Jared (9 page)

“I wanted to do it like now.” Nicole frowned. “But Damon wants me to have a real wedding.”

“Which you deserve.” Jared agreed. H
e watched Duncan and Sid
congratulate
the couple before his eyes landed on Tessa. She stood by her brother watching
,
a tiny wistful smile playing at her lips.
She was absol
utely beautif
ul
with her
unguarded expression.
He wondered suddenly if she had a man in her life. A
n
unexpected growl rose inside of him at that thought.

Tessa watched from a distance as her brother and the others worked together with the warriors. The woman
,
Nicole
,
worked with them also
,
seeming to really
care about the kid’s wellbeing,
from
where they were
going to be
staying
to
making sure they were being treated fair by the warriors. Her opinion of the long haired warrior
,
Damon
,
had changed slightly.
He was still scary as hell, but his
whole personality
had
changed
when Nicole had walked in the room.

Glancing at her phone she sighed. She really wanted to get Bobby’s car back before
he left
the bar
for the night. She so did not want to pull up to his house.

“In a hurry?” Jared smiled down at her.

“Actually I am.” Tessa felt crowded by his presence, his stare was so intense it made her feel cornered with no way out. “I need to get
my boss
’s
car back before the bar closes.”

Glancing at his watch Jared put one hand on the wall where she was leaning resting his weight. “Well as soon as you tell me what you know you can go.”

“Um, I think I did that.” Tessa frowned inching sideways away from him and his
delicious
smell.

“Um, I don’t think you did.” He tossed back at her
,
inching his own way closer to her. “What was Chad talking about, they had plan
s
for you? I know you weren’t drugged so you had to have heard something.”

Tessa shot a quick glance at her brother who was watching them, he gave a nod.
Glancing back up, she leaned her head against the wall.
“They were waiting for something to give me. I don’t know what it was, but from what I could understand I was to be their very own
half-breed
maker.”

“They were going to turn you into a breeder?”
Jared d
idn’t hide his shock well
. “Are you sure about that?”

“Ah, yeah.” Tessa
’s
lips pinched in a thin irritated line
. “A girl do
esn’t
misunderstand something like that.”

“How did you get away?” Jared’
s mood turned darker.

“I was strapped to a table blindfolded. They never left us alone, but Chad got a phone call and took off.” Tessa shrugged her shoulder. “I had an accident when I was younger and can dislocate my shoulder
easily
. So I did and was able to get that arm out to untie the straps.”

“Can you remember anything else?” Respect vibrated in his voice.

“No, that’s about it.” Tessa sucked at lying, or at least sucked lying to people who knew her and
well,
he didn’t know her. Thank God, because she still didn’t know who she could trust and until she did her secret would stay under wraps.

“I think we just found a link between the
half-breed
s.” Damon walked up his arm around Nicole.

“I thought the last name Pride was familiar.” Nicole looked at Tessa. “My co-worker Pam Braxton worked your brother’s case a
while
back.”

“That’s right.” Tessa nodded remembering Pam. She had been great when Tessa and Adam found themselves in a mess after their mother
was killed and their father took off
. Pam had fought tooth and nail to keep Adam
out of the system and under Tessa’s
care. “
They wanted to put Adam in foster care, but she fought to keep him with me. She was great.
”

Nicole
nodded
,
a frown tilting her mouth down
. “It seems she had all of these boys cases at one time or another. Every
one of these kids ha
s
been through the
S
ocial
S
ervice
D
epartment.”

Jared frowned
,
cursing under his breath. “Where is she?”

“I tried to call, but it went to voicemail.” Nicole replied
,
glancing at Damon. “I’m worried. She always has her phone on.”

“Maybe she’s
on the line.” Damon soothed pulling her closer. “She’ll call back. If not we’ll head over.”

Nicole nodded, then her eyes narrowed staring behind Jared and Tessa.
“Why in the hell are they here?” Nicole hissed pulling away from Damon.

Tessa looked around Jared to see who Nicole was tal
king about. Walking in the door
was four of the most beautiful women Tessa had ever seen. Dressed
scant
i
ly
in fine
designer clothes, the women walked in like they owned the place
,
smiling at anything with a penis. Tessa, not usually one to judge, didn’t like them on sight.

“Now hold on Nicole.” Jared sighed. “These boys need to feed. None of them have fed since being turned.
They need pure blood.
”

“Feed?”
Tessa looked at the women
when
it
s
uddenly dawned on her. “
Ewe
. Okay that’s definitely my sign to hit the road.”
She picked up her bag.

The women walked past
,
giving Damon and Jared
flirtatious
pouty smiles
.

One stopped in front of Damon.
“Hello Damon. It’s been a while.” Her eyes ran down his body
,
clear
ly
ignoring
his growling mate
by his side. “You’re looking
delish
.”

