t enough to eradicate my irritation with her behavior so far. Things had never been easy for me, either and I’d managed to avoid becoming a badass bitch. It could be done, if you worked at it. The fact Kelsey had, apparently, chosen not to, spoke volumes about her character. Or lack thereof. At least, in my opinion.
Kelsey nodded and then blew out a big breath. “We got into a lot of scrapes growing up. Remember the frogs in the toilet?”
Jackson laughed and released her hand, much to my relief. “As I recall, that was your idea. I thought momma was going to skin us alive for that.” To me he said, “We put a bunch of frogs from the creek in the toilet the same day momma was hosting a Junior League luncheon.”
“We stuffed them in and put the lid down,” Kelsey added. “Made for a nice surprise just when you wanted to pee. All the ladies of our pack screamed like little girls and ran scared in their Sunday best.” She snickered and pretended to clutch her pearls. “You’d think they’d never torn out a rabbit’s throat with their bare teeth.”
“What about the time we dumped the sugar and replaced it with salt?” Jackson asked with a chuckle. “That was also your brainchild, although momma didn’t believe me.”
Kelsey made a face. “Ugh. She made us drink that lemonade too. I haven’t drank it since. What about you?”
Jackson shrugged. “It’s okay in small quantities, but yeah, I can never quite shake the taste of salt and lemon from that day.”
She leaned over the table, eyes focused on Jackson as if I didn’t exist. “Oh hey, remember when we swore we’d be each other’s mates?”
I gasped and stared at her, stunned by her brazenness. Who acted like that? Wolves looking for a fight, that’s who.
Jackson shifted uncomfortably next to me. “That was a long time ago. We were just kids.”
She tossed her head, flipping her long hair over her shoulder. “Yeah, like I said, ancient history, but for a while we thought we were meant for each other.” She sighed. “Those were the days, but now you have Chloe.” Her glance fell on me and then quickly slid over to Jackson.
“Yeah, I do.” He gave me another squeeze and I leaned into him. “How about you, Kels? You find your mate yet?”
She pouted and shook her head. “Not yet, but I keep looking. You ever hear of Moonpair dot com?”
We both shook our heads.
“It’s a wolf dating site. No one in my pack is my mate so I’ve branched out. That’s part of the reason why I’m up here. There was a promising candidate in Nashville.”
“Oh?” I asked. “How did it go?”
She looked so crestfallen I almost felt sorry for her. My sympathy didn’t last long, though. Kelsey was trouble, I could smell it. If I went soft on her, she would destroy me. Just like Vicki.
Her gaze dropped to her lap where she fiddled with her napkin. “Not a match.”
“Sorry to hear that, Kels.”
She shook her shoulders and sat straighter in her seat. “All in good time, right? Let’s talk about your wedding. Have you made any plans yet?” Now she looked at me, finally.
“I’ve ordered a few things and looked at lots of magazines.”
Kelsey frowned. “Magazines are so last century. Honey, all the wedding action is on Pinterest these days.” Her mouth split in a wide grin. “Don’t worry, I’ll hook you up. Where’s the hall going to be?”
Jackson and I exchanged glances. This was the most we’d talked about the wedding since we’d decided to have one. “There isn’t one,” I said. “We do outdoor weddings in our pack.”
“Perfect. No contracts or fees. Very budget friendly. I approve.” She winked at me conspiratorially. “I have some great ideas for the decor.”
“I was thinking of a wild flower arbor,” I said. It would mean a late summer wedding so we had time to grow extra flowers as well as harvest wild ones at the peak of the growing season, but the pictures would be stunning. I’d been to a pack wedding when I was little and never forgot the beautiful archway of flowers framing the happy couple.
She raised an eyebrow. “That sounds nice, very country, but Jackson’s family are city folk. You need a more cosmopolitan twist.”
“Like what?”
Her eyes lit up. “Chrome accents.”
I made a face, I couldn’t help myself. “Chrome?”
“Yes, industrial stuff is very trendy right now. It would be a great contrast with your old-fashioned flowers.” Her gaze fell on my left hand as I lifted my glass to take a sip of beer. She reached out and touched my naked ring finger and gave Jackson a speculative look. “He didn’t give you a ring?”
Jackson shifted uncomfortably. “It’s only been two weeks, Kels. Cut me some slack.”
“We’re moving as fast as we can,” I said, feeling the need to defend him even though I often wondered when a ring would make an appearance myself. I also sometimes wondered if marriage to Jackson was really what I wanted. We hadn’t even said ‘I love you’ yet, which made me nervous. The fact I was nervous made me more nervous. Matings weren’t supposed to come with doubts. Not in Huntsville where the divorce rate was zero.
Kelsey locked eyes with Jackson for far too long. “Well, let me know if you want some help.” She looked down at her own perfectly manicured hand and sighed. “I’m a bit of an expert on the subject and I know all about diamonds.”
