When Jessie saw her, she let out a squeal so loud even Cinda’s She Bear flinched at the sound. And the beast was shielded by so many protective layers, nothing should have penetrated them. Well nothing save her niece’s voice.

Dear Goddess, that girl had some lungs on her.

“Aunt Cinda!” she bellowed as she hustled towards her and wrapped Cinda in her thin arms. “It’s so great to see you. What are you doing here?”

Jessie, for such an itty bitty thing, was surprisingly strong. Her arms were like a vise and Cinda coughed a little as Jessie tightened her hold around her waist.

“Can’t. Breathe,” she gasped out, but she was teasing, and Jessie rolled her eyes at her when she pulled back. Cinda shot her a wink and declared, “I’m back for good.”

Jessie gawked at her. “Back for good? In Houston? Or at the clubhouse?”

“Sure as hell not the clubhouse.” She was willing to do a lot to earn Jarvis’s forgiveness, but living in this dump wasn’t one of the concessions. Hell no.

“But Houston?”

She nodded, unable to stop the grin that formed at her niece’s high pitched squeal of joy. “Goddess, I didn’t know you liked me so much.”

Jessie whacked her on the arm as simultaneously dragged her into the bedroom. “Of course I do. You’re the only sane female among the lot of them.”

“Them being your parents?”

Jessie waved a hand. “Them, as well as the rest of the Council member’s mates. Well, apart from Ava. She’s on a whole different playing field anyway.”

“Still not getting on well with her?” Cinda asked, somewhat sympathetically.

Jessie scrunched her nose. “She’s better now she’s mated. All the sex must be making her more human. She’s far less robotic than she used to be.”

Cinda’s lips twitched. “She was always a strange child. But then,” she teased. “So were you. What with all your tantrums”

Jessie narrowed her eyes. “I can dislike you as soon as like you.”

Cinda grinned, she knew the ‘T’ word was one of her niece’s least favorite. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Is it?” Cinda cocked a brow. “You’re the tantrum queen and I’m the one with the temper. Jessie, haven’t you realized yet? If you don’t conform, then you get ostracized for a particular trait. That’s what I hate about the Clan.” She shuddered. “I’d hate to live here. It would drive me insane.”

“You always were independent according to Daddy,” Jessie pointed out softly as she plunked down on the sofa opposite her bed. She patted the seat beside her and Cinda fell back into the soft cushions, then settled herself so she could look at her niece without having to turn her head.

“Independent is another one. They’ll classify you with all these pleasant adjectives, when really all you want is to be your own woman and to lead your own life. That’s all I ever wanted, anyway.”

Jessie grimaced. “You know I feel the same way.”

Cinda nodded. She knew her niece wanted to be a teacher. “How’s that coming along?”

“Spyder said he’ll fight my father if he tries to stop me going to community college.”

“At least you have a mate who’s on your side. Not that you should need his approval. It’s not like it’s the Fifties, after all.”

Jessie rolled her eyes. “Might as well be when it comes to shit like this. If you have no desire to work within the clubhouse, they think you’re nuts.”

Cinda grunted. “I know. I faced the same issues as you.” Which was another reason why she’d hid from her mate bond. Jessie thought she had it bad? Back in the Seventies and Eighties, things had been a hell of a lot tougher.

Forging her own path and creating her own life had been a lot harder back then. She’d done it, but now as she grew older and had attained most of the goals she’d set for herself as a young adult, Cinda found herself wondering if she’d made a mistake. If she’d made one too many sacrifices.

Of course, she could do that with hindsight on her side. Now she’d achieved all she’d ever really wanted to. She’d gone above and beyond, if truth were told.

Cinda had never imagined a Pulitzer prize in her future; never mind two. She’d never imagined writing a book and being contracted for several more with a huge publishing house. She’d done so much with her years, but she’d been alone.

Life had a funny habit of always making you question your decisions.

If she’d stayed with Jarvis, allowed the mate bond to flourish, would she be seated here today bemoaning the fact she’d achieved none of her goals?

Very likely.

That either made her perverse or it meant life really was a bitch.

“Aunt Cinda, you think I’m doing the right thing, don’t you?”

The hesitance in Jessie’s voice had her smiling. “Do you want to be a teacher?”

“Of course I do. I wouldn’t be trying to go back to college if that wasn’t the case.”

