Chapter 41
Jesse watched Evanna pace back and forth beside the jeep. Getting up off the step he went over to her. “It’s just my family...”
She spun around and glared at him, “just your family?” She blinked at him, “only the most important people in your life.”
Jesse smirked, then forced it from his mouth, “it’s okay, you don’t have to worry about them.”
“I do.” She crossed her arms over her chest, “they matter. What they think of me matters.”
She looked like she was going to vibrate right out of her skin. “I’m not,” her brows furrowed, “I probably don’t make a very good first impression, you know, I’m rough around the edges,” she cringed, “Aunt Tillie used to tell me that.”
“Hey,” he grasped her shoulders gently, “listen the only thing they’re going to care about is if I’m happy— if you’re happy.” He followed the movement of her head with his own until she looked at him again, “they’re not going to care if you are proper or rough around the edges,” he offered her a smile, “when you meet my sisters, you’ll get it. Trust me.”
“They should meet Leah first,” She whispered, then chewed on her lip.
“They’ll meet her another time, it’s fine.” Leaning down, he kissed her mouth softly, so she’d stop abusing her own lip. “In case you didn’t know, this mating thing is forever, there will be plenty of opportunities for them to spend time with both of you,” he kissed her again because his cat was prodding him to be closer, to calm their mate, “even Minn, they’ll get time with her too.” Even though she nodded, her expression told him that she didn’t agree with him. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her gently. “If you can’t do this, it’s okay.”
“I’m sorry. I really want to meet them.” She looked up at him, “I do.” Stretching up, she kissed him quickly and then pulled out of his arms. She rushed over to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To change. I need to convince Leah to come out. I can’t do this.”
He stared at the closed door. Shaking his head, he looked over at Thera, “she can chase down an intruder, but not meet my family.” He blew out a breath, hopefully, Leah was okay with this. He knew his parents would understand, but Evanna was going to be hard on herself over this, he knew it.
The sound of a vehicle had him turn to watch the SUV come up the hill. Thera was up on her feet, beside him now. “It’s okay, girl, they’re friends.” He brushed his hand over the back of her neck. “My sisters are going to love you.” That was the only part of his job that he didn’t like, having to spend long periods of time away from them. He’d been an only child for thirteen years and wanted a sibling, then he got two at one time. There had been a few years he wasn’t sure he was going to survive them, but now that they were older, he wouldn’t change a thing.
As soon as the wheels stopped moving the back doors opened and out jumped the teenagers. They both raced to the front of the vehicle and then stopped, their eyes on Thera. “Can we pet her?” Jaide asked, an excited look on her face.
Jesse looked down at Thera who was scenting the air, “that’s up to her.” He walked toward them, so they wouldn’t rush at the cat.
Joslin squealed and jumped at him when he was a foot away. He caught her when she lunged at him and hugged her. “I missed you.”
He grinned and then leaned back and looked at her. “You are getting tall.”
She gave him a pleased grin. “I’m a quarter of an inch taller than Jaide.”
“Your shoes had thicker souls when we measured.” Jaide nudged her out of the way and hugged Jesse. She looked up at him, “I like the shaggy hair.”
Jesse laughed, “I haven’t had time for a haircut and now that winter is coming, I might as well leave it.”
She pulled away and looked at Thera, “she’s so pretty.”
As if the compliment was acceptable, Thera came over and bumped her head against Jesse’s leg. “She won’t object to you petting her.”
Both girls dropped down onto their knees and rubbed their hands along her coat.
“She’s so soft. Oh,” she looked at her twin, “go get what we brought her.”
Jesse glanced over at his mother, “you brought Thera something?”
Joslin rolled her eyes, “of course we did. She’s going to love us.”
He smirked. “I’m sure she will.”
Jaide jumped out, leaving the door open, and held up a bag.
Jesse didn’t need to ask what it was, the bloody raw meat was easy enough for him to smell, even through the plastic. He looked down to see Thera knew what the offering they’d brought was as well. “Be polite.” He told her.
“Girls, offer it to her, then leave her be while she eats it.” His father warned.
Jesse heard the trailer door open and turned to see Leah standing in the doorway. He smiled at her and went over. Holding out his hand, he grasped hers firmly when she placed it in his. He could tell by the look on her face, she was still, foggy as Evanna explained it, and not entirely sure what had brought her out. He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Evanna was afraid she was too rough around the edges to meet my family.”
With a startled expression in her eyes, she looked up at him. “That explains it. Her forcing me out is not normal.”
He grinned, “she was freaking out.” Putting his arm around her, he glanced at his folks. The girls were standing with them now, looking like perfect children. He smirked, knowing that was a lie. “Come on.”
After another unsure look up at him, she nodded her head slightly.
He stopped so there were five feet between them, trying not to make her too uncomfortable. He motioned to his sister’s, “this is Joslin and Jaide.”
