Chapter 10

Jacob POV

I wanted to make sure the night before Raven was leaving was special for her. After Zane and Ben had left for home, I started staying in the Bos pack’s packhouse, but not tonight. Tonight I have arranged for us to have the use of one of the small cabins on the edge of the pack’s territory. I didn’t do this because I am expecting something to happen between us tonight, and I hope Raven doesn’t take it that way. I just wanted to make sure it would be just the two of us. After putting the lasagne in the oven, I quickly cleared the dishes I had used and headed over to pick Raven up.

Raven had decided to leave her new car at Sara’s until she was leaving because she was scared that if her parents found out about it, they would find some way to either sell it out from under her or destroy it. She also had asked me not to pick her up somewhere her parents might see me. That first night I dropped her off after the party, when she had me park a few houses away from hers, I thought that it was because she didn’t want her parents to know that she had been spending time with a boy. As the week went on, she still didn’t want me anywhere her parents would see me. I got upset thinking that she didn’t want me to meet her parents. That for some reason she was ashamed of me. That changed the day that I overheard a conversation that she was having with Sara. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but with wolf hearing it sometimes happens. It turned out that it wasn’t that she was ashamed of me. She was worried about what her parents would do. They apparently were heavily into drugs and gambling, and she was scared that they would use my good nature to try and get money out of me.

All this week Sara and her parents had been slowly getting Raven’s things out of her parents’ house, and this afternoon she had gotten the last of everything that Raven wanted. So I’m picking her up at Sara’s tonight. She was going to drive her car over, but with me being on the Bos pack territory, it would have been a little difficult. Duke and I agreed with him didn’t want to take the chance that Raven would take a wrong turn and see something that we didn’t want to explain yet.

I pulled into the driveway to see Kevin sitting in his car looking like he was about to puke. I tapped on his driver’s window and waited for him to roll it down. “You OK, man? You’re looking a little green.”

“I don’t know if I can do this.” I knew what he was referring to. Sara had told him that if he wanted another chance with her, he had to earn her parents' approval too.

Kevin, Duke and I had spent the other night talking over a few games of pool. Kevin told us that he was almost positive that Sara was his mate. Her eighteenth birthday was only six months away. It doesn’t sound like a long time, but when you have a wolf howling and whining in your head, it can feel like an eternity. He told us about her requirement for him to date her again. The guy was scared shitless to meet her parents. Apparently he hadn’t met them the first time he dated her because they hadn’t been together that long, and now he was going in as the guy who had already broken their daughter’s heart once. I wished him luck and started for the front door.

I was just stepping onto the porch when the door flew open, and Raven leapt into my arms. I looked over her shoulder to see Sara and her parents smiling from ear to ear. I guess I met their approval. Their smiles faded as they spotted Kevin sitting in his car. “He’s scared,” I said to the group standing at the door.

“Good.” Sara’s Dad says, stepping out onto the porch. He points at Kevin, then at the front door. There is no mistaking what he is saying. That was a definite ‘get your ass in here now’ motion.

I tried not to laugh. I did. I honestly did, but watching Kevin turn even more green with worry something I didn’t think was possible I couldn’t help it. My chuckling earned me a swat on the shoulder from Raven. “What was that for? I thought you were mad at him too.” I say, smiling at the beauty in my arms.

“I am.” She says. “But this is serious. It is not a time for laughing.”

“OK, I’m sorry, Princess,” I said, kissing her forehead.

Kevin had joined us on the porch and extended his hand in greeting to Sara’s Dad. “Good evening, Mr. Demont. Thank you for allowing me to come here tonight and speak with you.”

Sara’s Dad gave Kevin a quick handshake. “We’ll see if it stays a good evening or not. Follow me, young man.”

“Yes, sir,” Kevin answered and disappeared into the house with Mr. Demont. I had to hold in another chuckle because I knew that it wasn’t the threat of physical harm that had Kevin scared. There is no possible way that Mr. Demont, being human, could ever take on Kevin in that sense. No, this was a matter of Kevin’s mental well-being, and Mr. Demont held all the cards at this moment when it came to that.

I turned to face Mrs. Demont and Sara. “I’ll have her home early so that you can have time with her before she leaves tomorrow,” I said, setting Raven down.

“Don’t rush.” Sara said, “Keep her all night if you want. Just have her back by lunchtime.” She said with a wink and shut the door, leaving a shocked-looking Raven standing on the porch with her mouth hanging open.