Page 74 of It's You
“Still a sucker for the humans, huh? They’d kill us all if they had the?—”
“I have to go.”
“Wait. I’ll stop. Don’t hang up.”
He kept the phone up to his ear, but didn’t say anything. She knew better than to heckle him about hunting. Although none of his siblings knew the actual reason for his decision not to engage in hunting humans, they’d mostly come to accept it as eccentric.
“It’s been years since you’ve been up here for a Gathering. Tallis hates my ass, the girls barely talk to me, and Julien’s as growly as ever. I needsomeone who can stand me.”
“What about Dad?”
“He’s worse.”
“How often is he shifting?”
“Almost never.” Lela was tough, but Jack could hear the worry in her voice.
Once Jack’s mother had decided she couldn’t forgive his father, it was like something inside of him died. The binding was for life, but Tallis had abjured her mate in the most painful possible way for a Roug. They didn’t sleep together, she blockedDansmatête, they didn’t eyespeak, and they definitely didn’t hunt together.
They still lived together, technically, but in a tense, furious silence that made the shared space claustrophobic and ate away at both of them. It made Tallis brittle, but strong. It made Dubois stupid and weak. Over the years, he’d become more and more problematic and a liability, shifting and hunting haphazardly without following the rules. Making messes someone else had to clean up. And when he wasn’t hunting, he was drinking. Liquor and Dubois were not a good combination. Never had been.
“Merde,” Jack growled.
“Just come for the Gathering? Please?”
Maybe it would be for the best. He felt uncomfortable leaving Carlisle at odds with Darcy, but mostly he trusted the binding—in theory, at least—and knew that eventually they would find each other again. Jack was committed to figuring out a way to be together, but she clearly needed a little bit of time to process things. Maybe heshouldget out of town for a few days and go to the goddamned Gathering. He could check on his family, and besides, he needed to talk to Tombeur about Darcy and see if he had any insight or advice.
“Yeah. I’ll be there.”
He heard her exhale in a rush of relieved breath.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“You bound yet, Lela?”
Silence. At twenty-one years old, Lela was three years overdue to find her mate, but she refused to be bound, and as long as she could fend them off, she could stay unbound. According to pack law, a man who couldn’t subdue his woman didn’t deserve her. At least twice, Jack had heard of young Rougs making a move on Lela. Both times, they had at least one tooth knocked out of their heads by the unwilling object of their affection. She was young, but fierce, and other Rougs had thought twice before trying to kiss her.
“No,” she snarled.
“It’s going to happen,petite soeur, whether you want it to or not. It has to happen eventually.”
“Never happened for you.”
“You know it did.”
“Alors, qui est-elle, Jacques? Who thefuck is she, anyway? Why haven’t we ever met her? What pack is she from, and how come she’s never come to the Gathering in all these years?”
“Never understood your stake in it, Lela.”
“No,” she muttered. “You never did.”
He sighed. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with his high-strung, over-emotional half sister today. His quota of high emotion from women he cared about had already been met for today.
“See you tomorrow?”
“Fuck you, Jacques. See you tomorrow.” And she hung up.
Well, that was pleasant.
