Chapter 287

“No, skip this one,” I murmur a little later when I’m curled up next to Jesse in the nook, freshly showered and finally eating my dinner. “It’s too sad, when they break up –“

“But there are so many good jokes in this one,” Jesse protests, casting a hand out towards the tiny DVD player in his lap. “We can’t –“

“We can,” I insist, leaning over and pressing the skip button. “And we’re going to!”

“Tyrant,” he mutters, slipping a few more of my cookies out from their packet and popping one into his mouth. I just smirk, not denying the accusation and leaning close against my cousin’s arm as the Besties theme song starts on the screen. I take another bite of my dinner, feeling super cozy.

As the theme rolls on, Jesse fully concentrating on it, I take a second to glance down at the little stuffed tiger pressed between us, and the portable DVD player with its collection of DVDs spread out at the bottom of the bed, and a pair of Jackson’s boots tucked neatly beneath my desk where they won’t be in the way. In my dresser, I know, are a few perfectly folded sets of his uniform as well.

A little smile crosses my lips as I realize that Jackson is fully at home here despite Rafe’s initial insistence that he only sleeps here and would not be moving in. But little by little, Jackson did precisely that. I sigh with happiness, finishing my sandwich, loving that fact as I glance over at Jacks and Rafe, still working intently on his bed.

“What’s with all your happy sighs,” Jesse murmurs, flicking his eyes over at me. “For someone who had just as traumatic a day as me, you’re awfully chipper about it.”

“How can I be sad or worried when I’ve got my big cousin to hang out with me,” I say, turning my head to him and reaching up to ruffle his hair. “How could a single worry even come into my head?”

“True I am…anathema to all worries,” Jesse murmurs, smirking a bit.

“Except your own, I think,” I say quietly, my face becoming more serious as I study the unusually dour expression I’m not even sure he’s aware that he’s wearing. Beyond that, it’s really not like Jesse to seclude himself away – he’s a very social creature. If he is disappearing into the nook to be alone and binge eat all of my cookies, something’s up.

“You okay, Jesse?”

He sighs and glances over at me, and then at Rafe and Jacks, who I intuit he doesn’t want to hear. “It’s just so weird, Ari,” he murmurs. “That like…I’ve apparently met my mate and have no memory of it. Like, what the hell does that mean?”

“I know,” I sigh, nodding along. I reach out and tap his chest. “What does wolfie say?”

“He’s as lost as me,” Jesse murmurs, looking down at his chest and then over to me. “So, when you met Luca and Jackson there was…no doubt? You just…knew it was them?”

“No, I actually didn’t know it was them at first,” I say, taking a cookie and eating it passively as I think back. “I smelled them and my wolf knew they were like…in the room. But we didn’t know who it was until later.”

Jesse sniffs the air like he’s going to be able to smell his mate here in the room with us and I do my best to hide my smile.

“You don’t remember anything like that?” I ask quietly. “Someone smelling great and your wolf going a bit crazy for it?”

“Nah,” he says, shaking his head and frowning, giving a shrug. “Something’s up. But unfortunately I don’t think that trying to puzzle it out is going to work – we don’t have all the pieces.”

“Poor Jess,” I say, laying my head down on his shoulder. “We’ll get it all sorted out in time.”

A long beat passes as the drama unfolds on the screen.

“If she’s going to be sneaky,” Jesse mutters, a little angry and so low I almost don’t hear, “she’d better be cool.”

I laugh a little. “She will be. The Goddess can’t have stuck you with anyone dull – she’s your mate, after all.” I reach for the cookies and place them more solidly on his lap, the only thing I can offer right now.

Jesse sends me a little grin and takes a cookie. We watch the show together for a minute, I think neither of us really paying attention. “So,” Jesse says, too casual. “How’s Daphne?”

“What?” I ask, picking up my head and grinning at him.

“You smelled like her,” Jesse says, smirking and looking at me from the corner of his eye. “When you came up. Rude of you to take Luca to visit her and not invite me, leaving me here with the gigantic serious ones instead.” He gestures, cookie in hand, over at Rafe’s bed.

I laugh, wrinkling my nose at him. “It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. But she’s fine, Jesse. I invited her up tomorrow night for the party.”

