Jake growled. A split second later, the full strength of his anger hit the room, leaving her breathless.
Jake took a step in his direction. “I’m tired of your shit, angel.”
Clyde mirrored him, then shot back, “I’m tired of you
interrupting
, demon.”
“
My friend
, Ashley, doesn’t mind helping
me
.”
“She’s
my
fated.”
Valerie flinched. Then acting on impulse,
she
reached for Jake’s hand. The moment her hand touched his, a soothing sensation came over her, like he’d
spelled
her. Impossible. She didn’t have time to put more thought into it since the next second, he turned and took a step toward her so he stood a mere foot away, close, looking down at her. His expression soft, but his brows drawn. It didn’t go unnoticed the anger that heightened with each of their words was gone.
She could now breathe, and with that, think. But since he stood so close she didn’t think, or not well anyway. She found herself saying, “I can help you, Jake…I mean, Jacob. I don’t mind.”
He stared at her for a moment before a big, brilliant smile spread across his beautiful face. The breath hitched in her throat. Her heart leapt.
“Thanks, Val.”
Clyde wrapped an arm around Ashley and pulled her away. “So that’s settled.”
Jake turned. “Wait.”
Clyde stopped and scowled. Without missing a beat, Ashley turned to her mate. She didn’t say a word, but Val figured they likely shared silent words during that brief silence. Fated mates had the ability to communicate telepathically. Clyde’s look softened, not by much, but some. Ashley then faced Jake.
“Are you hunting tonight?” Jake asked.
“We planned to…”
Only then did Clyde fully relax and smile. “It’s okay, angel, you can stay with Annie.”
Ashley’s eyes narrowed. She faced her mate. “I don’t appreciate you picking fights with Jake, and you’re just saying that because you don’t want me hunting.”
“Don’t worry about it, Ash.” Jake sighed heavily then rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll stay in. I need to find a better solution anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
They all turned to the door and spotted Annie, wearing her pink dress, eyes shining with unshed tears.
The tears fell, marring her cheeks. “Are you going to g-give me a-away?”
God. No
. Valerie’s heart clenched. Jake released her hand, then in a flash picked up Annie and walked out of sight. She followed, stopping at the threshold, and watched from a distance.
Jake stood at the counter, one hand on Annie’s cheeks wiping her tears, the other holding onto her hand. In front of him, Annie sat on the countertop, her legs dangling.
“No, pupa, that’s not what I meant.” He released her hand. His arm went around her back. “That’s not what I meant at all.” He cupped her cheek, angled her head up to meet his gaze. “I would
never
give you away.”
“But I’m a lot of work—”
The muscles on his shoulders tensed. “Who said that?”
“I-I heard it on TV…kids are a lot of work.”
Without hesitation, he shot back, “That’s for parents who don’t love their kids.”
Annie lost it.
Hearing her gut-wrenching sobs…
Watching her small body tremble with the strength of her tears…
Seeing Jake, motionless, his hopelessness numbing her…
Devastating.
“B-but…” Annie said between sobs, “I’m n-not…yours.”
“You are
mine
now, my whole life. You are
everything
to me.”
She sniffed. “But y-you said…”
He shook his head. “Annie, you are
not
a lot of work. You
don’t
cause me any trouble. That’s not what I meant, pupa. I swear it.”
Taking a deep breath, he continued. “I meant we need to find you a nanny, someone who can watch you while I’m at work because Ash has to work, too. Do you understand?”
Annie looked away. “B-but…”
Jake cupped her cheeks and held her small face to his. “I love you, pupa. You mean the world to me. I promise.” He then rubbed her tear-streaked face. “You’ll live with me forever.”
Her sobs quieted. Her brows drew together. “Forever? Not when I get married, right?”
“That’s a very, very long time from now.” Jake pulled Annie against him, holding her against his chest. He then kissed the top of her head.
Jake. How could the insight her gift gave her been so off-base? He wasn’t trouble. He was a wonderful father regardless of the fact Annie wasn’t his.
As if hearing her thoughts, he turned. The pain radiating from this body language reflected in his eyes.
She flushed, embarrassed, knowing she should’ve left. The last thing he or Annie needed: an audience. In her defense, she’d just wanted to make sure Annie was okay.
