Ella sighed but gave her a smile so she knew she wasn’t really that upset. “Yeah, she can fix it.”
“Thanks for letting me practice out here.”
“You’re welcome, hon.” She was suddenly distracted by the stabbed trees at the edge of the yard. “Wow, you did that?”
Nervously, Jae followed her direction and walked towards the trees, pulling each implement out one by one. When she got to her axe, she placed the small weapon into the belt on her dark jeans. She spun back around, knowing she would find Ella right behind her. Holding out a bucket, she gestured for Jae to dump the knives into it for now. Her eyes drifted down to the axe snuggled against her hip.
“You’ve certainly grown up since...” her voice trailed off at the sensitive subject she had almost broached.
Jae grunted and brushed passed her towards Lucien’s house. It was nearly five and Ryder was supposed to be picking her up.
“Jaeden.”
Sighing, she reluctantly turned around, waiting for the admonition that had yet to come from anyone in the pack, and yet she knew was bound to soon. Ella, however, merely strolled slowly towards her, her eyes warm with a motherly affection. She brushed her hand down Jaeden’s face lovingly and smiled into her eyes. “I can only imagine how proud your mother is of you. I know because I am so proud of you. You’ve taken all the horrors you’ve been through and become fierce, strong, someone to be reckoned with. I think... that you are very brave.”
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.
Jaeden laughed at herself, her throat closing with emotion as she turned away and forced her tears back inside. “I’m not brave. I’m scared all the freaking time.”
Silence fell between them.
Ella sighed. “When Lucien was a boy - after everything that happened with Rafe and Griffin - he was so confused and scared. He knew something was terribly wrong. Anyway, for a while he used to check the house over before he went to bed - every closet, every nook, every window, every door. And then he’d get angry because he thought he was being a coward. Albus took him aside one day and told him that courage was not the absence of fear, but the ability to walk into unknown territory despite it.”
“Didn’t Mandela say that?”
Ella pursed her lips at the interruption. “An abridged version, but that’s not the point. The point is Lucien checked over the house each night, prepared to take on whatever bad thing he thought was waiting for him even though he was scared. That was what made him brave. And you’re the same, Jaeden. You of all people have every reason to want to curl up and hide under your bed... but you don’t. You get up and you ready yourself for whatever might come your way. As I said... you are very, very brave.”
“Or just crazy.”
Ella laughed and chucked her under the chin. “Or just crazy. Anyway, is that a car I hear?”
Jae heard the gravel spinning under a wheel from the front of the house and her heart picked up speed. She grinned and nodded. “Ryder.”
Ella grinned back at her. “It’s a good match. And when you mate we really will be family. Have you seen Irini and Aidan yet?”
Jae smiled at the memory. She had caught up with Ryder’s brother and his mate the day before. The entire encounter had consisted of Aidan ribbing Ryder for falling prey to the mating when all along he’d bragged about his bachelor lifestyle. The meeting with Yvana, however, hadn’t gone too smoothly. Apparently the relationship between sons and mother was not nearly as good as everyone had believed. It seemed Ryder and Aidan had taken more of Lucien’s side over the whole Caia thing than anyone realized. Thus, the dinner Yvana had hosted was stilted and cold. She was no longer the woman she had once been, and what little had been left of that woman had disappeared when Caia had arrived, bringing with her the remembrance of what had happened to Yvana’s mate.
Throwing another quick thank you Ella’s way, Jae jogged around the house to the driveway where Ryder was parked, listening to Nirvana. She shook her head smiling; from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Nirvana, and Top Gun to The Godfather, he really was a mass of amusing contradictions. Unsurprisingly, when she jumped into the truck, Ryder pulled her over to the driver’s side for a long, breath stealing kiss. She should be used to his casual public affection by now, but every time he touched her she still had to shake herself to remind her that, yeah, he was really kissing her.
“How was practice?” He grinned, as they drove away from the house.
“Good. My aim is getting better.”
“That’s great! Guess who I bumped into at the diner today.”
“Hmm... a member of Pack Errante?”
“Well take the fun out of it, why don’t you.”
She smiled teasingly. “Sorry. Who did you bump into today?”
“I don’t feel like telling you now.”
Feeling playful, as he somehow always managed to make her feel, Jae reached out and slid her hand slowly up his thigh. “Please tell me.”
He jumped at her touch and was now throwing her a beseeching look. “I’ll tell you if you remove your hand from my person.”
Grinning devilishly, her hand moved closer to the spot that would make him sweat and suddenly the truck swerved on the road. “Jaeden!”
She laughed and pulled her hand back. “Sorry.”
He huffed. “Oh, I’m sure you are.”
