Early Morning Ambush (1)
1104 Words
Jacob POV
My family linked me in the morning to tell me they wanted me to come up to the floor Luna Jasmine and my father shared to enjoy breakfast. It wasn’t altogether unusual considering the circumstances – I’d found my mate. They’d want to hear all about last night, I’m sure.
Zahraa stirred in the bed beside me, wearing my long-sleeved fishing shirt and some old sweats that, thankfully, had a drawstring to tighten around her tiny waist. She slept under my comforter with me, but we’d wrapped her in a sheet to keep us separate.
So, I could hold her while we lay in bed and just… talked.
I’d never done that before. Just talked with a girl.
She rolled over, and I felt a rare, naturally occurring smile curl on my lips. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” she breathed, before yawning and stretching. “What time is it?”
“Nine,” I replied. “Why? Have somewhere better to be?”
She huffs a laugh. “No,” she sat up, and surveyed her surroundings.
“Then… coffee?” I asked, slipping past her to get up. Breakfast wasn’t for a while yet – the time it took to drink coffee with my mate wouldn’t hurt anything.
She yawned again and nodded, following me into the kitchen. I praised the goddess in her infinite wisdom as I noted the way my pants sloped off Zahraa’s hip. For only a moment, a strip of flesh became visible.
She shuffled her feet and adjusted the clothes, however, and I realized I must’ve been looking at her like I was hunting her.
“I have breakfast with my family this morning,” I yawned, setting up the coffee pot to make roughly two cups. “They’ll likely want to know what happened last night.”
Zahraa nodded, her lips growing thin. “What do you think they’ll say about you having a mate you can’t mate or mark?”
I paused for a long time, knowing she wouldn’t like the answer. So I told her, “It doesn’t matter what they think anyway.”
* * *
“Good morning,” dad said the minute I ascended the steps. Since the upper floor had only ever been for Luna Jasmine and dad, their layout included a dining room – one large enough for his rather large family. “You came a bit later than I expected.”
“I had coffee with Zahraa,” I replied, plopping into an unoccupied seat. All my brothers were already there, as well as my sisters.
“She’s so pretty!” Amalia chimed in, cupping her cheeks with her hands in her excitement.
“She is that,” Luna Jasmine agreed, shooting a loving smile to her youngest daughter. Her eyes cut to mine, and some of that affection died. “How was your night last night? The omegas said she didn’t leave your room.”
“Mom,” Jada hissed, only to receive a silencing palm.
“She didn’t,” I replied, easily. “She stayed the night last night.” My eyes, cold, met hers. “Isn’t that standard?”
“I wouldn’t call anything about that girl standard,” Jared muttered.
Samuel snickered in response – Archer seemed to be ignoring us all, and Rowan was paying an awful lot of attention to the breakfast an omega girl was serving us.
“So, you didn’t reject her,” dad said, plunging a piece of bacon in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully, then said – before swallowing – “I thought you would’ve.”
“She’s my mate,” I said, meeting his eye with a hard stare. “I thought she deserved a chance.”
“If you’re expecting to fix her overnight, you’ll be in for a shock,” Rowan caught my glare and held it. “I’ve been working on her since she arrived – there’s no sign of her parents, no sign of her heritage at all, actually.”
Fix her.
Working on her.
Like she was a particularly difficult project car.
I swallowed the growl that wanted to escape me. “I don’t expect it to be quick or easy.”
“Then why bother?” Jared asked. “She seems like more trouble than she’s worth to me. I mean, everyone saw how you flinched after that kiss. If you can’t kiss her, you can’t mark or mate her, what use is she?”
I could see the fury boil in Jada’s veins, and I could see the way Amalia’s brow pinched a little in the middle.
But they were right.
It would be a difficult journey to make Zahraa mine, and since I barely knew her, I was still weighing the cost with the reward. One would assume that the sacred mate bond would be enough of a reward, but…
Was it?
“If that is all you think of the mate bond, Jared, then I feel sorry for you,” Luna Jasmine said, staring at him with raised brows.
Jared only shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “I mean, that’s the point of a mate, isn’t it? To bear pups?”
“Shut your mouth,” Jada snarled, and when Jared looked over at her, she flicked her furious eyes towards Amalia. “Think of what you’re saying for ten seconds, would you?”
“Pfft. Whatever,” Jared pushed up from his chair. “I’m done. See you later, pops.”
Dad rolled his eyes when Jared made his dramatic exit. “With that one gone, we can actually have a civil conversation. So, Jacob,” his eyes met mine, and as usual, I found it difficult to hold his stare. “Are you going to keep her?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed. “I barely know her. I’ll need some time to think on it, I guess.”
Rowan was staring at me over his breakfast with such intensity, I wondered if he even realized he was doing it. I sneered at him, and it snapped him out of his daze. “Jacob,” he said, his tone intense, like he might use during a speech. “Can I have a word with you after breakfast?”
I held that stare, unwavering. I might be a useless fifth-born son, but I’d never been forced to submit to any of my brothers.
And trust that they’d tried.
I let my lips curl into a smile that I hoped looked genuine to dad and Luna Jasmine. “Of course, brother.”
- Writer
