Jagers Mate

Chapter Nine

The sound of someone pounding on the bedroom door brought Jager and Daylen awake at the same time. Daylen blinked at the bright light and lifted her head so she could see the digital clock on the bedside table next to Jager’s side of the bed. It was just after eleven-thirty. Considering Jager and she had made love most of the night, she wasn’t surprised to find they had slept almost through the entire morning.

The loud banging on the door resumed until Jager shouted, “Whoever is out there had better have a good reason for waking us up.”

A woman’s voice sounded from the other side of the door. “Oh, I have a very good reason. Kye told me what you did last night. Now open this door and let me see what damage you’ve done.”

“Aw, Christ,” Jager said under his breath. He then said louder, “Roxie, go downstairs. Just give us a few minutes to get dressed and then you can commence with your reaming out.”

There was a few seconds of silence, then Roxie said, “Fine, I’ll be downstairs, but don’t keep me waiting too long.”

So the infamous Roxie who wanted Jager to follow her rules had shown up. Daylen was more than a little curious to meet her. Since Jager and Kye both thought Roxie would give Jager crap for pulling the stunt in bringing her here, Roxie obviously had some control over the men.

Jager threw back the covers and got out of bed. He stretched, giving Daylen a nice few of his tight ass. He turned and gave her a smile that said he knew she’d been staring.

“You might as well use the bathroom first while I get dressed. If we don’t get downstairs in what Roxie thinks is a fair amount of time, she’ll only come pounding on the door again.”

“What is Roxie to you? Is she a relation of yours?”

Jager snorted. “No. She’s more like my boss. She rules over all the werewolf packs.”

“So she’s like your queen or something?”

“Not a queen. There are no royal families in werewolf society. Roxie’s just special.

She’s the foretold one. She also can do things a normal werewolf can’t. Being the foretold one also puts her at risk of being used as a figurehead if an unscrupulous werewolf ever got his or her hands on her. That’s where my sister, brothers and I come in. We’re Roxie’s Protectors.”

Daylen ran an appreciative gaze over the front of Jager. The sight of his naked body made her wish they could stay in bed. The man hadn’t lied when he said he could keep an erection after coming over and over again.

Jerking her gaze back up to Jager’s face, she said, “So you and your family are her bodyguards? And why do you sometimes call them your brothers-or sister-in-arms at times and just brothers and sister at others?”

“I guess we’re closer to being bodyguards than anything else. We’ve trained for centuries waiting for Roxie to be found. As for your other question, we all aren’t really related. I have two true brothers—Roan and Skylar. As for the others, they were lone wolves same as my brothers and I were. It was Saskia’s grandmother who brought us all together to train and basically form our own pack, with Saskia, my sister, as the pack leader.”

Daylen listened to the rest of Jager’s explanation, but her mind had sort of frozen on the part where he’d said he and his family had trained for centuries while they waited for Roxie. Centuries? She also then remembered his comment from the night before about werewolves being almost immortal. Could Jager really be that old? Daylen felt the blood drain away from her face when she thought about his penchant for carrying a sword. If he’d lived through a time when carrying one was part of everyday life, it would explain why he was so comfortable having it strapped to his waist.

Jager gave her a concerned look. “Daylen? Are you all right? You’ve gotten awfully pale all of a sudden.”

“You said last night that werewolves were almost immortal. How old are you, Jager?”

In a matter-of-fact tone, he said, “I’m one thousand and ten. Since you asked me my age, what’s yours?”

“I’m just a measly thirty years old,” she said with more calm that she actually felt.

Yup, at over a thousand years old, Jager was an official card-carrying medieval warrior. The sword now made perfect sense. His great age had her verging on wanting to laugh hysterically out loud. And not in a good way. She’d just spent the night screwing the brains out of a man who had seen history in the making.

Coming to sit on the bed next to her, Jager lifted her into an upright position and took her in his arms. He rubbed a large hand up and down her back. “Just breathe, Daylen. I guess I shouldn’t have just dropped the age thing on you like that.”

“It’s okay. I had to find out sometime.” Daylen pushed away from Jager and slid out of the bed on the opposite side. “I’ll hurry in the bathroom so you can have it after me.”

Before Jager could say anything to her, she raced into the en suite and closed the door behind her, turning the lock once it clicked into place. She leaned her forehead against the back of the door and took a couple deep breaths. She was definitely in over her head.

Once she’d splashed some cold water on her face, Daylen had pulled herself together enough so she could face Jager again. When she stepped back into the bedroom, Jager didn’t say anything as he walked past her and into the bathroom. By the time he had finished up, Daylen was dressed.