“Goddess, Ryder, you should be trussed up in a white chemise and a padlock covering your virtue for all the fuss you’re making.”
He spluttered in indignation, which only made her laugh harder. “I’m trying to be honorable here.” He gesticulated wildly. “Having your hands roaming freely over my particulars sort of makes the task Herculean!”
A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his forehead and abruptly she felt bad. “Sorry. I mean it. I’m sorry.”
Somewhat mollified, he nodded and turned back to the road, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead. “So, do you want to know who I was speaking with?”
“Of course.” She was determined to be good now.
“Alexa.”
“Oh. How is she?”
“Working for my mother while she goes to community college...”
“And?” If she knew Alexa, there was definitely an ‘and’.
He coughed, looking uncomfortable all of a sudden. “And... a little pissed off.”
Jaeden grimaced. “What now?”
“Me. You. Mating.”
“What?” Jae growled. “Alexa was after Lucien.”
“Apparently I forgot to mention that she was a little... interested in me... when you left.”
An inexplicable jealousy ripped through her. “Did you sleep with her?”
“What, are you nuts?!”
No! Alexa was the most predatory lykan out there, it would not have surprised in her in the least. “No, I’m not. Alexa is attractive and easy. A lethal combination.”
Ryder actually looked angry at the insinuation. “You know I don’t mess around with our pack women. The reason I told you is because I wanted to give you a heads up in case you see her. She’s pissed and she’s always been vindictive when she’s pissed off.”
“Oh really, I hadn’t noticed.”
“What are you so mad about?”
“You! You didn’t tell me to give me ‘a head’s up’. You told me to make me jealous.”
He snorted, his mouth twisted with as much sarcasm as his tone. “That’s crazy. Why would I want to make you jealous? Look how much fun it is.”
Jaeden wasn’t stupid. This was deliberate. And she knew why. “Reuben. You’re jealous of Reuben, and you want to inflict a little of that on me. Well, job accomplished.”
“That’s not true. Although, since you brought the subject up, what the hell is the bloodsucker still doing in town?”
“He’s staying in a motel.”
“Yeah, in town. And he’s constantly hanging out. When we get to your place, he’ll be there.”
“He’s my friend.”
“Humph.”
A tense silence fell between them, the cab of the truck thick with strained animosity and extreme sexual tension.
“We need to get this mating ceremony over and done with,” he growled.
“Why?” Jae asked derisively. “Because we’re so good together.”
“Because I have a feeling we’ll be arguing a lot.”
“Oh, great reason for mating!”
“And if we’re going to be arguing a lot, that tension has to go somewhere.”
Immediately his meaning dawned on her, and she turned, blushing, to meet his gaze. His eyes burned as they washed over her. “I swear to Artemis, Lucien is dead if he doesn’t get back here soon to authorize this ceremony.”
Feeling shy, Jaeden mumbled, “We don’t have to wait.”
Ryder heard her anyway. “You know we do.”
“I told you it doesn’t matter to me.”
“Well it matters to me.”
Her gaze lifted and drifted over his strong forearms and the large hands that gripped the steering wheel. She felt the tension in the truck thicken and her face heated. “Maybe we shouldn’t spend too much time together until then.”
“Uh, you think.”
Despite their semi-resolved decision to not be around one another, Ryder found himself following Jae into the house when they arrived at Dimitri’s. The fact that Reuben’s car was there had nothing to do with it, whatsoever. He shrugged off the annoyance he always felt when the vamp was around, and greeted everyone with an impression of his old laid-back self. Ha, he inwardly snorted, he wondered if he would ever be that guy again.
Sure enough he found Reuben in the kitchen with Julia, helping her, it seemed, with a recipe.
“I would never have thought of doing that,” Julia was exclaiming happily as she read over a piece of paper. “However did you come by this recipe?”
Reuben shrugged. “I was friends with a very good chef once.”
“How many years ago was that?” Ryder couldn’t help himself.
Julia and Reuben turned, and Jae’s mother smiled happily at him. “I knew I heard you come in.” She sauntered over to him and patted a floury hand to his cheek, before leaving the kitchen to see to her daughter. He winced at the sound of major hugging in the sitting room. Poor Jae. Ever since she got back she only ever got peace when she went to Ella’s to practice. Everyone wanted to see her and check on her, and she never had any alone time in the family house. He understood her family’s anxiety, but she must be going crazy. Nothing to be said though, he reminded himself. He had to stay on Dimitri’s good side or he might not give his blessing for the mating.
“How was practice?” Reuben asked quietly, in his sober way. Ryder disliked the way his eyes darted past his shoulder, obviously looking for Jae.
“Good.”
“I better say hi.”
“Why don’t we take a minute outside?” Ryder gestured to the back door.