Were in the City Ch. 02

Happy New Year? Well, maybe, but if their lives so far were any indication, it was unlikely no matter how much they wanted things to change for the better. Jacob listened as the fireworks and excited yells of neighbours died down, then tried to get back to work. Why he thought a spreadsheet of building costs would be a good distraction he wasn't sure but was willing to try it. What he really wanted to do was run for miles and be gloriously challenged hunting down something substantial that would taste hot and sweet on his tongue. He was sick of city squirrels even if they were fattened up by robbing the neighbourhood bird feeders.

He did like his home office, and the house in general. It was older, with good bones, and they were slowly changing it to suit their needs. The yard was large and full of mature growth that provided sheltered pathways away from prying eyes. The most important thing was that the backyard was right up next to the golf course, only an easy jump over the fence between them. The real estate agent had failed to disclose just how many golf balls came whizzing through -- the neighbours had happily told tales of broken windows and near misses, recommending hard hats while gardening -- but that was a small price to pay, really, for what they required to stay sane.

The back door opened and crashed shut with plenty of cursing sounding out down the hallway. A few moments later Liam arrived in Jacob's office dressed only in a pair of sweatpants.

"Shit! I'm sorry ... but she saw me. Damn it! Nobody around here should be awake at this hour!"

Jacob's hands clenched and he took a deep breath. He knew who "she" was. He'd told Liam multiple times to stay away from her and her home.

"What the hell were you doing anywhere near her?" Jacob growled at his brother.

"I was on my way past her yard and I saw she'd set up a new camera. I just wanted to make it go away and it seemed safe enough. It was almost 3am. I changed so I could pull it off the pole and throw it a long way into the bushes, but then when I turned I saw her staring at me from the living room window."

Liam banged both his hands against his head.

"I know she saw me change at least once, maybe both times, I'm not sure .... I'm not sure if she could see enough to recognize me if she encounters me as a man ... but maybe .... Crap!!"

Jacob was trying hard not to yell at his brother. After all, Jacob had been the driving force behind the "Great Halloween Rescue" as they both liked to call that risky, foolish event. There was nothing they could do about what had now happened, only deal with the fallout from it and hope it wasn't too bad.

"Well, we know from researching who she is that she's not on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram. She's a very private person. Even if she had a cellphone in hand and snapped pictures of you, she's unlikely to post them or go running to the media announcing that there's a "werewolf" in the neighbourhood. I think whatever she thinks she saw she'll keep it to herself for now." Jacob hoped what he'd just said was true. It could be a mess if they'd missed something important about her -- maybe she was a social media wiz with dozens of alternate personas - but somehow he didn't think so.

"We'll wait for a bit. I'll make sure Helen is watching online to see if anything happens. And we should start growing some kind of facial hair, wear a hat everywhere we go, and do not jog or drive anywhere near her house! I know it's hard but we cannot be seen by her in either form from now on, please!"

Jacob silently cursed. He really liked being clean shaven and now he'd have to endure the endless scratching once again. Sometimes it sucked to be an identical twin -- when one gets "identified" they both get stuck. Arg!!

Liam smirked, "I know she didn't get a long look at my face, she was definitely checking me out ALL OVER, and I changed pretty quick, so if we alter just a bit about how we look, especially wear clothes .... and I don't know what came over me but I gave her a librarian-shush gesture, she'll get that!"

"Liam, don't joke about this! We don't know what she is and it worries me. It should worry you. Something about her scent draws both of us to her, but we are not ... we can't be ... reacting to her as a mate. We moved all the way across the damn country to start over and we end up in a house 4 blocks from someone I can't get off my mind or out of my dreams." Jacob rarely admitted to any weakness, but as he spoke Liam suddenly saw how tired his brother was.

"Yeah, me too," admitted Liam quietly, "I don't know what's happening but if you asked me to leave here and never come back I don't think I could do it."

Jacob sighed. "Go to bed. We are both back to work day after tomorrow so rest up. We're almost done the renovations in the Williams house, then I've got 3 more contracts lined up. At least Elliott Construction is doing well here."

As Liam turned to leave the office Jacob had one last thought. "Oh, I also wanted to say ... stop messing with our wild brothers and sisters in the golf course. We just want to blend in, not alter their behaviour. She's curious, otherwise why the camera, we don't want others looking at them any more than they already do. The pack has accepted the two of us -- a miracle really -- but please stop dominating them. Just run with them, sing with them, and enjoy it."

Liam grunted, what Jacob hoped was his brother's way of saying ok to that request, and left Jacob to finish up some work before he too went to bed.

A lack of sound woke Jacob up about an hour later. He got up and looked out the window to see the first snowfall of the season beginning to stick to the ground. Everything was still until he saw a brief movement under the large trees in the front yard. As he stared at the spot Jessie moved out of the shadows and looked up at him. She was only wearing a thin light-blue nightgown. With bare arms and bare feet she had to be freezing. He couldn't take his eyes off her. He slid open the balcony door and jumped down one floor to the ground, walking to her.

She whispered his name, "Jacob...", and opened her arms. He pulled her tight to his chest. She was warm and fit just right against him. Her scent was stronger, more intoxicating, than ever. He was breathing hard, wanting more. His canine half was whining loudly in his head, begging to taste her.

He pushed her to the ground, lying on top of her and pinning her hands above her head as he buried his face in her neck, licking along her collar bone up to her ear. Jessie was moaning, saying his name over and over, he was so damn hard and desperate for more. He pushed himself up on his arms to look into her eyes, to ask her to come with him into his house, into his bed ... and her face changed.

Silvie now looked up at him, snarling and shoving him away. "I am not yours, I cannot be yours. My father will kill us both if he finds his pure-wolf daughter with a coywolf." Jacob came to his knees begging her to accept their chance to bond. "You are my true mate. I will stand or run away with you, whatever you need. Please don't reject this, please ..." She backed away into the snowfall and his arms were empty. He started shouting "No, no, no ...".

"Jacob, wake up! Jacob!". He heard Liam's nervous, desperate voice and felt him shaking his shoulder. Jacob jerked his eyes open and realized he was pounding his fists into the trunk of a tree. Damn it, he was sleepwalking again.

"Are you alright? I heard you calling Silvie's name."

"No. Let's get inside before someone sees us or the neighbour's security system takes our picture. " Jacob was shaking, and not from the cold. "This was a mistake. We are not meant to exist in such a place as this, surrounded by so many people and all the technology in use these days. We can't hope to remain secret and safe for long. What were we thinking!?"

They walked back into the house. Liam sat down and Jacob paced. Liam looked worried. "Jacob, sit, please. We talked this through for more than two years and prepared carefully before we did it, you know this. We can make a life for ourselves here. Very few, if any, of our kind want to or are able to manage in cities which makes it better for us. But we have a problem we didn't account for -- Ms. Jessie Taylor. I'm feeling terribly protective of her, attracted to her, and I have no idea why. I know you feel the same. Why the hell we are BOTH feeling this way I can't explain but we've got to deal with it. I'm done with the wandering, living on the edge of things, I want more and so do you."

Jacob took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. "March 1889. It's been a very long time since everything came apart, and right now I feel so damn old and tired. I would never have made it all the way here without you brother. Even the years we were apart, I knew you were alive and that gave me the strength to keep going."

Liam smiled. "Ditto ... for an old man you are still one hell of a bad ass, which makes me one too I guess ... and really, since we get the chance to live a long time at least with you it hasn't been boring. I get to share life with one of the most hunted men in the Were world! What could be better than that 'eh?"