Page 1 of Jacked-up Mate
Chapter One
Jack
The timer on my phone went off, and my stomach clenched. Years of this, and I still hadn’t gotten used to it. Didn’t think anyone on the earth could ever adjust to their head turning into a fucking pumpkin at night.
I had exactly one hour to prep for the night. With the pumpkin head, I had the ability to eat, but it all had the taste of pumpkin pie. Pumpkin-pie grilled chicken didn’t appeal to me. Imagine that.
I reached for the phone in my back pocket, swiped off the alarm, and sighed at the countdown on the screen. I had less than six months left until the mage’s curse took on a new level of permanence.
Regret ate at my heart as I set the table and prepared to eat my dinner, my mind going back to the event that set this all in motion.
I’d been set up on a blind date with a nice-enough omega, but there was no chemistry, at least on my end. At the end of the night, I did the gentlemanly thing and took him home, even walked him to his door. He asked for another date, and I said I would text him.
Then he asked for a kiss good night, and I refused. Biggest mistake of my life.
After I turned down his kiss, in a polite way, he cupped my face with his hands and whispered something in a different language.
Weird. It made my head fuzzy. I stumbled down the stairs of his apartment building and went home, considering the matter closed.
The next day, I stayed in. Ordered Chinese for dinner. That night as the sun set and I had a forkful of Dandan noodles raised to my lips, my head turned into something big. Swollen. Huge. A heavy weight pressing on my shoulders. At first, I thought I’d passed out or been drugged. One look in the mirror and my world would never be the same. I had a jack-o’-lantern instead of a head. My mouth the jagged grin of a carved pumpkin. My vision dimmed by the dark lens of its black eyes.
I stepped backward, shocked, of course, screaming.
A disembodied chuckle preceded the appearance of my date from the night before behind me.
A refused kiss seemed like such a little slight, but to him, it was a rejection of the worst kind. He said there were punishments for alphas like me who teased and flirted but refused to act.
I didn’t remember flirting or teasing at all.
That omega was a mage—a fact I learned too late—and not a good one either.
I’d offended him so greatly that he cursed me for life. My head turned into a jack-o’-lantern every night at sunset.
There was only one way to reverse it.
“Hey, sorry I’m late.” My best friend, Cole, barreled through the kitchen doorway and came over to slap me on the back. He had seen me with the pumpkin head, but I preferred to be alone with my big, orange, fruit instead.
We had dinner every Friday, as neither of us were mated and he had a secret of his own. Something about his shift being unordinary—unique—monstrous. His words, not mine. I never pressed to see the other side of him.
“It’s fine. Everything is ready. Let eat before…”
He nodded. “Of course. What did you get up to today? I saw you assisting Gretchen with the lights for the Samhain festival.”
“Yeah. Even with the ladder, there are places she can’t reach. She tries, but I end up helping. It’s fine. It gets me out of the house and socializing. Plus, the festival is next week. She needs all the help she can get.”
Cole nodded and took two thick slices of turkey breast, along with mashed potatoes and gravy.
The cooler temperatures called for heartier meals and later mornings. There was nothing worse than pulling myself out of my warm, comfortable bed and placing my feet on an icy floor. Yes, I could keep the heater on, but why waste the money while my blankets kept me cozy?
“She does a good job being mayor but the woman never stops,” he said.
“She doesn’t. What about you? Anything new?”
I was interested in what Cole had to say but kept my eyes on the wall clock with less than forty minutes until the sun set. Everything was more difficult after dark. I couldn’t read books with fuzzy sight. Movies were the same. I cleaned house and washed dishes, mostly by touch. No snacking because pumpkin spice. I had to arrange my pillows in a certain way so my neck didn’t feel like it was cracked in half the next morning.
If only I’d kissed that mage.
“The crops are coming in nicely. I expect a good harvest and have some tricks planned with the pumpkins this year.”
