CHAPTER 21
Laura Evans busied herself with putting the last minute touches on dinner. Jordan should be here any moment. When they first started going out Jordan told her the truth of who and what he was. Laura had known about her husband being a Hunter and took the information about her current love interest being a werewolf in stride. She did ask how he felt knowing that her husband had been a were hunter. Jordan had explained that while they were leery of Hunters and were completely unwelcoming of human hunters. Natural Born Hunters only stepped in when humans were being threatened. Even then Hunters were usually respectful and asked for assistance but even with good relations Hunters and supernaturals still avoided contact.
Work kept Laura busy but coming home at night was lonely even when Tracy had been around. She enjoyed Roger's company but having someone to be there for her physically and emotionally was absolutely wonderful. After Frank died, she never thought about being with anyone again. In fact she had resigned herself to it but then Jordan stepped in and suddenly part of her heart felt restored.
A light knock sounded before the front door opened. Jordan came in and greeted her as he enveloped her in a warm hug. Roger came in to the kitchen and they sat and ate. After dinner, Jordan asked Laura if she would like to take a walk.
"You two go ahead. I've got the dishes." Roger said while gathering the plates.
"Thanks Roger." Laura said as she grabbed her coat.
Holding hands they walked through woods enjoying the crisp weather. Laura sensed that something was bothering him but not wanting to pressure him into talking she asked about Tracy.
Jordan smiled briefly, "She surprised all of us. We weren't expecting her to be able to take down a wolf by herself."
"You mean Vera?" Laura asked.
Jordan stopped walking, shocked that Laura knew.
Laura chuckled, "Tracy and I talk almost every night. She told me that Carla wasn't comfortable around the rest of the pack and that they were training in secret."
Jordan sighed, another blame to lay at his door. After all, he never made the effort to introduce her to the pack a year and a half ago nor did he try to talk to her. She walked in, scared and alone after having just lost both parents and her home and all he had done was ignored her because of a grudge he held against her father. A grudge that he had no claim to.
"Are you still with me?" Laura asked gently.
Jordan smiled at his beautiful mate, "I'll always be with you as long as you let me."
Laura smiled happily, squeezing the arm she held affectionately.
"Let's go back in and get you warmed up." Jordan said as they headed back in.
Walking into the house, they saw that Roger had already gone to bed. The only light was from the small fire in the fireplace which casts deep shadows in the dark room. The quiet was broken only by the occasional pop and crack of a burning log. Jordan sat on the couch in front of the warm heat, watching the flicker and dance of the orange flames. Laura handed him a glass of warm mule wine before settling next to him.
"My father had sex with a girl at a college party before he met my mother. The girl, Melissa, got pregnant and gave my father a son. My father had planned to marry her for the sake of their child but she had found her mate and married him instead. My half brother, Jackson, was raised by my father.
My father found and married his mate, my mother. She was jealous of the fact that father hadn't waited for her to come along and that she wasn't the one to give him his first child.
She wanted to send Jackson away but my father wouldn't allow it since he had bonded with his son. When I came along I was always aware of my mother's dislike and became resentful when my father would spend so much time with Jackson. Jackson was always nice to me and polite to my mother but that just made her hate him more. Her hatred eventually became mine."
Jordan ran his fingers through his hair, gripping hard, as old memories and old hurts broke through. Ashamed, he remembered all the times he and his mother had bullied and wronged his half brother. Laura sat quietly, waiting for him to continue. After a minute, Jordan continued, shame and sadness evident in his tone, "Jackson had just finished with college and I had just finished with high school so my father wanted to have a duel graduation party for us. He hid away from my mother's bitterness for most of it and my mother refused to have anything to do with the celebration.
I was acting like a selfish child and resented having to share a party. I refused to do much more than drink and bitch to my friends about my half brother ruining my life. As the evening grew later and most everyone was drunk, I overheard Jackson tell his friends that he found his mate and that she was sleeping off the alcohol effects upstairs."
Jordan's face crumpled, tears flowed, and he moaned in agony. Hating to see him in such distress, Laura hugged him and rubbed his back soothingly.
"It's all my fault!" he cried.
"What happened?" Laura asked gently knowing that he had to get this off his chest.
"That night I went upstairs to Jackson's room and saw a girl wrapped up in his blankets. I got into the bed next to her and rubbed my scent all over her while she slept, dead to the world. I then made it seem like I had sex with her. I even pulled dress up to her chest just above the blankets covering her. I laid on the bed with my shirt off and waited.
He came up a few minutes later and for the first time ever, I saw him angry. It was terrifying. Through all the insults and pain my mother and I caused, I've never seen him angry but in that moment I was scared."
Jordan remembered it clearly,
His roar was so loud it woke the girl and she jumped up frightened. Jackson rushed forward his fist lashing out against Jordan's body. Every time Jordan started to fade from consciousness and another punch would knock him back to awareness.
He wasn't sure how long Jackson beat on him but suddenly he stopped. Jordan looked up and saw that Jackson's eyes were no longer on him but on the petite girl wearing a coral lace dress. Her chocolate eyes were full of so many emotions, fear, joy, and love.
^ Jackson's Mate ^
"Mate." she whispered. Jackson stands slowly letting go of his half brother's beaten body as he walked towards her.
"NO!" Jackson suddenly roared making them both flinch, he grabs the poor innocent girl by the neck, "You're a filthy whore and I reject you."
The girl's eyes flooded with tears. Jackson shoved her away and she stumbles backwards over a chair, tripping, she falls out of the third story window. Her scream cut abruptly off by a sickening crack.
Jackson jumps out of the window after her breaking his leg on the pavement below. He crawled to his mate's broken lifeless body and held her close while howling his agony to the moon. He constantly sobbed begging her to come back. Not to leave him alone.
Jordan sobs in Laura's arms, "It's all my fault and instead of making things right, I hid like a coward letting him take the blame. I even allowed my mother to convince me that I was the victim. I just wanted the respect and strength that Jackson had. I was so blinded by the fact that my father was so closely bonded to him that I refused to believe anything but my mother's poison."
Jordan's shoulders shook uncontrollably, "When Carla arrived I didn't want to even look directly at her because I was sure I would see her father. I didn't want to remember, so I ignored her even when I could have raised her rank, and prevented her from being bullied."
"What are you going to do now?" Laura asked.
Jordan swallowed the lump in his throat, he sucked in as much air into his lungs as the tightness in his chest would allow.
"I can't fix the wrong that I've done but I'm going to do everything possible to make sure my niece is taken care of." sighing he continued, "And then I'm going to have to take a trip."