Time Mends (19 page)

Definitely not Jase.

“
Mr. Matthews?”

Talley’s dad didn’t bother with
pleasantries. “I’m huntin’ for my girl.”

Crap.

“
Oh, ummm…. She slept over
last night.” A
nd the night before that.
And the night before that. And the night before that…
“Did she know you were coming to visit? Cause she
didn’t say anything to me about it.”

“
It wasn’t planned. Now,
where is she?” Mr. Matthews made a move to step around me, but I
blocked his path. “Move aside, child. This ain’t none of your
business.”

“
I’d love to let you in,
sir,” I lied. “But, you see, my parents are out of town, and I’m
not allowed to let anyone in the house when they’re not here. You
know how overprotective parents can be.”

He looked like he might go ahead and plow
right past me, but then he gave a slight nod and backed up a step.
“Well, then, you get Talley and tell her her daddy wants to see
her.”

I spread my lips apart, hoping the result
was something resembling a smile. “No problem. Be right back, Mr.
Matthews.” Then I slammed the door in his face.

It didn’t take long to find Talley since she
was standing at the top of the stairs looking as though she’d seen
a ghost.

“
Where is Jase?” I
mouthed, unsure about Mr. Matthews’ hearing range. At this point in
the lunar cycle my hearing was just on the really good side of a
normal human, but I didn’t want to risk it.

“
Still in bed,” she said,
her voice just above a whisper. “Charlie?”

“
The last time I saw him
was at Lanky McLankster’s apartment.” Talley’s eyebrows crinkled
together but I didn’t have the time or desire to explain “What do
we do?”

“
What do we do about about
what?” Jase asked, stumbling out of his bedroom. His hair was
sticking up in a million directions and he sported a nice t-shirt
and boxer shorts combo. He took one look at Talley’s face and
jerked completely awake. “What’s wrong?”

“
My dad.”

Jase swore under his breath. “Did he
call?”

“
He’s outside.”

Jase replaced his earlier statement with a
word that would have meant a whole month of extra chores had our
parents heard.

“
Maybe Talley can sneak
out the back door,” I suggested. “We can tell them she left before
I woke up.”

“
Won’t work,” said Jase.
“He’ll have seen the car.”

“
And where would I go?”
Talley took a deep, shaky breath. “He’s not going to drop this.” As
if to accentuate her point, Mr. Matthews rapped on the front door
yet again. I started back down the stairs, more out of a Pavlovian
response to a knock at the door than anything else.

“
What’s the plan?” Jase
hissed.

“
I don’t have one,” I said
over my shoulder. “We’ll play it by ear.” Granted, it was a
horrible approach knowing what was on the line, but what else was I
supposed to do?

“
Sorry, Mr. Matthews,” I
said, opening the door. “She was still asleep. You know how she is.
Lazy, lazy Talley.”

Mr. Matthews seemed to forget I was there.
“Talley, get your stuff. You’re coming with me.”

“
But she hasn’t had a
shower. Or breakfast.” Apparently my plan was to babble on like a
clueless idiot. Great. There was no way that was going to go
wrong.

Of course, it didn’t really matter what I
said since Mr. Matthews had grown deaf to the sound of my voice.
“You’ve got five minutes to get clothes on and get in the truck, or
I’m coming in after you.”

“
But she—”

“
No,” Jase said, cutting
me off. “She stays.”

Operation: Clueless, abandoned. Operation:
Keep Jase From Getting Killed, activated.

“
You ain’t got no say in
this, boy.”

Jase’s eyes seemed lit by a green fire. I
saw his fingers curl up into a fist just as Talley stepped around
him to face her father.

“
What are you doing here,
Daddy?”

Mr. Matthews proved he really had forgotten
my existence by telling her exactly what he was doing in Timber. “I
got me a call at midnight tellin’ me I oughta come down here and
see what my daughter was up to. Said you had run off from your Pack
and was shaking up with some outcasts and a Wolf Girl. Now, I don’t
know who you boys have taken up with, but my Talley ain’t stayin’
with you. She’s coming home to her real Pack back in
Frenchburg.”

