~~Valerie~~~
Jackson wasn’t lying when he said that once he was inside me, he would have a hard time pulling from me. For two whole days, we left his bed only to eat, use the restroom, and bathe. I’d never felt so sated or loved or wanted in all of my life. Okay, I was a little sore and achy, too, but it was a good sore and achy.
We explored every inch of each other’s body, discovered exactly how to pleasure one another to the fullest extent, and in between all of that we talked. I told Jackson all about my life on Earth and told him how he’d made me feel since I arrived in Valeterra. He loved me thoroughly to stop me from crying over that last bit. He also did it to apologize for causing me pain.
I found his first mating mark on the back of his right shoulder. The symbol looked sad in its faded condition. I surprised him by touching it, running my fingers over the barely visible lines, and suggesting that he tattoo over it to bring back the color.
“You don’t find that disrespectful to you?” he asked, turning in the bed so that he was lying on his back, looking up at me.
“Why would I? She died. It isn’t as if you’re divorced, and she’s still out there pining for you and you for her. If that were the case, and you did something like that I’d leave this bed in an instant, mating mark or not. She was the first love of your life. I get a little sad thinking about how if she hadn’t died, I wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t have you, but if you felt for her half of what I feel for you, then losing her was horrific, and you should do something to honor her.
“A tattoo is just a tattoo. It can’t overshadow our marks. They are vibrant, almost alive, and a symbol of our feelings for each other. They’re out there for the entire world to see.”
I positioned our hands together so that he could see our marks side-by-side. With them so close together, they almost glowed.
He intertwined our hands and pulled me down to kiss him. The kiss led to another round of sensual lovemaking.
He never did agree to get the tattoo, but his actions suggested that my gesture deeply touched him.
Early Sunday morning, before he could initiate another round of sex, I stopped him by asking to see his wolf form, which I’d only seen in photos and seen in the shadows. Stephanie and Azure had shown me the supernatural side of Valeterra many times since I’d been there. Unfortunately, between the fact that I had spent so much of my day in my bookstore and the fact that there had been an unspoken agreement amongst Jackson’s people to keep the supernatural to a minimum in my presence—I guess so that I wouldn’t know too many of their secrets or to keep me from freaking out too much—I hadn’t seen his and many others’ animal forms up close.
Jackson gave me a questioning look when I asked, but I assured him that I’d seen Azure’s Collie form many times and Stephanie’s form once or twice. I could handle watching him shift. He nodded, threw the blankets off his naked body, a thing I never tired of seeing, and turned.
He was beautiful. His thick, amber-colored coat was soft to the touch. The instant I touched him, ran my hand down his back, he relaxed and nuzzled my face, then lay down on the bed beside me so that I could pet him. I fell asleep doing so, and when I woke an hour or so later, he was human and petting me.
No one came to our door that we didn’t call requesting a food delivery. No one pitched a fit that their Acheron and alpha had locked himself in one of his homes the morning after a fire at one of the town’s main buildings or that he had locked up one of their respected townspeople. Apparently, they had been relieved that he had finally taken another mate. I’m sure some weren’t too happy about the mate being a human, but they kept their feelings about that to themselves.
Monday morning was a different story. Stephanie was knocking on the door bright and early, not that we were sleeping. We’d been up for well over an hour. While discussing whether or not we wanted food brought up or if we wanted to go to the diner, Jackson had decided that feasting on me was a better option. He was buried face first between my legs when Stephanie came to the door.
I’d unenthusiastically lifted up to answer her knock, but Jackson’s plan was to ignore her. He gave my clit a tug, causing me to gasp, before moving up my body to kiss me. Stephanie knocked again.
“We should…” I tried to say between kisses.
“We should come again,” he said and moved inside me.
I think Stephanie knocked some more after that, but I didn’t hear her until after we’d finished. Even then, we had started to cuddle and doze when she startled us by banging loudly on the door and threatening Jackson’s genitalia if he didn’t answer.
He swore, threw on a pair of sweats, and started to leave the room.
“Excuse me,” I said, sitting up and putting on the clothes he’d given me to wear.
