Mind Blowing, page 19
“How could you be so stupid? So reckless?” Her father paused again. “That boy, that’s the father?” She must have nodded. “We’re leaving. Pack your things. I’m taking you home. Your mother and I will figure out how to handle this.”
“I’m not leaving. This is where I want to be.”
“Yes, you are. I don’t care where you want to be. You’re obviously incapable of making smart choices.” There was another short pause. “I’m disgusted with you. I can’t even look at you. Spreading your legs for some boy who promised you the world.”
There was some rustling, then Linc spoke up. “Please don’t touch her like that.”
Jasper’s eyes flew to Baze, and the moment Baze gave him a small nod, he moved into the living room. Callie’s father was dragging her down the hall; he thought that was where she was staying. Jasper’s wolf took over, once again. He grabbed her father’s hand and pried his fingers off her wrist. He’d been holding her so roughly, there would be bruising.
“She said she’s not leaving. Respect her wishes or I will literally toss you out of this house onto your ass.”
“Don’t you dare speak to me that way, you arrogant son of a bitch.”
Jasper glanced behind him, checking on his mate. She was sobbing, like he knew she would be. “Callie, baby, it’s going to be okay.”
“Like hell it will.” Her father reached for her again and Jasper batted his hand away. “This punk isn’t going to take care of you or that baby. He sure as hell won’t marry you.”
Her father was everything he assumed he’d be. Everything Callie had made him out to be. Condescending and controlling. However, the asshole had inadvertently thrown out the solution to their problem. Marry her. Jasper had done that the moment he’d claimed her. They were linked, together for the rest of time. They were more than married, they were mated.
Jasper pursed his lips, his gaze skirting to Linc, who simply winked, thinking the same thing he was. He knew this was bound to throw Callie for a loop, and maybe piss her off a bit. It was a necessary evil. Her father needed to leave Haxton before Jasper ended up knocking his old ass out.
“Yeah I will.”
Callie and her father both said “What?” at the same time. Their expressions similar, their tones incredulous for different reasons.
“I want to marry your daughter.” He stared her dad down. “I’m going to marry her and take care of them both. We don’t need your permission or your support.” He’d told Callie that from day one, and he was proving his point now.
Her father scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Dead-ass serious.” Jasper positioned himself between Callie and her father, making sure he didn’t attempt to grab her again. His wolf was on a hair trigger as it was.
“Get out.” Callie spoke up behind him, her tone clear and harder than he’d ever heard it. “Father, get out. Go home, and I’ll call you when I’m ready to talk.”
She backed away, grabbing the front door and holding it open. When her dad opened his mouth, to spew some more shit he was sure, she cut him off. “I won’t talk anymore about this, not today. I’m safe here, and I have to work tomorrow. I wasn’t lying about the clinic. I’ll call you and Mom next week.” She sighed when he stayed rooted in place, his jaw on the floor. “If you don’t leave, I’ll let them throw you out.”
Her father finally moved, slinking out of the house and tossing a death glare at Jasper on the way. She shut the door and then spun to face him, her hands on her narrow hips pulling her dress tighter and showing him that little bump he was becoming obsessed with. “You too.”
“What?” He frowned, confused by her statement and that same harsh tone she’d used with her father.
“Get out, or I’ll let Baze throw you out.” She gestured to the door. “I don’t want your damn pity proposal, and I don’t want to see you right now.”
“Wait, Callie. You don’t understand.” He took a step toward her. “It wasn’t out of pity, I swear. If you’ll let me explain—”
“I don’t want your explanations right now, Jasper. I have fucking whiplash.” He jerked back, surprised that she was cussing. “You run your one-night-only game, and then you get me pregnant. You bring me to your home to give me space, and then you sleep next to me every night. You tell me we’ll co-parent as friends, and then we hook up. And now, you say you want to marry me? I don’t even know which way is up anymore.”
“There’s so much I need to tell you, so much I want to tell you.” He wasn’t above pleading with her at the moment. “If you would give me a chance.”
“Not today, Jasper. I need some time.”
“But Callie, I’m a wolf.”
Linc, who was still standing off to the side with Baze, mumbled, “For fuck’s sake,” and Callie blinked rapidly with a frown on her pretty face. “What?”
“I can turn into a wolf at will. I’m a shifter. I’m magic, we all are. Me and the pack. All the males anyway.” He wasn’t rambling in starts and stops, he was butchering his admission.
She deserved more from him, from this moment. There was no taking it back now though. He’d put it out there and he could see from the disbelief on her face that nothing he said was sinking in. He pulled his shirt off, unbuttoning and kicking off his shorts.
“Please don’t shift in my living room right now.” Linc shook his head as Jasper yanked off his boxers in reply. “Okay, fucking perfect. This is the exact right answer.”
He ignored the sarcasm in Linc’s tone. “Watch.” Jasper let his wolf come to the fore, the air shimmering around him as he transformed before Callie’s eyes. He kept his attention on her face, gauging her every reaction.
