Jared (River Pack Wolves 3)(43)

“Stop that!” That was her father’s voice, but it was directed at Agent Smith, stopping him from something. “Goddammit, Grace! Get away from him!”

She blinked up at her father, seeing him through her wolf’s eyes for the first time. He was large and angry and hovering over her. Somehow the look on his face—concern stirred around with anger—snapped her out of her haze. But it was the gun sticking in her face—a gun in Sanders’s hand—that forced her to back away from both men on all four paws.

She focused inwardly, closing her eyes and regaining control enough to shift human.

“Put that thing away!” her father said, but not to her.

The man—Sanders or Agent Smith, her father had called him—lowered his weapon. Grace scrambled for her clothes, which had been shed when she shifted.

She was crying and shaking and had no idea what she was doing. Her brain was completely in shock, and she was acting on instinct, but she had to think of some way out of this. They needed to call an ambulance for Jared. But her father’s hard looks, and the fact that Agent Smith still hadn’t put away his gun, fuzzed out her brain even more. She could barely stand upright to get her clothes on.

Her father sighed, but anger still colored his face a blotchy red. “Why didn’t you tell me, Grace?” He shook his head at her, sad and disgusted.

“Tell you?” She managed to blurt out. “I’ve been trying to tell you! But you refused to listen. You refused to care. And now this…” Jared’s unmoving body captured her—she couldn’t look away from it. “How can you do this? What kind of man are you?”

Her father gritted his teeth. “The human kind. The kind I thought you were. I really wish you would have told me before now—I could’ve spared you this indignity.”

“Indignity?” She felt like she was losing her mind, standing in front of these two men in her bare feet and disheveled clothes, having just revealed her wolf. Agent Smith was eyeing her with particular care, like she had just become extremely interesting to him. She swung back to her father. “What the hell you talking about?”

“I thought…” Her father rubbed his face with both hands, and the anger morphed into a kind of weariness. “I thought I was safe with you, Grace. Usually, the shifter gene expresses much earlier. How long have you been shifting?”

She just gaped at him. “What… are you saying… you knew?”

“I didn’t know,” he sneered. “I merely suspected. After I caught your mother with that damn shifter, I did the math. I knew it was possible. I just hoped… goddammit.” He was shaking his head, but those final words were just mumbled to himself.

“You knew.” The shock was washing over her anew. “You knew all along.”

He dismissed her with a wave, like she was yesterday’s news, then turned to Agent Smith. “I need you to get rid of this… this thing.” He gestured to Jared’s body. “I don’t want to start my campaign with unexplained bodies of bodyguards, especially in shifter form, in my office.”

Agent Smith narrowed his eyes at Jared’s fallen form. “This is rather inconvenient.” He finally put away his tranq gun.

They were ignoring her completely. Her body buzzed, numb.

“If we take him into custody,” Agent Smith said, “his pack will just come after him. Better to just kill him and dispose of the body.”

Terror ripped through Grace’s body. “What? You can’t… you… you need to call a doctor!” Her head was pounding, and the world felt like it was tipping.

“I told you, no bodies,” her father muttered to Agent Smith. “Especially ones that could be traced back here.”

“I’ll make sure that won’t happen,” Agent Smith said coolly.

Her father shook his head. “Fine.” He glanced at Grace, but then spoke to Agent Smith. “What about her? You’ve got the serums now. Can you cure her?”

Grace stared at the two of them in horror. What was he saying?

“I can try.” Agent Smith peered at her. “It might be possible. Although maybe not. And if not, what then?”

Her father waved that concern away. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Agent Smith advanced toward her. “Come with me, Ms. Krepky.”

She backed up. “Wha… what are you talking about?”

Her father sighed again, returning to his desk. “I wish you had told me, Grace. We could have gotten you help sooner.”

“Help? What kind of help?” But a primal fear raced through her. Cure? That meant… God, what were they going to do to her? The specter of Jared’s medical experiments rose up in her mind. The Senator wouldn’t do that to his own daughter. Would he?