They were now on their way downstairs and they still hadn’t said a word to each other. Before they reached the last step, Jager pulled her to a halt. Daylen gave him a questioning look.

“Just so you aren’t caught off guard,” he said, “you’re about to meet my entire family as well as Roxie and her mate. I can smell all their scents. I know I’ve dumped a lot on you already. If you’d rather not be around a bunch of werewolves right now, I’ll tell them to get lost.”

Daylen slipped her hand in his. She was not the type of woman to back down from anything. She was starting to get herself back on an even keel. If she could accept that Jager was a werewolf, she’d have to come to grips with how old he was. They had yet to discuss how things were going to go from here now that they’d slept together, but Daylen had a feeling she was about to find out exactly what it meant to be considered Jager’s mate.

Jager guided Daylen into a spacious living room with a large LCD television and a couple long black leather couches. Along with those pieces of furniture, there were a couple of matching black leather armchairs. Most of the seating was already taken up by Jager’s family. There was only an empty spot on one of the couches.

All heads turned Daylen and Jager’s way when they stepped into the room. She recognized Kye, who sat in one of the armchairs. He smiled at her. Two of the men sitting on one of the couches looked so similar to Jager that Daylen guessed them to be his true brothers, Roan and Skylar. One of them wore his hair almost as long as Jager did, while the other’s brushed the tops of his shoulders. All three men shared the same hair color and the same light blue eyes. One had his arm around the shoulders of a woman.

The one thing Daylen immediately noticed was how extremely good-looking most of the occupants of the room were. The only ones who didn’t have the supermodel look going on, though they were no means bad looking, was the woman who sat next to one of Jager’s brothers, the man sitting beside a woman with white blonde hair, and the woman with golden brown hair who happened to be glaring daggers at Jager. If Daylen had to guess, she would say that was Roxie.

Jager led Daylen over to stand in front of the television and turned them both so they faced the others in the room. He then introduced her to everyone, leaving the man and woman who sat together in one of the armchairs for last.

“That’s Roxie over there, and the man whose lap she is sitting on is Beowulf, her mate,” Jager said.

Daylen smiled. “It’s nice to meet you all.”

Roxie slid off her mate’s lap and moved to stand in front of Daylen and Jager. She glared at Jager, then turned a smile on Daylen. “It’s nice to meet you as well, Daylen, though I heard you were brought here under duress.”

“Jager and I sorted it out in the end.”

“You two may have sorted it out,” Roxie said, “but I would like to know if Jager left out some major details.”

“Did you run out and tell Roxie as soon as you left here last night?” Jager asked Kye as he turned his gaze on him. “I figured she would find out eventually. I just wasn’t expecting someone to tell her so soon.”

Kye shrugged. “What can I say? I went to Wulf’s Den last night, and Roxie asked if I’d seen you before I arrived. I’m sorry, bro, but when she threatened to do all kinds of nasty things to me if I didn’t talk, I caved.”

Roxie loudly cleared her throat. “Well, I’m waiting, Jager. Did you tell Daylen everything?”

Not sure what everything actually was, Daylen decided to take some of the heat off Jager. “He did tell me about his knowing I was his mate as soon as he smelled my scent, and about the mating urge. He also told me how werewolves are almost immortal, and that he is over a thousand years old.”

“And that was it?” Roxie asked with exasperation tingeing her words. “Incredible.

Just incredible. So he never mentioned what it meant when you made love for the first time and your souls joined. And you have to tell me you felt it. It isn’t exactly something that just slides by without you noticing.”

Daylen looked from Roxie to Jager, who happened to look a smidgeon guilty about something, and then back to Roxie again. “So that’s what that was. Jager never said anything about it. I thought maybe I had imagined it.”

Roxie rounded on Jager and started poking a finger into the center of his chest. “I told you to give her a choice, you big lug.” Poke. “Why didn’t you listen to me?” Poke.

Jager grabbed Roxie’s finger and pushed it away. “Stop poking me. Hey, having no choice has worked out for all the mated couples here in this room. Granted, Eli wasn’t a werewolf when he claimed Saskia, and didn’t have the mating urge to tell him she was his, but they still didn’t have a choice. Roan and Ansley are happy. And Beowulf didn’t ask first before he claimed you.”

“Leave me out of this,” Beowulf said with a chuckle from where he sat.

Roxie crossed her arms over her chest. “All right, knucklehead. Daylen has accepted your being a werewolf pretty well. Shall we see how well she accepts what it really means to be a mate to one?”

Daylen met Roxie’s gaze when the other woman moved away from Jager to stand in front of her. Given how upset Roxie seemed to be about Jager not telling her all there was to know about being a werewolf’s mate, Daylen braced herself for what was coming next.

