A HOWL AT NIGHT
“Max, you okay?” Jasper asks.
“Huh?”
I pull my eyes from the dash and look around. We’re in his car, idling by the curb out front of my house. I hadn’t noticed we’d arrived. To be fair though, I’ve been pretty out of it since we left the packhouse.
“We’re here already?” I ask.
Jasper narrows his eyes, leans a little over the central console. “Is everything okay?”
Let me think on that a minute…Jasper just announced in front of the who’s who of the Elite Pack that we’re mates. Even kissed me as the ball dropped welcoming in the new year to make his point. Sure, earlier in the evening, his former bestie Clayton tried to kill me—my back still scorches from the claw marks—and I tried walking away from Jasper for good. I’d just about given up on us being a couple, but with one gesture, albeit an impromptu one, everything has changed.
“I’m good,” I say, the beginning of a smile creeping into my expression. “Great actually.”
“Good.”
He leans farther toward me, his eyes closing gently, his mouth open ever so slightly, and I lean in too to meet his kiss. One of Jasper’s hands finds the back of my head and before I know it we’re making out in his car.Could this be more like a teen rom-com?! Is this for real?
Jasper’s free hand finds the side of my face and as it does a pain erupts in the front corner of my brain. Like an instant headache, only sharper, a targeted migraine attack. I wince and pull back.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Jasper’s eyes glisten with care.
I rub at my forehead as the sharp pain subsides to a dull throb.
“Headache,” I say. “Probably just a little much for one night.”
“You can say that again.”
I glance at the house, to the dull light in the front window. “I should probably get going, my parents will be waiting up.”
He places his hands on the steering wheel, like he’s about to be pulled from the vehicle and needs something to hold on to.
“Y-you want to come in?”
He chews the inside of his cheek as his eyes roam the empty street. “Your parents are in there?”
“Yeah. They sort of live there.”
Jasper’s lips move like he’s trying to form words but can’t quite manage it. Is he…scared?
“It’s okay,” I say. “You don’t have to.”
“It’s just, I think you’re right about it being a lot for one night.”
“Of course.”
“Maybe another time?”
“For sure.”
Jasper breathes a subtle sigh of relief but I catch it, just like I can spot the slight pinkish hue coloring his cheeks—signs of intimidation that might be imperceptible to the average person but not to me, not to his mate. I can’t believe stoic, princely, too-cool-for-wolf-school Jasper is nervous about meeting my unassuming folks. Now that’s a surprise!
A totally endearing one.
To be fair I can imagine the deep-dive interrogation my parents have in store my mate, no matter who they are. And I wouldn’t want to face that level of scrutiny. Maybe he’s right to be frightened.
“When—when will I see you again?” I say, forcing myself to ask the tough questions.
