Chapter Two - Mason

My wolf had been right. I’d spent the entire night fighting him. The urge to come to the Lowery’s estate had been hard on his mind for over twenty-four hours. Now I knew why. Her. Jacob’s cousin Jessica. It’d been Hell working at my grandmother’s bookstore for the morning shift. He’d clawed and pleaded with me to leave. However, my Gran was close with Mrs. Lowery and I told her I would watch the store while she attended the funeral. I didn’t like them anyway. There was enough sadness in the world to go see someone being laid to rest. Now I was sitting across the table with her, my fingers curled into a fist against my thigh. My wolf wanted her. Even after spending the morning crying, her eyes puffy with half-moon shadows underneath each one, she was beautiful. Her light blue eyes were curious and kind. The dark color of her auburn hair reminded me of younger pictures that I’d seen of Mrs. Lowery. Even the feminine heart shape of her face made him hot. It made me hot. There was nothing about her that I didn't find appealing. It was a consuming pressure in my chest that grew heavier by the minute. “I can’t live here, Aunt Tasha. I just graduated. I have interviews next week. Where would I work? Tasha was known to hold grudges. Believe me, I knew. Once I broke one of her flower pots and she was short with me for an entire week afterwards. Tasha sat back in her seat. “I understand, sweetie, but Momma wanted you to have it. She was dead set on you at least trying it. You can write online, can’t you?” Jessica continued to push her food around her plate. “Maybe…but, I want to live in Denver. This house is too big for me. I can’t afford to keep it up. It's spooky out here by myself." “I’ll help you,” she said, reaching over to touch her hand. “The will asks that you give it a chance for one year. You could write for a year, and if you don’t like it, you can move back.” My wolf could sense her unease. I didn’t know her but I wanted to console her, even if it meant telling her to go with her gut. Seth leaned over and bumped his shoulder into hers. Fire erupted underneath my skin. I didn’t like him sitting next to her or touching her. My fingers tightened into my fists making my palm scream out in pain. It was the start of shifting all over again. That unimaginable anger that every wolf goes through when they are close to shifting. However, this time I wanted to rip Seth’s head clean off his shoulders. “We aren’t that bad, Jessica. I know the town is small but we find plenty to do," he said. Jessica smiled softly at him. “I dunno. Maybe. I’ll think about it tonight. Either way, I have to go back to Denver to get my clothes.” Tasha nodded though I noticed the irritation in her features. She loved her mother’s house, like Jacob did but Mrs. Lowery had been adamant from what I’d been told for Jessica to inherit it. “Please think about it,” Tasha said. Jessica looked up at Tasha and her gaze slid to mine. Did she have the same feeling that I did? Was it mutual? Those light eyes felt like a heating lamp being pointed at my skin. Unable to stop my wolf, I smiled at her and a feverish blush blossomed under her cheeks. “Can I talk to you outside?” Jacob said, standing suddenly. I looked up, realizing he was speaking to me, and lifted both eyebrows. Slowly, I stood up to his height and gave him a daring gaze. He stalked out of the house and I followed him. He pushed open the old wood door and took several steps before turning to me. “What’s the matter with you?” I interlaced my fingers against the back of my head and shrugged. “What are you talking about?” He tilted his head and gave me a look. “You’re wolf is on edge. What has you so wound up? Did you see something on your way here? Another spotting?" I ran my palm down my face. It wasn’t the time, if it ever would be, to tell him my wolf was reacting to Jessica. “No, I don’t know what’s going on with him today.” Jacob didn’t believe it for one second. “Fine. Tell me when you feel like it. Don’t forget we have patrol duty tonight. We need to keep an extra close eye out for Jessica. I don’t want there to be any way she doesn’t take this house. Grandma wanted her to have it and I think having her here to take over would be a good idea.” Me, too, my wolf said. He didn’t speak too often. Being he was a giant dickhead at times, and only talked when he felt like it. “Do you think she’ll move here? There