Thank you a lot to lovetoread_101 for this beautiful banner, thanks for sending it in! (:

Be sure to email me at [email protected] with your banners, and username so I can give you a mention!

(I'm uploading this early because I don't want to stay up till 12 AM tonight! (:)

Word Count: 2345

~Thea

Perhaps I would have been mad by the fact that Jasper blatantly refused to tell me anything about what I had just witnessed, had I not been so tried. The moment the bed was in my line of sight, I forgot Jasper would be sleeping next to me.

The last thing I remember, was face planting into the softest of pillows.

When I awoke the next morning, Jasper was dead asleep beside me. His torso was magnificently bare, and admittedly, I took a few moments to admire the smoothness of the perfectly sculpted muscles I am mockingly itching to touch with my bare fingers.

The sun is rising, rays going to work on the thickly frosted windows, the remnants dripping down the window in the form of liquid lit by the encroaching daylight.

Gentle oranges and subtle pinks dance across Jasper's face. His eyelashes brushing against his cheeks, his lips partly open. The bed sheet twists around his limbs, a contrast to his sun kissed skin. An Alpha, in a vulnerable position.

I slip out of bed, wishing there was a better heating system in here. Muttering to myself, I find fresh clothes in my backpack, and wander off to the shower.

The fact that the temperature has dropped is significantly more noticeable when I step out of the shower to dry myself. Chilling, icy cold air drifts around me, as I wrap my towel around myself, realising then that I probably should have grabbed underwear with the rest of my clothes.

Jasper is awake when I walk back into the bedroom, my hand clutching the top of my towel. He is stretched across the bed, rubbing his hands over his eyes. The whole situation seems very domestic for an Alpha and a random girl running away from her deranged family who hid the fact that they are Phantom Wolves from her...

I stoop down, rummaging through my bag for another pair of underwear.

"Good morning," Jasper murmurs, his voice rough from sleep.

I stand, and Jasper finally catches a glance at my currently lack of clothing situation. The way he stares at me, makes it seems as if the towel doesn't exist, sending an embarrassing blush to stain my cheeks.

"Ah...Good morning," I say quickly, before turning and dashing into the bathroom again, slamming the door behind me.

Bracing my hands against the edge of the ceramic vanity, I stare at myself in the mirror, through the subtle condensation clouding around the edge.

I look...healthy. After everything has happened, I thought I would at the very least look sick, or worried. But the side effects of all this stress hasn't seemed to do anything harmful to my appearance. In fact, my face is full and doused with colour, my eyes bright and my hair shiner and more voluptuous.

Dressing quickly, I leave the room to see Jasper has done the same.

Downstairs, Aria had left a note about having to go out with her friend for the day. This left Jasper I to make ourselves breakfast, which really was just cereal. We ate quietly, and it wasn't until we had finished eating, and I was cleaning the dishes up, did I speak.

"So, who was she?" I ask.

Jasper looks up from the book he had found on Aria's shelf. They have that in common; a love for books.

"A friend," he tells me, closing the red covered book. I remember him mentioning something about her sexuality, which I assume is proof that Jasper wasn't meeting her for reason's I don't want to think of.

I put the last clean plate between the slats of the dish drainer. "Where is she from?

"The Devotion Pack. Well, the Devotion Pack a couple hundred years ago," he continues nonchalantly. I twist around, that being the last thing I had expected to hear from him right now, and also the last thing I wanted to question.

Jasper smiles, as he stands smoothly, his eyes holding me almost paralyzed.

"Time travel?" I squeak, that being the only conclusion that I could come to. Jasper tilted his head, and I could tell from the glint in his eyes that he knows I don't truly believe him. Sure I have been exposed to a lot of magic recently, but still, this is traveling through time we are talking abut.

Jasper strides toward me, around the counter, the tips of his fingers dragging across the soapstone. I however, have my back pressed against the bench, my shirt probably getting wet from the sink water.

"You don't think, that if time travel ever was to exist, then travelers would be walking among us today?"

My heart kind of jumped a little at his words. Jasper just watches me, as I process his words.

"Many years ago, a merchant offered my father the ability to visit the future, from a man who had accidentally transported himself many years back in time. Of course, I was introduced to the idea, and I have been traveling often ever since."

My mouth fell open in surprise, as yet another tsunami of shock consumed me. No, hit me in the face like a bus.

"But don't worry, I am not going to take you through any realm of time," he says, as if it is to reassure me. There is no way I would have agreed to it anyway...

Jasper stood a few inches in front of me, looking down at me with something that could emulate curiosity. Sometimes I think he looks at me like I am the strangest thing he has ever seen.

"You confuse me. Even without my magic to assist you, you have handled this all very much. You are strong, and I respect that about you," Jasper murmurs.

It was strange how much warmth spread through me from just those few words. maybe it was the honesty he exuded, or just the idea of someone finally seeing something in me I didn't see in myself.

Deciding to be brave, I take a step forward, and rest my hands on Jasper's chest. It wasn't skin to skin, which today with Werewolves can be seen as very crude, but it was a gesture I wanted him to understand. "Thank you. Now can I ask for a favour?"

"Depends what it is?" Jasper says warily, keeping my eye contact, despite his muscles being tense under my palms.

"I want you," I say, dragging my finger down the line of Jasper's chest, wondering where this confidence has sprouted from. I ruin it though, pushing back, although he only moves a few steps. "To show me how to keep you out of my damn mind."

Jasper grins at my playfulness, catching on to the first good mood I probably have had this entire time. Really, I want a way to keep Jasper out of my private thoughts.

