“I saw her shift. She told me about the secret part, although I had already guessed it—can’t see how she would share that with her father.”
“She must not have any idea what he’s up to,” Piper said with a frown. “I mean, come on. If she knew her father was experimenting on shifters…”
Jared turned to her. “We don’t know what she knows, not for sure. But we don’t have to. We know the Senator wants to implement the registration law—that’s enough. And I’m pretty sure she knows about that.”
Jaxson’s face went from shocked to puzzled. “What makes you think she knows?”
“She’s his campaign manager.” Jared would’ve known that earlier had he actually done his homework.
“Oh man.” Jace’s eyes were bugging out, but the surprise was back for all of them. And it was a hell of a thing. He thought maybe that was what stirred his insides—part of him wanted to dig her out of this hole she was in. Rescue her. Because she seemed stuck in an impossible situation.
“Blackmail. That’s the answer.” Piper was the one who said it, but Jared could tell they were all thinking it.
“No.” He wasn’t going to let that happen.
“You were going to kill her father—” Jace this time.
“And I still might.”
That brought them all to a screeching mental stop.
“Jared, no—” Jace was shaking his head furiously.
“I will if I have to. I’d like to see you try to stop me, bro.” He softened his tone a little. “This is my thing to do, not any of yours. You have lives, ones I’d like to protect. I’m the one with nothing to lose here.”
Jaxson looked like he wanted to rip out Jared’s liver for speaking the truth out loud, but instead he shuffled over and laid a heavy hand on Jared’s shoulder. “I told you, no more of this lone wolf crap.”
Jared shook his head. “That doesn’t change anything. But she might—the daughter.”
Jaxson frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I want to get close to her.” At Piper’s raised eyebrows, he added, “Yeah, okay, she is a beautiful woman, and any man would want to get close to her that way. But that’s not what I mean.”
Her eyebrows stayed raised, and she added a smirk in Jace’s direction, but his brother was still shaking his head. “Is this really about the girl?”
“Yes. And no. She may not realize it, but she’s in the same boat as the rest of us. Plus she has no pack, an asshole for a father, and no one she can depend on for help. I just want a chance to convince her of those facts.”
Jace’s eyebrows raised, but this time he was nodding. “So… exactly how do you propose to get close?”
“And what are you going to do once you’re there?” The suspicion was obvious in Jaxson’s voice.
But Jared would be a straight-shooter on this, just he was on everything else. He only lied when he had to. “I want to pose as her bodyguard. Spend time with her. She doesn’t know anything about the shifter world, and she needs to… if she’s going to have any chance of convincing her father to stop the bill.” He took a deep breath, not at all sure it would work. “If she can’t stop him, I will.”
Jace shook his head. “Jared, for God’s sake—”
“I’m not saying it’s going to work. But if I’m going to give it a try, I’ll need your help.”
“Olivia’s got a whole lot of materials to take to the press,” Jaxson offered. “There’s stuff in there implicating the Senator. We might be able to take him down that way.”
“I know what you’ve got, Jaxson. An envelope? That’s nothing—nowhere near enough to tie the Senator to the experiments. And you’ll just give him a heads up… and time to weasel out of it. He’s a politician. He’ll probably flip it to his advantage somehow. Can’t give him that chance. I need you to hold Olivia off, give me time to work on Grace.”
“Grace? Is that her name?” Piper asked, dashing a look to Jace. He frowned in return.
“Grace Elizabeth Dawn Krepky. That’s how she introduced herself.”
“Had quite a little chat, did you?” Piper’s eyes were shrewdly examining him, while at the same time, they held some kind of ill-defined humor. He wasn’t quite sure why she was having a laugh at his expense, but it didn’t bother him. Nothing did, not really. None of this was important. They could quibble over details, and he really could use their cooperation, but when it came down to it, only one thing mattered—stopping the Senator. If Jared was lucky, he’d find a way to save the Senator’s daughter along the way.