It sometimes worries me if my unborn will have tendencies I have never experienced. Nothing is certain, and I have no idea if these babies will follow the norm and be more Lycan than anything else. Being twins, I’m not sure if that will affect things but looking at Domi and Remi, who are almost identical in every way with dominant Lycan DNA, maybe I am worrying for nothing. We would have heard of it if Lycan vampire mixes had both traits.
“What’s with the dress? Aren’t you all combat pants and vest tops lately? The Lana Lane of the wolf world.” Meadow’s eyes and attention are on Carmen now, as a subject change, appraising the feminine look of today, and it’s only then I spot the minimal makeup and that her hair has been styled differently. She’s put in more than the usual effort.
“No reason.” She flippantly waves a hand at us and starts adjusting chairs around the table, avoiding Med’s eye. She’s also more closed up and secretive than normal. Less chatty, and it piques my interest. Wondering if this is a tactic to get Jasper to notice her.
“I mean, I’m not against using your feminine wiles and assets to get your man to pay attention. If you need any pointers….” Meadow is all over that instantly and stops in her tracks when Carmen flicks flower vase water at her in warning to stay away.
“I don’t. And it’s not for him. I’m tired of looking like a beat-up tomboy who has lost all sense of her image lately. I have more pride than looking like a half-baked, decrepit floor broom that’s been used to death and discarded in the dust.”
“And she’s back. Welcome home, Carmenella!” I pat her on the head with a huge grin and my annoying pet name for her, casually throwing my arm around her shoulder as I stand beside her. She exhales heavily, displaying minor irritation at my obvious glee, and continues adjusting seats.
Carmen moping and being weird and distant these past few days was starting to bother me. I guess she needed some ‘her’ time to pull herself back together and process all that’s happened these few weeks. We all have. Working on the manor and the valley simultaneously. Overseeing, organizing, and repairing bonds with our fractured pack has been cathartic but emotionally exhausting. It’s only been a week since the night battle, but it feels like we have achieved a month's work.
“About time too, Chica. I know you can’t outrun the imprint, but I’m glad you are seemingly back to being the cold and arrogant biatch I used to love to hate.” Meadow flicks her in the forehead with precision, swings her clipboard up, and bops her on the head with it softly before swaggering off with a naughty smile. Knowing sticking around will get some physical retaliation now Carmen is no longer afraid to put Meds in her place.
“I still loathe her.” Carmen snorts and crosses her arms across her chest sulkily. I laugh at both, knowing that’s the furthest from the truth it could be. They have a love-hate relationship that’s warm underneath, and I know either one would sacrifice themselves to save the other. Neither can admit they are sisters now and friends. Denial is what I expect for the rest of their lives.
“So, noon? Are you nervous?” Carmen returns the conversation to what we are preparing for, and I let her go. Shrugging in a non-committal way as I return to prepping the room and focusing on imaginary dust particles I need to remove. My gut has been like a washing machine all morning, and I have been trying to ignore the chaos of internal feelings for a week.
“Hmmm,” I answer in a bland tone and move the flowers for the fifth time today. Using Carmen’s method of nonchalance.
“Signing a treaty is enough pressure, but knowing you must work out a future relationship with your father must be messing with your head. Given what he is and who.” Carmen has the sense to let me wander off without following. Focusing on straightening pots on the side table instead.
“I’m going to take it one step at a time. Let things develop naturally once the treaty is dealt with. Colton told me not to rush into any plans and throw myself into trying to bond with him. Just take it as it comes. That’s what I’m going to do.”
“Yeah. Given the dramatic rollercoaster story behind all this, a bond like that may take years to grow. He doesn’t get to step into the daddy shoes because things are clear now. He has to earn your trust.” Carmen pauses, looks around, seemingly sensing something, and then shifts further away to rearrange plants along the wall units. I pause to watch her and then wave it off as nothing.
“Time will tell. I won’t reject him. I won’t stop him from contacting me or seeing these two when they are born. I think it’s one of those things that can’t be fixed with a meeting and put to rights overnight. I don’t even know him or anything about him.”
“Getting over what he is will be your first hurdle and his part in the wars of the last two decades.” She throws me an empathetic smile.
“Yeah…. enough about that, though. What are you doing about my brother?” I know I shouldn’t ask, as she normally clams up and pretends she doesn’t care, but it’s driving me insane seeing no progress.
