Jake (Immortals of New Orleans #8)(83)

As the elevator doors opened to the penthouse suite, he breathed a sigh of relief. Tonight they'd go to the Elders. He'd been tempted to go during daylight, but Quintus would not be at full strength, and he couldn't be sure if Kai needed to draw on the power of the moon to shift. While most shifters could transform any time, day or night, juvenile wolves often had difficulty doing so without a lunar influence.



       
         
       
        

Sunlight poured into the ultra-modern suite. Its stark white design gave a clean but sterile appearance to the trendy room. Through the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows he could see the sparkling bay in the distance. Spying a remote control on a glass end table, he pecked away at the keys. Room darkening shades automatically dispensed from above, blocking all the sunlight. This was exactly why he'd chosen Cassandra's hotel. In addition to having wards, she had amenities that suited supernaturals well.

"How about I order us some food? I'm starving." Jake turned to Kai who glided her fingertips over the crimson crushed velvet sofa. "You hungry?"

"Hmm?" she asked.

"Do you want something to eat? I know we ate dinner last night but … do you want breakfast?"

"Yeah, yeah. Pancakes?" she replied, her focus drawn to a large wall mural depicting angels. "I … maybe something else?"

"I'll get steak and eggs too." Jake addressed Quintus who was rummaging through several silver paper shopping bags.

"Your girl likes Nordstrom?" Quintus smiled.

"She's not my girl. And yeah, everyone likes Nordstrom. You want something to eat?"

"Dim sum. Your friend." Quintus drew out the word several seconds longer than needed, annoying Jake. "Does she have donors in the building? I want to make sure I'm fueled up for later."

"I think they've got you covered." Jake crossed the room to a glass desk and slid open the drawer, retrieving a hotel book. He flipped open the pages and gave a chuckle at the bottle list, blood available from different regions of the world as if he were reading a wine menu. At the very bottom, he spied an item simply labeled donor. "Yeah, you're good. I'll order you one. I assume you want a woman, yeah?"

"Either sex will do. I'm still buzzing from both of you. This'll serve to top me off, if you will." Quintus laughed and walked out of the room.

"I want to take a shower," Kai stated, her voice soft. "I hate this."

"You okay?" Jake couldn't help but wonder if she were talking about the situation or the fact they were staying in Cassandra's hotel.

"I'm fine." Kai brushed past him, going to the shopping bags. "Did your friend get me anything to wear or am I going to have to go out?"

"Listen, Kai." Fucking hell. Neither one of them had known each other three days ago, and now her instinct to mate was driving her jealousy through the roof. "Cassandra. Cass. She's just a friend."

"Just a friend," she mimicked. "I get it. I know what the word friend means to a guy. I may not have dated supernaturals but I dated plenty of humans. Players. A girl in every city. I just met you. You don't owe me any explanations." 

"It's not that simple and you know it. This thing between us … it's intense. I haven't even been able to talk about it with Logan or Jax."

"Why would you have to tell them?"

"Because, shit … don't you think this is hard on me? You wear my mark, and all I'm starting to think about is how I want to complete the mating with you. It makes no fucking sense except I respect you, my wolf recognizes your beast."

"That's it? Really? Because this is going to be the shortest fucking mating ever. I mean maybe we need to reconsider this."

"There's no reconsidering," he lied. A few wolves had denied their mates but it never ended well. Mother Nature was a force, and rejecting her had consequences. "This thing you're feeling right now. It's just your beast … she's protective of me. Think about this. Be rational." Nice Jake. Way to go. As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Above all else, he knew how to talk to a woman and using any form of the word rational was a big fucking mistake.

"Go fuck yourself." Kai reached for a bag with her name printed boldly on a heart label. "Ugh. Really?"

"I know you hate it, but sweetheart … "

"No, don't you even sweetheart me. We are in this … this hotel … owned by a girlfriend of yours. Everywhere I go there is some girl you fucked giving me clothes. How I could let myself believe that we were meant to be … that somehow I have a mate … I'm an idiot," she huffed, sliding her fingers into the handle and clutching the bag to her chest.