~

 

Silence hung heavily in the air around them; as three witches held their collective breath for his response, and the other two males waited in amusement for the man – who looked like his world had just fallen down around his ears – to say something.

Jacob managed to grumble, growl, and try his best to formulate a response…

“No, I’m not!” Jacob finally rushed out on a hard breath and with a shake of his head that was reminiscent of his bear…

Lily dropped her hand and snatched her head back on her neck in embarrassed surprise…

“You’re not?” She looked a little shell-shocked by that. “Then why would you care who did…?”

“You sure you’re not – sparky?” Dexter put in…

“Fifty – fifty – call a friend?” Connor added as their mates sniggered behind their hands.

“Well, no I’m …” He looked from the group to his mate… “You’re my mate…” He offered on a scowl and with a depth to his tone that sounded like Barry White on steroids – lots of steroids.

“There’s a difference?” Isobel chuckled.

Lily opened her mouth to speak, but she bit that thought off on a huff as she twisted her head and regarded him with a curious look.

“I’m the male…” Jacob frowned. “I’m supposed to do the claiming…” he said, puffing out his chest and making it look so much wider.

“I wasn’t claiming,” Lily shot back without even having to think about her response.

“Well … good,” Jacob looked a little more than confused. He looked like he wanted to shift and run for his life…

“Not good … it still means that you’re my mate…” Lily bit back with a look in her eyes that said he might just have sprouted another head, maybe some clown feet and a bright red nose.

“You’re my mate…” Jacob offered back and Lily huffed again.

“There’s no difference!”

“No!” Jacob growled in a sort of agreement that left her more than frustrated…

“Then where’s the damn problem?” Lily shot back.

“It’s a male pride thing…” Connor assured her.

“I don’t need your advice…” Jacob growled at the vampire.

“That wasn’t advice – it was an observation, but you did need my blood…” Connor said and Lily made a sound like she was going to be sick…

“Don’t remind me…” She grumbled.

“That wasn’t my fault,” Jacob offered her his sympathy. “I came to get the witches help…”

“Hmm … let’s see, vampire blood or chanting … chanting or vampire blood…” Connor held up his hands and weighed the options – then he tossed an imaginary option over his shoulder… “Vampire blood wins every damn time.”

“Not in my book,” Jacob growled.

“Mine either,” Lily scowled.

“Oh look, you agreed on something … congratulations,” Connor teased. “There’s the basis for a good mating…”

“Mating…” Lily scowled at the thought of it…

“I don’t think vampire blood is something I want to use to woo my mate … it’s not exactly a mood maker…” Jacob growled.

“Mood maker?” Lily bit out, blinking twice.

“You’d be surprised…” Vicky offered with a smirk towards her mate that Connor more than responded too.

“Well, is it that time already?” The vampire was in front of his mate, snatching her up into his arms in a heartbeat…

“Aren’t you doing your father of the mountain, guard the virgin until mated type thing?” Vicky teased…

“Virgin!” Lily exclaimed…

“I hardly think she’s a virgin…” Jacob growled…

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Lily’s voice was shrill enough to make all three men wince…

“Nothing…” Jacob looked like he needed to retreat and take his paw out of his mouth.

“Well, obviously it meant something,” Lily shot back.

“It’s just …” he swallowed hard. “You’re a little old to be a virgin.” He muttered the last part and was gracious enough to offer a grimace to go with it.

“How old do you think I am?” Lily demanded.

“Please don’t ask me that…” Jacob grumbled.

He was already in trouble with his mate – he wasn’t about to make it worse by wrongly guessing her age – that wasn’t a trap that he wanted to walk into; given the circumstances.

“Coward…” Lily muttered.

“Twenty five!” Jacob snapped back, rallying to the challenge from his mate, and when Lily gasped, “twenty four…” he rushed out.

“I…” she shook her head…

“Twenty three…”

“Let’s have a round of applause for the wolf who can count backwards…” Connor announced to another warning growl from the man, and a very dark glare…

“Twenty…” Jacob nodded, hoping that she’d be happier that time, although, he did think that was an underestimation, but he’d be damned if he was going to say it.

“Twenty two…” Lily offered him a look that said she was debating whether to skin him alive or not.

