Stopping the car in front of Joan’s house, I looked over at Jade. She was gorgeous. Her glossy brown hair was styled in long wavy curls. Her makeup accentuated her deep green eyes and plump red lips. I wanted to keep her door locked against the pain I knew she was about to face. Jade was busy staring out the window, lost in her own thoughts. She didn’t see my eyes soften at her vulnerable expression. She didn’t know I was envisioning holding her flush against my chest, her head tucked beneath my chin, while I protected her from the world. She didn’t see the crack in my cold exterior, but Owen did. He coughed from the backseat, ending my musings of shielding Jade.

“Let’s get this over with.” I unlocked the doors, and stepped out.

All three of us stood there in a symbolic wall of solidarity, looking up at the house Jade grew up in, even though my monster was quick to point out Jade was standing closer to Owen than me. Shut up. He’s our brother.

The house was a huge, white, colonial, two-story mansion with green plantation shutters and a wrap-around front porch. It was set back from the road, and had a long obnoxious driveway that screamed, “I’m important, and have lots of money.” Joan’s family had money, and it seemed she liked to show it off, obviously. Alexander wasn’t like that. He told me that was one of their many fights over the years. He loved the thrill of the search and finding bargains, and Joan wanted the biggest, newest, most expensive everything to brag to her friends about in the garden club. Unfortunately, Jade took after her father and loved the search too. That probably pissed Joan off.

And there we were, standing in front of a multi-million dollar mansion, waiting on Jade to take the last few steps up to the door and confront the last person on earth she wanted to see, when my monster decided to throw a hissy fit like a fucking two year old. All because Owen held her hand in silent support. Stop grumbling, dammit! He’s just holding her hand. The monster sulked.

We climbed granite steps to ornately designed double leaded glass doors, and waited while Jade pressed a button on the keypad next to the door. She looked up at me and smiled. My monster smiled back, but I did not. I kept a cool exterior.

A moment later, an old man cosplaying as the butler for the Queen of England answered the door. His sour expression was a match for the snooty attitude he flung our way, which matched the rest of the house on the bougie scale. He looked like the help, but I wasn’t sure if he wasn’t just fucking with us. I didn’t know whether to tip him or ask Jeeves to help with the bags. I would say it was awkward, which it was, but mostly, it was just fucking weird.

“Good evening, Ms. Thanos, and associates,” he paused on the word associates, looking down the length of his beak with an air of disgust.

I want to punch him in that bird nose. Bastard, stop looking at us like that.

“Your mother is waiting for you in the conservatory. Your friends are welcome to wait in the billiard room. I assume they would be comfortable there.”

Jade turned to Owen with a look of dread in her eyes and I couldn’t stand to see it. My monster shook the cage I kept him in, rattling the bars and threatening to break free.

“We will be accompanying Ms. Thanos to the conservatory.” I blurted out thoughtlessly.

“As you wish,” bougie butler man sighed.

“Thank you, Nigel.” Jade said.

She looked at me with sad eyes. Was she asking me to be civil with those gorgeous eyes, or to decimate everyone who has ever hurt her? Because, I would. I will. It would only take a glance from her, and I would unlock the cage and unleash Hell on Earth.

No, she was probably just asking me to be quiet. I can do that. I will be quiet and observant. Let Owen be her comforter. I will be her dark knight, the silent sentry, ever watchful. I watched Jade visibly straighten her spine when we walked into the conservatory. Is she worried about her posture, or just preparing to deal with her mother? The monster didn’t like my musings, and rattled the cage harder.

“Daughter.” Joan said frostily after we were escorted into the conservatory. She was seated with her back to the glass windows that overlooked an English style garden. The greenery was immaculately manicured in an overbearing way. Much like Jade’s younger years under her mother’s rule. Obviously, Joan was trying some kind of powerplay. I wasn’t fazed, but I found it strange that she didn't stand up and hug her daughter. She just passed a cursory glance over Jade, then narrowed her eyes at us. That’s where Jade gets her expressive face. If you want to play games Woman, you'll need a better poker face.

“Who have we here? I thought you wished to speak with me privately.” We stood there facing the reclining crone. The bitch made no effort to motion for us to sit down. I watched Jade shrink a few inches, and it angered me.

“These are some friends of mine. They’re going—” She mumbled.

“Excuse me? Speak up, young lady.”

“I said these are some friends of mine. They’re going to help me move a few boxes of dad’s stuff. That's all.”

“That is what this audience is about? Alexander’s junk?”

“I would have thought you were here to beg me to help you find an appropriate suitor. You’re barely making ends meet as it is with that tawdry antiquing hobby you insist on. You’re wasting your life and only getting older, my dear. How am I going to find a man to support you, if you insist on presenting yourself as a headstrong, wild mess? You need to move home, and let me tame you. Then we can find a nice gentleman, from a good family, to take care of you. Someone better than that excuse of a father you insist on emulating.” Joan smiled as she delivered that last cutting blow.

I suppressed the monster’s rage, clenching my fists tightly while Owen stepped closer to Jade. Our united front was angry. Jade straightened her spine and stared defiantly at her mother.

