Ember's Pov

"I guess this is your stop," Jean said when we reached my gate, and I suddenly did not want the evening to end. It turned to look at him, hoping we had not reached that point in our relationship where there was a mind link,


"I guess this is my stop," I said and stretched out my hand to shake him because I just didn't know what else to do,

"what's that for?" he asked,

"a shake goodbye?" I said, sounding lame to my own ears. He merely smiled and shook his head, not making an effort to shake me back,


"Keep your hand to yourself, Ms. Macgregor. You're going to make me feel like I'm not doing enough here."

"ahh, I see. There was an ulterior motive after all." his grin came so quickly, that it knocked me out,


"no ulterior motive though.. Just a man hoping you could love him, and accept being mates."

It was my turn to smile, although mine didn't come as quickly as his. He got out of the car and strode to my door, opened it up, and waited for me to step out. When I did, he placed his hand on both sides of me, and had me pinned,

"What does a man have to do, to have you agree to forever?"

"is that what you want, or your wolf?" for some reason, I was desperate to know,

"I wouldn't know how one is separate from the other at this point. You mean a lot to us."

"in such little time?" I asked, bewildered,

"it doesn’t take such a long time to realize that no matter what happens, a person matters. A person always will, and for God's sake, you are my mate after all."

I looked deep into his eyes and realized he was telling the truth. By some honest twist of fate, I did matter to Jean. I sighed and took his hands away from my sides when I said nothing.

"alright then, you can go right in. I won't keep you, as you've had a very long day," he said, and handed me my keys,

"how will you get home though?" I asked curiously,

"my beta should be here soon enough. I'll just take a walk to meet him."

"do you want my company until he comes?"

He tilted his head and smiled at me, "What's this? Are you worried about me being alone? Or perhaps some other woman would see me and try to flirt?"

I rolled my eyes at him and began to walk away, and he started to chuckle,

"you’re not very hard to piss off."

"you're insufferable, jean."

"Bon nuit, mademoiselle!" he called out as I walked toward the house,

"good night, Alpha Jean!" I called out back,

"It's just Jean to you!" he called back. I didn’t call out back, but I was smiling at the front door.

~~~~~

"you seem to be bright and happy," Axel said when I got into the house,

"It's been a good day," I replied and sat beside him,

"yes. I see that. " he said, regarding me carefully, "Jean is good for you then?"

"If you are asking in terms of the unfor9seeable future, I really can't say. But at the moment? Yes. He was good for me today, at the very least."

He smiled and leaned backward in his chair, "safe to say, that soon enough, Paris will be history."

I should have let it go. Should it have been anyone else, I might have let it go, but it was my brother, and so I simply could not leave him to believe a lie,

"I don't know," I said quietly, and his smile fell a bit,

"what don't you know?"

"I don't know if Paris will be history."

"here we go," he said and sat up. I did the same,

"here me out. I enjoyed being with Jean today. I've heard people speak about being with their mates, and all of the ways it makes them happy, but I've never experienced it firsthand. I did today, I spent time with my mate and I think it might have been the most strengthening and powerful experience ever. But even then…"

"you're still stuck on Paris," he said and I shrugged,

"I'm still willing to follow through on our deal."

"but you were happy today, does that not count?"

"it does. Of course, it does. Like I said, I feel stronger because of it. I'm not about to forget that."

He nodded slowly, as though he understood. I truly hope he understood,

"where does this leave William?"

I looked at my brother weakly, "all of this is making me begin to feel like some kind of woman who had three men she has to pick from."

He laughed at that one and I only shook my head, "William is my friend before anything else. No matter what happens, that much is not allowed to change."

"so it's a friend zone there."

I shrugged helplessly, "I don’t know what there is between him for sure. But I still have feelings for Paris, Axel. I can't pursue anything with William with those feelings present. And now, there is my mate. He's a wonderful person, and I love how I've felt with him today." I said and finally sighed.

"so, a dilemma then?"

"something of that sort."

He reached over and placed a hand over mine, "You'll be fine. William is my friend but I did a bit of work on Jean, he is clean. I can only hope you end up with one of them. If only one of them, and not Paris."

And to that, I had no reply.

Paris's POV

"is it reaching to call her up for another date?" I asked Jackson while we worked on some papers for the pack,

He looked up at me with a bit crossed eye, and shook his head, "Who, sire?"

"Ember, Jackson. Who else could I be talking about?"

He placed the papers on the table, and scratched at his beard, "did you two not have a date, what? Two days ago?"

"And?"

"And aren’t the both of you trying to take it slow?"

I drew my brows together and he held both his hands up, "Don't get me wrong sire, I want you to meet up with her, as it put stars in your eyes, but you want to be careful so as to not put her in a corner. You're trying to be friends, before trying to make her your lover. Which means she needs her space."

"her space? You want me to give her space when she has a mate that could take her from me at any given moment?"

"more reason why you need to tread carefully, sire. If she feels crowded, you might back into a corner. This corner, being the arms of her new mate. You of all people know how empowering and overpowering the mate bond can be."

I didn’t like listening to him, but I had to agree that he had a point. It was too easy to damn it all and run into the arms of your mate. I knew the feeling all too well.

"so what do I do?"

"by all means, call her if you need to. I know the joy she brings to you. But if she declines, then you have no choice but to accept her refusal and not push for anything more. "

" you're indirectly asking me to leave our relationship to chance. With all the men in her life at the moment, I could lose her."

"there have been far too many chances to lose her, but still, look where you two are."

I gave his words some thought before rising, "You have a point."

"more than a point, but I choose to be modest."

"right, Mr. Modest. Excuse me for a while. I'm about to either break my heart or mend it."

"Godspeed," he said, as I walked out of the room.

~~~~

"Paris?" she answered my call far more quickly than I expected, but something in her voice told me she was in a hurry,

"Em? Do you have a minute?"

"I can spare one or two. Work rush hour and all."

"understandable. "I said and ran my hand over my head. It was best to just get over with it, " I don't know if you'll be busy this weekend for lunch?"

"lunch?" she repeated and fell silent, "We have the project meeting this weekend, we'll see then."

"I was kind of thinking of a me and you thing."

"that sounds great and all, but I promised to spend time with Jean. Aside from the project, weekends are my only free time."

"jean? As in your mate?"

"yeah."

"is it me, Em, or do you seem to be becoming more and more invested in your mate?"

"well.." she began and fell silent, "he is actually my mate. So it's only normal that I feel drawn to him."

"I can't believe I'm hearing you say all of this. ""Paris…"

"Now, hear me out… I understand I messed up big time when Kate entered the picture. But you promised you were willing to give me a chance. Now, how am I supposed to stand a chance if Jean gets all of the chances?"

"Paris…"

"no, you know what? It's fine. I just need you to know that I feel pushed to the side. But in the end, you're responsible for what you want from your life. So it's fine."

"Paris!" she yells,

"What?"

"stop saying all this insufferable rubbish."