Jezebel's Lion (16 page)

“I knew about shifters and the creatures, and I took
you two without protection.” Travis’s sad gaze caught hers. “They told me they
could sever the mate bond. You were covered in my scent. The boogiemen were
supposed to change that to the scent and person you would want.” Tears slid
down Travis’s cheek, but Jess felt no sympathy for him. “I almost killed us
all. All because I figured out I wanted something after it was too late. I’ve
had years to act.” Travis shook his head. “Well anyway, if I hadn’t caused all
this I would have had a very small dose of shifter blood every day for a week,
but when they found out what I’d done, I’ve have been cut back.” Travis
grimaced. “Brandon came to see me after he dropped you home.” Jezebel snapped
her gaze back so she could look into his eyes at the mention of Brandon. “He
came to talk to me. My room and bed smelt of you. I’m lucky Mac and Carter were
here to hold him back. He went crazy and turned to a lion. When he calmed,
Brandon turned back, and we chatted. I’m being punished further for provoking a
shifter and attempting to take a mate away.” Travis gazed back at her, and for
the first time she saw longing there. “What I did if I was a shifter is a death
sentence, but Brandon stood up for me and said it would upset you if anything
happened to me and he never wants you unhappy.”

Oh God.
Jess’s
heart sank, and she couldn’t stop the tear that slid down her cheek. She felt
numb all over even as her heart broke and her mind screamed at her for feeling
the way she did over someone who had betrayed her. A sob escaped her lips, and
she covered her mouth. Anger started to seep through her overcoming the
numbness. “You took me to the boogiemen lair. You called me Jell-O Jezebel. You
didn’t want to want me because I’m not like all the perfect shifter women around
us.” Travis didn’t say anything, but she knew. He’d said it. She wiped her eyes
and straightened her back. Travis didn’t love her. She had someone who loved
her, Brandon. He would give her the stars and the moon if he could. She’d only
been with him for a short time, but she knew from every action that he loved
her. He’d known what Travis had done, and instead of telling her and getting
her to turn on her friend so she’d spend more time with him, he’d spoken on his
behalf and saved him from further punishment because he knew it would make her
unhappy.

Glaring at Travis she snarled, “I know what love is,
and you don’t love me. You never did. If you did it wouldn’t have mattered what
I looked like or what people thought. You put not only me but Zeck in danger
because of your selfishness. To think I chose to stay with you today over the
people who do love me. I’m not Jell-O Jezebel. I’m not the girl with only two
friends anymore.” She narrowed her eyes on Travis not letting him see her pain.
“I am Jezebel Pride. Or I will be.”

With that she turned and stormed out of Travis’s
room. Jess was surprised to see Brandon standing by the open door with a huge
grin on his face that had his dimples popping and his eyes shining in satisfaction.
As soon as he saw her staring he tried to conceal his face in a blank mask, but
he still looked like a grinning loon.

“Take me home.”

Brandon nodded.
“Anything for you,
Jezebel Pride.”

 
Jess walked
down the stairs and out of Travis’s parents’ house. They both got into his car,
and he drove away in the direction of his house. Her father could drive her
mother to come and get her car later.
 

“I’ll take you to my place. I have a feeling you’ll
want some alone time.”

In that moment Jess realized she loved Brandon. He
had been everything she could dream of for a lifetime mate and more, patient,
committed, understanding, just to name a few. Brandon had even given into her
parents’ demands. Family was clearly everything to him.
Even
hers.
A sudden thought popped into her head. Was it possible? Had he truly
seen her reaction to her brothers’ thoughtlessness and done something about it?
Ha
. Of course he did. Everything he
had ever done was to protect her, even from the horrible truth. Brandon was a
good man. If he could protect Travis from his own mistakes, then he would no
doubt do anything for her.
His mate.
Everything he
did, he did for her.

“You called them, didn’t you?”

“Called who?” Brandon didn’t take his eyes from the
road.

“My brothers.
You
called them to tell them not to bring a girlfriend.”

He shrugged. “Your mother mentioned something. I
just thought I’d call and see if they were bringing anyone to have lunch at my
parents.”

Her heart leaped at what he’d done for her, at
everything he’d done for her. She sat quiet for a while, her love for the man
beside
her exploding through her. How’d she get so lucky? “I
don’t deserve you.”

Brandon pulled into his street. He didn’t say
anything just shook his head. He drove down to his house and pressed his garage
remote and drove in. He parked and got out of the car and came around to her
side and opened her door. Brandon gathered her into his arms and walked into
his house and sat with her in his lounge room.

“Don’t ever say that again. You, Jezebel, deserve
only the very best. I’m not perfect, but for you I’ll try damn hard.”

“I love you.”
Crap
.
She hadn’t meant to blurt it like that. Jess stared up into his big dark green
eyes, reached up, and stroked his cheek. “I love you, Brandon Pride. How could
I not? You strip naked in front of my parents, for God’s sake, just to change
into a lion and show them what you are. You saved my friends even when they are
causing trouble. You talk to my brothers. You go to dinner with my parents. You
massage my feet and give in to my demands of being wooed. You do everything you
can to make me happy. I know I’m the luckiest girl to have you. I love
you.”
  

****

Brandon felt like his heart would burst out of his
chest at Jezebel’s declaration of love. He loved her, had almost from the
minute he saw her. “Oh Jezebel, you have no idea, do you? I’m the lucky one.
I’ve loved you from day one. I don’t know anyone as loyal and loving as you. I
mean it was your birthday, and you came over to comfort Sasha. You never got
angry at your friends for forgetting your birthday. You’ve always made sure to
make time for your friends. You, Jezebel, have put up with years of discomfort
when your brothers come home with girlfriends that were nasty and
disrespectful, so they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. You keep quiet to keep the
peace. My God, you didn’t even complain when that bitch we saw at the movies
called you those names.”