“I will starve to death before I ever ask for your help. Mother.” She hissed out the word mother like it left a sour taste in her mouth. I know it did mine.

“Just point us to my father’s things and we will be out of your way.”

Joan smiled, overly saccharine and fake. “What is left of your father’s things is boxed up and waiting to be tossed out. I’m not sure when garbage day is,” she looked at all three of us with a smirk, “but you might ask the help. Oh, and I donated a few boxes to some thrift store for a tax receipt last week. At least something good can come from all that dusty old junk.”

I barely felt myself grab Jade’s arm to stop her from throwing herself at her mother. Her feral snarls echoed my monster’s growls.

“Jade, let’s check with the help and get the fuck out of here.”

Joan glared at us from her tufted throne. I felt Jade tense. She held her own against her mother as best she could, but soon succumbed. When she looked up at me with pale, colorless eyes, I lost the grip on my control. I barely heard her reply. The pain had sucked the color from her eyes, and it pissed the monster off. His anger roared in my ears. My vision shifted to a haze of red I had only experienced once before. Must protect Jade! Kill all that hurt her! The monster screamed over and over, tearing at the door of his cage.

Owen led us back to the foyer. Fucking boyscout. Jade was trembling, but controlling her anger much better than I was. I could barely see through the bloodlust coloring everything scarlet. I would gladly kill Joan a million times to prevent Jade from feeling an ounce of pain at her hand. Owen’s calming whispers slowly brought me back, and I heard him comforting Jade. Yes, let him comfort her. I’m no good to her right now. All I want is to get her the hell away from here before I lose my shit.

“Jade,” I said when I finally managed to calm down enough to be able to speak. “Where would the gardeners keep your father’s boxes?”

She looked at me with those sad eyes again. Shit, I've got to get a handle on this. I schooled my features into a semblance of calm and looked at her with as much compassion as I could force through the rage I felt.

“The back of the property, in the servant’s garage,” she said, and pointed towards the back of the house.

“Ok. Owen, help Jade get settled in the car. I’ll be right back.”

I watched him lead Jade out with his arm wrapped around her waist, and sighed. Turning back towards the conservatory, I didn’t bother undressing. I wasn’t planning on anything like this happening, but I would make sure Joan never hurt Jade again. I opened the cage door, unleashed the monster, and shifted.

A few minutes later, I slipped into the front seat of the car, naked and bloody. A quick look in the rear view mirror showed Owen holding a shaking Jade against his chest. Good. Maybe she didn’t see. He shrugged his shoulders and continued caressing her hair and murmuring. I grabbed my phone from the charging dock, and typed a quick message to The Guard. If we were lucky, the cleaners would arrive before we left the property. Ugh. I wouldn’t want that job. Blood and guts were everywhere.

I cleaned most of the blood splatter off my arms with some wet wipes I had in the console. Then pulled a t-shirt out of the glove compartment and over my head. Shifting could be hell on your wardrobe, so I kept a package of black t-shirts stashed in the console for such occasions. It was convenient, and the black material covered up blood pretty good. Pants were a different story. I usually kept a bag in the backseat with a couple of pairs in it, but I threw it in the trunk earlier. Fuck. I'll just have to drive to the back half-naked.

There wasn’t anyone around when we pulled up in front of the small garage. I popped the trunk, and left Owen and Jade in the car. She seemed to have calmed down. I was happy about that. All of us were, Monster included. As much as he loved creating chaos, the monster wanted nothing more than for Jade to be happy. Calm was as close to happy as it was going to get. I grabbed my duffle bag out of the trunk, and threw on a pair of pants. Did she see me walk past her window half-naked? Did she appreciate the rear view?

I scrounged around the garage until I found a pile of cardboard boxes. A few boxes were set aside, off in a corner, separate from the plastic bags of garbage by the door. Hmm, maybe the servants were saving them for her? It made me feel bad for a second, knowing what the monster did to them. But, three trips later, I closed the trunk and we were headed back to Jade’s apartment. Not another second wasted in remorse.

It had been a long day and it showed on all of our faces. Jade wasn’t shaking anymore, and Owen had stopped babying her. He wasn’t smoothing her hair or murmuring whatever the hell he says to calm someone down. I shouldn’t feel jealous of him, as it was his gift, but I was. I wanted to be that, do that, for Jade. But that wasn’t my place. I was the protector. The monster and I were good at that. I wanted to be everything to her, like she was to me.

We rode in silence. I periodically checked on Jade in the rear view mirror. She was leaning against the seat, deep in thought. On the next scan, green eyes met mine. They were hard, expressionless eyes. It was the first time I had seen them like that. Beautiful.

Is she dead?

The words echoed in my mind. Jade’s voice. My mate’s voice. She had accepted us, and the mate link was made. The monster danced around his dungeon, celebrating those three small words that meant so much. I silently nodded at the mirror, expecting a response from her, but her eyes didn’t falter. They didn’t change to sadness. They didn’t shift to hatred or disgust. Jade nodded once in acceptance, and turned away to stare out the window.

Good.