Jason glanced down at his phone as he left the men's room, a smile breaking over his face when he saw Maria had called and left a message. He'd never really thought he would find a mate, but now that he had he felt content. This last week and a half had been more incredible than he'd ever imagined possible.
He'd always been a bit of a restless loner, probably a reflection of his beast, but being around his mate settled him. I finally feel like I'm home, he realized, blinking in surprise, Ma will be thrilled, he thought wryly.
His mother seemed to want nothing more in life than for him to settle down like his sister and give her grandkids. I know since Da passed, it's become even more important to her, but I have always refused to settle for anything less than a true mate.
"Hasn't stopped her from trying to match-make us," his beast spoke up in distaste and he lifted his lip in revulsion.
"Tell me about it. Moving out of state was one of the best decisions we made, especially after that last one" he replied with a shudder while his beast growled in agreement. The last time he'd visited home, his Ma had arranged to surprise him with a guest at dinner.
He'd treated her politely, but he'd made his disinterest clear. The girl wouldn't take no for an answer, though, and it had been the longest dinner of his life. The evening culminated with finding her nude in his bed.
"She's very fortunate I'm a patient creature," his beast growled, having followed his thoughts. "I know you wanted to do more than just throw her out. Your control was hanging by a thread after suffering through that dinner and if I were a wolf like the rest of the pack, that might have been enough to send us both over the edge."
He grunted in agreement. "I love Ma, but we both know she had to have been the one to let the girl back into the house, so it wasn't entirely the girl's fault."
"Maybe not, but she should have known better, especially since we do not, and never did, answer to her Alpha," his beast growled in contempt. "Being his cousin makes her trust in her supposed status too much. I would never choose such a spoiled child as a mate."
"And for that I am grateful," Jason replied with a shudder. "How much do you bet the Alpha had a hand in that whole fiasco. He probably pressured both the girl and Ma, not that Ma would have taken much convincing.
"She needs to butt out, and she really needs to cut the dramatics with the tears and grandchildren speech. If none of the shifter Alphas, male or female, could rule me, what makes her think her petty games would work?" his beast growled.
Jason snorted, his mother didn't realize just how thin a line she was treading with him. At the rate she was going, if he ever did have kids, he'd never bring them to see her so she wouldn't try to manipulate and impose on them too.
"You do realize we don't know if our mate wants kids," his beast commented offhandedly.
"Yep, and I honestly don't care one way or the other. I will be happy whatever she wants, and I won't pressure her just to make Ma happy," he replied firmly, happy to feel his beast settling down in content at his answer, glad that his beast didn't have a one track mind about procreating the way some shifter animals did. He smiled and thoughts of his tiny, dark eyed beauty filled his mind.
He'd been so frustrated being unable to approach her in Aion since he'd been working and couldn't abandon his post. Happiness and relief had flooded him when she'd finally worked up the courage to approach him. He was very grateful to the waitress, who'd caught his interest in Maria, subtle as it was, and done her best to help. He'd left her a very large tip as a thank you.
Had I been working for anyone but Michael Reece I would have just taken the risk that I wouldn't miss Hayes leaving the building. I owe that man more than just my loyalty, though, and even for my mate, I could not abandon the task he'd trusted to me. Even his contrary beast had grumpily agreed, and surprisingly didn't give him too much trouble about it. Of course that could be due to the fact that he knew Reece would help him track her down if necessary.
Hell, he'd probably have been able to do it in five minutes flat just looking up credit card transactions, especially since I knew everything she and her friend ordered every single night, he thought to himself with a grim smile. That was one of the reasons he was so good at tailing and tracking. He paid attention to, and memorized the tiniest details, retaining them with an ease that made his memory almost photographic.
Holding his phone up to his ear he listened to Maria's voicemail his smile growing wide. She'd suggested a night in with take out and movies and excitement coursed through him over the fact she was willing to do that after so few dates. It meant she was starting to trust him, and made him hopeful he'd be able to tell her about his other half soon. He sent a quick text back accepting the idea, since he didn't have time to call her.
"Things are likely to heat up, but you should avoid mating with her tonight, even though it's frustrating as hell," his beast spoke up to his surprise.
"Let me get this straight, you're in favor of abstinence? Really?"
"To get our mate's acceptance, yes. I've paid attention to humans and how they do things. You want her to trust us, then prove you want her, not just a bit of fun. Besides, the more want builds up, the more she will accept me as well as you when the time comes."
He shook his head at the cunning displayed by his other half, but then both of them had always been unusual, up to and including the fact that Michael Reece, a vampire, was chosen by his beast to be his Alpha. His beast, who had always felt mild contempt or flat out dislike for every Alpha he'd ever met, had taken once look at Reece and formed the Alpha bond. He wasn't certain which of them had been more surprised.
"How about this," he replied. "I will try to keep things from going too far, but if she makes the first moves, I don't want to reject her either. That would create even bigger problems."
He could feel his beast's acceptance and then the abrupt shift in attention signaling he was finished with the current topic. Jason took his security post back up from Hal who had covered for his lunch break, and settled into his usual stoic expression while thoughts of Maria filled his head. The end of his shift couldn't come fast enough.
*********************
Maria flew around her apartment, doing some last minute cleaning and making her bed before getting herself into the shower and dressed for Jason. His knock sounded just as she'd pulled some beer out of the fridge for both of them. She opened the door and he swept her into a one armed kiss, balancing the pizza box on his other hand.
