Jared (26 page)

The
older vampire crossed his arms staring intently at Jared. “I’ve ne
ver known you to act rash. You’
re one of the best warriors
the
C
ouncil has ever had.” Sloan sighed. “I’m going to trust you on this, but no matter what you think, the mate thing is real and the
C
ouncil will ban you if she is mated to another.
Find out if she is mated to this
half-breed
and if not
,
find out if she is your mate. Every vampire finds their mate Kincaid and if she isn’t yours
,
you need to let her go. It’s not fair to her because once you find your true mate the feeling
s
you have for her will be put to rest.
”

Jared bowed his head slightly keeping his mouth shut. He knew Sloan was giving him some slack and he appreciated it, but he also knew
mate or not nobody would come between him and Tessa.

“Now get the hell out of here and send Duncan back in.” Sloan walked around
Duncan’s
desk taking a seat.

Jared turned to leave, but stopped. “You need to keep an eye
on
Levi.”

“Why’s that?” Sloan looked up from the papers scattered on the desk.

“
Because I know
all
the warriors that were at the fairgrounds and I also know none of them would have said a word before being debriefed by the elders. Levi isn’t an elder and I know they haven’t been debriefed yet because you would have known about Tessa and the
half-breed
s
.” Jared warned.

“Noted.” Sloan replied. “Anything else?”

“Nope.” Jared opened the door and walked out. “He wants to see you.” Jared nodded toward Duncan as he walked past heading back to his room where Tessa waited.

Damon fell in step with Jared. “Well?”

Jared didn’t say anything for a moment. Thoughts of Tessa being mated to the
half-breed
burned his
blood. “Sparkles needs to die.”

After Jared left Tessa couldn’t go to sleep so she got up to shower again. Stepping out she wiped the steam from the glass s
taring at her reflection
smiling
at herself. The reflection looking back at her looked happy. Shaking her head Tessa dried off, dressed and walked out into the room. Jared had left some bandages for her feet on the dresser. Stopping
,
she looked around and noticed there was nothing personal of his in the room. No pictures, no nothing. She would have never known this was his room if he hadn’t brought her in.

Grabbing the bandages she limped to the bed and started to wrap her feet after apply
ing
the medicine he also left. She looked up when the door opened.
Jared walked in spotting her on the bed.

“What are you doing up?” Jared frowned
as he
walked toward her. Kneeling down he picked up the foot she just wrapped.

Tessa shrugged her shoulder. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“You need your rest.” He grabbed the medicine spreading it on her other foot.

“So do you.”
She countered jerking her foot not from pain
, but because she was ticklish.

“I’m a vampire Tessa.” Jared
smirked. “I don’t need sleep.”

Tessa rolled her eyes. “Sorry. I seem to
keep forgetting
that.”

“And that
is
truly
refreshing.” Jared held her foot still when she jerked again. “Stop moving.”

Tessa laughed. “I can’t help it.”

Jared quickly wrapped her foot then stood leaning over her with a wicked gleam in his golden eyes. "You ticklish?”

Leaning back on her elbows she stared up at him. “No.”

“No?” Jared grinned inching toward her.

Tessa scooted backwards up the bed. “Don’t even think about it.” She giggled when he grabbed her calf, careful not to touch her feet, pulling her toward him.

“Where you going?” He teased putting a knee on
the bed pulling her under him, h
is hand
moving to her ribs.

“Jared don’t.” Tessa tried to wiggle out from under him. When his smile grew larger Tessa grabbed his hand to still it. “I’m serious.”

“Oh, you’re serious?”
He
smirked
wiggling his fingers on h
er
ribs. She squealed making him laugh. “I thought you weren’t ticklish?”

“I’m not!” She twisted and kicked
,
her laughter ringing through the room when he tickled her harder. “Please stop!”

He did laying his weight on top of her. “I could listen to your laugh all day.” He kissed her forehead, down her nose finally making it to her mouth.

Tessa wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer
,
deepening the kiss. They were going hot and heavy until her stomach growled and she wanted to die. How freakin embarrassing.

Pulling his mouth from hers he frowned down at her. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry?”

“I’m not.” She lied. She was hungry, but having him to herself was enough for her right now. She could eat later. She tried to pull him back down, but he wouldn’t budge.

“
Y
ou’re going to eat.” He rolled off her careful not to hurt her. He chuckled when she moaned. Reaching down he held his hand out. “Come on. I promise you we will take up where we left off.”

Taking his hand she let him pull her up
. “No tickling.” She grumbled with a small grin.

“I don’t know about that.” Jared opened the door. “I really like the way you wiggle when I’m tickling you.”
He tossed her a wink
making her
face flame.

Tessa was surprised when they walked into a large kitchen. Her grandfather sat at a table with a large stack of
steaming pancakes
in front of him. Tessa let go of Jared’s hand and headed his way. Leaning down
,
she placed a kiss on his weathered face.

“Hey
Gramps
.” Tessa pulled
out a seat and sat down next to him. He’
d already eat
en
half the stack. She turned to stare wide eyed at Sid
who
stood at the stove flipping pancakes like a pro. “How did you get him to eat? All he would ever eat was French fries.”