“Then you have your answer, don’t you?” When Jessie huffed, Cinda’s smile broadened. “Look, sweetheart, you don’t need me or Spyder or your parents to tell you what you want out of life. The clue is right there—it’s your life. You can do with it what you will. If you want to be a fucking astronaut, that’s down to you. You just have to have the gumption to aim for that particular career.

“You’re in a ridiculous position because you’re surrounded by males who want to protect you. But, at the same time, look at it from their point of view—that helps sometimes. There’s always two sides to every story after all.

“Female Bears are rare. It’s only natural that the elders want to look after them, to protect them. As a culture, we’re hyper protective of our young anyway. That doubles in strength with girls. They just want to keep you safe.”

Jessie pondered that. “So, if I did something to reassure them that I would be safe when I was at college…”

“Exactly.” Cinda’s tone was laced with satisfaction. “Try to help them help you. That’s all they want. I know your father is about as understanding as concrete, though, so I know he’ll have just said yay or nay to your request to go to college. It pisses me off that you’d have to make a similar request to Spyder, but just you make sure that he knows you’d do it regardless. You’re only asking for his help, not his permission.” She nodded stoutly. “It never does men any good to think they’re in charge.”

Jessie snorted. “I’ve missed you, Aunt Cinda.”

She winked. “I’ve missed you too, Buttercup.”

A knock sounded at the door and, pulling a face, Jessie called out, “Come in.”

Christie, Jessie’s mom, popped her head around the door. When she saw Cinda, she grinned. “I didn’t want to believe it until I caught sight of you.”

Jessie frowned. “Mom?”

Christie wafted a dismissive hand at her daughter. “Is it true?”

Cinda grimaced. “It’s true.”

“Is what true?” Jessie demanded with a huff.

“I’m mated.” She shot Jessie a sheepish glance. “That’s why I’m back.”

Jessie grinned. “But that’s awesome. That means you’ll be sticking around long term rather than just for a short while.”

Touched that her presence here meant so much to Jessie, Cinda reached forward, grabbed her niece’s hand and squeezed. “I’ll be sticking around, that’s for sure.”

“Who’s your mate?”

“Jarvis,” Christie replied, answering Jessie’s question.

“Jarvis?” Jessie’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my Goddess! No fucking way!”

Christie sighed. “I know you swear, Jessie, but do you have to do it in front of me?”

“Jeez, Mom. Grow a pair.”

Cinda snorted. “Are you two going to start arguing over cursing again? Why is it every time I come here this is the first argument on the cards?”

Christie blinked, then pointed at her daughter. “Blame her. She knows I hate it.”

“And she knows I love swearing.”

“How can you love swearing?” Christie demanded. “It’s not like chocolate or donuts.”

Cinda huffed. “We’re arguing again.”

Jessie grinned. “It’s great to have you back, Aunt Cinda.”

Christie chuckled. “Yeah, it will be good to have you around again. You can help me keep your brother in check.”

Cinda pshawed at that. “Since when? He’s your problem now, kid. I’ve got trouble of my own.” Satisfaction filled her at that. Most of it was from her She Bear, but a big chunk came from the woman too.

The She Bear had been waiting a long time for today. “I can’t believe you’re mated to Jarvis.”

Cinda cocked a brow at her niece. “Why not?”

“Because you’ve been around here so often and you’ve never, not once, intimated that he was your mate. That’s freaky as hell. I thought the mate bonds appeared as soon as two mates clapped eyes on one another? That’s certainly what happened with Spyder and me,” she finished with a sense of glee at that revelation.

“It was the same with Mundo and I, too,” Christie confirmed.

“It happened with us as well, but I stopped it from manifesting.” When both women gawked at her, she quickly explained, then rolled her eyes when they gawked at her all the harder.

“Why the hell would you do that?” Jessie asked on a long exhalation. “Having a mate rocks.”

“It might to you, Jessie, but at the time I didn’t want a man in my life. I wanted freedom.”

Christie shook her head. “Only you, Cinda.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I know enough from your brother to know what you were like as a kid. Only you’d tried to dodge the Goddesses.”

“Born difficult, that’s true,” Cinda retorted, but the words stung a little.

Jessie chuckled. “Is it true what Dad always says? That you were born breached?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my Goddess, so you really were born difficult.” Jessie hooted. “I love it.”

Before Cinda could do much else than roll her eyes, another knock sounded at the door. Jarvis’s head popped around and spying him, Cinda got to her feet and nervously wiped her hands down the front of her skirt.

