Chapter 40: Jericho

I stood frozen in shock. Ash and Deke were just as shocked. Did she… did she just ask us to claim her? My heart started to beat faster.

"Did I just hear her right? Or was that a hallucination?"

 I looked over at Ash. 

"If you heard her say she wanted us to mark and claim her then yes, you heard her right."

Deke looked wide-eyed.

"I think I must have died instead of healing. The one thing I couldn't wait to hear, and then she just drops the bomb and runs away. What the fuck is it with her and running away?"

"Deke, it's not like we said anything to encourage her to stay. We just stood there. I know I was too stunned to say anything other than asking if she was sure. And her running makes sense in a way. She's had to run her whole life from things that hurt or scare her to survive."

He nodded. "She must've taken our silence to mean we didn't want her as a mate anymore and it hurt her. Ash, go get our girl and bring her dumbass here."

Ash laughed and left the room. I heard him knock on her door and then I heard something scraping on the floor. I remembered we'd broken her door, and she must have put something in front to hold it closed. There was the sound of the two of them talking and then I heard two sets of footsteps heading our way.

'You had better hope she forgives your ass for that stupid shit. Our mate says she FINALLY is ready for us to claim her, and not only do you stand there silent and make her think we don't want her, but you let her leave! Again!'

'Hey, don't get an attitude with me. She took me by surprise. She went from leaving us to asking us to claim her. It took a minute for it to process and by then she had run away again.'

'Humph. Whatever human. Just fix it. I want my mate as much as you do.'

Ash came through the door first and looked pained. Zoey came in after him with hesitant steps and her head bent looking at the floor. Her shoulders were slumped, and she looked so dejected and miserable that I couldn't breathe for a moment from the pain in my chest.

"Why did you run again, love?"

She shook her head and refused to lift her head and look at us.

"You don't want me as your mate anymore."

Her voice was broken, and I could hear the pain in it.

"What the fuck gave you that idea? Did we say we didn't?" 

Damn. Deke sounded a little mad now. He hadn't been harsh with her before. I watched Zoey flinch and swallow hard. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"No. But you didn't say you did either. I thought you guys would be excited about it, but you didn't say anything. You just gave me blank looks. You didn't even look happy. It was just… empty." She gave a sad, forlorn sigh. "Goddess knows I've given you every reason to not want me. My mother had the right idea all along. I wish my dad had listened to her and saved everyone all the trouble I've caused and just let her get rid of me."

"Zoey fucking Donovan. Do not EVER say or think anything like that again. Your dad was absolutely right to keep you and your mother is a stupid uncaring bitch that left you in a stupid uncaring pack that has made you doubt yourself in every way. We fucking love you and we sure as fuck want you as our mate. So get that ridiculous shit out of your head right this fucking instant. Or I'm going to spank you so hard, you'll never question your worth again. And it won't be in a fun way."

I knew I had to step in to smooth this over. Deke was still a little on edge now that he was fully healed, and our mate was back home. I knew the stress of the day was catching up to him and hearing our mate say she wished she hadn't been born devastated us all. It killed me to know we helped cause her to feel that way.

"You took us by surprise, love." I made sure my tone was gentle. The last thing I wanted was to hurt her even more than we had already tonight. "That was quite a bomb you dropped. Look at it from our side. You left us only a few hours ago. We thought we'd lost all hope of having a life with you. And then you ask us to claim you. It's enough to give someone whiplash."

Finally, she looked up at us and I felt a pain in my heart when I saw the tear tracks on her face. She chewed on her bottom lip and gave us a thoughtful look before timidly nodding.

"You're right, Jer. I'm so sorry. I never meant to do that. I just knew I didn't want to keep waiting to belong to you in every way. I have really bad timing, don't I?"

Deke laughed and the tenseness in the room melted away.

"You sure do, baby. But please, don't ever doubt that we want you, that we need you. And in response to your statement, again, are you sure? It's a big step and we don't want you to feel you have to do this. We don't want you to feel pressured in any way."

She nodded. "Yes Deke. I'm sure. When you were hurt and I thought I was gonna lose you, it killed me to know that I wasn't going to be able to ever be claimed by you. And I couldn't live with that."

"Is that the only reason you want this, Zoey? Why you want us? Because you think you'll lose us?"

"Uh oh. I know I'm in trouble when you call me by my full name, Jer." She gave me a small smile. "No, it's not the only reason. But it's what made my mind finally accept what my heart had been telling me all along. I can't promise to not be stupid in the future, but I know that I'll do everything I can to be a good mate to you. To be worthy of you."

"You already are, sweetheart. More than you realize. Do you know what you managed to do today, something I worried would be impossible?"

She shook her head.

"You brough Deke back from his darkness. He went full assassin after Wilmington's call. That means all his emotions were cut off. When he's an assassin he's cold and clinical. It's what makes him a great tactician. But he managed to keep just enough of himself to warn everyone out of the building, so they didn't get hurt. And that coldness slipped away as he fought to save you. It took us years to get Deke to the point where he is now. But you brought him back to his full caring self, his marshmallow teddy bear self, in moments."

"Fuck you, Ash. Just fuck you and your marshmallows."