Page 23 of Nighted

Chapter Seven

I gave Mick my full attention. “Sorry, I thought someone was calling me. Obviously, I’ve had too much beer.” I giggled, hating every second of the sound, and placed my hand on Mick’s bicep. “What were we talking about?”

Point proven, Ava. Now stop.I looked up at Jasper’s voice in my head to see him still talking with the elder, but his shoulders were tense, and he was clenching his jaw.

Mick was all too happy to encourage my advances. His gaze flickered over my tight clothes before returning to my face. “I believe, Venator, you were going to tell me all the ways you could take me down.”

I smiled, toying with my prey. “Maybe that’s something better demonstrated?”

Mick raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to respond when a weight hit my side. Jasper. He wrenched my arm and proceeded to drag me away from Mick.

“What the hell is wrong with you, man?” Mick asked, confusion and anger written all over his face.

The room fell quiet, and people were staring. Sage was gaping at what was happening. I tried to figure out how to talk to him, shooting thoughts at him mentally before he said or did anything he regretted. Jasp. Jasp!

He was either ignoring me or I wasn’t doing the mate bond thing right, and he continued to pull me toward the door. “What’s wrong with me is that Ava is my mate. Which means you all better back the fuck up.” Shit.

Mick was silent, and I mouthed an apology, unable to tear myself away from Jasper’s tight grip. Another werewolf whistled as we strode by. “Dude, if she’s your ‘mate’ we have some problems because I definitely had a dream about your human whore in my bed last night.” His buddies all laughed and high fived at his witty joke. Jasper didn’t think the joke was as funny.

A frenzied growl tore from his throat as he finally let go of my wrist, stalking over to where the now frightened teen stood.

“Jasper!” I yelled at him, trying to get his attention. Anything to stop a fight from breaking out.

Jasper shuddered, trying to gain control over himself. His voice was quiet and dangerous. “That ‘human whore’ is my mate. And you will not disrespect her again.”

The teen was shaking in front of Jasper, but he still didn’t quit. “Wha… what are you going to do about it? She’s just a human.”

The smile Jasper gave him was deadly. “It’s not what I’d do about it. It’s what Ava would do about it.” He dragged his palm down across the carefully arranged makeup on his neck, exposing his fully healed mark to all the wolves in the room. “Ava’s not ‘just’ a human. She’s a Venator. She has earned and deserves your respect. And if my words alone don’t convince you to respect her, maybe my mark will.”

The room was quiet, and the only noises I could hear were Jasper’s laboured breathing and my own heart beating rapidly. Jasper was staring all the wolves down, daring any of them to challenge him. Even Sage looked shocked. I gathered my remaining courage and smeared off my own makeup before I made my way to Jasper, taking his hand tightly. Relief flooded my body through the bond. “I assume this won’t be a problem for anyone.” I didn’t ask. I didn’t make requests anymore. This was an expectation.

When there was no response, Jasper shot one last disgusted look to the now cowering teen before turning on his heel and leading us out to the porch. There were a few people mingling on the porch still, but I gave them a deadly glare and they wandered back inside.

“How the hell are you in my head?” I snapped at him as soon as we were alone.

“The mate bond. We’re connected now.”

I narrowed my eyes in frustration. “I know we’re connected. But I thought you said the whole telepathy thing wouldn’t happen for us.”

Jasper was quiet for a moment. “I guess you’re more capable than either of us gave you credit for.”

“How does the link work? Can you hear everything I’m thinking?” Everything could be a disaster. I loved Jasper, but I wasn’t sure I wanted him in my head every second of every day.

“You have to project the thought to me. Think about me, what you want to say to me. Which is why I could hear you in the party, flirting with Mick. You wanted me to hear.” His voice dropped ominously with Mick’s name, and I glared at him before focusing on projecting my thoughts.

I focused on Jasper’s handsome face and thought about what I wanted him to hear. Can you hear this? When I say you were a jerk to the pack we were supposed to be making friends with?

He heard, because he shrugged and answered calmly, unbothered. “I got angry.”

I tried to project again, finding the effort easier now I knew what I was doing. You can’t lose your shit at people because you don’t like them.

“They weren’t respecting you.” He said this like the statement was common sense, like everyone threatened people because they were disrespected.

“Is respect what you were mad about? Or were you angrier they didn’t know I belong to you?” My voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Jasper locked his gaze on to mine, stalking closer to me until I could feel the heat radiating from his body. “And what if I was?” His voice was as quiet and dangerous as it had been with the teenager inside the cottage, and his eyes were dark with need.

“Again. You were the one who wanted to cover up our marks.” I tried to sound bored, but my traitorous heart was beating furiously, and I licked my lips in anticipation at his proximity. I knew what happened when his eyes got dark.

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