“I’ll see you two later,” she told her sister-in-law and niece.

Christie and Jessie just gawked at her as she walked towards Jarvis. She shot them a quick wave as she left the room and decided she’d have been better off flipping them the bird. What they were staring at, she didn’t know.

But it was a phenomenon that seemed to follow them wherever they went.

As they followed the corridor toward the main staircase and then headed out into the yard, eyes were on them.

“Goddess, what the hell’s going on?” she asked under her breath. Then when she saw Jarvis looked just as perplexed, she gritted her teeth. “Where the hell is he?”

Jarvis frowned. “Where’s who?”

“My brother and that big fat mouth of his?”

“You think he’s been blabbing?”

“From the stares we’re getting, yeah, I’d say he’s blabbed,” she retorted snarkily. As they headed for her car, she turned away to step into the garage. Seeing her brother, she snarled, “What have you done?”

Mundo’s head popped up and he swore as he scraped his forehead against the engine he was working on. “What’s wrong with you now?” he said on a huff.

Like he had the right to be irritated. She could see from the shifty look in his eyes that he was being evasive.

Evasive meaning he was lying his fucking ass off.

“Who did you tell?”

He folded his arms across his chest. “I didn’t realize it was some kind of state secret.”

“The fact we’re mated isn’t, but from the gawks we were getting, I’m assuming my idiot mate decided you could hold your tongue about what I did.” She growled under her breath. “Your blabber mouth always did get you into trouble.” She started to stride forward, fully intent on beating the ever loving shit out of her sibling, only as she took a step forward, she made it no further. Jarvis wrapped two beefy arms about her chest and kept her close against him.

Her She Bear, the traitor, near as dammit purred at his proximity.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, and the words seemed to make her damn ear drums tingle.

“To kick my brother’s ass,” she snarled, but the leap forward she made was half-hearted, and he kept her close to his chest.

Mundo growled. “You’d better keep her close, Jarvis. I won’t be held responsible for my actions.”

Before she could do more than growl, Jarvis hooted out a laugh. “Like the last time you two fought she didn’t win, you mean?”

Mundo narrowed his eyes at the two of them. “I let her win.”

“Ha!” Cinda declared. “What the fuck did you think you were doing telling people about my private life?”

“I wasn’t telling ‘people’, I told Christie. But someone overheard.”

“Someone being who?” Jarvis asked, tone silky.

If Cinda had been surprised at his lack of reaction over people knowing their private business, she wasn’t any longer.

He was just as mad, except he could contain his irritation and didn’t feel the need to beat her brother up over it.

Pity. She’d have liked to see that.

Mundo hunched his shoulders. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to get out.”

“Well, it did,” she snapped. “What are you going to do about it?”

He folded his arms across his chest. “What do you mean? What am I going to do about what? I can’t make them forget what they heard.”

“No, but you can do something.”

“I can?” Mundo scratched his head. “What?”

“Jump off a bridge and do us all a favor?” she asked sweetly, then her upper lip curled as he flipped her off. “Well, that’s just rude.”

Jarvis coughed, but she knew he was hiding his laughter. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. We’ll be gone a while so gossip will spread about somebody else.”

“Good,” she said on a hiss, glowering at her brother as Jarvis half led, half dragged her out of the garage and toward her car.

Seeing it, she quickly shrugged from his grasp. When his arms tightened about her, she murmured, “I’m just going to get the keys.”

He nodded and relinquished his hold on her, but she felt his vigilance knowing he was prepared for her to dash off and aim for her brother.

Shit.

He knew her well already.

Grumbling under her breath, she located her keys, then flipped the alarm on the Porsche. Striding off ahead without him, she climbed behind the wheel and waited until he took a seat before starting the ignition.

“Did you get permission from Mars to talk about the bogeyman?” she demanded as she reversed, then started to pull out. The gates, with the gawking prospect manning them, opened and she stormed off down the drive that led to the main road.

“I did,” he said simply, settling back into the leather seats. “You’re going the wrong way for Houston,” he pointed out when she roared at far too fast a speed down the dusty road and headed the Channelview way.

“I want to see what’s changed since I’ve been gone.”

He snorted. “I could tell you that. Nothing. Still too poor in parts and rich in others.”