"I think I can do that for you. Shall we go for a walk and talk about it?" he asks.

Turning around, I see the window allows for the soft gleam of sunlight to light up the room around us. Outside, the snow has settled, no more glimpses of falling snow to be seen. It may be cold out, but a walk wouldn't do us any harm.

Jasper retrieved my jacket and some gloves of Aria's from upstairs, while I laced my shoes up. When he strolled down stairs, Jasper had a winter hat on, his dark hair sticking out from under it. He tossed my gloves at me, tugging his own ones on.

"How long are we staying here for?" I ask him, once we were finally equipped for winter, after he draped my coat over my shoulders.

He shrugs. "However long we need to."

At this point, I am used to Jasper being cryptic, so I let it pass, planning just to deal with things as they come. It seems to be working for me so far...

Jasper guided me with his hand on the small of my back the moment we stepped outside. Instantly, my breath fogged in front of my face, and I could feel the tip of my nose turning red. The snow was up to my ankles, compacted by the sheer thickness of last nights snowfall.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Jasper notes, smiling down at me.

The sidewalk had few footprints from the early risers morning walks, but not yet was the snow dirty, or completely sludge. It still glistened magnificently, almost matching the puffy clouds in the blue sky.

"Very," I whisper. "Now, can you teach me how to keep you out of my mind?"

Jasper seemed to think for a moment, as we walked, feet crunching through the icy, feet sinking deeper into the snow with every step.

"What if I told you there is no way to keep me out of your mind?" he asked, tilting an eyebrow up while he gazed down at me, violet eyes glinting mischievously. I, on the other hand, could not find the humour in the situation.

"Tell me you're joking," I growl, narrowing my eyes at him.

He chuckles, shaking his head. Without a single warning, he reached up, plucking the edge of a tree branch we walked under, the snow falling down with a sigh and a rustle, straight upon my head.

I gasp, cringing as icy cold, melting snow dripped straight down the back of my coat. Jasper laughed animatedly, clapping his hands in pure enjoyment at my uncomfortable position. I smack him angrily on the arm.

"This is serious," I snap, wishing I could strip off my wet clothes.

Jasper grabs my hand, pulling me back. For a moment, his smile fades, but I still see that warmth, that aliveness that suits him so well. "I like seeing you smile. You didn't do it enough when you were dating Luca."

I frown. Never would I have expected him to say something like that. Sure, Luca got on my nerves sometimes, but back then, he was all I had. And Jasper...He hardly knew me; us.

"Look, let's make a deal, shall we?" he says, cutting off any chance I had of questioning him on what he had just said.

I sigh. "If it doesn't include snow down my back, then I suppose I have nothing to lose."

Before this deal was announced, Jasper turned us around, saying I needed to get back before I catch a cold, which I didn't hesitate to retort with the fact that it was his fault. Not that we had walked far anyway-just to the outskirts of the towns square. 

"How about I promise not to look into your mind anymore?" he offers. I narrow my eyes at him sideways, not sure if I actually believe him. "On my life."

I stop, making him do so too. He looks at me expectantly.

"Not just on your life...On your Pack's life...Ah, even on your mates life," I demand, throwing out the things I would think mean the most to him. Just saying those things makes me realise that I don't know very much about Jasper, although I suppose we only met a few days ago.

"My mate and I haven't..." he paused. "Touched yet."

I roll my eyes. "Well, whoever she is, wherever she is, you swear on her life."

Jasper holds his hands up, almost in a mocking way, but I can tell he finally is taking my claims seriously. Until I hold my pinky finger out, which he stares at as if it is a foreign object never before seen.

"What-"

"Pinky swear," I insist, entwining his finger with mine, completing a superstition I have had since I was a little girl. It reminds me of June, which stabs at my heart a little. "This is the only way I will trust you."

It took me a couple minutes on our walk back to the house to explain the importance of a pinky swear. It seals a promise...He just couldn't get it. By the end of it, he understood, and we had a mutual agreement about how he was not to infiltrate my mind unless I stated otherwise. 

"I like autumn. It is a mild season," Jasper muses, as we near the end of our walk. We were arguing about our favourite season-mine being Spring, because of how everything blossoms.

Jasper was just about to reply, when I glanced to my left, and nearly screamed aloud.

Aria's neighbourhood was coated in snow, but that didn't mean I didn't see three men surrounded on someone across the roads doorstep. A woman was at the door, bundled in a grey robe, as she looked at the piece of paper that was presented in front of her.

By Luca. He is here.

💛••💛

Want more and don't want to wait!? More of Jasper is available now on Radish! Up to Chapter Twenty Five!

Also, there's a super awesome sale right now, so go make the most of it! (:

(Christmas weekend only-2016)

(This is USD, so it's probably cheaper in other countries)

⭐️••⭐️

Wattpad and I haven't been...The best of friends recently.

Like, we love each other, but sometimes Wattpad knows how to really make me mad. I know that's what relationships are like, but...

Like, they took my work off private (which really should be illegal) and has been ignoring my emails they otherwise answer.

I should feel bad, since I'm cheating on them with Radish, but in my defence, Radish is super sexy and knows how to treat me right, you know?

At the end of the day, I want to round house kick Wattpad, but they're still my best friend. That won't change.

Both buy me nice things, but Wattpad introduced me to all their friends, and they always leave me nice comments. That I can appreciate.

(But a block button for Christmas would have been nice...hint hint)

Snapchat: Midikacrane

Radish: Midika

~Midika 💜🐼