“He said the food they served at the home tasted like a…..skunks ass.” Sid glanced over at her grandfathe
r his eyebrows raised
. “Did I get that right
Gramps
?”

Tessa looked at her grandfather who was staring at Sid with a crooked grin. “You can read him to
o
?” She ask
ed
Sid without taking her eyes of
f
her grandfather’s happy smile.

“Sure can.” Sid walked over placing a mountain of hot steaming pancakes in front of her. “And he said you need to eat….so eat.”

“I can’t eat all of that.” Tessa frowned. She might as well just syrup the pancakes up and stick them on her
ass
cause that’s where they were going anyway. “Don’t you have a banana or something?”

Sid and Jared looked horrified. “Banana?” The
y
echoed each other.

“Yeah, you know…yellow, long thing that monkeys eat.” Tessa rolled her eyes. “
Fruit. Do you have any fruit?
”

Sid placed his hands on his aproned hips, a spatula in one hand and a look of disgust on his face. “
No Ms. Fit.” Sid frowned. “We have pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage….”

“Okay, I get it.” Tessa held her hands up in defeat yet she couldn’t help but smile at the picture Sid made in his apron. He looked like Brad Pitt on steroids doing a Food Network
show….
Cooking with Vampires
. “No fruit.”

Sid nodded before turning back to the stove. “Damn straight no fruit.”
He grumbled, then snorted. “Banana.”

Jared walked up, leaning close
. “I think you hurt his feelings.
He takes great pride in his cooking.
” He whispered. “You better eat.”

Tessa glanced at Sid doubtful she could hurt his feelings, but watching him turn back to the stove with a frown she felt bad. Picking up the fork she cut into the fluffy pancakes and took a bite, the
y
melted in her mouth and sent her eyes rolling to the back of her head.

“Mmmmm.” Tessa moaned before taking another bite. “These are amazing.” Moaning through a mouthful.

Jared walked around to the other side of the table with a plate full of everything. Sitting down he reached over grabbing her hand his golden eyes glowing dark. “If you don’t stop moaning like that you won’t get to finish those.” He warned loud enough for her ears, his eyes narrowed intently on her mouth.

Tessa’s stomach dipped and flipped all over the
place. E
xcited by his words and the intensity of his stare she moaned again, but this time it had nothing to do with food.

“
Sid you are my hero!” Adam came into the large kitchen grabbing a plate and making a beeline to where Sid was frying bacon.

“You got that right boy.” Sid dished him up some pancakes along with bacon,
sausage
and eggs.

Tessa rolled her eyes when Adam sat down next to her with food hanging off the edges of his plate. “
You suck.” She grumbled before stealing a piece of bacon.

“Hey
,
keep your paws off my food human.” He bared his fangs at her.

Snorting Tessa took a bite of stolen bacon. “I hope you gain thirty pounds eating all that.”

“I don’t gain w
eight
anymore.” He forked in a mound of eggs, chewed, then smiled at her. “I could eat fifty plates like this and not gain an ounce.”

“Yeah, you
definitely
suck.” Tessa glanced at
the
pancakes she had taken five bites out of and pushed it away even though she wanted to face plant into the damn things
then lick
the plate after she was done
.

“You hear her
Gramps
?” Adam pointed at Tessa with his empty fork.

Tessa gasped in surprise. “You can read him? You never told me that.”

“Ah yeah.” Adam shrugged his shoulder. “And he says you need to be nice to me.”

Her eyes shooting to her grandfather back to Adam. “No he didn’t.” She frowned knowing her grandfather better than that. “And why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I just figured it out last night.” Adam sighed.

“So if I became a
half-breed
like you I could talk to him.” Hope filled her eyes
as she stared back at her grandfather
.

“No!” Both Adam and Jared answered with a firm, not on your life, answer.

“Why not?” Tessa frowned looking between both Adam and Jared.

“You don’
t want this
Tessa
.
” Adam replied between piling food into his mouth.

“What’s so bad about it?” She snorted tossing her hand toward his plate. “You can eat a freakin cow and not gain an ounce, you have superhuman strength, you don’t have to sleep and you get to hold a conversation with
Gramps
.”

“I never gained an ounce before, having superhuman strength is not a big deal and you can have a conversation with
Gramps
.” Adam pushed his half empty plate away. “Having people look at me like I’m a freak isn’t something I would wish on anybody.”

“Who’s looking at you like a freak?” Tessa demanded her red head temper
bubbling to the surface.

“What? You gonna kick their asses?” Adam grinned winking at Jared who chuckled.

“Just give me names.” Tessa frowned at Jared who
was grinning at his plate.

“It would be easier to tell you who don’t.” Adam snorted. “It’s the whole town. I can’t go anywhere without someone I’ve known all my life side stepping out of my way or completely turning around to avoid me.”

“The little blonde seems to be pretty into you.” Sid sat down with a full plate of food.

Adam grinned, shrugging his shoulders. “Yeah.”

“Well
,
you got friends here now and Angelina has always had a crush on you.” Tessa nudged him. “Those other people aren’t even worth your time.”

“You knew she liked me?” Adam looked surprised.

“Everyone in the county knew it.” Tessa laughed shaking her head. “Never knew why you didn’t ask her out?”