Lauren resumes her seat and accepts her cup and saucer from her mate, her usual nonplussed expression back in place.
His Mama shakes her head and just serves Gideon and Leo tea as well, content to avoid causing conflict with too many questions. Leo has alwaysthought it was because she knew her wife would see to causing enough conflict for both of them.
They all sit in awkward silence, leaving Leo to wonder what he’s going to hear about first: his mate’s disappearing scent, the balustrade, the loud sex, or the sitting room—because he knows his moms know they were in there…they always know.
“Leo.”
Oh no, here we go.
“I very much enjoy your new mate. He’s perfect.”
What?
“Oh…Thank you, Mom.” Leo relaxes, and Gideon snorts, but he says nothing and just drinks his tea.
Leo smiles widely because, for once, they can’t disagree.
Nix isabsolutelyperfect.
Chapter Five: Jamie
“Well, I never,” Nix says with a huff. “Jamie, how could you be so rude? Those lovely people are your family. Your mate’s mothers; and I don’t know about you but I don’t have any family, and I do not want to alienate them.” Nix crosses his arms over his chest, pointedly looking anywhere but at Jamie.
Jamie takes a deep breath and regrets it immediately.
He can smell Leo, Lauren, and tinges of stale vanilla from Nix’s clothes, but Nix’s fresh scent is still blank, and it agitates his wolf like mad. “Nix, I’m sorry. Hey…do you think you could turn it back on again?” Jamie will not be ashamed of how that quaver in his voice makes it sound like he’s begging.
“Turn what on?” As he says it, he lifts his nose. “Sorry, that’s not fair, is it? I can smell you all smokey-and-sad, but you can’t smell me all burnt-cookies-and-mad.”
The flood of angry vanilla in the car makes Jamie swerve. “Shit. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s me who should be sorry. Do you think I could learn to do that on purpose?” Nix asks.
Jamie opens the window a little to let some fresh air in, and breathes a sigh of relief. Angry vanilla is better than no vanilla, but it’s a little too much in the small, enclosed space.
“I don’t know. But when you do it, every Were in the vicinity can tell. Until you can wear blockers, it’s going to be a dead giveaway that you’re extra special. Like, more than you would be by just being you.”
Nix gives him a small smile and reaches for Jamie’s hand.He’s so grateful Nix is quick to forgive because Jamie feels like he’s been scrambling to be on someone’s good side the last few days. Even his own.
“That’s what had Leo’s moms looking so curious when we left? Oh, geez. I guess Antonio hasn’t told them. I mean, I thought maybe he would, even if he’s not supposed to. It’s nice that I—we can trust him, right?” The surprise in Nix’s voice speak volumes.
He’d woken to find Luca sitting at the end of his bed, already dressed, expression tight.
Luca had beenworkingon forgiving him for his alpha bullshit, he’d said, but he needed to see Ruthie stat, or someone was going to die.
Jamie had understood immediately thatthat someonewas him.
Ruthie hadn’t been surprised to see Jamie, but shehadbeen surprised to hear he was the reason they were there. It hadn’t taken long for Luca to become irate, mocha scent causing the therapist’s nostrils to flare and leaving Jamie to try to temper down his own from a smoky blaze.
He hadn’t wanted to hear that his actions in the gym had shaken Luca’s trust in him. Jamie had been behaving in ways that were unpredictable and unfamiliar, and it was unsettling Luca’s equilibrium.
For the first time since they’d met, Luca couldn’t trust that Jamie was thinking about the pack—about Luca—and not about himself.
He had spent too many years with an alpha who thought he knew best for Luca. And now Jamie was doing the same damn thing.
When Ruthie asked how that made him feel, Jamie had beenfurious.
“What a stupid fucking question,” he’d snapped at her.