“Nothing. It’s all on him. I’m tired of marching to the beat of other people’s drums. Chasing and always ending up alone. He knows where I am; if he never finds his way to me, I won’t stop living and hold my breath. I can have a future without a mate. There’s plenty to do here, and who knows, maybe I can date casually whenever I have an urge that needs fulfilling.”
It seems Carmen is fully pulling herself back together. Giving up even when she is bonded to Jasper, putting herself first. This is more like the girl I used to see. The one who says screw it to the Fates and decides on her own path. The warrior inside the girl who won’t break with what the world throws at her.
“Baby? Where you at?” Colton’s voice breaks in as he enters the room from across the other side. His eyes scan our efforts at making this a place to dine with guests, and he smiles radiantly when he locks eyes on me. As usual, the butterflies and goosebumps he causes me ripple all over my skin and through my soul, and my day gets brighter with him just being here.
Behind him, Jasper follows at a distance, still carrying that pensive frown of his and a slight snarly aura to him. I now know what Carmen could feel coming. Back in the early days of imprinting, I was way more sensitive to my mate’s whereabouts if he got within fifty feet of me. Thankfully that’s dulled down a little, and I am no longer constantly hyper-aware of his location unless in wolf form.
“Here. All done and now to soak in the tub while the kitchen deals with the lunch menu. Everything else is done. We await their arrival.” I slide into his open arms as he gets close enough and snuggle up to him, resting my head under his chin and letting myself relax finally. I have been tense all day since I woke up to a note on my pillow saying he was up and out to deal with some things. I missed him crazily today, but I know he wants everything perfect. Colton’s nervous too, and his way of getting it out is to stay busy. He has the pack on guard duty just in case, and the ground looks flawless for our royal visit. I think he’s torn between awaiting an old enemy he wants to be wary of and impressing his father-in-law simultaneously.
Carmen turns away and pretends to fluff some plants in the pots on the side dresser, and I glance at my brother, who is still hovering by the far door. His eyes are on her despite his efforts to keep looking away, which ignites a tiny splinter of hope in my heart. He’s wavering. Being here a week and seeing her from afar, sensing her, smelling her scent… he needs a little push.
“Carmen, can you take those ones to the library? They aren’t needed in here.” I nod at the extra plants sitting on the floor from when we were styling the dresser and nod towards Jasper’s door, which leads to the same hall the library is on. She has no choice but to go that way, or else it would be too obvious she’s avoiding him. She has her pride, after all. And I am not against using any method in my arsenal to force my brother’s hand. He’s deliberately kept away from her because he’s weak, and I am almost a hundred percent certain he won’t withstand any nearness.
“Hmm,” she replies blandly, as though not bothered, and swipes up the two pots, cradling them against her chest before marching confidently towards him without looking his way. I know it’s all bravado, and I inwardly applaud her ability to put on that cold front and act like he’s nothing to her. Just a mere fly in the same room that she does not need to bother with.
I sigh inwardly and wriggle enough in Colton’s embrace to hint at him to move slightly so I can watch her walk out. My eyes are glued to the seductive sway of her walk, and I smile gleefully as my brother’s eyes latch onto her in that intense focus gaze of a wolf on the hunt. Sexual creatures who are easily stirred by a mate’s sexy self. I feel like maybe today is the day he breaks.
She looks pretty today, crazily so. She has her old aura back, her skin is glowing, and with the efforts of her appearance, I see the beautiful girl who used to stroll around the valley like she owned the place. Jasper’s eyes lock on her face despite himself as she walks towards him and goes to brush past him without a word. I see the shift in him as his inner wolf kicks out and takes over every one of his instincts. His eyes ambering of their own accord, and that change in his mood hits me pretty powerfully.
There’s a slight gasp as a sudden hand catches her elbow in passing and tugs her to a halt unexpectedly. She almost drops the plants and stumbles slightly before catching herself. Head swiveling towards him as anger peaks out.
“What are you doing? Let go.” She snaps at him, dropping the pot she has in her hand, but he smoothly catches it for her with his free hand and places it on the table by the door. Eyes never leaving hers, and that yearning aura hitches another thirty degrees.
