Jasmine

After we all finished getting dressed, Liam brought us all to the kitchen and made breakfast while Neira waited impatiently for us to finish eating.

The whole time I had a smile on my face. Neira may have been my assessor, but that in no way means I like her. And after hearing her words early this morning, I find myself disliking her even more.

Liam clears away our plates, while we all move out to the dining room. Josh brings in the coffee pot, with Neira trailing after him, looking like a woman with a stick shoved up her ass.

Once everyone is seated again, I pour a cup of coffee, grateful for something to do with my hands. Liam and Benji sit on either side of me at one end of the table, while Neira is at the opposite end. Josh is leaning against the wall, cradling a fresh cup of coffee and using it to hide his smirk as he watches us.

"Can we start planning how to rescue my sister and free Stephen yet? Or do you have more important things to get to? Maybe another fuck?" The snide tone in Neira’s voice just amuses me.

I turn to Liam first, then Benji. "Actually, I could go for another fuck." I rise from the table amidst Josh’s sniggering. Liam gets up too, his eyes flaring with lust, but then Neira flings magic at him.

I deflect it on instinct, spinning my hand as I send it back to her and watch on with delight as she's bound to the spot. Bitch thinks she can use magic on MY mate? She's got another thing coming.

I lean over and glare down the table at her. "You ever, and I mean ever, try to use magic on either of my mates again, I'll bind your magic. Do you hear me?"

She gives a curt nod, and I release my hold on her, letting her slump back down in her seat with defeat. She may be a level two, but I will gladly hand her a beating if she dares touch what's mine.

Liam reaches over and pulls me into his lap, probably feeling the wave of emotion I'm letting off. He brushes my hair to the side to whisper in my ear, his voice filled with the edge of a growl. "I could definitely go for another fuck, especially after that show of power."

My panties are instantly soaked by his words, and I fight the urge to groan. So totally not fair to use his voice on me like that.

Benji smiles over at us, the love in his eyes making me feel overly warm. He turns back, staring at Neira with a hard expression. "You were invited here as a courtesy. I will not allow your childish games to upset my mate. So, I will give you two choices. Swallow your bitter pill and do what you came here for, or leave."

"You'd kick me off pack lands for trying to prevent Liam from being swayed by her magic?" she asks, her eyes conveying her shock, obviously not expecting either of them to issue an ultimatum.

He shakes his head sadly. "She wasn't using her magic on us. We both truly care for Jasmine, but you're too blinded to see the love between us. Instead, you want to believe it’s magic because you have no understanding of what it's like between mates."

"Fine, I'll leave it be for now, but I will find out what she's done to you. No one can fall in love that quickly." Her voice is filled with anger, and I do my best not to point out I'm not in love, because I know Benji is making a point. Saying I love them is a bit too strong for me right now. Have deep feelings for them, yes. But love? I don't know if I can say that word out loud yet. It feels like a curse. One drop of the ‘L’ word and boom, shit fucks up.

Benji nods, satisfied, and sits back down. "Good. Now let’s figure out how exactly we're going to save your sister and lift the curse off Stephen."

It’s well into the day, and we're all gathered around looking at the blueprints Neira just happened to have brought with her, which I find suspicious. None of the guys seemed to notice this, though. Like, why would she bring blueprints when she didn't even know what we had planned? It feels like some kind of trojan, and I know better than to accept a gift like this without thinking through all the possible consequences.

When I asked her where she got them from, she waved the question off with a simple, 'Oh, I got them off the internet.' Likely excuse, but without more proof, I couldn't exactly nail her to the wall for answers, even though I really, really wanted to. She just rubbed me the wrong way.

The plan, so far, is to go visit the house where the Order lives to get an accurate feel for the magic protecting it before we make any final plans. We've already tracked her sister to the house, which is good, because at least now our focus isn't going to be split trying to find both Stephen and Sabine.

The thing is, though, why would the Order be holding her sister hostage? She is, after all, a witch, too. Surely they would have sent her to the Soldiers’ holding facility or just killed her? The fact they have her hostage has me dreading her rescue. It makes me feel like it’s some kind of trap.

It could be a trap set to get the two most important wolf members, my mates, away from the protection I cast over the pack lands, but no matter how much I argued the point, Liam took Neira's side, saying Sabine would never side with the Order, and that she needed our help.

Which is why we're sitting here, coming up with a ‘just in case’ plan. Neira has intel that the Order will be leaving the house for an extended period of time tomorrow, so that's our window to scope it out.

"We could get Sabine out tomorrow. We would just have to be quick about it," Neira urges, and something inside me snaps.

"Neira! For fuck’s sake! Think about what you're asking us to do!" I pause, taking a deep breath to get my anger under control. When I'm somewhat calmer, I try to appeal to her. "I know you want to save your sister, but getting ourselves caught and executed is not the way. We have to think this through carefully. It will be the five of us tomorrow. Two witches, and three wolves. There's not enough power between us to fight our way out, and if Sabine is indeed in there, who knows what magic we may need to use to make sure she's okay and then make our escape. Healing, breaking her out, there's just so much we don't understand yet. I beg you to use your common sense here," I plead, trying to get through to her.

Her plan feels like more of a rush job than anything. I may have repelled Evan back once, but my gut is telling me that it won't be that easy if I face him a second time.

She scoffs at my words and rises to her feet, anger clouding her eyes. "And what do you know, Jasmine?" she spits at me, drawing out my name viciously. "You're twenty-five years old and have barely hit your magical peak. I'm sixty-two years old and have fully mastered my magic. I doubt you could offer us advice on things when you've only recently entered our world. Your magic has only just settled, and considering you let Evan into your mind, I don't think we can trust you. For all we know, he's controlling you."

I roll my eyes. "If he was controlling me, then why hasn't he used me to kill you, Benji, and Liam by now? I could have done it at any time yesterday since we spent the day fucking and their guards were down. Right now, you're in my dome of protection. If Evan had me under his control, I’m sure he would have brought that down around us, killing every last person he could get his hands on."

Benji and Josh hide smirks, looking away as I rise to her challenge. "If I'm the fucking youngest person here, why are you the one acting like a child?"

Before Neira can respond, Liam stands, slamming his hands down on the table, cutting off whatever she was about to say. I smirk, until his eyes turn to me. They’re hard and filled with an anger I didn’t expect, and aimed at me. "Jasmine, could we speak in private?"

My smiles dims and I nod, rising to my feet and following after him as he leads me into Benji's office, slamming the door shut once I'm inside.