“Same as the country over, eh?” she asked sadly, his words inducing her to take the turn off that would take them to Houston rather than Channelview.

“Yup,” he said, tone a little sad. “I’ve seen a lot that today’s world would consider history. Past or present, it’s always nuts.”

She could concur. “I’m a lot younger than you, and I feel the same way. There never seems to be a respite, does there? One calamity after another.”

He huffed out his agreement. “Without a doubt.”

“I notice you changed the subject,” she slotted in as they made it onto the highway on a direct course for the city.

“I did?” He shot her a look, brows raised as he did.

“Yep. And you know it.”

“Hardly. I just don’t want to talk about business on the night of our Claiming.”

She felt her cheeks flush. “We’re doing that tonight then?”

He nodded. “You know of a better time?” he teased, making her blush deepen.

“No. I guess not.” She cleared her throat. “Do you want to eat first?”

“Oh, I’ll eat.”

The sin in his tone had her nearly choking. She sucked in a sharp breath to stop herself from suffocating, then shot him a scowl when he started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” she asked huffily.

“You.” He shook his head. “You’ve gone all around the country, seen things I wouldn’t even want to see in my nightmares, but talking about oral sex turns you bright pink.”

“Other things turn me bright pink too,” was all she could think of to say, and regretted it heartily when he asked:

“Oh? What like?”

“You’ll just have to find out, won’t you?” she bluffed, then tugged at the high neckline of her blouse. Dear Goddess, had it grown hot in here or something?

“You look nervous,” he said slowly, apparently intrigued now.

“Hardly.” She pursed her lips. “I’m hungry. I think we should grab something to eat before we do anything.”

He snorted. “I thought women claimed men were always thinking of their stomachs.”

“Very likely,” she said easily, “but I haven’t eaten right since I got to Houston last week. I’ve been building up the courage to come and find you. I haven’t eaten today.”

His eyes widened. “But it’s nearly seven in the evening.”

“I know,” she retorted, patiently for her, “that’s why I’m hungry.”

“What do you want to eat?”

“Italian,” she decided after a few moments.

He nodded. “I know a great place downtown. I’ll direct you.”

In between focusing on the road, she kept shooting him glances. After a while, he asked, “What do you keep looking at?”

“I’m surprised.”

“At what?”

“You’re not a terrible backseat driver.”

He snorted. “You’re a good driver.”

“Not according to Mundo.”

“Mundo wouldn’t know good driving if a car bulldozed into him.” Jarvis huffed. “That man thinks about bikes. That’s it. Cars, he’s clueless.”

Rather pleased that he thought she was a good driver, she took the turn off to the street he guided her down. Spotting the only Italian dive on the block, she did a happy dance in her seat when there was a space right outside.

“You look so smug right now,” Jarvis teased, laughing as she winked at him.

“Come on. A space right outside? That’s just boss.”

He snorted. “What if I told you this space is always free?”

She scowled. “You trying to spoil my jam?”

“I’d never spoil your jam,” he told her earnestly, but she saw the mocking glint in his eye.

“So the space isn’t always free?”

“Oh, no, that part was true.” She grunted at him, making him chuckle. “It’s the local Don’s space. This is his restaurant.”

Her eyes widened. “Oops.”

“We’ll only be ten minutes,” he disregarded easily. “Unless you don’t want takeout?”

She bit her lip. “I wanted bread sticks and garlic bread and the whole nine yards.”

“Then I’d park somewhere else. Gianni wouldn’t mind ten minutes. But an hour?” He shook his head, and then start laughing louder when she swore under her breath and pulled out onto the road again, the hunt for another car space underway.

“Since when were you on first name terms with a Mafia Don?” she asked, shooting him a look that came complete with a raised brow.

“Since a long time.”

“Deets, Jarvis. Give me deets. That’s what mates do. Share details.”

“Like you’d know,” he retorted, but there was no fire to his words, nor malice or resentment.

She sensed that, so she didn’t let his statement hurt her—even if, for the foreseeable future, she totally deserved any digs he happened to throw her way.

“I know some stuff,” she retorted huffily.

“I’d hope so, Mrs. Pulitzer.”

She grinned, smug again. “I was so proud when I won the first time, but the second?” Cinda blew out a breath. “It was like affirmation.”

“That you’d done the right thing in leaving me behind?” Again, no heat. No malice. Just curiosity. He was trying to understand her.