“I’m sorry.” She turned, finding the laundry room empty. Ashley and Clyde had left at some point, and she hadn’t noticed. She felt the flush on her cheeks trail down her neck. Turning again, she headed for the elevator.
He took several steps in her direction. “Don’t, don’t go.”
She stopped.
“You’re embarrassed? Why?”
She couldn’t be more embarrassed. Pressing her cool fingers against her flushed cheeks, she decided demons had an unfair advantage. It wasn’t enough to clearly see how embarrassed she was. As an empath, he felt just how embarrassed. She faced him. “I should’ve left.”
“I’m glad you stayed.”
“I intruded on a private moment. You and Annie are family. I’m not—”
“We’re all family here.”
Her gaze shot to Annie, realizing the girl had fallen asleep. Unashamed and unembarrassed, Jake softly pressed his lips to her forehead.
They were family. She wasn’t. “Not me. I’m just a guest your king and queen took pity on.”
“Why?”
She shook her head, unable to admit it aloud. The pain of her loss too deep.
“I’m…Don’t you want to set her down?”
He shook his head. “She sleeps better when I hold her. She had a rough night, woke up again after you left, then this morning, and now…”
“I’m sorry.”
“She’s having a hard time adjusting. I…” He sighed heavily. “I just wish there was something I could do. If there was a way I could make it better…I’m new at this and not very good.”
“You are good.”
His brows drew together.
“You’re great with her.”
He smiled a sad smile. “Nice of you to say, but I’m not a great cook, I can’t do laundry and—”
“You comfort her, protect her, and love her. That’s really all that matters. You can hire someone to cook, clean, and do laundry for you.”
He swallowed. “I say the wrong things—”
“You just said all the right things.”
He shook his head. “But if I had made it clear I needed to find a nanny instead of…” His voice trailed off, looking away from her. When he caught her gaze again, his eyes were bleak and defeated.
That inexplicable urge took hold of her again—the need to comfort him, unnerving, crippling. Her heart tightening in her chest, she held onto her will, making herself stay put.
“I’m a warrior, Val. I know nothing but war.”
Hearing him say that, she lost the battle with her will, took a step in his direction, and placed her hand on his arm. The touch meant to comfort him soothed her. “It wasn’t your fault. She misunderstood because…because she’s terrified of losing you.”
He held her gaze for a long moment. Annie flinched in her sleep. He looked at her. Val’s hand fell away from his. The spell broken.
Go
.
Go, now.
She didn’t want to, but knew she should.
“I should go.” Before he could reply, she turned to walk away.
“I promised you lunch—”
Without looking back, she said quickly, “Another time,” then rushed out. She didn’t bother to wait for the elevator, instead taking the door next to the laundry room leading to the stairway.
Just like that, she left him standing there, cradling Annie against his chest. She had no other choice. The defeat in his eyes tore at her, and she couldn’t stand it. The longer she stayed, the more confounded she became. Not just with him, the warrior who was so much more than a warrior, but with herself or, more precisely, with how he made her feel.
She was drawn to him, inexplicably, a male she
knew
she should stay away from. No wonder. So beautiful: the sheer size and strength of his body, his dark good looks, and those intense, expressive, dark eyes.
But it wasn’t just physical. She
wanted
to comfort him, heal his aches. And the urge to do just that so strong she didn’t think she possessed the willpower to keep herself from him.
With every passing hour, with everything she learned about him, he was slowly but surely breaking her will. She couldn’t let him wear her down. Seeing him with Annie made her think her gift was wrong, but it had never been wrong, and it warned her he was trouble.
Had her sisters lived, they’d push her to give in. He was a man who captivated her, the one she professed to want. But she couldn’t, she wasn’t his. He couldn’t give her what she wanted, true love, her mate. He’d break her heart, and she’d just suffered the loss of her coven. She didn’t need another.
What she’d give for a man to have, to hold? Her fated. The thing she’d prayed for before she lost her sisters. Now, alone in the world, not a soul cared if she lived or died. She prayed for solace.