Someone called at midnight? And used the
words “Wolf Girl’? A pity I didn’t toss Makya’s body in the lake
when I had the chance.

“
I said she stays.” Jase
tugged Talley back by the end of her shirt.

I thought Mr. Matthews would be angry at
Jase’s defiance, but instead he threw his head back and laughed
long enough and hard enough I was able to see that each and every
one of his teeth were present and accounted for. “What? You think
you’re her Pack Leader now?” He shook his head. “You know you can’t
take me, son. Move aside.”

Jase flexed and Talley did the only
intelligent thing, which was move out of his way. Mr. Matthew
calmly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a white wifebeater
underneath. “I don’t like fighting children,” he said, bending down
to jerk off his boots. “Seems to me, though, you need to be taught
lesson.”

Without further warning, Mr. Matthews
barreled through the front door and launched into a tornado kick,
taking Jase down to one knee. Jase immediately bounced back up,
getting in a strike that just missed Mr. Matthews’ liver before Mr.
Matthews caught him with an elbow slash.

It didn’t take a martial arts expert to see
where this fight was going. Jase was good, but Mr. Matthews was
better. Much better.

Normally, I’m enthusiastic in my support of
a fair fight, but this wasn’t a normal circumstance. This was
someone trying to take my Talley away from me, and I wasn’t about
to let it happen.

Mr. Matthews took Jase to the floor, which
made it easier for me to hook a leg around his middle from behind.
I had him in a rear naked choke hold before he even realized I was
a threat. He tried grabbing onto my wrist, but I broke his hold
with a palm strike and then tightened my squeeze. It took a little
while, but eventually he stopped squirming.

“
Forgetting there were two
black belt fighters in the room wasn’t just rude, it was stupid.” I
loosened the hold just enough so he wouldn’t pass out, but not
enough he could go anywhere. I leaned in so my lips were right at
his ear. “You’re not taking her anywhere.” I released him and
jumped back, not taking the risk of underestimating a Dominant.
Fortunately, though, he didn’t go all Super Shifter on me and
stayed down, massaging his throat as he coughed.

“
Consider this a warning,”
Jase said, standing above Mr. Matthews as if he was the one who
took him down. “The next time you try to take my Seer you won’t be
walking away.”

Mr. Matthews glared up at Jase. “She ain’t
your Seer, now is she?” His hateful eyes swung around until they
found me. “You think she’s yours, don’t you, witch?”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “You’re here
to kidnap my best friend, you kicked my brother in the face, and I
just about choked you to death, but you think it’s impolite to
actually say the word bitch?” Jase shook his head at me, but I kept
going. “I mean, it’s really not even a cuss word when applied to
me. Once a month I am an actual female dog.”

Mr. Matthew rose shakily to his full height.
“The Bible says we’re not to suffer a witch to live.”

Great. Crazy selective hearing man is also
crazy religion man.

“
It also says stuff about
loving your neighbor and turning the other cheek. Maybe you should
focus on those parts.”

Mr. Matthews eyes bugged out of his now
crimson colored skin. “I won’t tolerate blasphemy.”

“
Listen, I love Jesus and
all, but that isn’t going to stop me from putting you on the ground
again.”

“
You think you’re so
smart, don’t ya, girl?” Saliva clung to the corners of his mouth,
stretching out like webs as he spoke. “How smart are you going to
feel when the Alpha Pack comes to give me back what is mine? You
think you’ll be able to joke your way out of their death
sentence?”

“
What makes you think she
belongs to you?”

“
The contract I signed
with the Hagans gave her to her Mama’s Pack. I don’t see her Mama
here, so that means they don’t want her no more, and she comes back
to me.”

“
What if she has a mate?”
I didn’t even know where that came from. I mean, I knew it came
from one of my mentally unhinged dreams, but I have no idea what
possessed me to say it. Honestly, I was just grabbing at straws at
the moment, doing anything and everything to protect
Talley.