“Let’s go talk.” He leans back to try and look her in the face as she dodges him by trying to walk forward, but she turns away moodily. She holds the remaining pot even tighter and refuses to back down. He has no idea how much of a wall Carmen can build, and winning her over won’t be that simple. If anyone can ignore an imprint bond and hold out for a long time, it’s her.
“I’m busy. Some other time. I have things to do.” She twists her arm to release herself, but his grip doesn’t loosen, and instead, he takes a step back so he doesn’t have to lean to look at her. Keeping level with her and I relax, knowing Jasper isn’t going to back down anymore. I can see it all over him. He’s decided and is willing to try and figure this out with her. Carmen glares at him with passionate hatred and tugs her arm again, this time a frown of scorn and warning him with amber eyes that she’s not in the mood and will get physical.
“Sis… I’m borrowing your interior designer.” Jasper catches the rim of the other pot she is holding and precisely tugs it out of her hand. Quick and slick, like a pro, he removes her only weapon. Dumping it on the same table before spinning her around, the arm in his embrace ends up across her body along with his, and her back jammed up into his abdomen and chest. The back of her skull is under his chin as he leans down and whispers something in her ear.
I almost jump out of Colton’s arms with utter joy at this intimate tackle, and Colton shakes his head at me and rolls his eyes. Something tells me this isn’t all that much of a shock to him, and maybe he knew my brother was softening, given how much time he’s spent with him.
My brother looks like he paid attention to his appearance today too. Tailored black shirt under a black leather jacket, over washed-out jeans in a bad boy biker style. It’s not his normal MO, but a more casual and sexier version of the vampire styling he came home with. His hair is gelled up spikier, and his whole aura seems a little predatory. That’s a Lycan who is overcome with desire for his mate and willing to bow down to have her. I guess the imprint is slowly eating away at him, and finally, the lust urge is killing that stubborn wall he built up.
Carmen elbows him in the stomach and causes a loud ‘oofft’ noise, then groan, but he doesn’t relent and release her. Instead, he spins her back towards him, bends down, and flips her over his right shoulder the second she starts to curse him out and fight back. She erupts in crazy femme fashion and starts going at him with fists and knees to be free.
“She might be a while…. Maybe a few hours.” He winks my way, mischief in the depths, and I am finally sure that she will be marked by dusk. He smiles somewhat oddly, then slides his arm around her legs to stop her thrashing about so much, ignoring her assault as though she’s nothing more than a slight wind flapping against his clothes.
“Put me down. Jasper, I fucking mean it. Let me go, you asshole. Put me down!!!” Carmen is reaching ear-aching levels as her rage and fury ignite her gift a little, and Colton is the one to sigh and put an end to it. If he leaves it, this room will crumble into oblivion, and my ears will bleed.
“Carmen, go with your mate and stop making a fuss. Calm down.” He alpha tones her and my mouth gawps open in shock that he would make her submissive in this manner. That he would misuse his ability in this way, but I guess I also applaud him for being that helpful. Carmen’s body goes limp instantly, her face snapping towards us as she death glares Colton with all the venom she can muster. I know in her head she is cursing him out like a maniac and probably imagining impaling him in pretty creative ways.
This is for her own good, and I know she doesn’t want to keep going on like this and not sorting things out. My brother won’t do anything against her will, but she does need to spend some time with him and listen to whatever he plans to say.
“I actually hate you.” She mutters under her breath in a controlled manner before pulling her arms under her body, crossing them over her chest, and sticking her chin in the air. Making it clear she’s not happy at all. I should tell him to put her down, but I can’t intervene in this case. They need this. I wave instead and throw her the most loving smile that I hope emphasizes that I’m allowing this out of my love for her.
“I know. Have fun.” Colton smirks and salutes my brother in a mock gesture.
“Thanks.” Jasper nods our way, still cold and aloof, but that glimmer in his eye tells me he isn’t taking Carmen off to argue and reject again. There’s a possessive edge, a definite air of male testosterone about him, and the way he’s holding onto her hints that he’s finally giving in to the fact he can’t outrun the one person he wants most in the world. Tomorrow I predict we will have another pairing in our pack. Let them go sort out their issues and figure it out.
It’s taken a week of longing for her. I only hope she doesn’t keep denying it, and I don’t see either of them again until she bears his mark.