All right, all right! That was the end of the plot, but not the end of the story. However, the plot is done, so all the rest of these things are essentially timestamps.

First Base

Jade's father got away with it. Of course he did. He was Hadrian West. But Gavin went to prison for attempted rape of a mated omega. And Jade moved in with the Valentines.

"You and me," she told Tori, "we are separate people, okay? Remember that. I'm not going to just glom onto you like you're a fucking katamari."

Her mom had saved some of her stuff when her dad had decided to burn it. That was something at least. And to her annoyance, David Vega had become her responsible alpha, because there was apparently no way for her to not have a responsible alpha. Fucking double standards.

Sometimes Jade hated the fact that she was mated. And no one really got it, that it was worse than if she had ended up as Gavin's property, because she had had a choice, she had said, yeah, okay, I'll be your bitch.

But she hadn't wanted to say no.

It was her choice. Tori had made certain it was her choice, and who else was going to give that to her?

But really? Was that all there was that went into deciding? Gratitude? Escape? The possibility of training Tori to be the sort of alpha that she could deal with?

Jade hated the fact that she was mated, but she hated herself more.

School was utter shit. She had warned Tori, "I am not cuddly, I am not mushy, and if you hug me at school in public I'll bite, okay?"

Tori, who had suddenly decided to grow a backbone had responded, "oh please, you were always all over Beck."

"I was all over Beck because of you."

And, of course, Tori grinned like she had said something sweet, when it wasn't sweet at all. Tori had made her crazy, and angry and insane, and clearly now she belonged in a mental institution because she was with her. And everyone knew.

People scented the mating bond and then the gossip flew around the school until everyone was gaping at them like they were animals in the fucking circus.

Jade was not having any of it. She had her largest, shiniest, sharpest pair of scissors out and she made Tori stay three feet away from her at all times.

But that just made the gossip worse. And some of it struck unpleasantly close to home. Cat, because she was genetically incapable of keeping her goddamn mouth shut, had made it obvious that Jade was staying with her family, and stupid rumors started going about about Jade using Tori to get out of a bad situation. The most detailed ones had her drugging herself and manipulating Tori fight for her like some weird gladiator. And it made her furious. She had done everything she could to not get Tori involved, to keep her safe, keep her away.

It hadn't worked. Tori was really not that easy to manipulate.

But apparently mated pairs were supposed to be inseparable, with like, emotional telepathy or some shit, and just because they weren't joined at the fucking hip, Jade had to be taking advantage of her.

Jade had had enough.

Another alpha decided to accost Tori in the middle of the hallway. He cast a suspicious glance over at Jade, who was at her locker, and raised an eyebrow at Tori. "Hey, did you really mate that bitch?"

"Don't call her that," Tori replied, in a tone that was mostly bored. "It's both dated and prejudiced."

"I didn't say it because she's an omega." He grinned, as if he thought he was clever. "It takes balls to risk your knot around that kind of... girl. But have you even got a knot?" He was way too close, as if he was going to check with his hands, and that was NOT okay. "Maybe she'd be less of a... girl, if you fucked her proper." His hand went to cup Tori's shoulder. "Need some hel-" his words ended in a squeak.

The tips of the scissors made a slight dent in his skin, and a tiny prick caused one drop of blood to well up.

"Step away," she said softly. "Step back and get the fuck out of here before I grind your knot into hamburger."

"O-okay." His eyes widened in panic, hands quivering. Awkwardly and off balance, he swiveled and fled.

Tori laughed softly. "You know I can handle this on my own," she said.

Of course she knew that. She probably had to do it three times a day, when Jade couldn't see her, because Jade was too freaked out about this situation to do anything useful. But that was over now.

"You don't get to anymore." Jade narrowed her eyes. "Not on your own."

Tori's stupid face was the problem. She couldn't help but look nice and unthreatening. And the other problem was, well, her.

Fine, she was pissed off most of the time. She had a right to be - getting kicked out of her house, having her stuff burned, having to live in close proximity to Cat's crazy brother. But she wasn't going to sit back and let the gossips wonder if they had faked the whole thing. "How could they be mated and not even look at each other?"

"Fine!" she snapped.

Tori looked confused. "Huh? Fine what?"