She giggled, pulling him inside and shutting the door. An hour later they were seated on the floor, the empty pizza box and plates surrounding them while they made fun of a truly bad horror move. "Oh my God, the monster looks like a chicken! Forget the guns, get the fryer out!"
Jason laughed, "Or wait, maybe the barbeque!"
"As long as you're doing the cooking!" she replied with a teasing smile.
"On the other hand, maybe we should stick with the fryer."
"Sure, but you're officially on plucking duty," she shot back making him groan.
"Hey look, the jerk ex-boyfriend is back! Looks like prime monster fodder to me!" he commented with a laugh, going silent when he saw a brief flash of pain across her face.
"Maria?" he asked, reaching over to touch her shoulder, "are you okay?"
She looked up at him, and she couldn't hide the grief in her eyes. He pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. "Oh Angel, I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair, trying to give her as much comfort as he could while having no clue what the problem was, aside from it being something to do with an ex.
She buried her face in his neck and he felt the wetness of her tears, making him angry she'd been hurt her like this. He turned off the movie, rubbing slow circles on her back and gently rocked her while she cried, letting his tight embrace send the message that she was safe with him. Eventually she stopped crying and tried to pull away. He loosened his hold, but didn't release her, both him and his beast needing the contact.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled out, not meeting his eyes.
"Why?" he asked. "I'm happy you felt safe enough to cry in front of me. You have nothing to be sorry for."
She met his gaze in shock, seeing care and understanding in his green eyes. "Can you trust me enough to tell me about it?" he asked, knowing he might be pushing too far, but feeling the risk was worth trying.
"I... I" she stammered, her dark eyes showing a range of emotions. Finally she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Yes. Let me just get some water first."
He nodded, letting her stand up while he turned to pick up the empty pizza box and napkins. "Be right back, I'm just going to get rid of these," he told her, figuring he'd get rid of the trash for her while she got herself settled enough to talk.
Moments later he was back, and was surprised to find her standing in her kitchen staring off into space. "Hey, you okay?" he asked wrapping his arms around her again to break her out of her trance.
She jumped slightly before leaning back against him. "Yeah, sorry. Let's sit down," she replied in a soft, pain laden voice. He walked with her back to the couch, pulling her down to sit on his lap, her back resting against his chest while his arms slid over hers.
"Two years ago the last relationship I was in, ended," she started off softly. "His name was Kyle and we'd met in college and been dating for a few years. He was kind, funny and really sweet, and we were talking about getting married. He wanted to wait till he had saved enough money for a nice ring, though I didn't care," she trailed off a moment.
"He was in a band. Started off more as a side thing, but they were starting to make it big. I was so happy for him," she paused taking another deep breath, her voice shaky. "The more attention they got the more he was on the road and when he was home, he kept going to all these parties. He started changing. He'd get all worked up over every gig, and fly off the handle at the most random things. One day I caught him doing lines of coke, and then I knew why he was so different.
"I probably should have left then, but I he kept promising me he'd get off the stuff. It only got worse, though. We argued more and more and then I found needle marks on him. I got paranoid not only about the drug use, but that he might catch something or maybe already had," she said in a distant voice, rubbing her face for a moment.
Jason held her, rubbing her arms and nuzzling into her hair to comfort her. She grabbed one of his hands and laced her fingers through his before speaking again. "I stopped sleeping with him, afraid he might pass something on to me, but I still couldn't walk away from him. The verbal and mental abuse got worse, and even then I stayed. One night after a gig we got into another fight and he hit me backstage. All I could see in him was rage. No remorse, no shock, no horror that he'd raised his hand to me. That was when I realized the sweet, kind man I'd loved was gone," she nearly whispered the last part, and Jason was glad he had enhanced hearing.
"I finally left him. I went back to our place and packed a bag. Luce let me stay with her, and when she found out he'd hit me, was ready to go after him for revenge. Incidentally," she said, turning towards him with a sad half smile, "don't get in a fight with her, she's vicious."
"I'll remember that," he told her softly, tucking away the information for later. Right now he was keeping such a tight rein on his anger, that he couldn't process anything but her story.
She smiled before a haunted look filled her chocolate eyes. "The next morning I was woken up by a pair of officers knocking on Luce's door. After our fight Kyle shot up and got on his bike. He hit a tree going seventy and died on impact," she said, her voice trembling with barely contained emotion.
"Oh Angel," he softly rumbled while turning her to face him, part of him enjoying the feel of her lying over him. He gave her a soft kiss before staring intently into her eyes. "There's absolutely nothing you could have done to stop him. He was the only one that could make that choice. He never even tried getting himself into rehab, did he?"
Maria just shook her head, still struggling to keep her tears from falling. "That means he was choosing to stay on the drugs no matter what. You staying with him as long as you did probably slowed things down, so you did help him, but he had to be the one to choose to get off the drugs. Without that, nothing else can be done," he told her, and though she'd heard the words before in different forms from different people, somehow when he spoke them, she actually started to believe them. For the first time in years, she felt the crushing guilt ease up.
"You are so amazingly strong, Angel, I just don't even have the words," he told her, caressing her cheeks and hair. "Thank you for telling me," he whispered before gently kissing her, laying her down and wrapping himself around her. He was using his body to shield and protect her from the outside world, doing his best make her feel safe.
She cuddled up against him, taking comfort in his warmth and the odd rumbling sound that seemed to be coming from his chest. He feels like home, was her last thought before she drifted into an exhausted sleep, too emotionally spent to stay awake.
"Goodnight Angel," he whispered before following her into dreams.