She gasped, her hand covering her mouth. He could hear her heart start to race. He stepped forward, resting his head against her side. Her hand was trembling, and it hesitantly rested on his fur. He pushed against her, using his weight to root her in place, to let her know this was real and he was still him. The same guy in wolf form or human.
“He’s a wolf.” Jasper glanced back to see both Baze and Linc nod. “And you two? Wolves as well?” They nodded again. “Make him shift back.”
Baze held his stare, a deep rumble coming from his gut and commanding Jasper switch back. Within a brief moment, he stood in front of his mate with his dick in his hand. “There’s so much more I need to explain to you.”
“Get out.” She opened the front door. “Not today.”
“You can’t be serious. I just told you I was fucking magic and shifted before your eyes.”
She shrugged, pointing to the driveway. “Get in your kid’s expensive SUV and give me some space. For some reason I can’t dwell on at the moment, I don’t care you’re some mystical wolf creature. I care that you threw out the idea of marriage like it was an answer to a problem and not something special that should’ve been discussed with me first.” She rested her hand on her stomach. “I’m hormonal and sad and angry, and I don’t want to talk to you right now. So like I said, leave, or I’ll let Baze make you.”
Jasper glanced at his alpha, looking for help. Baze grabbed him gently by the shoulder. “Come on, man. Get dressed. Let’s go for a drive.”
He couldn’t believe she was kicking him out. He couldn’t believe after what he’d told her, what he’d showed her, she was still pissed as hell at him.
He had to chuckle on his way across the porch. If anything, this proved exactly what his packmates had told him. She was made for this life.
She was made to be his.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Callahan
For the first time in her life, Callahan had been assertive. She’d kicked both Jasper and her father out of someone else’s house. Ballsy, no matter which way one sliced it. She needed a minute to herself though; she needed to wrap her brain around all the insane things that had been said.
She was sitting on the back patio, a glass of green tea beside her and a giant cookie in her hand. Linc didn’t make them; according to Maddi, he went to the bakery that morning to get fancy pastries for her father’s visit. No amount of pretty sugar could’ve saved that mess though.
She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and working through the process of, well, processing. She knew her father would be angry and disappointed. She knew he’d try to throw his weight around and demand control of her life and her pregnancy. Nothing out of character had transpired there. She was prepared, from the moment she found out she was pregnant, for the conversation to go terribly.
What she hadn’t counted on was Jasper saying he wanted to marry her. Then turning into a wolf the moment after she slammed the door on her father. That had been…jarring, to say the least.
The real kicker though? She didn’t care he was a shifter from a long line of magical beings. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to make her brain panic about it. What pissed her off was the abrupt and ridiculous marriage proposal. She didn’t want Jasper to marry her out of obligation. She wanted her marriage to come out of love, respect, desire. Not the baby growing inside her.
“Hey, can I join you?” Maddi stepped out the back door, a chilled glass of wine in her hand. It was barely noon, but Callahan wouldn’t say anything. They’d all had a hell of a morning. “How are you doing, sweetheart?”
“My father hates me, and soon my mother will too.” That broke her heart more than anything. Jasper wasn’t going anywhere. She knew that with every fiber of her soul. She wasn’t worried about him or their relationship. They’d patch it, they’d be there for each other and the baby. Her parents though? She might never see them again. “I knew this was coming. It’s my own fault really. I shouldn’t have lied to them in the first place.”
Maddi sat beside her, staring out at the field giving way to dense woods behind the house. “Your parents don’t hate you. I can promise you that.” She sighed, taking a small sip from her glass. “They’re scared for you, they’re disappointed in your choices. They no doubt feel out of sorts. They don’t have any control over their little girl anymore, and that has to be terrifying.”
“I’m scared too.”
“Well, becoming a mom is scary, so your fear is justified.”
She nodded. “Great. I thought maybe you’d come out here to talk me down from the ledge.”
Maddi laughed lightly. “If you want someone to wax poetically about the joys of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood, then I can call Molly. She took to all of it like a woodland fairy, sprinkling goodwill and tears along the forest floor.” Maddi reached out, patting Callahan’s arm where it rested on the chair. “Being pregnant is exhausting and wondrous. Birth is horrifying and miraculous. Being a mom is equal parts heaven and hell. You’re filled with more love than your body can contain, but if you think too hard about how much you love your children, that love turns to fear because the very thought of something bad happening to them is crippling.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re pretty poetic.” Callahan shoved the rest of the cookie in her mouth, channeling Blake. “You’re saying my parents will come around?”
“No.”
“Did you come out here to make me feel better? I’m confused.” She smiled, letting Maddi know she was kidding. She loved Maddi and was grateful for her presence in Callahan’s life. Right now, she wasn’t sure what she’d do without her. She’d miss her terribly once they were back in Greenly.
“You sound more like the rest of this pack every day.” Maddi finished her wine. “Your parents may never get over this, sweetheart, but I promise, they don’t hate you.” She stood, holding her hand out to pull Callahan to her feet. “Now come on, we have plans.”
“I don’t want to see Jasper right now.”
“Good, neither do I.” Maddi winked as she led her around the side of the house to the driveway. “We’re having a girls’ night at Axie’s.” She opened the passenger door as Linc came out front and loaded Allison into her car seat. “Us and the babies. The guys are going for a run, then camping in the mountains.”
