She kissed him again. It was just a little peck, but it was the best kiss of his entire life. “I love you,” she said against his lips.

“You do?” Sometimes life wasn’t fair. Sometimes you had to give up the basketball scholarship you had been working towards your whole life. Sometimes you had to wage impossible wars. And sometimes a girl who was way too good to so much as look in your direction fell in love with you.

Jase decided he might not punch life in the throat after all.

“Do you think I would throw myself at someone I don’t love?” She was more exasperated than offended. Jase wasn't quite sure how he knew that, but he did. It was like the Talley Power was working in reverse.

“You never know,” he teased, feeling lighter than he had in months, if not years. “I am pretty irresistible. It wouldn’t be the first time a random girl tried to rip my clothes off.”

She fisted her hand in his shirt and he thought she might be considering doing some literal clothes ripping. “This better be the last time you almost let her,” she said, using her grip on his shirt to bring his face closer to hers.

“I don’t know,” he said, stealing a kiss before continuing. “There is this one girl…”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, she’s this complete wild child. She even broke into an all boys dorm in the middle of the night one time just to try to seduce me. She might be hard to resist.”

Her eyes were focused on his lips. “Really? How hard?”

“Nearly impossible.” He traced her bottom lip with his thumb. Two could play at this lip-obsession game.

“What are you going to do about her?”

“Current plan is to kiss her until she passes out and can’t take advantage of me.”

“Hmmmm…” Her lips brushed against his. “I like this plan.”

There was no more talking after that. And even though he had to keep one leg braced on the floor to keep from rolling off the bed, he decided he wasn’t ever falling asleep without Talley by his side again.

Chapter 10

It took Talley some time to realize the sound she was hearing was a knock on the door. Jase had been a man of his word and kissed her until she was so blissfully exhausted she’d drifted off to sleep snuggled into his side, his lips still trailing kisses over her closed eyes. It was so perfect and loving, she might not have believed it if Jase wasn’t still projecting, even in his sleep. He loved her. Like really, truly loved her. Maybe even as much as she loved him.

Talley had expected her first kiss to be clumsy and embarrassing. Even in her fantasies where anything could happen, she’d imagined awkward angles, giggles, and furious blushes. She’d never dreamt that she would turn into some sort of wanton aggressor, crawling all over the guy, desperate to have more of him.

It’s amazing what the confidence that comes from knowing you’re truly loved and wanted can do to a person.

“Does everyone have their clothes on?” Joshua asked, pushing his head through the door. Apparently, he thought there was a real possibility they didn’t since his eyes were closed. Despite everything that had happened between her and Jase last night, Talley wasn’t quite sure what had led Joshua to that belief. When he let her sneak up to the room, she’d told him there was an urgent family matter she needed to discuss with Jase in private. She figured if he was really keeping tabs on them so he could pass information to the Alphas, he would be eager to get her to the room and talking, and sure enough, he’d practically pushed her out of the lobby and up the stairs.

She wanted to believe Jase was wrong and Joshua was only worried that something was really wrong last night, but his next words left no room for doubt.

“Talley, you’re on the bed! And your mate is touching you! Fantastic!”

Well, at least he seemed excited about it.

“Joshua,” Jase said, trying to sit up. Due to the bed’s dilapidated state, she had to help him, which probably didn’t help with the whole you-don’t-want-to-screw-with-me vibe he was going for.

“You two are absolutely perfect together,” Joshua said, tossing his messenger bag carelessly on the desk. He seemed oblivious to the fact that Jase was considering the best way to incapacitate him without causing a ruckus. “I have no idea why you didn’t realize it sooner. I’m pretty sure the blind kid on the first floor saw how crazy you two are about each other before you did. I really thought a Shifter and Seer would be a bit more self-aware than that with all their animal instincts and super-Sight-powers.”

“Who the hell are you?” Jase growled.

“I’m Joshua. Your roommate.” Joshua grabbed a Snickers bar and plopped himself down in Jase’s desk chair.

Jase was so angry he was beyond speech, so Talley asked, “What do you want, Joshua?”

“Glad you asked, Talley-girl.” Joshua leaned back and propped his feet up on the desk. “I need to the know where the Alpha Male is.”

“Stefan is in a secure location—”

“Stefan is in a private hospital room in Nashville.” He tilted the chair back until he could grab one of the iPads off his desk. After punching the screen a few times he said, “His blood pressure is 80/40; his heart rate is 40; his O-2 count is at 99; and his brain activity is, as it has been for weeks, practically non-existent.” He put down the device and looked at Jase. “I don’t care about a living corpse. I’m looking for Liam Cole.”

Jase’s thoughts were aligned with her own. This was a test. The Alpha Pack either knew about their allegiance to Liam, or they had their suspicions. Either way, the only thing to do at this point was to deny it.

“Why would we know where an enemy of the Alpha Pack is hiding?” Jase asked. He looked like he was insulted Joshua would even ask such a question, but Talley could See his fear. Her heart melted a little over the way most of that fear was aimed at her and how he was going to keep her from getting hurt.

Instead of saying anything, Joshua did another lean and grab, this time snagging yet another iPad. It took him a bit longer to pull up whatever information he was looking for, but eventually she heard her own voice coming from it.

“Do you think she’s okay?”

“Of course. Liam will take care of her.”

“You’ve been listening to our conversations.” Even though she and Jase had talked about the possibility, it was still a shock to know someone had heard everything the two of them had said to each other in that room. Everything, including—