“I think Jackson can handle it,” I said. The last thing I wanted was a ring that Kelsey helped pick out. I wanted it to be from Jackson alone. “We just haven’t had a lot of time to focus on the details.
She leaned back as the waitress set our burgers on the table. “That’s why I’m here. Weddings need a schedule and a plan.”
> “I think we’ve got it,” I said as tactfully as possible.“Thanks though.” When I blinked I caught sight of my wolf, her hackles ran down her back in a mohawk and there was a murderous gleam in her eye. If Kelsey kept pushing buttons, I would lose it like I had with Vicki earlier. The last thing I wanted to do was lose control, not when I wasn’t sure of my wolf or her strength.
Unlike Vicki earlier that day, Kelsey didn’t push me any further and I was grateful it didn’t come down to another confrontation. We dove into our burgers and ate in silence. Once I’d finished mine, I excused myself to use the restroom.
As I washed my hands, Tonya, one of the barmaids came in. We’d worked together once, before I quit in anticipation of leaving town. The owner had offered me my old dishwashing job back, but I declined. Alpha’s mates had jobs; they worked on behalf of the pack. Soon, I would be way too busy to chase a paycheck.
When our eyes met, she worried her bottom lip for a moment and thrust her hands in her apron’s pockets. Finally, she took in a deep breath and said, “Hey, Chloe. How are you?”
I shrugged. “Okay.”
“Sounds like you’re planning a wedding.” She smiled at me and I returned the smile. Tonya was a sweet girl with blond hair and light blue eyes. She always had a kind word for everyone and was the closest I came to a friend during my time as a null.
“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?” My words came out a little less ebullient than I’d intended and Tonya didn’t miss the nuance.
“Everything okay? Jackson seems like a great guy.”
“Yeah.” I ran my hand through my hair. Maybe I wasn’t as skinny or fashionable as Kelsey, but I was at least having a great hair day. My sable brown hair still had blonde highlights from the summer sun, along with the bounce and body of a Pantene shampoo commercial. “It’s just been a stressful day.”
Tonya stepped closer to me and patted my shoulder. “I heard about Vicki. Don’t worry about her. Even if she gets Cal to make you prove your blood, you’ll be fine.”
“You think so?”
She nodded. “You’re not an Omega, Chloe. Vicki’s just mad that Jackson mated with you and not her.”
“I noticed,” I said dryly. “I’m surprised she’s been the only one to bother me.”
Tonya shrugged. “Eh, you know wolves. We’re practical. We want to mate with our mate, not worry about a wolf who’s already claimed his. People are upset, but we’ll get over it.”
“We’ll?” I looked at her, eyebrows raised.
Tonya gave an uncomfortable laugh. “Yeah, well, I...you see, this one night--”
I raised a hand and cut her off. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” I was surrounded, I decided. Simply surrounded by dozens of women who’d lusted after my mate. Now they were even coming in from out of town. If this kept up, I would soon be drowning in angry female wolves. Forget ‘Call of the Wild’ this was ‘Call of the Women Scorned.’ I just hoped Jackson and I survived it intact. Maybe a wedding wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe we should elope and not rub everyone’s noses in our mating.
“Hey,” Tonya said, interrupting my thoughts. “I wanted to ask you something.”
“Okay, shoot.” I watched her, wary.
“Since your momma’s gone and all--” She looked at the floor and rocked back and forth on her heels. “I wondered if you’d want to go to Nashville together to shop for wedding dresses? I thought you might like some company.”
Her invitation touched me. Tonya was a little older than me, but she’d also lost her mother at a young age in a car accident down in Hudson. Wolves can survive a lot, but not a head on collision with a fully loaded semi. Sometimes I wondered if that was why she was nicer to me than most of the other wolves in Huntsville. Out of everyone, she knew what I’d been through.
“I would love some company, Tonya. Thanks.” I rolled my paper towel into a ball and tossed it in the garbage. “I was supposed to go down to Nashville today, but my plans went sideways on me.”
“Well, I’m off tomorrow, if you want to go then.”
“That would be great. Pick you up around nine?”
“Sounds good.”
I left the bathroom feeling oddly buoyant. Yeah, Vicki hated me and Kelsey was a problem with a capitol P, but maybe Tonya’s offer meant there was hope. Maybe someday not every female in town would hate my guts with such fierce passion.
Then I saw Kelsey and Jackson, and my bubble burst. She’d moved to sit next to him during my absence. Jackson had an arm draped over her shoulder and she leaned into him shamelessly. I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. Everyone in the bar was watching her, and, now that I’d appeared, their attention transferred to me as if to ask, ‘what are you going to do about this?’
