Chapter 41

Chapter 41

JASPER

H e could ignore the first knock on his door. He could even ignore the second round of knocking that started a few minutes later.

But when the knocking continued, Jasper realized he couldn’t ignore it forever.

With an irritated grunt, he rolled out of bed, pulling on whatever clothes he’d thrown on his floor the night before.

“I swear to the Goddess, Viv, if you lost your key again, I am going to murder?—”

He wrenched the door open and stopped, frozen.

Fey leaned against his doorway.

Mine.

“Hey,” she said, smirking.

“Hey, gorgeous,” he murmured, too stunned to even smile. He stepped back, welcoming her inside, and?—

Wait. This was a terrible idea. His place was a mess. Wincing, he shut the door behind her and started grabbing empty beer bottles from the kitchen table. What was he thinking, letting her come in here? He only had two chairs, and one was covered in a pile of Vivian’s dirty clothes .

Fey just smiled, watching him carry an armful of rubbish to the kitchen.

“Sorry, it’s a mess,” he told her. “I’d give you an excuse, but… this is pretty much what it’s always like.”

“It’s fine,” Fey said with a laugh. She looked around. “I like your place… it’s cozy.”

Jasper snorted. Cozy, right. It was a dump. But it was close to his mom’s place, and an easy walking distance from The Last Drop, so he didn’t mind it too much.

Usually.

“Can I get you a drink?” he asked, opening the icebox to check what he had to offer her. “I have… beer.”

“It’s ten in the morning, Jasper.”

He grabbed two beers, anyway, tossing her one and grinning.

“So? You have to start drinking at some point, right? Why not start now?”

“Hard to argue with that logic,” Fey said, lifting the bottle to her lips to take a drink. As she did, the light caught her wrist, and Jasper’s eyes leapt to the bruises there. A growl rose in his chest.

“Who did that?” he asked, stepping toward her. He reached out, touching the purple skin gently, a feral anger rising inside him. “Who hurt you?”

“It’s nothing,” Fey said, dismissively and trying to tug her hand away. Jasper held firm.

“It’s not nothing,” he snapped. His Wolf pressed against the skin, wanting out. Wanting blood. Someone touched his mate. Someone had hurt his mate.

Someone needed to pay.

Fey gave him a strange look.

“It was a man,” she told him. “When I was walking home. He called me queen and… grabbed me.” Fey held his stare. “I broke his wrist for it. And I would have done worse if he hadn’t run.”

The Wolf inside him huffed in satisfaction, retreating. Jasper dropped her wrist.

“Good,” he said. “I’m glad you hurt him.”

Fey’s lips curved up in a small grin .

Feeling suddenly awkward, he moved back, giving her space. “So… what brings you here, gorgeous?”

“Alastair told me to come,” she said with a shrug. “He said you helped him with something. And that we needed to talk.”

Fucking Alastair. Of course, he didn’t tell her anything.

“But he didn’t tell you what I helped him with, I take it?” Jasper asked. Or… anything else?

Mine .

He wasn’t ready for this, not yet. Wasn’t ready to tell her what… what he thought they might be. Fey liked her independence, liked belonging to herself. And… he didn’t want her to think he was trying to take that from her.

Fey shrugged, toying with the label on her beer bottle.

“So, I’m guessing he also didn’t mention firing me?” Jasper asked with a grin.

Fey’s eyebrows rose.

“No. He did not,” she said. “But it wouldn’t be the first time, would it?”

That was true. Rolling his eyes, Jasper set the beer bottle down on the table and reached up to his shirt collar.

“This is what I helped him with,” he explained, moving the collar aside to show her.

There wasn’t much of a wound, not anymore. Shifters are quick healers, and with whatever was in Alastair’s saliva that stopped the bleeding, it was almost gone now. Just two tiny puncture marks were all that was left. A reminder of the moment they’d shared.

Fey’s eyebrows rose so high on her forehead they almost met her hairline.

“He fed from you?” she asked, sounding shocked. And maybe even a little jealous.

Huh.

“Sure did,” Jasper said, letting go of his shirt collar. He picked up his beer again and took a deep drink.

“How…” She swallowed, hard. “What was it like?”

She was jealous. Goddess, what a fucking mess.

Fingers gently touching the bite mark on his neck, Jasper wet his lips. “It was… intense. Like everything he does. It was raw, and… and intense.”

Fey bit her lower lip.

“Intense how?” she asked. He didn’t miss the breathy tone in her voice. The hunger in her eyes.

Setting his beer bottle down on the table next to her, Jasper moved a little closer.