Jade ignored her and grabbed her hand, dragging her toward the asphalt cafe. She climbed up on one of the tables and pulled Tori up after her.

"Hello, everyone!"

"Jade!" Tori hissed at her. "What are you doing? I'm having really bad flashbacks right now!"

Jade rolled her eyes and ignored her. "As pretty much everyone knows, Tori Vega and I got mated a week or so ago." It was ten days, ten difficult, painful days, of dealing with cops and lawyers, sleeping on sofas, ending up in what was essentially a walk in closet at the Valentines'. All she had had that felt like home was the ability to lean into Tori's chest and breathe in her scent and let the idiotic chemicals in her brain do their best to calm her down. It worked, and Jade hated that it worked (but loved it at the same time).

"And you all probably have some questions about, say, why and how this happened?" Jade narrowed her eyes. "It's none of your business. 'Why' is between us, and 'how' you can find out on Wikipedia. There is just one thing you need to know. Tori is my alpha. And that means everything it's supposed to mean." Her hand slid around the back of Tori's neck.

Tori's lips quirked with amusement. "What are you trying to do?"

Jade rolled her eyes, leaned in, and kissed her. She nipped at her lower lip. Tori squeezed her ass and kissed back, firmly. Kissed her like she wanted her, wanted her enough to take her, enough to never be sure that she owned her.

"Oh, and by the way," Jade added. "You douches who are obsessed with knotting - " She gave a slight flick of her eyebrows. "Let's just say, you wish you had a knot like she does. It's like double your best, and she can tie for fucking forty minutes."

Tori's jaw dropped. "Wait- what?"

The hoots and catcalls doubled in volume. Jade pursed her lips in amusement and dragged a reddening Tori off the table and to the janitor's closet.

"Oh my god! Why did you say that? They're going to-" She waved her hand, gesturing to essentially her entire body. Jade smiled and let her eyes run over it.

"So what? Now they'll stop asking."

"But they'll think I've got, like-" She made a face.

"You've got what I need. Okay?"

"Okay." Tori laughed, covering her face. "We haven't even..."

"None of their business. None of it is their business."

"Then why did you decide to tell everyone?"

Jade rolled her eyes. "Because I've had enough of them judging me for not wanting you enough."

Tori's eyes widened. "Jade - what-"

"They think I'm using you." She spat the words. "And maybe I am. But it isn't their business. I chose you. I chose this. They don't get to tell me that I should have chosen differently."

"But what does that have to do with telling them that I have," she wrinkled her nose, "a knot the size of a cantelope. Which I don't, in case you were wondering."

Jade snorted in amusement. "Well, I had to give them some reason why I had picked you above all of the other alphas, and it's not like they're going to believe that it's because..."

"Because what?" Tori reached out, cupping her chin and tipped it up, lifting Jade's gaze until it met her own. She was worried and curious, needy in a way that Jade doubted she could manage to sate. Jade sighed. "Because you make me look you in the eye. And you're the best thing I've ever had."

Tori gave her a half-puzzled grin. "The best thing?"

Jade sighed and stepped into her, initiating a hug, burying her face in Tori's shoulder. Tori's arms tightened around her in just the way she had wanted them to. "That doesn't mean you're all that high ranked. My life has been pretty shitty. And it's probably the mating hormones and the fact that you're an alpha who doesn't revolt me, but you make me feel like... like things can be okay, and I've never felt like that before, in my entire life."

Tori's hand cupped the back of her head, stroking her hair. "Really?"

"Not for a long time at least." Jade pulled back, shaking her head. "It doesn't mean anything. Feelings don't mean anything. They're just stupid chemicals fucking around in your brain. None of them are natural and none of them are real, they're just-"

Tori kissed her, cutting her off. "Just enjoy the illusion for a little while, okay?"

She kissed her again, and Jade sank into it, parting her lips when Tori's tongue darted out to test her. The goddamn chemicals flooded her system, lighting her fingertips on fire, purring in her chest like a happy lioness. Tori's scent surrounded her, seeping inside, drawing her out, toward her, and opening her up. Tori's kiss went rough and Jade's fingers wound into her hair, pulling tight. Tori hissed, then bit at her lower lip.

Fine. Fine.

It might all be an illusion, but it was one that was far too good to leave.