“Ahem.”
We shoot apart at the sound of someone clearing their throat, and I turn, breathless, to find Mom standing in my doorway, an unimpressed expression playing on her face.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Awkward doesn’t begin to cut it.
Jasper and I are sitting on the sofa in the living room like a couple of dogs who have been told to sit and stay. Dad is sitting in the armchair across from us and Mom is standing, one hand on her hip, the other on the back of Dad’s chair—both of them staring us down like a firing squad.
Seriously, I have been kidnapped, held at gunpoint, almost thrown off a roof by a psycho werewolf, and I would rather be reliving those moments than sitting on this couch right now.
Jasper has his palms flat on his knees, his back straight, his hair still a little ruffled from our aborted romantic moment upstairs. He’s supposed to be the next leader of our pack, an alpha in training, our superior in every way, but I’ve never seen him look more like a bashful kid, scared after having been caught doing something he knows he shouldn’t have. If I weren’t about to wet myself as well I’d find it ridiculously adorable.
“Jasper,” Mom says, her mouth a tight line. “It’s nice to have finally met you—although I would maybe have preferred if you weren’t horizontal at the time. But it’s a pleasure. Max has told us, well, not much about you.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” Jasper says, struggling with eye contact.
“So…” Dad says, fiddling with the armrest. “You must have had quite the upbringing.”
“Yes, uh, sir.” Jasper’s voice is low and quiet, like he’s struggling to get the words out. “It has been quite different, I think.”
“Having the alpha for a father must be, well…I supposeinspiringis the right word.”
Jasper shifts uncomfortably.
“My father is a great man—a great, er, leader.”
Mom tilts her head to the side, questioningly. “And how does he feel about you being mated to our son?”
“Mom!” I jump in.
“He is in favor of our pairing,” Jasper says.
That’s one way to put it.
“The alpha is fine with us being together—he encouraged it.”
“Well, how would we know that, Max?” Mom asks, just a little exasperated.
Before I can clap back, Jasper begins speaking. “My father is quite strict. He’s not always been the easiest person to have as a father, he wasn’t around so much and when he was he…” Jasper trails off and my parents glance at each other, sharing a quick look of concern. “My father is complicated, but for all his…complexities…he is wise, and he only wants the best for the pack, for me.”
“It must have been difficult for you all after—”
I shoot Mom a deathly stare and she thankfully stops before she really puts her foot in it.
“After my mother died?” Jasper finishes the thought for her. “Yes, it was the worst thing that could have possibly happened.”
At this my parents’ expressions soften. Mom leans a little more against the armchair and Dad crosses one leg over the other.
“I’m sorry,” Mom says. “It was a great loss.”
“Yes,” Dad jumps in. “It was. We all felt it, though of course, not as keenly as you and your family.”
“Thank you,” Jasper says, lowering his head.
Desperate to move the subject away from Jasper’s mom and dad, I rack my brain for anything to say. “Are we done here then or…”
“Hold on,” Mom says, regaining her posture. “Before you go I think it’s important we address a few of our concerns.”