Leah gave them a hesitant smile. “It’s nice to meet you.” She looked from one to the other, “you really are almost identical.”
“See,” Joslin looked at Jaide, “I told you there were differences.”
“Girls now is not the time for that discussion.” His mother issued them a warned look and then smiled at Leah. “I’m Jesse’s mom, Joanie,” she held out her hand.
Jesse moved with Leah, staying close to her side, so she’d know he was there if she needed him. She took his mother’s hand and shook it slightly.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs. Pruitt.”
“Oh, please, Joan or Joanie is fine.”
“Jasper,” His dad didn’t hold out his hand or move toward her. “We’re glad you’re here.”
“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you.” She leaned into Jesse’s arm and wrapped her hand around it.
Jesse could feel the tension in her grip.
“Oh, we brought you something.” Joslin spun around and went back to the open door.
“It’s not new,” Jaide explained, “but we don’t need it anymore because the Alliance gave us new laptops for our schooling.”
Joslin came rushing back and held out a tablet. “The case was all covered in stickers, so we took that off.” She looked at Jesse, “you can get her a new case, right?”
Jesse nodded.
Leah took the tablet and looked at it. “Thank you.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
He leaned down, “it’s a tablet, like my laptop, only no keyboard.”
“Oh.” She looked at it again, “Oh, thank you.”
“We loaded it with movies, so you have something to do when Jesse is mumbling over his laptop with work stuff.” Joslin grinned at him.
Leah smiled shyly, “thank you.”
Jesse gave them a look then grinned at his mother.
“You will,” Leah cleared her throat softly, “you will have to show me how to work it? So, I can watch the movies.” She looked from Jaide to Joslin.
“Yeah.” Joslin nodded, “sure.”
“We can sit over here and do it.” Jaide went over toward the foundation of the house.
“Okay.” Leah looked up at him, he could see she was working hard to stay calm. He gave her a slight nod.
With slow steps, she clutched the tablet against her jacket and went over to where the girls already were.
“She’ll be fine.” His mother said softly.
Jesse moved, so he could keep an eye on Leah and talk to his parents at the same time.
“She’s lovely.” His mother smiled at him.
“Evanna thought you should meet Leah first.” He told her in a hushed voice.
“Is that normal? To switch like that?”
He blew out a breath, “I have no idea.” Jesse motioned to Thera, “how do you feel about cat sitting?”
His father gave him an astonished look.
“Leah, well Evanna really, will be going with me on some retrieval runs and I don’t think Thera will blend in while we’re in the city.”
“I suppose, if the creature agrees, we could.” His father said with a smirk.
“I’m going to talk to Leah about it and see what she thinks. If she won’t stay with you, I’m not sure what we’re going to do with her.”
“When?”
He looked at his mother, “the next few days. We have several locations now to go into.”
His mother covered her mouth for a moment, then nodded, “we’ll get something set up for her. It will give your sisters something to do, they miss school and their friends.”
Jesse nodded slowly, “it’s going to be that way for a while, Mom, no school.”
“What’s going on?” His dad crossed his arms over his chest, no longer in father mode, but in sub-leader frame of mind. “We’ve been getting calls from different divisions in the Alliance all of a sudden.”
Jesse watched Leah for a moment, leaving it up to his sisters to have her feeling comfortable and smiling. He continued to watch while he spoke. “Someone in the Alliance or close enough ties to get information is feeding it to Aiden Tomas.” His mother’s gasp had him look back to his parents.
“That explains Deshon telling me to watch out for anyone acting out of character.” His dad ran his hand along his jaw. “Do they have any idea who?”
“How do you know this?” His mother’s eyes were filled with worry.
“We,” he smirked, “actually, Thera and Evanna caught one of Tomas’ shifters on Blair’s land. A jackal,” he looked at his father, “the Alliance doesn’t have any clans of the type,” his father tilted his head, giving Jesse his undivided attention, “we got the information out of him.” He decided not to give details to protect everyone.
“I’m assuming we’re not to share this information with anyone.”
He nodded, glancing briefly back to Leah, “I’m sure Shepard will share when the time is right.”
“That makes what you’re doing more dangerous.” His mom touched his arm.
Jesse put his hand over hers, “we’re adjusting plans and protocol to compensate for that, Mom. We’ve got a good team put together too,” he smirked, “Calum is on it.”
“Oh,” she grinned, “well, I guess having him watch your back, is the best we could hope for.”
Grinning, Jesse watched his sisters for a moment. “Leah’s entire clan was gone, most Tomas took.” He turned to his dad, “if we find some of them, I’m going to bring them to you.”
The amused look faded on both his parent’s faces. His father nodded, “we’ve been building a dorm building, in preparation since the Alliance sent out notices that many of our kind were being rescued.”
