Chapter 149

Chapter 0249

To my surprise, Jackson makes absolutely no move to put me down. Instead, he just looks at Luca

evenly for a second. “Your girlfriend?” he asks, the words low and light with disbelief. He hums

consideringly and then turns his face back up to mine. “What do you think, Clark?” he murmurs,

nodding over to where Luca stands, not bothering to look his way. “That your boyfriend over

there?”

I can’t help it then, loving the assurance in his voice, the calm way he dismisses Luca’s jealousy. A

slow, happy smile spreads over my lips as I stare down at him, not saying a single word regarding

whether Luca’s my boyfriend or not.

Because honestly, I don’t know.

But Jackson’s right – Luca doesn’t get to boss him around on this, does he?

“Didn’t think so,” Jackson murmurs, low enough that maybe only I hear him. But then he grins at me

and lowers me to the floor as Luca strides to my side, grabbing my hand.

“Okay, okay,” Rafe says, stepping forward with a sigh. “Clearly, clearly we need some ground rules

here.”

And I sigh, glancing up at both of my mates, before crossing the room to Rafe’s side.

Because my brother is right it’s time we got some things straight and I might need some physical

distance from them to do that.

“What are you even doing here?” Luca growls at Jackson, his arms crossed as they stand about a

foot apart.

“Came for breakfast,” Jackson says, giving a calm shrug. “I was invited.” He glances at Jesse now,

who grins at him.

“Coffee?” Ben asks, starting to pour Jackson a cup.

“Sure,”

“Jacks says, crossing the room to take it from him.

“Look, can we cut this bullshit,” Luca snaps, clearly worked up. “What is all this happy family

nonsense!? Are we all just going to pretend that McClintock and I didn’t try to kill each other last

night? That we’re not going to do it again if we don’t get this two–mate nonsense figured out!?”

“I’m not going to kill you,” Jackson says evenly, taking a calm sip of his coffee. I blink at him, a little

surprised, wondering where all this confidence came from. This is, in some

ways, a very different Jackson than the grief–stricken wolf who stormed out of here last night. “Are

you going to kill me? Or…try?”

Luca sputters, not wanting to seem like the aggressor now that Jackson has proclaimed himself

neutral. Then Luca grits his teeth, storming over to Jackson. Rafe grabs the back of my shirt, not

letting me go to them, knowing that my first instinct is to stand between them, to negotiate.

“Let them figure it out,” Rafe murmurs when I look back at him. “This, weirdly, is not actually your

problem.”

“Yes it is,” I mutter, crossing my arms. “I’m going to go from two mates to none if they tear each

other to pieces.”

Rafe laughs lightly, but we both just watch as the argument unfolds.

–

“You think I can’t see what you’re doing?” Luca snaps, glaring into Jackson’s face. “You get to come

in here all calm, pretending you’re fine with this, looking like the good guy – making me look like the

bad guy. But I’m the only one being honest here – you don’t want her with me just as much as I

don’t want her with you.”

“True,” Jacks murmurs, shrugging and looking down at his coffee before taking a sip. “But, getting

into a fist fight isn’t going to fix it.”

“Sure would be fucking nice though,” Luca growls, his hands balling to fists, “to knock you into next

week – ”

“Enough –“Rafe says, stepping forward now with a frown. I gape at him a little, pissed. What

happened to letting them figure it out!?

He glances at me with a tiny shrug before turning back to Jackson and Luca.

“So,” Rafe says, his voice calm and considering, “despite your insistence on fighting, I want to point

out that you two actually…agree.”

“What?” Luca asks, his face screwed up in a confused frown as he turns towards Rafe and me. I

look up at Rafe, my face mimicking my mate’s.