Page 111 of Claimed

She looks at me like she hasn’t got a clue what I’m talking about.

“Bailey,” I press.

“What?” Her poker face is completely red now.

“You’re riled about Jase being gone to Silver Hills.”

She folds her arms and squints at me. If I wasn’t already sure, I would be now as this body language is one of Bailey’s tells.

“You’re afraid he’s gonna find his mate out of town.”

She jerks back and can’t hide that I’ve hit the nail on the head. The look of agony isn’t easy to see on my little sister’s face.

I give her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Whatever’s gonna be is gonna be. Fate has lined up the dominos for Jase and they’ll fall when they’re supposed to.”

I’ve seen that Bailey has had stars in her eyes for Jase since she was a little girl. I’m pretty immune to it at this point, generally ignore it, but don’t like that it hasn’t simmered. She regularly makes little comments about being single and never having been kissed, which as her older brother is something that didn’t bother me when she was a teenager, but she’s got blinders on. Plenty of guys her age in the pack have shown interest in her and she doesn’t compute. I’ve seen it time and time again. She cluelessly misses any and all cues they put out. Because she’s only got eyes for Jason Creed.

“We aresonot having this conversation,” she tells me, looking away.

There’s a knock on the door and I smell that it’s Joel right as Bailey advises, “Joel” as if I don’t know the scent myself.

She haughtily marches back to the kitchen.

31

Stacy

Luke has gone down to Grey’s basement to play PlayStation. Bailey and I are perched at the island, drinking tea.

I overheard her conversation with Grey about Jase and when she came in, looking sad, I coaxed to get her to open up and it didn’t take much for the floodgates to bust wide open. She tearfully talked about being in love with Jase since she was a little girl.

Now that it’s his turn in the council birth order to identify his fated mate and he’s left town, she’s terrified it’s going to happen while he’s gone. That it won’t be her he scents as his fated mate. This is why she’s asked me if there are any mating-age women there; she wants to know what her competition is.

And there are unmated women from eighteen to thirty-five. Including girls the same age as me like my cousin Addy, an auburn-haired beauty and my good friend Caroline, a beautiful blonde. And while I won’t wish Jase sees her and decides she’s mate-material for Bailey’s sake, it would be absolutely incredible if someone else from this pack did. If Addy moved here and got to experience this village and how wonderful it is. If we could still be close.

“I don’t know much about this stuff Bailey,” I tell her, “but if I understand properly, it doesn’t matter if there are pretty women there if it’s all about fate, right? Doesn’t it mean he’ll wind up with who is meant for him, no matter what she looks like? Just look at me and your brother.”

She frowns. “Meaning?”

I shrug. “I’m plain. And look at him.”

She laughs. “You’re not plain, Stacy!”

I roll my eyes.

“Girl, you’re model tall. You’ve got gorgeous hair. Pretty eyes. There’s nothing plain about you.”

“I’ve got small boobs, zero sense of style, and I’m … awkward,” I add.

She shakes her head like I’m being silly. “I guess we’re all our own biggest critic,” she says, “Jase looks at me like a little sister. An annoying one at that. It doesn’t help that he’s gone after what happened last night with me and him.”

“What happened?” I ask.

“He left the town hall with a bottle of wine and Danica Young last night.”

“Ah,” I say.

I did see what looked like some flirting with them.

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