He leaned back in his chair, thinking maybe he should ask Jimmy if there was another wolf pack around here—although he hadn’t run into any other wolf shifters while they lived here. Of course, they didn’t go out much, trying to keep as low a profile as possible.
Glancing down at the screen, he was surprised nothing came up about Steel Valentin—not a thing. No address, no phone number, no mention of him anywhere on the web.How could that be? Unless that wasn’t his real name…yet Jackson had smelled no deception from Steel. Great, he thought, another mystery to solve. No,notsolve, as he remembered he’d decided not to claim his mate. He closed the search window, opened his accounting program and started working on that.
~/~/~/~/~
Logan was outside splitting logs when Jimmy and Mystia drove up. Setting down his axe, he ambled over to greetthem before telling Jackson they’d arrived. Reaching out, Logan hugged Mystia, whispering in her ear, “I need to see you alone. It’s about Jackson.” She nodded her head slightly, indicating she understood.
Mystia turned to Jimmy, asking him to round up the rest of the boys so she could speak to all of them together. “Take your time,” she told him, “I’m going to the kitchen to check on what food there is. Logan, you can come with me.” Mystia took Logan by the hand and ushered him to the back of the house. As she pulled open the mudroom door, she turned to him and said, “Show me the sweatpants.”
Logan’s jaw dropped.How did she know about the sweatpants?Mystia pushed Logan’s jaw closed with her finger and said, “Now be quick about it, we don’t have much time and I need to see Jackson alone before I speak to all of you.”
Logan nodded, quickly retrieving the sweatpants Cody had bagged in plastic. Tearing the bag open, he handed them to Mystia whose hands roamed over them while chanting in a language he didn’t understand. After several minutes, she raised the sweatpants to her nose, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. Then she murmured, “Yes, yes, finally.” Slowly lowering the sweatpants, her eyes opened, and a broad smile broke out on her face reaching from ear to ear.
“What’s so special about these pants?” asked Logan. “Jackson told me they belonged to a wolf but didn’t say who or what kind of wolf it was. He’s hiding something but we can’t figure it out,” he added. “That’s why I wanted to see if you could tell if this wolf is a threat to us—Jackson doesn’t think he is. Do you know if it belongs to another wolf pack around here that could hurt us?” Logan asked, voicing his fears.
Mystia laid a hand on Logan’s arm, immediately calming him and said, “No, this wolf means no harm to any of you but he has a role to play in saving all of you. That, however, is between Jackson and this wolf—who I expect we will be seeing. Now hush,mon petit loulou, everything will be fine and made clear soon, I promise you.” Mystia, removed her hand from Logan’s arm and left to talk to Jackson.
~/~/~/~/~
Jackson was shutting down his computer and didn’t hear the door open. He was startled to hear Mystia’s voice inside his study. Looking up, he saw a willowy, graceful woman dressed in a flowing black gown trailing on the ground. Long, white, silky hair caressed a beautiful face lined with a few wrinkles. He marveled at the aura surrounding her and as he zeroed in on her silver eyes, Jackson saw her love for him reflected back.
“Ah, just who I wanted to talk to,” Jackson said, getting up to hug and kiss Mystia. “How was your trip? Learned any new spells or incantations you are planning to torment Jimmy with?”
Mystia smiled teasingly. “Be careful, I might use them on you,” she said, holding Jackson close and giving him a sweet kiss on his cheek. “But I can save it for another day. Now, what did you want to talk to me about?”
Jackson guided Mystia over to a loveseat and then sank into a chair next to it. Now that she was here, he was tongue-tied as to how to start the conversation. He needed to break the mating pull because as the day wore on, he found himself in pain, not to mention the constant struggle against his wolf’s desire to shift. Pausing while trying to figure out the best way to explain his predicament, Mystia solved the problem by asking, “Is it about your mate?”
Crikey, well, that was simple. “Yes, it is,” said Jackson, relieved to have it out in the open. “The man who picked me up yesterday is my mate—my fated mate—but I can’t claim him so I was hoping you’d have a spell that could remove or weaken the mating pull.”
Mystia nodded but said nothing, so Jackson continued, “Ever since I scented him, my wolf has been going crazy and I’m fighting him constantly because he wants me to shift and go track him down. Only I can’t do that,” he confided to her.
“Why not?” she asked quietly.
Jackson looked at her with disbelief in his eyes. “You know why. I have my brothers to protect against Silver Point and I can’t leave them.”
“Why do you think you have to leave them?” Mystia asked.
“Because he’s an Alpha, stronger than I am, my brothers would never accept a different Alpha for our pack,” said Jackson, “especially after everything we’ve been through.” He paused for a moment before he said, “But that’s not the only reason. As his mate, I’d have to protect him from the danger he’d face from bonding with our pack. And while my wolf would be happy, it would kill my other half to know if anything happened to me, I’d have deserted my brothers in their time of need.”
Jackson was getting agitated. “It’s an impossible choice—I see no other way than to reject my mate,” he said, looking at the floor to hide the tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
Mystia could see Jackson’s face fill with longing and sadness over what he believed was the only right choice. “But what if you could have both your mate and your brothers protected so you wouldn’t have to choose?Would you want your mate then? Or are you using the possible danger as an excuse to reject a mate you don’t want?”
Jackson’s head shot up. “What? No! I want my mate with my whole soul! He was chosen for me and I know he’ll love me as I am; even though my father only saw weakness in me.”
Mystia smiled gently at him. “Mon petit loulou, your father had his own problems, so please don’t continue to carry them as your burden. Those problems died with him. He did love you even if he didn’t understand who you were. Now, we must move on as your mate will be here shortly, so let’s talk.”
“You mean Steel will be here? I never told him where I lived. I told you I can’t claim him! Oh, my gods, what am I going to tell my brothers?” Jackson asked, realizing his cock was once again hard.
Sensing Jackson’s discomfort, Mystia said, “The longer you go without claiming your mate, the more pain you will experience, and no, I have no way of removing the mating pull. As you will learn, this mating was decided by the Fates for a very special purpose and they have made it very difficult for you or Steel to resist.”
Mystia paused, allowing Jackson to think about what she’d told him before continuing, “I shall be removing your protection spell,” she said, holding up her hand to forestall Jackson’s objection, “because Steel must smell your scent as part of the claiming ceremony.”
“Now wait just a minute,” growled Jackson. “I’m not having sex with my mate in front of my brothers, or for that matter, in front of anyone else. No way, it’s not going to happen! Wait! Are you telling me I have no choice whether or not I want to claim Steel? Because if I don’tclaim him, the Fates will be blackmailing me with pain until I cave?”
“Please,mon petit loulou, let me finish,” Mystia said softly. “The mating ceremony is a private one between you and Steel. No one will be witnessing it. But your mate has to recognize your scent during the claiming and for that reason I must remove the protection spell. I promise you, though, that if you want me to cast it upon you again after you are mated, I will.”
Mystia took Jackson’s hand, assuring him, “You always have a choice in whether you claim someone, so remember that. Steel’s parents will be with him and his mother, who is Oracle, will want to speak privately with you and your mate before you claim each other.”
