Jezebel's Lion (6 page)

Britney patted his back. “Please don’t bite my head
off, but you need to hear this, bro. You
are
out of Jezebel’s league.”

Brandon growled and snapped at his sister. He stood
and glared down at her.

Britney raised her hands. “You need to listen, Bran.
Jezebel is one of the small
number
of humans at
school. Because it is a mostly a shifter school she is up against our genes.
Imagine going to school five days a week and being with girls and women who are
no bigger than a size ten and all have shifter perfect DNA. Now I’m not saying
we are perfect, but imagine what a human who is larger would think and feel. I
myself would never tease someone for being larger than me, but others aren’t as
nice. I have only really noticed Jezebel since Sasha came to the school and
hung around with her. Jezebel keeps to herself mostly. I do know she has two
close friends, but they are both human males.”

Brandon groaned as what his sister said rang true,
and he saw he had a challenge to convince Jezebel she was the one for him and that
he didn’t want another woman. That she was perfect for him. That he loved every
one of her curves. Britney could help him. Brandon knew she would if he asked
her. “Brit, I would appreciate any help.”

Britney nodded and leaned over and hugged him. “I’ll
help you, Brandon.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Can I take her shopping and use
your credit to get her things?”

Hugging her tight he ruffled her hair. “Don’t go
crazy, and only if Jezebel is okay with it.” Britney let go of him, and she had
a wicked gleam in her eyes. “I’ll leave you to talk to Mom and Dad.” She walked
away, and Brandon had a feeling he was going to regret giving Britney the okay.

Feeling calmer and more positive he let his gaze
fall on his parents. “So now you have heard everything.”

“This won’t be easy, son,” his mom muttered. “What
your sister said is true. That’s not even the only thing. You have to tell her
what you are, what we are. You cannot be without her now. She needs to know it
all. Jezebel will be covered in your scent. Can you image a creature finding
her and her not knowing? You will need patience, which is something shifters
don’t have with their mates over some things, like other men, or touching,
affection, acknowledgment, and safety. To a human the safety and other things
will be a lot to handle. Shifters know to never go out alone. We are always in
groups. Shifters show affection to their loved ones freely, and a lot of humans
are shy. A shifter’s mate knows not to let other men touch them or be alone
with them, as our animals can’t handle certain things.” His mother gathered his
hands in her hands. “Brandon, you have seen the obstacles Savron has had, and
Sasha is outgoing and confident. She also had many friends.” His mother let go
of his hands and hugged him for a moment before releasing him. “Son, your
father and I will help you in any way we can, but a lot of it will be you being
patient and controlling yourself and your lion.” His mother stood, smiled, and
left the room leaving him with his father.

“They are both right. Tonight your mother and I will
help you, and you can let off steam fighting late tonight. You may be able to
get away with seeing her for maybe two or so days and fighting hard at night,
but after the third or fourth night you’ll snap not knowing she is safe and is
home where you will be. So you have about three days to tell her what you need
and show her. You also need to convince her parents. She will then have to move
in with you. You can have time off from the clubs because you won’t be able to
run them until things are organized. Don’t refuse help. We are all here to help
you.”

Brandon nodded. He was lucky that his parents were
supportive. He got up. “Thanks, Dad. I really appreciate you all. I feel better
after talking to you. I’m going to go home and change and get ready. I’ll see
you at the restaurant.”

“We’ll see you there, Brandon.”

Brandon stood and walked to the door. He needed to
go home, change, and figure out what he was going to do.

****

Zeck and Travis distracted her so much so Jess
didn’t get changed or ready for dinner. Any time she’d think about what went on
with Brandon and how he acted they would do or say something that got her full
attention. One thing Jess decided was she was going to enjoy Brandon for as
long as he was willing to have her. She had two best friends whom she knew
would be there for her no matter what happened. Travis and Zeck may have
forgotten her birthday, but she knew they felt guilty and would never do it
again.