“Really?” he asks, bursting into a smile. “That will be great.”

“Yeah,” I say with a happy sigh, resting my head back down on his shoulder. “I told her you’d give her a full display of your new magic skills. You’d better start practicing so you can show off.”

“No pressure,” Jesse murmurs, sarcastic. He raises a hand though, his brow furrowing with concentration, and then softly blows on it. As his breath fills his palm it darkens, taking the shape of a little black cat. I burst into a grin, watching as the cat walks daintly around his hand, rubbing its tail warmly against his thumb.

“It’s amazing,” I whisper, shaking my head in awe, smiling so hard I’m afraid my cheeks will break, “how good you’ve gotten at that in like two days.”

“It’s easier now that I’m not scared of it,” Jesse murmurs, making the little shadow cat jump from fingertip to fingertip. “I don’t remember who said it – but they really are mine, the shadows. Extensions of me. I can make them do…whatever I want.”

“That seems rich with possibilities,” I whisper, reaching out a hand and beaming when the little shadow leaps from Jesse’s hand into mine. Fascinated, I watch and feel it walk around, half substantial.

“I know,” Jesse whispers. “I can’t wait to experiment. Way cooler than your stupid gift.”

“Watch yourself,” I growl, concentrating on the cat and tapping into my power, making it puff up into the air in a tiny cloud of smoke. Jesse and I both gasp at the same time, turning our heads to look at each other as we burst out laughing.

“That was so cool,” Jesse exclaims, grinning at me. “I felt it – it got all hot –“

“I know!” I squeak, pressing my shoulder warm against his, thrilled.

“Too much fun over there!” Rafe calls, sounding tired and annoyed.

“He’s just jealous that we’re fun and he is so serious,” Jesse whispers, way too low for Rafe to hear, making me laugh again. But, I think both of us deciding not to rub it in, we turn our mutual concentration back to the show and fall quiet, letting Jacks and Rafe work while we relax.

“Up.”

Jackson’s voice rings out somewhere above me, making me jump awake and, blinking, look around.

“No,” Jesse groans, “you go sleep somewhere else.” Groggy, I turn to see that I’m slumped against my cousin’s side and that we’ve both fallen asleep in the nook watching TV, the empty cookie packet and Tiger laying between us.

“You just come in too,” I murmur, reaching out a hand for Jacks. “We’re too tired to get up.”

Jackson just laughs. “If you don’t get up, Jesse, I’ll just carry you.”

“Fine, sounds nice,” Jesse mutters, holding his arms up like a toddler waiting to be scooped into the air. “The kind of life I could get used to, just being carried everywhere like you do with Ariel.”

“Sorry, I meant drag you,” Jackson says, dry. “By your hair.”

“Violent,” Jesse sighs, pushing himself up and slowly climbing over me and off of my bed, slumping across the room to his own, protectively patting at his hair like he’s scared Jacks is going to make a grab for it. “I expect your temper to be much improved in the morning, Jackson. Ariel, you work on that for me.”

“You got it, buddy!” I call after him, rolling over into the warm space Jesse left so there’s room for Jacks. He climbs into the spot next to me with a happy sigh. But then he goes still, looking down at the bed in horror.

“Ariel, there are crumbs everywhere –“

“My bed,” I say, narrowing my eyes and pointing a finger at Jackson as I gather Tiger close to my chest. “My rules. Besides, Jesse did that, not me.”

“Whatever,” Jackson murmurs, collapsing next to me and making me squeak with joy when he wraps an arm around me and pulls me close against him, dipping his head down and pressing a kiss to my neck. “I’m too tired to complain. I missed you.”

“Missed you too,” I murmur, entangling my feet with his, wanting as much of his body touching mine as I can get. “All done planning?”

“As much as we can be,” Jackson says with a yawn, turning my face to his with a gentle hand and then giving me a long, sweet kiss. “But as much as I want to tell you all about it, we need rest. Dream state?”

“Dream state,” I say with a happy sigh, letting my eyes drift shut. And, curled up close to Jackson’s chest, my heart singing with happiness to be there, I quickly fall fast asleep.