Jared (River Pack Wolves 3)(16)

This much she knew: Jared was a spy of some kind. She just didn’t know what kind.

“You said you had some questions.” He dipped his head to peer into her eyes. “I’m here to answer them.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “That’s it? Come on, I’m not an idiot. I know you’re spying on my father.” Did he know about the legislation? Was that what this was really about? “And what was that business about the shifter gangs threatening me?”

“Cover story. It’s what I had to do to get here. To be with you.”

“With me?” Her heart was lurching around inside her chest. “And why would you want to do that?”

His face softened in a way that was hard to describe—like he felt sorry for her. Or perhaps he heard the tremble in her voice.

He took a step closer and dropped his voice. “You don’t know anything about being a wolf. You have been trapped here, living a lie, probably your entire life. There are things you need to know. I’m here to teach you.”

His soft, deep voice, his towering form, all muscular and male—all of it was insanely heating every corner of her body. “What things are you going to teach me?” She could hear the breathy neediness in her voice. God, she was desperate. Pathetic, really. But here was a man who was sexiness personified, in her bedroom, offering to teach her things. Any woman with a pulse would be hoping those things would be happening in her bed.

“What do you want to learn?” The deep timbre of his voice was going straight to her lady parts.

Oh my God. “I’m… I’m really new to all of this.” She was going to combust if she had to speak anymore.

“Then we should get started right away.” He stepped back and swept his hand to the door, waiting and giving her an expectant look. “How about we go for a run?”

A shiver ran through her that was almost more than she could take.





The scent of Grace’s arousal was making his body tight.

He had that unbalanced feeling again. It had been so long since he had felt anything like the deep churning in the pit of his stomach that she caused. Since he had felt anything at all, really. And this was more than simple lust, although there was plenty of that… it was a melting of sorts, like he was coming out of a deep freeze and into the sun for the first time. Only the freeze was the only thing that held him together. She didn’t have to do anything, or say anything, in particular—just her nearness made him feel like he was coming apart at the seams. But her obvious need, the scent of her arousal, was amplifying it a hundredfold, telegraphing straight to his wolf a message that kept repeating—take me, take me, take me.

As if she could ever belong to him.

They had snuck out the back of her house and were now running across the open field toward the forest. He was right—she done this before. She knew exactly which path to carve across the tightly trimmed lawn to avoid the security cameras and the line-of-sight of the guards patrolling the front. She kept throwing little grins back at him that threatened to melt him a little more. He could’ve followed her with his eyes closed—her arousal cut across the air and grew stronger as they plunged into the darkened trees.

His gut twisted with guilt even as his mouth watered to taste her blueberries-and-cream scent himself. How could he lust after a girl whose father he might have to kill? How could any part of him think about holding her body against his, all soft skin and heated breaths, when his mission was to convince her to betray her father? He had done a lot of bad things in his life, but sleeping with a girl and then killing her father was not going to be numbered among them.

No. He was here to do exactly what he said—teach her what it meant to be a wolf. So she would understand what she truly was and what was truly at risk. He pulled her to a stop as they reached the clearing where they had first met.

“What are you going to teach me first?” she asked, breathless, standing too close and looking up into his eyes too much flirtation. She wanted to be with him, that much was obvious, although it perplexed him. She was beautiful—she could have any man she wanted—and for all he knew, she had a boyfriend already. She was unmarried and obviously unmated, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone in her life. So, why the attraction? Maybe it was simply the allure of a strange man, a shifter. Something exotic that her human side had yet to try.

He took a step back and set his face to seriousness. He could see the disappointment draw down her body.

“I saw you shift before,” he said. “Your wolf is unique.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Unique how?” She seemed genuinely to have no idea, but she was open and curious about it. That was a good start.