Jesse nodded, “that’s good.” He paused, “also probably how the traitor got the information as well.” He rolled his shoulders, trying to keep the rising tension from setting in, “some of them that we get out will never have even known clan life,” he motioned to Leah, “she got out and back to find only a few elders left in hers, so she doesn’t understand much of how a clan works.”
His mother leaned against his shoulder, “we’ll help, in any way we can.”
“Now I know why you look like you haven’t slept in weeks.” His father now stood on the other side of him, “that’s a lot to deal with and finding your mate as well.”
“It’s been eventful.” Jesse mused quietly. “Blair, you remember him?” His father nodded, “he went in to transport remaining members of a clan, nine females,” his father’s eyes went wide, “one was his mate, he’s the new Alpha of a clan now.”
“Jesus.” His father blew out a breath, “and I was complaining about having to rearrange the common house for this online schooling.” He smirked at him, “I think you young guys have it a bit worse.”
Jesse laughed, “maybe.” Leah looked over at him, her look assessing all was well, she offered him a small smile and then looked back to what Joslin was saying.
“Are you able to,” his mom glanced over at the girls for a second, before giving him a concerned look, “are you able to proceed with a normal mating?”
Jesse tried not to smirk at her and failed, he nodded slowly, “it’s a little more complicated, but from what I’ve been told it will actually help her and Evanna stabilize a bit.”
“Oh, that’s good.” She didn’t look relieved, “I’ve been reading a lot about it,” she lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug, “I suppose it’s good that it’s only two of them.”
Jesse nodded, “yeah, the biggest struggle has been getting control of their cat.” He glanced to his father, “she came out when they were sixteen,” he turned to look back to Leah, “when they escaped from Tomas.”
“Oh my goodness.” His mother’s eyes glistened with tears. “She’s so strong,” she whispered.
“Yeah, she is, but doesn’t think so.” He cleared his throat, “I’m hoping to find her mother at one of the locations, and her sister.” He thought of the information Noah had told him regarding Ashtyn, “there’s a lot of children involved too.”
“Well,” his mother’s tone was harder now, “any you bring to us will be looked after, you know that.”
“I know.” He smiled down at her.
“Hug your boy, Mother, we’ll drag the girls out of here so they can have some quiet.” His father gripped Jesse’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You keep in touch when you can.”
“You know I will.” His mom leaned into him and wrapped her arms around him.
“You be careful, Jesse.”
Dropping a kiss on the top of her head, he hugged her back. “I always am.”
“Girls.” His dad stepped back over to stand in front of their SUV, “we have to get going. You have classes soon.”
Reluctantly, they got up and came back toward them. Leah followed and went straight to Jesse to stand beside him.
His mom gave her one of those caring, motherly looks. “It was lovely to meet you.” She smiled, “you get my number from Jesse and if you have any questions about anything, you call me.”
Leah nodded, her face a little flushed, “thank you.”
Jesse could feel the anxiety pouring off her and put his arm around her and hugged her against him. “We’ll see you in a few days.”
They stood together and watched them go down the hill. “That wasn’t too bad.” Jesse looked down at her, she was hugging the tablet still.
“Your sisters are so,” she smiled up at him, “energetic.”
Jesse laughed, “that’s one way to put it.” He jerked his chin toward the tablet, “do I want to know what movies they loaded up for you?”
“Oh, they said you wouldn’t enjoy them at all.” She smiled, “they’re chic flicks.” She enunciated carefully.
He snorted, “Oh great, that’s just what I need playing in the background.” Pulling out his phone, he checked the time. “We have time for a run before the doctor’s session.”
“Oh,” she nodded, “I’d enjoy that.” She smiled, “I’ve never felt Minn this calm and wouldn’t mind running when I’m not scared she’ll take over.”
Jesse hugged her and turned to walk them to the trailer, “you guys are doing great, learning to work with her.”
“It’s different.” She said quietly. “So much is different.”
When she looked up at him, he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. There was something there though, the way she was looking at him had changed, she wasn’t as apprehensive as she’d been before. Whatever they were doing with the doctor and communicating back and forth must be helping. He could only hope that the changes continued in a positive way. His cat reminded him he’d said run and was more than ready to go for one. “We’ll talk about everything after a run.” He glanced at the sky, “I think we’re going to see snow by tonight, so I just want to go over where they marked the areas for the fence.”
She stepped into the trailer, “there’s probably already snow on the mountain.”
He paused and looked at the forlorn expression on her face. “When things have settled down, and we know it’s safe, we’ll go back there and visit.” He grimaced, “after winter, I don’t even want to think about the trek up that mountain in the snow.”
She grinned, “it’s quite a chore.”
“I have no doubt.” He dropped a quick kiss on her mouth and then backed away. “I’m going out to shift, come out when you’re ready.” He turned and left quickly, knowing if she started stripping in front of him it was going to try his restraint. He didn’t know if she was as comfortable with her body as Evanna was, but after the last painful shift, he wasn’t sticking around to find out.