I knew this was bad. The wolves watching me, waiting for my next move knew it was bad, but somehow Jackson and Kelsey remained oblivious to their transgression. I stalked across the bar, my gaze drilling into Jackson, willing him to look at me, to read my mind. Anger burned so hot in me, I couldn’t even see straight as I made my way back to our booth. Inside my head, my wolf growled, loud as a lawnmower.
“Jacks,” I said, my voice deadly soft.
He looked up at me and his eyes widened as he saw I was unhappy. Kelsey pretended not to notice and deliberately snuggled in closer to him. Once again she didn’t look at me, not out of submissiveness, but to show me how insignificant I was. I held my hands behind my back to keep myself from clawing her throat out. Briefly, I wondered if other wolves fought their violent urges as much as I did, or if my itch for violence was a side effect of being a new wolf not fully in control of herself yet.
“Hey babe.” He shifted slightly away from Kelsey as if signaling her to leave and go back to her side of our booth.
She didn’t move.
Afraid I would snap, I did the only thing I could to avoid a confrontation. “I’m leaving. I’ll see you back at the house.”
Jackson reached for me, trying to grab my arm.
I twisted away from his grip. “No, I really have to go. Why don’t you two catch up and we’ll talk later?” My gaze drilled into Jackson’s with an unspoken demand: Get rid of her before I do it for you.
“Clo,” Jackson started. From the way his eyebrows had shot up, I could tell he was surprised at my reaction. He had no idea I was upset or that his childhood ‘friend’ was being rude. How could a man with the heightened senses of a werewolf be so dense?
I cut him off. “I have stuff to do.” Not waiting to hear what else he said, I spun on my heel and walked out. As I went, her high-pitched laugh followed me. I resisted the urge to plug my ears. Once inside my truck, I rolled down the windows and blasted rock music all the way home to clear my head.
As I drove, I saw Huntsville through her eyes. The pockmarked paved roads, the shabby city square and mud splattered pick-up trucks. We weren’t glamorous people. Fancy meant washing the truck and putting on fresh jeans. We were simple because we knew better than to compete with nature. Just a few miles up the mountain we lived on, there was a view that even chrome couldn’t outshine.
Kelsey had obviously spent too much time in the city to understand this.
Chapter Four
The second guessing started when I pulled into Jackson’s long winding driveway. After we mated, I’d moved in with him. He owned the bigger house and it would’ve been a hassle to buy mine back. I’d sold it to Cal back when we all thought I was a null. He would probably let me have it at cost, but I liked the fresh start.
My house had held my old life, the one where my parents were dead and I was alone, living on the edges of a pack that couldn’t accept me. Letting go of my house meant leaving the loneliness behind too.
I wanted to move forward, to jump toward the future I’d always dreamed of except...I’d just left Jackson behind. Now I thought maybe it was a mistake. I didn’t like Kelsey. It was an instinctive dislike cemented by her behavior at the bar, but I shouldn’t have left him alone with her. My wolf stared
me down in my mind’s eye, her disapproval almost palpable.
You don’t leave your mate, she seemed to say.
Well maybe if he acted like my mate, I wouldn’t, I snarled at her.
She turned her back on me.
“Damn it.” I hit the steering wheel. Pulling out my phone, I navigated to Jackson’s number, finger hovering over the call button. What to do? Call him and say what? No words came to me so I put the phone in sleep mode and tossed it into my purse.
I wasn’t going back. No way. It would make me look weak and that was the last thing I needed to be in front of Kelsey or the gossip hounds at the bar. Not that running away helped things either, but the damage was done. There was no use in compounding it with more bad behavior. Heaving a sigh, I went into the house, shivering as a cold wind slapped my skin.
The temperature had dropped below freezing and the house was just a hair warmer than a walk-in freezer. The big ranch house usually retained heat better, allowing us to save money on the gas bill, but the sun had hidden behind clouds most of the day, refusing to share its warmth. As late afternoon turned to dusk, the heat fled at a rapid pace.
Feeling the chill, I bumped up the thermostat and shrugged on a cardigan. Then I slumped on the couch and stared at the ceiling. At times like this, I missed my mom. Some motherly advice would’ve come in handy, but I didn’t have a mother anymore and Vicki exemplified the kind of relationship I had with other females in the pack. That’s why Tonya’s offer had been so precious; it marked a change.
So now what?
When I moved in with Jackson I’d worried it would be awkward. We didn’t know each other that well, but it had been almost seamless. He’d let me decorate the half empty ranch as I saw fit. Being a typical bachelor, he’d done nothing but buy a bed and a flimsy card table set for eating. I’d purchased the leather couch I sat on and kept myself busy with the fun of playing house with my mate.
I’d brought in my dining set as well as other furniture and selected a color scheme. We didn’t argue once over paint colors, although he’d raised an eyebrow at the peach accent I’d selected to contrast with the deep forest green in the master bath. No, we fit together just fine and things only got better in bed.
The Alpha's Mate (Werewolf Romance) Page 3