Still, it didn’t stop her from being hesitant. Nodding, she murmured, “It felt like that in some ways. Mostly I felt it against my dad. He always said I’d get nowhere writing. That it was a mug’s game. I was thrilled to prove him wrong, but the day I got notification I’d won the second time?” She broke off as she found a space around the corner. When she’d pulled in, done a little jig with the Porsche to get the beauty right in the middle of the space, she cut the engine and turned to him. “I’m not going to lie, Jarvis. I wanted you there. That was the start of my realizing I needed to come back to you.”

He stared at her, studied her earnestness. “So, I should be thankful to the judges then, huh?” he teased.

Her smile came and went in a flash. “I guess. But it was more than that. It was just time. It was great to feel like I could turn my nose up at my father, but it felt futile too. I just wanted to be with you. That’s all I wanted, and it totally took the shine off the prize.”

They’d been seated like a regular driver would be seated with a passenger at his side. But at her admission, Jarvis placed his hand on her knee. Seeing his strong fingers against her thigh, the deep bronze of his skin against the black of her skirt, she felt a shudder work through her frame.

Reaching for him, she pulled his hand away from her thigh and covered his fingers with her own. Clasping his hand between both of hers, she raised the union to her mouth and made sure the kiss she anointed them with landed on the side of his finger.

His eyelids drooped at that move and turned heavy. His eyes, so expressive, seemed to become sleepy as he stared at her with a need that made her womb start to ache, literally dammit, with a need only the mate bond could settle.

“I’m second guessing going to eat,” she admitted as she tilted their hands and rested her cheek against them.

“No, you need food. You’re too skinny as it is.”

“Is that a complaint?” she asked, snorting at him as he rolled his eyes. “Men, you can’t win. You find one who wants you thinner, then another who wants you fatter.”

Jarvis scoffed at that. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t make out like you haven’t lost weight.”

She pulled a face at him. “Maybe.”

It was a weird phenomenon—a wonderful one if a Shifter happened to have an affinity for junk food—that they never gained weight. They could lose it, but never gain it. A Shifter’s metabolism was running so insanely hot, that it was hard to maintain a healthy weight sometimes because they needed to eat so much.

Males were more prone to the weight loss than females because they could shift with ease. Once the Bear was let out to play, the calorific needs doubled.

For females who only shifted in emergencies, that wasn’t as much of an issue.

Still, he was right. She was heading toward underweight. A few more days of dithering about going to see him and she’d have been nearer skin and bone than either of them would have liked.

“You need carbs,” he told her easily. “Lots of gooey meat sauce.”

“Nah, I want pizza.”

He chuckled. “With bread sticks and garlic bread?”

She grinned. “Yeah. I want a triple bread bypass.”

“Whatever my mate wants, she gets,” he retorted gallantly. “This,” he whispered softly, his tone dropping from teasing to deadly serious, “isn’t going anywhere. We have all the time in the world now.”

She blinked at him, affected by the change in his tone. “Thank you, Jarvis.”

His lips curled up at the side. “Thank me later.”

Grinning, she shook her head at him. “Jerk,” she told him as she reached for her bag from behind her seat.

“Your jerk, baby.”

Refusing to admit how much the endearment worked on her, she peered out onto the road, saw the way was clear, and climbed out. Hooking her purse over her shoulder, she walked onto the sidewalk and waited for him to reach her. Clicking on the alarm, they walked together, yet two separate entities.

Then, she blew out a breath and slipped her hand through the space between his arm and torso. She clung to him then, huddling against him like she was cold. When he pulled away, she truly knew what it felt like to be frozen in place, but he brought her back to life again by curling his arm around her shoulder and tucking her against him.

“Goddess, Cinda, you haven’t been eating at all, have you? I can feel you shivering and it’s fucking August. In fucking Houston.” He grumbled at her. “You should be melting not freezing.”

His grousing had her wrinkling her nose. “A few dozen slices of pizza will help.”

“Make that a few dozen slices and a couple of steaks.” When she groaned, he tutted. “You need protein too, babe.”

“Pepperoni is protein,” she complained.

“Not like steak. For me, go on. Please, just a forty-eight ounce steak.”

Just. “You want me to be in a food coma tonight?”

When she batted her lashes up at him, he just laughed. “We have forever, don’t forget.”

Surprised, she tilted her head to look up at him. He meant that. He truly did.

At that moment, she knew what it was to be a fortunate female.