He turned around and looked at me questioningly. I cut my eyes to his bare chest. When he still didn’t get it, I threw a shirt at his face. He only chuckled and pulled it over his head. I followed him to the living room before passing him on my way to the kitchen as he answered the door.
“For the gods’ sakes, you two are incorrigible,” Stephanie said, barging past Jackson to sling the armful of bags she carried onto the sofa.
“More like insatiable,” Jackson said, watching me pour two glasses of water. “What are you doing here? I’m not due at the office for another two hours.”
“I’m here because Valerie’s home burned to the ground Friday night, and you two have been here ever since. She has nothing to wear if she is to leave this apartment today. I’m assuming she’ll be coming to the office with you this morning so that we can take care of the important matters that happened Friday night, that we’d left unattended for two days.”
I hadn’t thought much about the things, the photos, the little pieces of my life before Valeterra, that I’d lost in the fire since Jackson had kept me preoccupied. When I had mentioned that I’d hated losing all of those memories, he promised that the witches were sifting through the debris and salvaging what they could.
Jackson only rolled his eyes at Stephanie, but I immediately grew worried that our neglect had made things worse somehow. He sensed my mood change and pulled me to him.
“Everything is all right. Stephanie’s just stressing for no reason. The guards won’t be here until later today to pick up the kids. She and Rose submitted all of our statements. I just have to be there to sign them out. The Coven won’t be here until tomorrow to pick up Talia.”
“And what about the people who set the kids up?” I asked.
“Caiden and his men have been looking, but have found nothing. No scent, no tracks, nothing. Either the kids are lying, or we’re dealing with professionals.”
“When will Azure be home?” I shook with fear that Stephanie would tell me that she wouldn’t be coming home. That she would tell me that Rose had decided that being around me was too dangerous after all.
“In a few weeks. I promise,” Jackson said, rubbing my back soothingly. My body instantly relaxed at the words.
“Can I talk to Talia?” I asked, not wanting to pull from his arms, but feeling as if I should go through the bags of clothes Stephanie brought. That morning would be our first official appearance in public together as a couple, as mates. I didn’t want to embarrass him by stepping outside in his sweats.
“I’d rather you didn’t,” he said, though I could tell by his expression that he wanted to say, “Hell no.” His response was better than what he wanted to say.
“Can I ask why not?”
“Because she’s a witch. Myrtle says she’s bound Talia’s powers, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
“I would like to know why she did what she did. I know she cursed you, but I feel as if she did it to me as well.” I was looking up at him as I spoke, and I could see that he saw the pain in my eyes. He leaned forward and kissed me with so much love and desire that I thought about kicking Stephanie out of the house.
“Stop it,” Stephanie said. “We know why she did it. She wanted Jackson, and she thought that if he couldn’t speak to you, then he would think something was wrong with you. He would think that his instincts were warning him away from you so that he wouldn’t mate you.”
“Can the mating be derailed that way?” I asked, moving away from him and back over to the bags where I began pulling out items.
“Obviously not. It is rare in our world for someone to grow so obsessed with someone who isn’t his or her mate that they would do something like that, so she had no way of knowing if it would work when she tried. She was desperate.”
“Is there anyone else that obsessed with you?” I asked Jackson, as I selected a cute pair of sandals, Khaki slacks, and a sleeveless top. The outfit was a bit too prim and proper for my taste, but I figured that since I was an alpha’s mate, I should dress the part.
“Not that I’m aware of,” he answered.
I started to the bedroom with the clothes, but Jackson stopped me, took the pants from my hand, picked up a teal gypsy skirt that went with the flowing top much better, and gave it to me.
“I love you for who you are,” he said, and the room went silent. We hadn’t said that word to each other. Yes, we were mates, and love was a given, but I didn’t think he would be willing to say it so soon.
I stared at him in shock for a long moment. I saw fear cross his face. I rushed to him to reassure him that I loved him as well. I kissed him hard in between saying the words. After the third time I’d said it, he took the clothes from my arms, slung them onto the sofa, and picked me up.
“Stephanie, you should leave now. Oh, and I’ll be a little late getting to the office.