“Intense as in… hot enough I almost came in my pants, like a teenager.” Fey’s pupils widened, and he continued. “Intense as in, I’d let him do it every night to me if he wanted. If he asked. Intense enough that I want to go over there, drop to my knees and beg him to do it again.”

“Oh,” Fey said. Her lips were a deep ruby red, begging to be kissed.

He moved a little closer.

“Almost as intense as burying my cock inside you,” he told her, nudging her thighs apart so he could get even closer. He needed to feel her pressed against him. He wasn’t sure he could stand to have any distance between them, not right now. “As feeling you come on me.”

“Jasper…” Fey started, breathlessly.

“I never lied to you, Fey. I’m not trying to get between the two of you,” Jasper said, the words coming out rushed. “I told Alastair that. That’s not what I want. But… but I don’t mind sharing you with him, and?—”

“And him with me?” Fey asked.

He swallowed hard.

“If… if he wants that,” Jasper said. He moved a little closer. “But what do you want, gorgeous? Because whatever it is, whatever you’re feeling, I can handle it. I can back off, I can give you some space to think, I can?—”

“Kiss me,” Fey said, eyes locked on his lips.

The Wolf inside him threw back its head and howled in victory.

MINE.

Jasper didn’t need to be told twice. Taking her face gently in his hands, he lowered his mouth to hers.

Kissing Fey was like kissing lightning. The moment their lips touched, he felt a jolt of electricity course through his entire body. He loved it. He loved the way she let him take control, let him set the pace. When he slipped his tongue into her mouth, she groaned so deliciously he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him, letting her relax against his chest. His tongue moved against hers, dancing in her mouth. He could have kissed her forever. But when her hands tugged at his shirt, urging him to remove it, wanting to touch his bare skin, he didn’t hesitate to release her. He pulled his shirt off, tossing it on a pile of clothes.

“I need you,” he told her, pulling her close again and kissing his way down her neck and toward her chest. Her shirt came off next, and he eased the straps of her bra down over her shoulder to free her breasts. His fingers went to her pants, deftly unfastening them and starting to pull them open. “Fuck, Fey, I need to taste you. I need you on my tongue, I —”

The sound of the front door opening and closing was almost lost in the commotion.

“Uh… Hi, guys,” Vivian said in a strangled voice from the doorway, as Jasper swore, jerking backwards and struggling to catch his breath. Fey scrambled to cover herself, pulling her bra back into place and grabbing her shirt.

“I… uh… didn’t expect to see you here,” Vivian continued. Her eyes were locked on the ceiling, as though actively trying to avoid looking at either of them. Her hands fiddled with the straps of her shoulder bag nervously. “Both of you. Like… this.”

“Viv, we were… were just talking,” Jasper tried to explain.

Vivian’s lips twitched. “Talking, huh?” she asked, barely contained laughter in her voice. “I don’t know, Uncle Jas, that didn’t look like talking to me…”

Fey pulled her shirt back over her head, hopping down from the table.

“Hi, Vivian,” she said breathlessly. Her cheeks were flushed and pink. “Sorry for that.”

Viv smirked and tucked her hair behind her ear nervously.

“It’s fine. I mean… you’re adults, right?” she laughed. “And Uncle Jas has been in love with you for, like, years , so?—”

“That’s enough, Viv,” Jasper said .

Fey moved toward the door, running her fingers through her long red hair to smooth it. “I should go,” she said, and even though it broke Jasper’s heart to hear it, she was right.

She smiled at Viv on her way out.

“Nice seeing you again, Vivian,” she told her. Vivian’s eyes lit up as she grinned. “And Jasper?”

The smile Fey gave him over her shoulder before she left was full of promise.

“We’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Yeah,” he replied, voice husky. “Real soon.”

Mine .

When the door closed behind Fey, Vivian squealed.

“Uncle Jas!” she laughed, slapping him on the arm. “You dog!”

“Wolf,” he corrected.

“I can’t believe you. On the table? We eat at that table!” she scolded. But she was grinning, ear to ear, as she said it. Her hands came up to fiddle with the strap of her bag again. “So, are the two of you a thing now?”

He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly exhausted. Were they? “No. Maybe. I don’t know yet. We have to talk about some things. You know it’s… it’s complicated.”

She nodded, eyes bright.

Jasper chewed his lip. “But… would that upset you? If we were? If Fey… came around here, more often?”

Vivian grinned. “Upset me? To have the most badass Witch in the realm as my aunt?” She scoffed. “Uncle Jas, you have no idea how great that would be for me.”

“Yeah…” Jasper wet his lips, imagining it. “It would be great… wouldn’t it?”