Chapter Fifty-Six - Mason

Talking from downstairs woke me the next morning.

Jessica’s spot was empty, but the sheets felt warm beneath my touch. She hadn’t been up long. I briefly wondered why she was up when she’d stayed up to

read. Not that the lack of sleep seemed to bother her truthfully.

I swung my feet to the floor and rubbed my palm over my face. Jessica’s scent was heavy in the air. It was a mixture of flowers, nerves and something woodsy.

I couldn’t explain it. It had changed after her first shift.

Her wolf had changed everything. Especially our relationship. I craned my neck to the side and stretched my arms above my head.

Ignoring the feeling of rejection from her wolf the night before, I walked into the bathroom and splashed water on my face. Her wolf seemed hostile. Maybe it was because of her new form, but I didn't like it. I missed Jessica without all of the drama.

The pack moved around on the first floor. I could smell breakfast being made. I didn’t hear Jacob’s voice mixed within them. I found myself walking down to his room and knocking.

He said something on the other side that I took as an invitation.

I opened the giant wooden doors and stepped inside. His four-post bed looked untouched, but everything else looked in disarray. We didn’t spend too much time in each other’s rooms anymore.

When we were younger, we did. Now, it seemed weird. We were grown men, grown werewolves, and the need to go spend time in each other’s room felt off.

There were bigger things for us to worry about.

Jacob stood over a table pressed against the far corner, his back to the door and body tense.

“Everything ok?” I asked.

He looked over his shoulder, allowing me to see the elixirs spread out over his table. “Wow, you’ve been busy…”

“I’m almost finished,” he said, his voice gruff. “I think we have enough.”

I stepped over, eyeing the different sizes of beakers. “You need to rest,” I said. "We don't have long before the festival."

Jacob didn’t look up. There was an entire container of werewolf blood to the left. I glanced down at his wrists that were wrapped with tape. “You put your own blood in there?” I asked. “Why didn’t you ask us to help?”

He shakily poured the blood into another mixture.

Grabbing his shoulder, I turned him to face me. “What is wrong with you?” I asked. “You look weak.”

“I’m fine,” he said, pulling away from me.

I watched as he absently made more elixir. “You can tell me what’s wrong. I’m your beta.”

Jacob put his palms on the table and stared down at his mess. “You're my beta that’s mated to my problem.”

I blinked at him. “Since when is your cousin that you wanted to move here the problem? You asked her to stay.”

“I know that.” he said, glaring up at me. “I know that I encouraged her to move into the estate. I know it. But something isn’t right. There is more going on that I can’t explain.”

Jacob stalked over to his bedside and grabbed a book. It was leatherbound like the others. When he brought it back over, he pushed the book against my chest. “This is one of the other books our families left us. Look at the back cover.”

I opened the book and stared down at the back flap. It looked torn, but the papers sticking out the back shocked me. “There are more papers hidden in these books?”

“All of them,” Jacob said. “How does she know that?”

I opened my mouth to tell him about the diary, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. My wolf wouldn’t let me betray Jessica. It was more than our mate bond. It was deeper. I couldn’t explain it.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe her wolf is connected to the family’s heritage somehow?”

“There is a lot of speculations going around about her. I’m the alpha I’m supposed to know these things, Mason. You should know these things. She’s your mate.”

I scoffed and tossed the book onto the table. “Wow, so this is my fault now?”

Jacob sighed. “No, it’s not. I’m sorry. I need some rest before tonight. Can you make sure everyone knows what time the festival starts? I need sleep.”

“Are you hungry?”

“No.”

He walked toward his windows and began to pull all of the curtains. Taking the hint, I left his room and went downstairs.

Liam and Aaron were in a debate on how many beers Cheryl Morrison could chug at Maurices when I walked in.

“…ten hands down without puking,” Aaron said.

Jessica rolled her eyes and walked over to meet me. “You slept in. Do you feel better?”

“I'm fine. Do you feel better? How long were you up reading?”

She shrugged. “Not long.”

She had something she wanted to tell me. Lacing my arm around her shoulders, I pulled her toward the living room. She pulled away from me and tucked her thumbnail into the corner of her mouth.

“She was definitely a wolf,” she said.

“Your grandmother?” I asked.

“Yeah. That’s as far as I got.”

We stared at one another for several seconds with questions lingering between us.

“Dude,” Liam called out from the kitchen. “How many beers for Cheryl Morrison chug?”

“I don’t know,” I spat. "This isn't the time."

Liam scoffed. “He said ten,” he shouted back at Aaron. I waited until he left to look back down at her.

“Does Jacob have the elixirs finished?” she asked.

I stepped over to place my hands on her shoulders. “Yes. He’s sleeping until it’s time to leave. There is no reason to worry until then.”

I wouldn’t tell her about Jacob’s worry or her wolf. The tension was tight enough in the house.

“Where’s your dad?” I asked.

“In his room,” she whispered. “Probably hiding from me.”

I laughed. “He’s not.”

“I’m unrecognizable to him. To myself. I don’t know who I am anymore. I feel lost.”

Tugging her close, I let her rest her cheek against my chest. “This isn’t your fault. None of it.”

“It doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

I listened to her heartbeat over the sound of Aaron and Liam arguing. Heavy footsteps fell down the stairs. Seth walked into the living room with one of our families’ books balanced on his forearm.

He walked over and pointed toward the book.

I glanced down at the page talking about our heritage. Jessica moved in front of me, and I continued to look over her head. The family tree was thick and full of branches.

It went back from each of us for decades.

“Look at Jacob’s lineage. It goes back far on his grandfather’s side, but his grandmother’s is bare.”

“Right,” I said. “Because she’s human.”

Seth locked eyes with me as he gently picked up the side of the paper and unfolded it. The tree formed another branch, the frail pages felt featherweight as I reached for it.

I scanned my thumb over the paper as I stared down at the tree. “So, they found her grandmother’s heritage? So what?”

Seth pointed toward the top two names. “Victoria and Victor Jameson.” I continued to look at him. “We know how didn’t listen during our werewolf history lessons.”

Seth looked at Jessica and then back to me. “Victoria and Victor were royalty, Mason. They were the alpha king and alpha queen. They went into hiding after rogues attacked their castle and attempted to kill them off. Your mate is a descendant of that. She picked up their gene on your grandmother’s side. Don’t you get it? Jessica has royal blood. It explains the red mark and her strength. Her size. It explains everything.”