She had a feeling it would be another blow to her system.

“Now, Daylen,” Roxie said, “I want you to stay calm, and remember, I’m just the messenger. If you want to punish someone after I’ve told you everything, I suggest you do it to the idiot standing beside you.” Jager let out a low growl at that, but Roxie ignored him. “First of all, I suggest you get Jager to buy you a big-ass diamond ring, because you and he are basically now married.” Roxie flashed the large diamond ring and gold band she wore on the ring finger of her left hand.

Daylen swallowed. “Married? As in we’re married married?”

“Yup. As soon as your souls joined, that was a werewolf equivalent of a mortal marriage ceremony, only it doesn’t have any witnesses and it’s much, much more intimate. There’s also no breaking that bond once it has been forged.”

She looked frantically around the room, hoping Roxie was pulling her leg, but everyone had a serious expression on their faces. “You’re kidding, right? I can’t possibly be married to Jager. We barely know each other. Up until last night, I wanted to throw him in jail every time I saw him.”

One of the men started to laugh, but it was quickly covered over with a loud cough.

Seeing as how Leif had his hand over his mouth and laughter lurked in his eyes, Daylen figured it had been him.

“That is why I told Jager to explain and give you a choice. As for getting to know each other, you’ll learn pretty quickly. The joining of your souls will take care of that.

Now that you’re mated, neither you nor Jager will be able to stand being away from each other for any length of time, especially in the beginning. A few hours away from Jager and you’ll feel as if you’re in a living hell. All you’ll be able to think about is getting back to him.”

Daylen turned to Jager. “You knew that would happen?”

He unwaveringly met her gaze. “Yes.”

She didn’t think. She just reacted. Taking Jager by the arm, she kicked out at the back of his knees. As he went down to the floor, she kept her hold on his arm, keeping it high and outstretched as she used her thumb to apply pressure to the underside of Jager’s wrist. She had him on his knees, leaning forward, with his arm held higher than his shoulder in a matter of seconds. He also couldn’t get out of this hold so long as she kept her thumb on the pressure point under his wrist. Daylen had used this hold on more than one suspect.

“Now I can see why Roxie is a little pissed with you,” she said. “There is one thing you have to learn about me. I don’t like surprises like that.”

The room had gone completely silent. Daylen looked around to see everyone staring at her with surprise on their faces. “I have a black belt in karate, and I know a bit of jujitsu.”

Leif, all of a sudden, burst out laughing. He laughed so hard tears started running out of his eyes and he had to hold his ribs. The others in the room broke out in varying degrees of laughter as well. Even Roxie had cracked a smile.

“I’m sorry,” Leif said as he tried to bring himself back under control. “But you have to admit it looks pretty good to see Mr. He-man-warrior-who-can’t-be-separated-from-my-sword taken down so easily by a woman, and a mortal no less. How many times is this? Twice now?”

“This would be the third time,” Daylen answered.

That only sent Leif into another round of laughter.

Dirk, who sat next to Leif, elbowed him. “I’d cut that out if I were you. Jager will take it out on your hide.”

While still laughing, Leif said, “But it will be so worth it.”

Daylen ignored Leif and turned her gaze onto Jager. “If we’re stuck with each other, you’re going to have to stop keeping things from me. I don’t do well with people who don’t tell the truth or who purposely neglect to tell me things.” She then released Jager.

He stood and quickly put his arms around her waist when she would have put more distance between them. “Okay, I didn’t exactly go about this in the right way. If you had been a female werewolf, you would have already known these things. You being mortal just made it a little more complicated.”

“Speaking of me being a mortal,” Daylen said. “You said something about Eli not always being a werewolf. Does that mean now that we’re mates I’ll become one? Or do you have to bite me to turn me?”

“A mortal can’t be turned from being bitten by a werewolf. Werewolves are born werewolves. Actually, to the general werewolf population, a mortal can never be turned.”

Daylen frowned in confusion. “Then how did Eli get turned?”

Roxie broke into their conversation. “I think I should be the one to explain this one. I was once mortal as well, same with Ansley. There is a very old spell that will turn a mortal into a werewolf. I was the first mortal it actually worked on. It seems I have a little more magic inside me than the average werewolf. The spark of magic deep inside us is how we make the change. Anyway, it has turned out that I’m the only one now who can use the spell. With a small of amount of my blood and the spell, I can make you and Jager truly mates in all ways. At least I think it will still work in my condition.”

“Your condition?” Jager asked before Daylen could.

“You might as well tell them, Roxie,” Beowulf said when Roxie hesitated.

“There was another reason why Beowulf and I came here this morning, other than me giving Jager shit.” She paused, then smiled. “I’m pregnant.”