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“Ren, it’s Mom!”

“Shit!” Jasmine cried and flew out of my arms. She snatched up her clothes and ran from the room. The bathroom door slammed a second later. I didn’t need to worry about having an erection in front of my mother. It deflated all on its own at the realization of what I’d just let happen, again. But this time, I’d let shit get out of hand. I quickly grabbed a shirt from the clean laundry I’d dumped on the chair, yanked it on, then strode to the door and opened it.

“Mom, hey.”

She beamed at me like she always did when she first saw me and, like always, that look was quickly followed by concern.

“Have you been eating enough, honey?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“How about sleeping? If you don’t get enough sleep—”

“I’ve been sleeping. I’m okay.” She worried, but she was usually more subtle.

She bit her lip and nodded, her eyes glossy. What was going on here?

Then it clicked into place. Tomorrow was the anniversary of what happened to me. I wasn’t the only one who dreaded this time of year.

She looked past me to the candles, the salt, the string and herbs set out on the mat, and frowned. “What’s going on, Renny?” Her gaze flew to my throat, to the sigils she could see there. “Ren?”

“Everything’s fine. I promise.”

“Hi, Mrs. Macanroy,” Jasmine said, walking into the room.

Mom’s gaze slid to Jaz, and she beamed. “Oh, Jasmine! I assumed it was Wills here. It’s so nice to see you. How’ve you been, honey?”

Jaz smiled, her cheeks still pink, her mouth darker and swollen from our kiss. A yearning filled me, and I wanted to yank her back into my arms and finish what we’d started. I wanted to claim her, bite her, mark her. I felt dizzy and overheated. My skin was clammy and my fucking gut ached.

Ours.

My fox didn’t say much, but his voice echoed through my mind now.

Only ours.

I froze. No. He couldn’t mean what I thought he did.

Claim mate. Bite. Mark.

My lungs seized and my heart slammed with force against the back of my ribs.

“Oh, am I interrupting, is this…is this a date?” A smile so wide it hurt to look at covered my mother’s face.

“No,” I said quickly, not wanting to get her hopes up, and locking my fucking knees so I didn’t fall on my ass as what my fox said rang through my skull. “Jasmine was just doing some ink for me.”

The concern was back. “Are you okay?”

“They’re just simple sigils,” Jasmine said. “For general well-being,” she added.

Mom frowned, then looked up at me and forced a smile. “Well, that’s good.”

“So did you need something, Ma?” I asked when she stood there, the worry taking over again.

“I thought tonight was the night we were going over the plans for the renovations. If you’re busy, maybe we can do it tomorrow? It’ll have to be early, though. I have an appointment with the designer at lunchtime.”

I’d forgotten our plans completely, but if she left me here with Jasmine now, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. Either fuck her, or tell her to leave and hurt her, and I wasn’t sure which would win out right then. “It’s all good. If we don’t do it now, we won’t get a chance in the morning.” Mom didn’t need my help with this, but she liked to include me since my parents insisted it was my business as well. Tonight’s visit wasn’t really about that, though. No, it was about the three-year anniversary of her son being possessed and going on a killing spree, and her needing to be close to me, to reassure herself I was okay.

Jasmine quickly moved around the living room, grabbing her things, still blushing like crazy, and I shoved my hands in my pockets so I didn’t reach for her when she walked over to us. She smiled at Mom. “Nice to see you again, Mrs. Macanroy.”