“You best be moving you
r
ass right on out of here.” Nicole shot forward only to be stopped by Damon. “I’m not the same chick you messed with a while back.
I will beat your nasty fanged ass.”

The woman laughed, but hatred flared out of her golden eyes.
“You may have golden eyes and fangs honey, but you will never be enough woman for him. He will come back to me.”

Tessa gasped at the woman’s cruel words. Nicole was cursing
,
trying to get past Damon as the woman stood laughing. Glancing at Jared she saw a beautiful dark haired woman with her hand running up and down his arm as she whispered something in his ear. Hot steaming anger hit her hard and fast.
They were just going to stand there and listen to this bullshit.

“Oh
,
Nicole.” The red head
ed vampire
ran her hand down the front of her
own
chest to her waist. “
Why would he want a woman like you when he can have this?”

Before anyone could say a word Tessa took a step forward. “What
?
F
ake tits and a woman who shops at Hoe’s R Us
?
”
Tessa snorted rolling her eyes.
“Honey
,
they can get that
on
any street corner. You’re a dime a dozen around here.”

The woman looked Tessa up and down in disgust as if Tessa was a piece of crap on the bottom of her slut pumps. “Who the hell are you?”

“Another human trying to take our men.” The woman draping herself over Jared spat out.

“They wish.” Tessa
snorted again feeling Jared’s intense stare
.

“
Alice
,
get the fuck out of here.” Damon picked Nicole up
,
who was pointing and threatening
Alice
over his shoulder
, and
headed toward the door. “You’re here to do a job.”

“You best watch yourself little girl.” The red head named
Alice
leaned close an evil grin tipping her lips. “Pathetic humans who think they can come in and steal our men can end up in a bad situation.”
Turning
she walked away, her hips swaying so hard
Tessa was surprised she didn’t b
reak
one
.

“Will I see you tonight?”
The
dark haired
woman undraped herself from Jared
touching the cleft in his chin. “I missed you last night.”

Jared
gently removed the woman’s hand from his face. “Go on in the back Vicky.”

The woman passed
glaring at Tessa
“
You got something to say?” Tessa threw out as the woman passed.
“Yeah, didn’t think so.”

“Do you have a death wish?” Jared frowned down at her. “They’re vampires and can rip your throat out in the blink of an eye.”

Tessa crinkled her nose
,
flipping her hair behind her shoulder. “I’m pretty scrappy.”

A blinding smile lit Jared’s face as intense heat blazed in his eyes. “Yeah
,
you are definitely
….
scrappy.”

Pulling her eyes from his
,
she looked at her brother. “Does he seriously need to….ah….feed…” Tessa made a gagging sound. “from the
hoe-bags back there?”

“Where d
o you come up with your insults?
” Jared chuckled. Damn he was really starting to like this
spunky
red head.

“I work in a bar.” She glanced back at Jared as if that explained everything. “So
does he
…you know…have to feed
?” She ask
ed
as Adam walked up to them eyeing the women in the back
,
a goofy grin spreading across his lips.

“If you don’t want him
turning into
a mindless blood sucking killer….then
,
yeah
,
he does.” Jared chuckled as he looked at the other
half-breed
s who were looking at the women like the sex starved teenagers they were.

“They for us?” Adam ask
ed
his golden eyes turning slightly darker
,
his grin goof
i
er
.

“Oh my God.” Tessa spat out
,
rolling her eyes
. “You want my advice?”

Adam frowned pulling his eyes from the women who were batting their eyelashes
at him and
the
others
to look at his sister. “Ah
,
hell
no.” Adam shook his head.

Tessa ignored him
giving
him her
sister knows best look. “Use a straw.”

“Use a what?” Adam eyes widened.

“A straw
….
because I wouldn’t advi
s
e putting your mouth on any of them.” Tessa glanced back at the women then back up at her brother. “Also if you get any ideas about….well you know….I’d protect
….
” She waved her hand around his lower area.

“Are you freakin kidding me?”
Adam shuffled his feet looking away embarrassed.

“No I’m not.
” Tessa snorted. “So don’t come cryin to me if it turns green and…and rots off.”

Opened mouthed
,
Jared and Adam watched Tessa march out the door. “She did not
just
go there.” Adam moaned
,
smacking his palm against his face.

“Yeah, she did.” Jared
burst out laughing,
slapping Adam on the back.

Adam looked back at the women. “Do you think they heard?”

Jared knew they
had
, but shook his head. “Nah, don’t sweat it. She
’s
just looking out for you.” Jared did his best to hold his laughter in. That was the funniest damn conversation he’d heard in a long time. Oh yeah, this was definitely getting interesting.