is nothing here.” Jacob shrugged. “We enjoy it enough.” “Yeah, because we don’t know anything different. She’s lived somewhere else for most of her life.” Jacob sighed heavily. “I’m being optimistic for my mother’s sake. She doesn’t want to take care of this and be reminded of her mother every day. Maybe we could invite her to go mud riding today. Something to show her a different side of the town?” The thought of spending any extra time with her sounded exciting. “Are you sure she’ll be up for it after the funeral?” “Let’s go find out,” he said. We walked back into the house. My wolf was vibrating with excitement. He was thinking of ways to get her on the back of my four-wheeler. When we got back inside, Jessica had her foot on the seat of her chair and was resting her cheek against her knee. “Hey, Jess,” Jacob said. “Why don’t you come four-wheeler riding with us? It’ll lighten the mood and we can show you around town.” Jessica looked up. “That sounds fun. I could use some of that.” Tasha clapped her hand as if she understood our motive. “That’s a great idea. You kids go reminisce in your childhood and I’ll clean up everything in here.” Jessica stood up slowly and tugged at her black dress. “I’ll go get changed.” She disappeared into one of the many guestrooms leaving us alone. Tasha began to gather dishes and walked toward the kitchen. My wolf’s attention drew me to Seth. He seemed too interested in the way she walked. Jacob and I had been friends since birth. We lived just down the road from one another. When we found out about our family's lineage and how they were protectors of our town, it only brought us closer. Seth, Liam, and Aaron came into our friendship circle later. We had an inseparable, brotherly bond. Or so I thought. I couldn’t think of anything other than smacking the smirk off Seth’s face at the moment. “So, I’m just going to say it,” Seth said, lifting his arms playfully. “Is your cousin single?” Jacob scoffed. “Leave her alone. I mean it. She doesn’t need to find out about us, because she’ll be on the first plane out of here if she does.” Seth rolled his eyes. “Come on, you know how popular those werewolf romances are. I can imagine it going completely differently—” “Didn’t he just say to drop it?” I asked. Seth’s dark gaze moved to mine. “Wow, touchy are we? Both of you need to chill the hell out. I’m not going to force myself on the girl. I just think she’s attractive.” Aaron slung his arm around Seth’s shoulder and tugged at him playfully. “We all know who needs to get laid, don’t we?” Aaron was the nonchalant, peacemaker of the bunch. He’d been star quarterback in high school and pulled every girl within a two-mile radius. Seth was the class clown who thought he was funnier than he actually was. “Maybe if Mason and Jacob would loosen the reigns a bit and let us enjoy a night out, we wouldn’t be wound so tight,” Liam said, grabbing his over-the-shoulder bag. Liam was in college, wanting to start a welding company out of our town. He’s always been the studious one that we knew would make a bad thing good. “Cool it, all of you. We all know why it’s important to stay on our toes. Especially you, Seth. You are the one who saw it.” He claimed to have seen another beast in the woods that wasn't one of us. We'd all been on our toes since he claimed to have seen it. There hadn't been another wolf or supernatural wander through our town in years. Seth sighed. “I know. I know. I would just enjoy a break. I would love a cold one from the tap at Maurice’s.” Jacob mumbled under his breath. “We’ll make a point to go soon.” Seth pursed his lips as Jessica came around the corner. She’d changed into a University of Denver sweatshirt and cut-off blue jeans. My blood ran hot at the sight of her. She’d tied her auburn hair into a bun on top of her head and glanced down at her tennis shoes. “I didn’t bring any boots, and you’re lucky I brought these for the flight home.” “You look fine. Come on. My four-wheeler is at Mom’s house," Jacob said. Jessica eyed us but didn’t look for too long. She followed Jacob out of the door and her scent flooded me with a heat that ran bone-deep. Seth and Aaron chatted amongst themselves as I swallowed the need to touch her. Maybe one touch would cool my wolf's need. Liam caught my gaze and lifted a dark eyebrow at me. I ignored his stare and walked out of the house with my wolf running circles inside of me.