Callahan watched Linc buckle his daughter in. “A run.” Her eyes met his. “Every time he went for a run?”
Linc nodded, his hands on his ship. “He was taking off all his clothes and shifting into a wolf first.”
“Jasper is a wolf.” She closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against her seat as Linc shut the back door.
Maddi started the car, patting her arm once again. “Yes, he is. They all are. And that is why we’re going to have a nice little informative girls’ night with the actual expert of all things shifter.”
***
Blake and Axie transformed the living room, piling the floor with pillows, blankets, and pack-and-plays for all the kiddos. There was chilled wine and sparkling water. Enough snacks to feed an entire army, and MTV’s Teen Wolf playing on the flat-screen as a joke. Callahan was moved and grateful they’d gone through all that trouble to help cheer her up. And educate her on the family she’d be linked to through her child. She put her hand on her stomach, loving that the tiniest bump was present now.
“Pen, you’re the professor, how should we start this clusterfuck of a round table?” Maddi was standing off to the side, bouncing a baby. It looked like one of the twins. Allison was sitting in Callahan’s lap eating the crust off a piece of pizza.
Pen, Baze’s mate, nodded. “Well, we could do a brief history lesson. That sound good?” When no one objected, she took a deep breath and began. “Shifters have been around as long as history has been recorded. The best-kept secret of our world. Men who could transform into wolves to protect their people and their land. Like most real and natural magic, it was born from the earth and the need. Native Americans—”
“Twilight got it right,” Corey interjected, and Maddi picked up a pillow and tossed it at her head.
“Either way.” Pen rolled her eyes. “Shifters lived together in villages, in tribes. The gene spreading around the earth. As time went on and the world became smaller, their secret became threatened. Humans were getting too close, questioning too much. So shifters decided the best way to avoid detection was to disperse and stop living in concentrated groups. Packs. As the packs thinned out to blend into the fabric of the new world, the magic within them became diluted.”
Blake added, “Which is why Riley and Jasper living away from their pack puts their wolf into a hibernation. They are more human than shifter until they come home.”
“There aren’t many true packs left in this world. We’re one of the only ones in North America.” Pen cleared her throat, handing Axie Oliver’s pacifier that’d fallen on the couch between them. “This pack was formed by pure accident. They didn’t even know it was possible. Over time, their magic grew stronger. Baze and Jace rose as alpha and beta, the girls born from our matings have guardians, and their senses became sharper.”
“Riley noticed your pregnancy days before Jasper asked you to come to dinner.” Blake took Hadley from Corey and handed her a cookie. “Riley can always sense the pregnancies first, that’s his superpower. He can acutely see the smallest changes in others.”
“Jasper knew I was pregnant before I took that test?” Callahan was trying her best to digest all the information they were throwing her way. “That was why he invited me over?”
Blake nodded. “He wanted to be there with you when you found out. He didn’t want you to go home and be scared and alone.”
Jasper had been taking care of her from the moment he found out she was pregnant. It warmed her heart, and it also thawed some of her irritation toward him.
He meant what he said about being there for her and the baby no matter what.
“If this baby is a boy?”
“He’ll shift, usually around puberty.” Pen looked at her own son in Axie’s arms. “Normal pregnancy, normal birth. Normal childhood, for the most part.” She tacked on, “He would be a little stronger, more agile. No huge differences until puberty.”
“Why am I not freaking out about all of this?” She shook her head, hugging Allison tighter, stealing some of her warmth. “This is life-altering news and I’m sitting here like it’s nothing. This doesn’t make sense.”
“It will, sweetheart.” Maddi laid the twin she was holding in the pack-and-play. He’d fallen asleep. “But the rest of the story isn’t for us to tell.”
Callahan sighed, rocking Allison side to side. Jasper. She missed him, but at the same time, she wasn’t ready to see him. They needed to have a big talk about their future and where they went from the moment he threw out his marriage plans. “They’re camping?”
Molly pointed out the back door at the mountain and the sun that was beginning to sink behind it. “If you need him, all you have to do is go outside and call him. He’ll hear you.”
She did need him, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear the rest of their story.
She wasn’t naïve; she could clearly see some of the things Pen and the others weren’t saying out loud. Jace and Axie, Riley and Blake.
They were so young, but already living together.
Some wolves mated for life.
Was Jasper one of them?
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jasper
Jasper was worried about Callie. He was worried she was hurting and angry. When he said he wanted to marry her, he was trying to get her father to back down. Take away his argument. He’d never wanted to upset her. He was impressed with how she’d kicked them both out of the house.
He hated that he’d been exiled to the woods though. He wanted to see her, to explain the rest of his thought process. He wanted her to know she was his and that he’d already joined their souls. No human marriage could ever compare to the connection they now shared.
“Camping is supposed to fun. You’re killing our vibe.” Riley kicked a booted foot out, shoving Jasper to the side. “We went on a long run, we have a fire, we have fancy-ass food thanks to your twin.” He held his arms wide. “This is a great night. Act accordingly.”