Mr. Matthews whipped his
head towards Talley, but Jase slid in front of her, acting as a
human shield. “You?” He said, focusing on my brother. “I’m supposed
to believe Mr. All-State has mated
her
?” His lips curled and my opinion
of the man sunk to a new low. “Nice try, but I ain’t buying it. I
don’t smell you on her.”

For the first time in recent memory, Jase
blushed bright red. “The mating hasn’t been completed, but I’ve
laid my claim.”

“
And if the Alpha Pack
should ask for a declaration…?”

“
I’ll declare it before
anyone and everyone. Talley Matthews is my mate.”

Mr. Matthews looked past Jase. “Talley,
don’t lie to your Daddy.”

“
I’ve accepted Jase
Donovan as my mate,” she said, voice quaking and face the color of
snow.

“
You understand I consider
this an oath.”

Talley nodded and Jase said, “Good. We’ll
send you an invitation to the wedding. Now, leave.”

Mr. Matthews grabbed his discarded shirt and
shoes, but made sure to say a few parting words to me before he
left. “I’m leaving her with him, not you.”

“
As long as you’re leaving
and she’s staying, I don’t really care.”

“
They’ll tear you to
pieces and scatter the parts to the four corners of the
earth.”

“
That could be difficult
since the earth is round and all.” I circled a finger in the air to
illustrate my point.

“
Joke while you can,
witch,” he spat. “You’ll be dealt with soon enough.” And with that
ominous declaration, he turned and walked out the door, and almost
right into Charlie, whose bloodshot eyes told me my bad day was
about to get worse.

“
Who was that?” Charlie
asked, watching as an ancient car with mismatched doors retreated
slowly down the driveway.

Since I really didn’t want to talk to
Charlie, and Talley was too busy staring at the floor, Jase
answered. “Pack Leader of the Matthews Pack.”

If Charlie was surprised by that tidbit he
didn’t show it. “You okay, Tal?” She nodded her head, but didn’t
look up. Tears weren’t actively falling, but I knew it was because
she was forcing them to stay in by sheer will and
determination.

“
He obviously didn’t leave
without a fight,” Charlie said, looking at the side of Jase’s face,
which was getting puffier by the second. “Is he coming back soon
enough for us to prepare, or do we need to hit the
road?”

I balked. Sure, I was okay with Talley
taking off while we figured out the situation, but we weren’t
cowards. If anything was going to happen, I was going to stay and
fight. “He’s not coming back,” I said.

Charlie looked from me to Talley, who was
going to have to have her fingers surgically removed from her hair,
back to me again. “How did you manage that?”

“
I told him Talley had a
mate, and he just left.”

Even before his zombification, Charlie
didn’t startle easy. So when his eyes did the whole size of saucers
thing and his chin dropped open, I knew this was some sort of big
deal. Being the self-absorbed person I am, I assumed it was my
quick-fire wit that was the cause of awe.

“
Jase, man, tell me you
didn’t…”

“
I made a declaration,” he
said between clinched teeth. Talley sniffled.

We all just stood there for a long moment. I
thought about suggesting we move out of the tiny foyer and into the
living room where the sit-down type furniture lived, but I was
afraid to speak up. The tension in the room was palatable. Charlie
rubbed at his eyes; Talley blinked rapidly, pulling on the corners
of her lashes to keep the tears at bay; and Jase looked at each of
the walls as if trying to decide which on to put a hole in with his
fist.

Talley was the one to finally end the
silence.

“
I’m sorry,” she said so
softly I only caught every other syllable.

Unable to pick a wall, Jase grabbed his head
with both hands and attempted to crack his own skull. “I don’t want
to hear it.”

I was in his face before Talley could suck
in a breath. “Don’t speak to her like that! What on earth has she
done to you?”

“
Her? Nothing.” Jase’s
hands fell to his sides as he leaned in towards me. “It’s you who
has screwed us all over. Again.”

“
What did I
do?”

“
What did you do?
What did you do?
”
Suddenly the foyer felt way too small. “That’s the problem. You
just go around doing stuff you have no idea about, never thinking
that there could be consequences.”