Jace's POV:
I rang the doorbell and did a double take. Wait a second...
An old woman answered the door, an irritable expression on her face. It immediately changed when she saw my face. "Oooh."She touched my chest.
"How may I help you?" She purred.
First off, the woman had to be about a thousand years old. For all I knew, she could have been there when John Hancock was signing the Declaration of Independence. Secondly, she was no Zoe. She wasn't my one, and therefore she had no right to be touching me the way she was.
And last, but not least:
EW.
I jolted back so fast that I may have given her a heart attack. I had to force myself not to just teleport back to the car and get out of there, fast. Instead, I ran at a fast, normal human pace to the car, and jumped in the back. I was so upset that I couldn't even hold back the command in my voice.
"Floor it," I ordered Falon. Falon, knowing that the joke had gone wrong, did as I told him do. We screeched away. I leaned back in the seat, trying to control my temper before I shifted.
"What," I said in a barely controlled voice, "was that?"
"It was supposed to help calm you down. Get your mind off the date tonight. And look, it has." Art smirked.
"So you drove to someone else's house and made me think that it was hers?"
"It's not his fault that you couldn't tell that it wasn't ours," Art said helpfully.
I glared at him, defensive. "I was on edge. I couldn't possibly tell that Zoe wasn't there. It was like all of my functions had shut down. If you can find a mate, you'll understand." That was low, but I couldn't snatch the words out of the air and stuff them back into my mouth the way I wanted to.
Art paused for a second, then said in a sullen tone, "Maybe I don't want to." I could hear the hurt underlying his angry voice.
"Art--" I started.
"And maybe Zoe shouldn't have."
It was like a kick in the gut, a direct challenge to my position as Zoe's mate. We were on the road leading to the Wolfe's house now, so there were woods on the side and the place was pretty much empty. Falon swore under his breath and veered to the side as I began to feel my bones crack.
"Go!" Falon commanded us both. I jumped out of the car and heard Art do the same. Just three feet away from the car, I shifted. I heard Falon wince as the ear-splitting sound of scratched metal filled the air.
Art was immediately on me. He was smaller than me, with black fur that had gray flecks. He bit down on my pelt and I growled fiercely, shaking to throw him off. He was thrown into a nearby tree and it cracked and fell down, making a loud 'CRACK' as it went down.
Timber.
He was on me again in mere seconds, but I was ready this time. I jumped into the air just as he did and we collided.
Zoe's POV:
"So yes, I chose Jace over Taylor."
"Was it hard?" Ronnie asked. Taylor was on her right side, holding her hand, while I sat on her left. He did nothing but look at her, and I was so happy for him that it almost hurt.
"It has to be one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life," I said truthfully. "But I knew that Jace was the one for--" I stopped, placing my hand on my heart and closing my eyes at the sudden pain.
Something was wrong.
And it had something to do with Jace.
CRACK!
There was a huge noise in the distance. I jumped off the bed, listening, practically frozen in position.
My eyes met my uncle's and we all went into the action at the same time. I didn't care that Taylor was running right behind me, as I began taking off my shirt and then my pants. They wouldn't come off though, so I just shfted out of them without stopping. My father was already ahead of us; I knew that he was waiting for me because he was running more slowly than usual. My heart in my mouth, I took on full speed.
I was at the site in a matter of seconds. My father was there before me, and I got there just in time to see him jump on Jace.
The wolf I recognized as my brother was bleeding heavily at the side, breathing faintly in the grass. My head swivled from my dad and my mate to my brother.
I had to make a decision.
My brother?
Or the one I loved, who was surely about to be killed?