Her eyes welled with tears. She leaned her head against her hands and let them trail down her face. Relieving little, the loss remained. Tears wouldn’t wipe the pain away. Not even her magic could.
She quickly wiped away her tears, pushed through the door into her floor, and found Nathan standing in the kitchen.
Praying she’d wiped enough of her face, she greeted him. “Hi.”
He smiled. “Hey, Val.”
“What’re you doing here?”
“Just wanted to make sure you were all right after this morning.”
God, so nice and sweet. Why wasn’t she even mildly attracted to him? She smiled, half-heartedly. “I’m fine…and it’s really nice of you to stop by and…care.”
His eyes softened.
“I need your help or, well, I need a favor…sort of.”
“And what is this sort of favor?”
“I need to make a phone call.”
“Isn’t there a phone in your room?”
“Yeah, but it’s just that…I need to meet someone after the phone call.”
His smile faded, his brows drawing together. “Who is this someone?”
“Before…there was someone in my life…”
His whole body tensed. Alarming since it didn’t seem like a proper reaction. Even so, she dreaded the phone call she had to make, dreaded more what she had to do after, so she ignored it.
“A male? A boyfriend?”
She nodded.
“You shouldn’t see him,” he said, adamantly.
That reaction combined with the other, she couldn’t ignore. “Why?”
He flushed. “My apologies, I suppose it’s not my concern.”
“No, don’t apologize.” She shook her head, having just thought, “I mean, you’re worried he was involved in the explosions, right?”
He glanced around. Then he nodded.
She needed to get it over with, and most importantly, wanted to get it over with, so she explained. “We dated for about six months, at the insistence of my coven. I’ve never been in a
serious
relationship.” Why did she say that? She blushed and immediately looked away from him. “Anyway…Glen, he’s a warlock, and I assume he probably thinks I died with the rest of my coven. I haven’t even thought about him until last night when I saw Jocelyn and Landon and—”
His eyes widened. “Jesus! Is he your mate? He can’t—”
“It’s
highly
unlikely. He never treated me like I was. But he deserves to know I’m not dead.”
His shoulders slumped. “So you’re going to end it?”
She nodded. “I meant to before, but then everything happened and…”
He exhaled. “Good.”
Valerie didn’t reply. Instead, she studied him. He acted more bizarre by the minute, tense one minute and nervous the next. She didn’t know what to think of it.
“So why don’t you just end it over the phone?”
She knew Glen and even though he wasn’t her mate, he cared about her and had just gone more than a week thinking she was dead. No doubt he wanted to see her. Besides, it wasn’t right to break up with someone over the phone. Instead of saying all that, she blurted, “Nathan, what are you not telling me?”
He paled. “Please—”
She held her hand up to stop him. “I won’t push it. I trust that if I needed to know, you’d tell me, but I won’t break things off with Glen like that. Before he was my boyfriend, we were friends and…it’s the least I can do.”
He shrugged. “Fine, but a word of advice, if I were you, I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
An odd request, but she nodded in agreement.
“When?”
“I…have to call him first.”
“The longer you wait, the harder it will be.”
“I’ve never broken up with someone before. I’m dreading it.”
“He’s not the angry sort, is he?”
“You mean like Jake?” God, why had she said that? She looked at Nathan. His face blank. “No, he isn’t…” She spoke too soon, and it made her think. She and Glen were friends before, but even as friends, they never spent too much time together and certainly not in intense or stressful situations. He got mad every now and then, right? Everyone did, but she didn’t know what made him mad or what could. In reality, she didn’t know if Glen was the angry type. “Or…I should say I’ve never seen him mad.”
“He’s changed a lot.”
Her eyes widened. For a moment, she thought he’d been talking about Glen, but that wasn’t possible. “Jake?”
He nodded. “You wouldn’t be able to tell, but he has.”
“I doubt—”
“He has, Valerie. Didn’t you notice everyone’s reaction today?”
She nodded. Hard to miss.
“The way he treats Annie…with such tenderness. I didn’t think he had it in him. I don’t think anyone did.”
“Are you saying he was worse than he is now?”
“He hid his anger, didn’t he? I’ve never seen him do that before. I suppose because Annie was there…but also he laughed.”
Her heart tightened. “He never laughed?”