“I’ve demanded a lot from you when you do so much
saving us all from the creatures,” she whispered.

“You deserve everything you asked for and more,
Jezebel. I should have wooed you. Not mated you and expect you to fall in line
with everything. Learning shifters exist is a lot to take in, but to learn the
way you did was even worse. You got bombarded with everything.” He cupped her
face. “I love you, Jezebel Pride. I will make sure your life is perfect, how it
deserves to be.”
     

 
Jezebel moved
to straddle his lap. Her fingers came up, and she stroked his cheek.
“You silly lion.
Things won’t always be perfect, but as long
as we can work through it, we’ll be okay.”

He grinned as her voice turned sultry and her
fingers trailed down his body. “Oh? And how do we work through things?” His
body was growing hard, and he was eager for his mate.

She smiled coyly. “I’ve got a few ideas you may just
be amenable to…”

He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. “Do
tell, sweetheart.”

“Tell you what,” she said, easing from him and
standing before him. “If you can reach me before I make it to the bedroom, I
may just share my ideas.”

They both knew she didn’t stand a chance of beating
him, but that wasn’t the point. He laughed as she ran towards their bedroom
flinging her clothes to the ground as she wiggled and jumped out of them in her
awkward run. Smiling, he stood and went after his mate eager to work through a
lot of things.

Epilogue

Brandon sat across from Jezebel’s father. They were
in a staring match. Brandon knew he was going to have to let the man win.
Sighing he turned his head away. “I’ve come here today to ask you an important
question.” Brandon looked back up and caught his gaze. “I would like the honor
of marrying your daughter.”

“Why? She already lives with you, and from what you
told us about you shifters she is already more than what marriage is to you.”

“Yes, she means more than anything to me. The mate
bond is stronger and more powerful than any human marriage. But I want to make
your daughter happy. She wants a human wedding, with you walking her down the
aisle and a white dress.
 
I will do
anything for her to make her happy.”

Jezebel’s father nodded. “What about her schooling?”

“What about it? She will finish and go to college.
She was going to the local one, and I won’t stop her.
 
Anything she wants, I want to give it to
her.”
 

“You’re going to spoil her, aren’t you?”

Brandon didn’t even hesitate to answer. “Yes.”

“Good. My baby girl deserves to be spoiled. I look
forward to seeing her in her white dress.”

Brandon smiled and stood. He had a lot to do to get
ready for what he had prepared.

****

The park was filled to the brim as everyone waited
for the countdown to the New Year to begin. All her family and friends were
around laughing and talking.

It had been a crazy couple of weeks. She’d moved in
with Brandon, and she loved it. She fell more in love with him every day.
Jess’s whole life had changed, and she knew without a doubt it was for the
better. After everything that happened with Travis, Jess cut him out of her
life. She didn’t need people like him. She saw Zeck very rarely, but even he
didn’t have anything to do with Travis. Jess’s life now was with Brandon.
 
She had been spending more time hanging out
with Britney, Sasha, and Mac. A couple of their friends came over and joined
their little group, and Jess now had some great friends.
 
She’d started college next year and was
really looking forward to it. Her life was better than anything she could have
imagined.

“Quick, hide me.” Jess smiled as Britney ducked down
low.

“Who are you hiding from?” Jess knew, but she loved
niggling at Britney.

Jess bit her lip as Britney glared up at her. “You
know who. I turn eighteen in a couple of minutes, and the bossy dog hasn’t left
my side.” She sighed. “I’ve tried begging him to give me more time, but he says
he waited too long. That if he doesn’t claim me soon the next time Mac come
home with my scent on him he’d kill him. I still don’t think he’s even my mate.
Surely I’m not that unlucky. I mean, Carter is an overbearing, way too good
looking for his own good, Alpha Jerk. I have way too much of that around me as
it is.”

Jess giggled. She knew Carter wouldn’t appreciate
Britney calling him a dog or thinking fate was being a bitch giving her Carter
as a mate.
“Have you rolled up a newspaper and whacked him on
the nose and told him, no, to leave you alone?”

“Ha-ha, very funny. Laugh it up. I came over here
for some sympathy, and what do I get?” Britney shook her head and squealed as
Carter grabbed her by the waist and dragged her to the other wolves.

“Woman, come ring the New Year in with your mate.”

Jess laughed as Britney squirmed in Carter’s arms
and cried out, “No way, buddy, I’m not your mate. Fate isn’t that cruel.”

Arms circled around Jezebel’s waist, and feather
light kisses trailed up her neck. “Now that she’s gone we can ring in the New
Year just the two of us.”

Jess turned and rolled her eyes as she looked up at
Brandon. “We are not alone. There are thousands of people around us.”

Brandon shook his head. “I only see one person.”

The counting sounded around them. “Ten, nine, eight,
seven
…”

Jess’s heart melted at his sweet words. God, she
loved this man so much.

“Three, two, one.”
As
one was said she went up on her tiptoes to kiss Brandon only for him to drop to
one knee. She gasped and looked around to see all her family and friends
weren’t hugging and kissing each other. Some held a letter, and others held streamers
and balloons. The letters spelled, “Jezebel
Dibson
,
will you marry me?”

Jess looked down at the man on his knee with a
yellow sapphire and diamond ring held up to her. She threw herself at him.
“Yes, yes. Brandon, I love you.”

They toppled to the ground, and everyone laughed
around them. Jess loved Brandon more every day. He showered her with affection
and love and was never ashamed of her. He gladly showed the whole world she was
his.

Jezebel felt her heart burst with joy as Brandon
slipped the ring on her finger, and his mouth took hers in a kiss that spoke of
love, passion, and happiness.