Page 25 of Jabba's Journey

For one, it’s not how I’m built personality-wise. The other thing is, shifters can scent a lie and while my little water nymph isn’t a shifter, I’m almost positive that witches have that same uncanny instinct. It’s something to ask her later.

“Big Daddy, I’ll call the school and let them know that there’s a family emergency and that Jazzy won’t be there for the foreseeable future. Been thinking about homeschooling her with all this shit going down around here anyhow,” Cyrus states.

I start laughing as I imagine Cyrus teaching his daughter about the three R’s, at least the ones he knows. Rest. Recess, and Recreation. How he thinks he can do that without liberally sprinkling ‘fuck’ throughout the lesson plans is beyond me, butwhatever he wants to tell himself. Ain’t no skin off my nose, it’s going to be Harmony he has to answer to for his expletives. My only request is that I get to be in the room with a tub of popcorn when she chastises him for his teaching style.

“What the fuck has you laughing like a mangy hyena, Jabba?” Cyrus asks.

“Just thinking about the subjects you plan to teach Jazzy is all,” I manage to reply while snickering. “Not to mention, I don’t think your mate will be thrilled with the language I’ve no doubt you’ll be using as you try to teach her about common core math and proper grammar.”

“What the fuck is common core math?” Cyrus questions. “Whatever happened to simple addition and subtraction? She’s not old enough to have to learn anything fancier.”

“Don’t forget about grammar,” Prowler helpfully adds. “You manage to use the word fuck as nearly every possible part of speech, pres.”

“Hell, he uses the ‘F’ bomb as a replacement for every action and reaction.” Bandit snickers as Cyrus flips him off.

“Fine. Harmony will teach her,” Cyrus retorts. “Now, if there’s nothing else, we need to prepare for this latest shitshow.”

He hangs up the phone and glares at all of us since we’re still laughing, no doubt thinking about poor Jazzy trying to figure out what her father means during her lessons.

“Anything else? Let’s get the prospects busy, brothers,” he finally says once we quiet down.

As we file out of our meeting room, I open up my senses and search out my mate. I need to touch her to assure myself she’sokay. Not surprisingly, I find her and Harmony in the kitchen, along with Jazzy who’s chatting away while she writes stuff down.

“What are you three doing?” I ask, leaning in to give Electra a kiss.

“Making a list of stuff we need so the prospects can go get it,” Harmony replies.

We’re in the common room and I have Electra right where I want her, on my lap, when Queenie approaches. She’s sashaying her hips, trying to look as seductive as possible.

I can’t help the growl that slips through my lips at her audacity, but Electra pats my arm and says through our bond,“Let’s hear what she has to say, Jabba.”

“Fine, but if I don’t like what passes through her lips, I’m going to kick her ass to the curb.”Queenie has no right to me whatsoever. She may think she’s the queen bee around here, but I have no issues proving to her how wrong she is.

“You’d do that when there’s a looming threat?” Electra asks.

“Possibly. It depends on what she says.”My job is to protect the inner sanctity of the club and she falls under my authority, the decision on who’s worn out their welcome and who hasn’t is primarily left up to me. It doesn’t even have to be taken to the table for consideration by the rest of the patched brothers.

“Electra, I want to apologize to you,” Queenie says, nervously twisting her hands as she shoots glances at me. My head tiltsto the side as my wolf listens for the sincerity of her words. “Nothing happened between me and Jabba and hasn’t in a very long time. He’s… well, he’s not like that and maybe that’s why I was so jealous. I don’t really know, but I don’t have an excuse for my behavior.”

“I know he’s not like that,” Electra advises. “And I appreciate your apology, Queenie. But for the record, don’t forget I have my own powers and I’m not afraid to use them against anyone I deem to be a threat to myself or my mate.”

I watch as Queenie’s face blanches at my mate’s words and have to bite my lip so as not to smirk. While I’ll always protect her, she’s just shown that she’s more than capable of handling anything on her own. The good news is, I didn’t detect any deception in what Queenie said so as long as she doesn’t decide to stir up any shit with anyone else, she can stay. We have bigger fish to fry, even though we don’t know exactly what they are at this time.

“But I want to make something clear to you, Queenie,” Electra states, her tone serious and unforgiving. “I’m not temporary. I am Jabba’s mate, so I’m here to stay. I’m not a passing fancy for him, I’m a permanent fixture.”

Her words have my wolf howling with joy inside of my head. I’m feeling emotions I’ve never encountered before. In thanks, I pull my woman tighter to me and snuggle into her. She gently squeezes my arm since my feelings are pouring through our mating link; I don’t have to say anything out loud for her to understand the appreciation I have for the loyalty and declaration she’s shown.

And I definitely plan to show her when we’re behind closed doors, since it’s almost impossible for me to keep my hands to myself whenever she’s around.

Chapter Fourteen

Electra

Sometimes,the endless, overzealous activity and cohabitating dynamics in this clubhouse are too much for me to bear. Maybe it’s because I’ve mostly been alone without a lot of interaction with others before being accepted into this ragtag family, but since Cyrus decided we were on a lockdown of sorts, most of the men spend their days milling around. Everywhere I turn I’m bumping into one of them since they’re bored and looking for something to occupy their time. I’m still not quite used to the random, sporadic fights that break out, but Harmony lowered the boom a few days ago and said they needed to keep it confined to the cage they use for their sparring matches.

Right now, I’m sitting with Jazzy as she works through some worksheets her teacher kindly sent back with Big Daddy so she wouldn’t get behind her class, who went to the school to pick up the packets for both girls. Harmony is researching her grimoire once again, hoping to find something else significant we can use to unravel this current mystery. The prospects are fixing the holes in the wall, which is what precipitated Harmony’s haltdecree, while one of the patched members puts new furniture together that was ordered to replace the ones they destroyed during one of their ‘whose dick is bigger’ fights.

“Electra, what does this mean?” Jazzy asks, pointing to a question on her sheet that she’s been staring at for the last several minutes. The faces she’s made at the mathematical equation are priceless. If she could make the paper burst into flames it’d already be a pile of ash. “I don’t understand.”

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