“I was close…” He offered, tossing up a shoulder, and looking a little sheepishly at her from underneath his eyebrows.

“To getting zapped…” She grumbled back.

Jacob straightened to his full height. He’d taken the bait and put his other paw in his mouth, and he only had another two to go.

“Tell me about the bear…” he growled.

He wanted to hit something and he’d willingly swing for anyone in that moment, but he’d much rather take his aggression out on the bear that had hurt her.

“It had fur…” Lily answered dryly.

“Why are you protecting him?” Jacob demanded.

“Who says I’m protecting him?” She challenged the tone of voice that her mate had offered her.

“Look…” He started to rally, but then he realised that he didn’t even know her name… “What’s your name?”

“You don’t even know your mate’s name?” Connor said with a teasing tone, but Jacob wasn’t in a playful mood, and he snapped his head around on his neck and growled long and hard at the vampire.

“I was busy and she was unconscious…” Jacob growled.

“She’s been awake a whole fifteen minutes…” Connor shrugged and his mate elbowed him in the ribs.

“Play nice…” Vicky whispered.

“But, it’s male, mate squirming time, and you know how much I enjoy male, mate squirming time…” Connor offered with a pout.

“Lily,” she answered, bringing Jacob’s eyes back to her…

“Aren’t those flowers toxic to like … every living thing?” Connor offered and Vicky zapped him – just enough to make him bite the tip of his own tongue…

He offered her a questioning look and she gave an innocent little shrug off her shoulders back, but her eyes said mischief, and her lips gave him a wicked smile.

“I’m Jacob,” he said, and dared to take another step towards Lily, but the witch shook her head…

“Not so fast, shifter…” It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, more that she wasn’t inclined to trust anyone at that point.

If he was her mate, and she had to admit that it looked like he was, then he wouldn’t hurt her, because every instinct within him would be to protect her – unless he was nuts – but still, he was a shifter and they were the last people that she wanted to be around.

The flip side of the coin was him. If he was all gung-ho on protecting her then that would pit him up against Zane, and that would be bad.

That bear shifter was as crazy as they came, and he had been hunting her since blaming her for having something to do with the death of his mate.

It was anything but her fault.

Lulu, her sister, had taken it upon herself to go after the amulet, and she’d had to protect herself against the bears when she’d been caught – she’d killed the female and injured Zane, leaving him for dead, but that crazy bear had healed by sheer force of will to see the witch dead for what she’d done…

Lulu was missing and Zane seemed to think that Lily knew where she was – silly, crazy bear.

When Lulu didn’t want to be found, nobody, not even her sister could find her. Not that she’d ever lead danger towards her sister … but she’d sure like to kill her herself if she ever got her hands on her.

Now there was a crazy bear of the warpath intent on killing her for her sister’s crimes, and she’d found a mate – a shifter mate – how badly could one witch’s week have gone?

Lily knew that she needed to keep moving. She wasn’t going to drag anyone else into her problems.

She’d only gone to the mountain in order to get Chelsea’s help in healing, and hoping to find out if Chelsea had heard from Lulu – it was a necessity that had backfired, because that meant that she now had two shifters to get away from – one wanted to kill her, and the other one wanted to mate with her.

All in all, things had gone from bad to really, really bad in the blink of an eye.

“Lily…” Jacob savoured her name on his tongue. He liked it – liked the way that it sounded, especially with that little rumble within his voice… “I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you and I meant it.”

“I can’t say the same right now – so just stay put, okay?” She needed to think things through…

Jacob’s wolf wasn’t exactly sure how to take her words. Neither man nor beast wanted to upset their mate, or make her fear them – and yet, the wolf wanted to get closer – much closer.

It wanted to take her scent at source, and it wanted her to let him do it.

Jacob on the other hand wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted this mate – his mate – and not because she was a witch, but because he wasn’t in the right place, time, or situation in his life to have a mate.

If he’d still been a part of his old pack – if none of the stuff that had sent him to Dexter’s pack had happened – then sure, he would have welcomed her with open arms and wooed the hell out of her to make her his, but things had changed …

He was a different man.

His wolf was a different beast …

“Lily…” he took another step – he hadn’t really meant to do it, but he’d done it all the same…

And that was when all hell broke loose.