Chapter Twenty Five- Jacob's Mark

The bathtub was freezing when I finished thinking and crying, and my tight muscles betrayed me when I tried to push myself up from it.

I fell backward into the tub, and the smack of my head against it sent Jacob into the door, shouldering his way through the lock to get to me.

Wrapped up in his arms, he tugged me against his chest and backed out of the water. “Logan!”

My head moved back and forth. “No, no, not him. Please, Jacob.”

He lowered me to the bed and pulled the blanket around me. “Tessa, I hate to be the one to break it you, but he’s the only cure for this.”

I lifted my head from my fluffy white cocoon to check the door to make sure he wasn’t there. “I’ll fucking die then. Keep him away from me.”

He laid beside me, and his ear rested against his arm. “None of us has ever marked a witch before. Stella and Teddy were going to wait until after the wedding. We had no idea it would be this bad.”

My eyes fell to meet his. “You planned this, didn’t you? That’s why you left last night. So he could do this to me?”

“No.” His fingers caressed my face, and I could see from the tears in his eyes he meant it. “It’s a tradition, Tess. Eventually, it would have to happen if you were going to stay. It’s like getting married to the whole pack. It’s how we communicate and what bonds us.”

He wiped his cheek and shook his head. “But I would never do it if you didn’t want it. That’s not the kind of man I am.”

It all became clear to me, another of Logan’s tricks.“If I stay here. If you don’t mark me like Logan did, I won’t be yours, will I? Just his?”

He didn’t have to say a word. The way he closed his eyes and held down his lip with his teeth spoke volumes.

I tugged my hand free and pulled the blanket from my face. “Then just get it over with.”

His face rocked back and forth against the pillow. “No. Not like this.”

The thought of being bound to Logan forever, of him winning, sent a surge of energy through me, and I balled his shirt in my hand. I would have let a hundred different men mark me just to spite Logan. “You’re really going to make me go through this twice? Or are you just going to let him have me?”

The deep voice was gentle this time, and I could feel his regret deep in my veins as he commanded his brother from the doorway. “Do it, Jacob.”

He pushed himself up and rested against the arm he pressed into the bed. “No, she’s too weak.”

He crept to the bed and sat on the edge. “Look at her, Jacob.”He only touched my foot, but it eased my pain for just a moment. “If you don’t do it now, you never will.”

I’d been betrayed by every living soul in this world aside from Haldir, and the pain of it sat deep in my chest. There was no one I could trust anymore. I could barely breathe by the time he rested his face against me, and his teeth slid into my skin.

While I was wrapped in another mind-numbing orgasm, Logan was there to hold my hand. Even in this sacred rite of passage between Jacob and me, he couldn’t keep himself from being a part of it.

I don’t remember anything after that moment, but I woke up alone a few days later. I’m not sure who took care of me, but I was clean and clothed, and there was medication by my bed.

I lifted myself up, then walked to the bathroom, and I gasped at the purple and black streaks that covered my neck and rose into my cheek.

The twins had, wisely, left me a bottle of wine. I opened it and drank straight from the bottle until it was gone. I grabbed my bag of holding from the nightstand and rifled through it until I found an anti-anxiety potion, and I drank the whole bottle.

It was strong enough to kill a racetrack full of horses, but the Fates had blessed me with a high tolerance for poison. I went back to sleep, and I didn’t care if I ever woke up.

Sometime during the blur of faces that visited me, Logan came to me. Asleep or awake, I’m not sure, but it didn’t matter. Our connection was complete, and he could break through whatever clouded my mind.

His face was close enough to touch, and I wanted to. Despite what he did to me, I wanted his hands on me. “You know, Tess, when we first met Teddy, he told us about you and how the two of you didn’t have any family. I remember thinking how fucking horrible and lonely that must be. I asked him if you might want to move here because I think everyone deserves a family. But he said you were more of a feral cat than a pack member, so I let it go.”

He heard the deepest thoughts in my head and traced the mark on my neck to ease my suffering. “Then when he moved in with Stella, she wanted to do something nice for him, so she got in his phone and printed out a bunch of pictures. Jacob was flipping through them, and he held up one to me. It was you. You and Teddy on some beach somewhere holding a couple of those fucking drinks with umbrellas, and it felt like all the air in the room got sucked out. I couldn’t breathe.”

He swept his thumb and forefinger across his eyes to pinch back his tears and cleared his throat. “We wanted to leave that night and go find you, but your brother was still pissed at you and wouldn’t tell us where to look. I even hired a private investigator and contacted the Order, but because of what happened with your parents, they keep your information locked-up tight. That was nearly a year ago.”

He pulled my hand to his lips and came nose to nose with me. “All this time, we’ve been waiting for you. I know you don’t feel this thing like Jacob and I do, and… maybe you and I aren’t good right now, but I wouldn’t have hurt you if I didn’t think I had to. I’d tear any motherfucker apart whoever tried to take you away from me.” He hissed at himself for saying something so stupid. “That’s not. I was wrong for doing that, and I’m sorry. I just, I was weak and afraid of losing you.”

His forehead pressed against my hand. “Please, forgive me. Not being able to hold you is fucking torture.”

My eyes followed him to the door, and when he heard my thoughts, he turned back and smiled. “I’d be happy to as soon as you’re feeling better.” His hand slid down the wall, and the lights dimmed as he shut the door.