But she looks like she’s about to crack up laughing.
“What?” I ask, because there’s something she’s not saying.
Stacy’s eyes bounce between me and Mom and she’s blushing.
Mom and I are both waiting.
“Um…” Stacy’s face is getting redder by the second.
I demand, “Spill!”
“This isn’t exactly a conversation to have around my new mother-in-law…”
Mom waves. “Bah! You can say anything in front of me, believe me.”
I nod. “A hundred per cent. Mom is equal parts bestie and mom.”
Stacy leans in just a little. “You smell like Jase has marked you.”
“Oh?” Mom inquires.
Marked me?
“I think that’s why your dad left the table,” Stacy whispers. “Why Grey pulled Jase outside.”
“Huh?” I ask, but suddenly, it dawns.
“Marked me?” I check. “Like…”
“I’m guessing she means you smell like alpha cum, sweetie,” Mom says softly, patting my arm. “Something wrong with your nose?”
I jerk back. I have a damn good nose, and I know there’s something extra-Jase about my scent right now. I figured it was sleeping in his bed, his shirt…
Mom unnecessarily explains things I already know, “If you’d mated, the whole area would smell just like that scent. It would be a highly concentrated aroma covering a wide distance. I wouldn’t know what it is, but I’d smell it and ask and your dad or your brother or even you would’ve told me who it belonged to. But since you haven’t mated and Stacy smells it, I’d say she’s right about Dad’s reaction as well as your brother’s. Some males spray a scent around their mate to ward off other males, but they can only do that after mating. Since you haven’t mated, I’d say Stacy’s assumption is likely the right one.”
I clench my fists, blood pressure levels soaring. What’s wrong with my nose? It’s muddled by Jason Creed, I suspect. Wait. He didn’t!
“That’s… grr.”
“Calm down,” Mom requests.
“Nope! Later Mom. Meet me in the car, Stacy,” I mutter as I spin away and storm outside, finding my brother and Jase looking like they’re having words.
Grey speaks louder, eyes on me. “I’m goin’ home. You’ll bring Stacy home when you’re done at the Creeds’?”
Without waiting for me to reply, Grey walks to his car, gets in and drives off. He’s obviously pissed off. He didn’t even say goodbye to Mom and Dad. Or Stacy.
“What did you do?” I demand.
Jase eyes me from head to toe and back to head again with a dimpled smile. A big one.
“Stacy says it smells like you marked me. Did you… did you shift to wolf and spray your scent on me? You couldn’t, right? Because that’s putting a cart before a horse?”
He doesn’t answer me. But he looks supremely pleased with himself.
“That’s not only gross, it’s violating. It’s… it’s… vile!”
“I did not shift and mark you while you were sleeping, Bay. Though it’s not a terrible idea, I can’t do the wolf protection circle around my mate until you’re officially my mate.”