A knock sounded on her door as they were going
through her music ripping into her girlie stuff and doing bad imitations. “Come
in.”

Her bedroom door opened, and Brandon stepped in.
Travis and Zeck froze, and the banter stopped. Brandon surprised her by coming
to her, gathering her to him, and leaning down to kiss her.

“Hi, gorgeous, your mother said to come up. She said
you probably got distracted and wouldn’t be ready.” Brandon took a step back,
and his gaze traveled up and down her body. His eyes flashed gold, and she saw
the flare of lust spark. “I’m early because I wanted to give you your birthday
present I got you. I’ll go wait downstairs with your friends if you want to get
changed before we go.”

Jess felt her cheeks heat at his appraisal. “You
didn’t have to get me anything.” Jess glanced at Travis and Zeck as they stood
still quietly watching. She looked down at her comfortable clothes and at the
men in her room, which she now she noticed made it feel very small. “I would
really appreciate if you would give me time to change. I’ll meet you down in
the family room.”
 

Brandon nodded, but didn’t move. Instead, he glared
at Travis and Zeck. Jess knew no one would move if she didn’t say something.
“Travis, Zeck, I’ll see you tomorrow at school. Thanks for coming around.”

They didn’t say anything as they left her room. When
Jess was alone in her room she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been
holding and walked to her closet and opened it. Jess looked at her clothes. She
didn’t have many nice going out things, as usually she didn’t go out anywhere
to need them. She didn’t go to parties, or shopping with girls, or even on a
date. Picking out a dress her mother had bought her, Jess promised herself she
would take Sasha up on a shopping trip. Jess would buy some going out things. After
all, her mother was always offering her money and credit cards to go out and
get some new clothes, shoes, and girlie items, and now Jess was going to take
her up on the offer.

Slipping into her only high heels she sat in front
of her vanity and put light make-up on and brushed her hair. She stood and took
a deep breath before she walked out of the room and down to Brandon.

In the family room she found Brandon, but Travis and
Zeck hadn’t left. The room was full of tension. It was so thick that when Jess
walked in, she knew they’d sat there glaring at each other the whole time she’d
gotten ready to go out.

Sighing at the men she walked by to sit between
Travis and Zeck when Brandon grabbed her and sat her on his lap. She let out a
squeal as he wrapped his arms around her.

 
“You look
beautiful.” He kissed the nape of her neck and placed a wrapped box in her lap.
“Happy birthday.”
He turned her head up to give her a
quick kiss.

Jess didn’t dare look at Zeck or Travis. Instead, she
focused on the gift before her, undoing it. Jess’s heart raced as the paper
fell to reveal a blue velvet box. Taking a deep calming breath she opened it
and gasped at the sight before her, two yellow emerald stud earrings and a
heart necklace with two yellow emeralds one in each top loop. “Brandon, I can’t
accept these. It’s too much.” She looked up into his green eyes that flashed
gold the same color as the necklace and earrings. Turning away before he caught
her in them she muttered, “I mean I’ve only known you for two days. This is a
lot.”

Brandon leaned over and caressed her cheek. “I want
you to have them. I want you to know I’m serious. You’re mine, Jezebel.”

A choking noise caught her attention, and she
glanced over at Travis and Zeck. Zeck was glaring daggers at Brandon, but
Travis looked pale and his eyes were wide as he stared at her and Brandon.

Brandon’s fingers tilted her chin to look back at
him. “I want you to wear them all the time and think of me.”

“I can’t wear them all the time. They are too
expensive.” She couldn’t believe she was even considering wearing them.

Brandon gathered her hair to the side and undid
Travis’s necklace. He put his on her and placed Travis’s in the case. Brandon
then took her earrings off and placed them with Travis’s necklace.

“I want you to wear them. I bought them for you to
wear all the time.” He placed the earrings in her hands, and Jess put them in.
Brandon smiled when she had then on. “Perfect. You look stunning.” His mouth
took hers in a possessive kiss, and she melted into it.

