That flared his wolf—his brother was talking about his mate. His mate. No, she wasn’t that. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Still… he glowered at Jace. “If you’d met her, you’d realize that she’s not playing anyone. She’s not the type.”
Jace looked unconvinced. “She’s the Senator’s campaign manager. She runs political campaigns all the time, Jared. And she’s his daughter. She has all kinds of motivation to play you, and play you hard. I just don’t want…” He exchanged another look with Jaxson. The smile fell off Jaxson’s face. Even Piper looked concerned now. Jace turned back to him. “I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he finished.
Jared understood—he’d been broken for so long, it was a wonder they hadn’t locked him up somewhere for his own good. “Grace would never hurt me. You’ll have to trust me on this. And if she can’t convince her father to stop the legislation, she’s going to come out as a shifter and shut him down that way. She’s been trying to stop him, even before she met me—before she really embraced what she was. The girl’s been living with her secret for years. Denying it. She’s just now owning it, and she’s about to turn her whole world upside down to do the right thing. She’s the one in danger of getting hurt here. And I’m not going to let that happen.”
Jace’s eyes were wide, but he was nodding now. “Alrighty, then.” He and Jaxson exchanged a look of agreement. “We’ll see what Grace can do first, before we do anything.”
Piper’s eyes were appraising him again. “You’re her link to the shifter world.”
Jared nodded. “She needs to know she can depend on me. In the morning, I’ll be by her side when she tells her father. Just in case anything goes sideways.”
“What do you need from us?” Jaxson asked, his face open and supportive.
Relief flushed through him. Jaxson was alpha, and no matter what doubts anyone else in the pack had, they would follow his lead. “I need you to hold tight until you hear from me again. It won’t be long. Deal?”
They all nodded in agreement. Jared gave them a few more tight smiles, leaving them with grins on their faces as they finished preparations for their impending nuptials.
He didn’t know how he would get through the night—there likely wouldn’t be any sleep for him. He should go for a run in the forest, burn off his energy and anxiety. His brothers were preparing for their new lives with their new mates—even with everything going on, they were filled with hope for the future. Piper and Jace were already getting busy on providing him with a little niece or nephew. That clutched at his heart, moving it in a way that felt like he was dying… or perhaps coming back to life.
For the first time in forever, it felt like he might have hope for the future as well.
Grace slowly buttoned her pale-pink silk blouse, then smoothed down her pencil-thin black skirt. She gazed in the mirror, making sure all the tendrils of her hair were tucked neatly into the bun at the nape of her neck, like her father wished.
It was time to change her life.
This was a long time coming—she finally realized she had been waiting for something to come along and force her shifter issue out into the open. Her lady parts were happily sore from yesterday’s encounter with Jared’s cock, but she knew that having sex with him went way beyond just punching her V-card. Jared had rolled into her life like a thunderstorm and completely taken it over—and he was forcing the True Grace to come out. She finally felt like the 25-year-old woman she wanted to be—someone who could live comfortably inside her own skin, embrace her inner wolf, and love a man with such abandon that it left her lightheaded and thoroughly connected to him.
It was time she straightened out the rest of her life, too—including the part where she vehemently disagreed with her father on shifter policy. It was way overdue for her to stand up and declare she would no longer accept his bigoted opinions, much less encourage them by being his campaign manager. If she were lucky, she would still be able to keep her world intact and bring her father around to the righteous side of things. But she honestly didn’t expect that to happen. More likely, her father would toss her out of the estate on her ear. She would be out of a job, out of a home, and without a family.
But she would have her dignity and integrity—and that was way more important than all the rest.
If she were very lucky, she would have Jared as well. She was uncertain at best about that—he had been open and honest from the beginning about his purpose in all this. He wanted to force her shifter nature out into the open. He came to show her the shifter side of things, and he certainly accomplished that. But she didn’t think she imagined the connection between them—or the sweet, sweet lovemaking that went far beyond the wildest, most powerful orgasm she’d ever had.