She felt herself being grabbed.
“What
the fuck is going on, Jess?”
 
Travis pulled her from Brandon.

Jess looked at her friends. “What the hell did you
do that for, Travis?
 
What’s gotten into
you?”

“You can’t kiss him. You’ve only just met him. You
can’t want him to be your boyfriend. He’s not right for you.” There was a
pleading to Travis’s voice, and his eyes begged her.

She didn’t know what to say. Was Brandon her
boyfriend? Was he just her lover? Was he a friend? Jess had no idea what she
was to Brandon. He’d told her she was his, a mate, but that didn’t really tell
her what she was to him or he to her. Was Travis right?
 
Chewing on her bottom lip she wished her
parents would come in and interrupt. She had no idea what she should say.

“You may be
right,
Travis,
but Brandon and I are going on a date. First we are going to dinner with his
and my parents, so we can all get to know each other.”

“When I told you to look after her I only meant last
night,” Travis whispered and stared at Brandon. “She doesn’t need you anymore.
She has me … and she has Zeck.”

Jess shot her gaze to Brandon. “Travis asked you to
look after me?”

Brandon shrugged, and he glared at her friends. “I
would have looked after her whether you were there or not. Jezebel is my mate.
She’s important. I will always make sure she is safe, looked after, and happy.
She may not need me, but I need her.”

They stared at each other in silence until her
parents came in. Her mother raised her eyebrow at Jess as she saw the
situation. Sighing, Jess knew this wasn’t going to get sorted out with Travis
and Zeck tonight.
“Hi, Mom.
Travis and Zeck were just
leaving.”

They turned their gaze on her. Zeck nodded and
walked away. Travis followed and paused at the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow,
Jess.”

“See you tomorrow.” As soon as they left, the
tension left the room, too, and Brandon stood and threaded his fingers through
hers.

“Come on, Jezebel. We’ll meet your parents at the
restaurant.” Jess followed Brandon out to his car. She hoped things got easier.

Chapter
Four

Dinner with their parents had gone surprisingly
well. Even her dad had been on his best behavior, not that she expected any
less from him. The Prides were a well-known family. They had money, influence,
and Jess’s dad said they had power. Jess had overheard her father say a couple
of times when her brothers had had Carl and Tyler over that he never understood
why the Prides lived so modestly when they had their hand in everything and had
so much wealth. Jess’s father was a lawyer and made a good living. He had made
partner a couple of years ago, and her mother had been a nurse for several
years before Jess was born.
 

Jess was the baby of the family, and with two older
brothers she was Daddy’s little girl. Jess knew that her father was struggling
with the situation.

When the dinner had come to an end the Prides had
taken over and told Brandon and her to have fun at the movies and that they
looked forward to seeing her on Thursday night at family games night.

Jess now stood in the cinema line with Brandon
looking at the options of what they could see. Brandon held her hand, and every
now and then his thumb rubbed over her skin.

“What do you want to watch? I’m happy to see
whatever you want.”

Jess looked up to see two action movies, one girlie
romance,
a
drama, and lastly her favorite, two horror
movies. Jess went to horror movies with Zeck and Travis. It was a thing they
did. “I’m easy, as long as it’s not the girlie movie. I’m not into those.”

Brandon chuckled. “I’m not into those either. How
about we see one of the action ones? I haven’t seen either of them.”

“Sure, sounds good. The one with the adventure in
I’ve heard is a great movie. I’ve read the book that goes with it. It’s the
first in a trilogy though. That won’t bother you, will it?” Jess got her money
out of her purse ready to pay.

They were next up to get tickets. “No, it will be
perfect. That’s the one we’ll see.”
 
He
looked down at her and frowned. “What are doing? No way am I letting you pay.
This is a date. I’m paying.” He shoved her hand away from the ticket lady as
they came up to the booth and told the ticket woman the movie they’d chosen.