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Jen was pregnant. Our pack was going to have a child.
“We’ll continue on as normal. The child is the most important thing in our universe. We need to protect her and the child. No matter what the cost. Now is the time to come together. I can’t be fighting my brothers when her ex-husband is out there gathering people to fight. We’ve got to make more allies. It’s not something we’re good at, but we’re going to have to evolve. I’ve invested too much in this town to lose it now.
“It’s just a town. We can start again. We always do.”
“This is the largest pack I’ve ever created. We’re not twenty anymore. I’m tired of starting over. I want to settle down. Have more babies. Relax a bit.” Jared was not himself.
What a joke. Jared was not the settling type. He was romanticizing this baby because he thought it was his. But I knew what he didn’t. I could smell myself. My own offspring was in Jen’s belly, not his. It would be obvious when the baby came, but until then it was okay to let Jared believe. A truce with him would give me time to make a plan. I didn’t want Jen to think I was a coward for running, but what choice did I have? The baby was coming. And he or she was going to change everything.
Chapter 37
Jennifer
Their fight was foggy in my mind. Cloud-covered. Wes swears up and down that it is Jared, but I’m not sure I believe it. Jared didn’t look at me once during the whole thing. Almost as if he was on autopilot. His heart and brain seemed to be in two different places. I’ve never seen him so kind and gentle. And Wes was slow and weak. Something happened to them both. They were…inhibited. I tried to tell Wes, but he didn’t want to hear it.
“You’re under someone’s spell. I can feel it. Both of you. You know that feeling I got when I was with Jared? Like I had to do something? I had to obey? You two looked like you were playing parts. Puppets. I’m telling you, there is someone behind these blackouts.”
“Who would benefit from you sleeping with Jared? Other than Jared, I mean.”
I thought about that. Jared did seem to want me. To enjoy it. Our attraction was real. So, who else would benefit from me sleeping with Jared? We both looked at each other and spoke the same name.
“Frank.”
“We’ve been looking at this the wrong way. It isn’t who would benefit from me sleeping with Jared. It is who would benefit from us fighting amongst ourselves.” Frank was the muscle and he was used to fighting. Everyone always thinks about him as a beefy warrior. Using his mind to play with us was a stroke of genius. None of us saw it coming.
“We haven’t seen Frank in days. All this time, I’ve been keeping my eye out for Jared thinking that he’s against me.”
His own brother. Thank God for not having siblings to deal with. Sometimes family is hard enough on its own. I imagine this must be what being in a royal family is like. Everyone is always trying to climb out on top.
“What are we going to do?”
“You aren’t going to do anything. It isn’t safe for you. And the baby. You need to stay with your children and protect them.”
“My children are with my mother. She won’t let anything happen to them.”
“Your mother can’t stop Frank. Or Tim for that matter. Don’t forget we still need to worry about him.”
“Well I can’t stop him on my own either. I’m not going to be much help. You need to come with me.”
“I need to take care of this. It will be much safer for us all if we can get rid of the threat.”
“What if Tim or Frank come for us?”
A look of pain flashed across Wes’s face. He stopped to think.
“There are very little shapeshifters that I can trust. Especially with you. I’m not going to risk them turning on me and leading Frank directly to you.”
“Then I want to bring my mother and the girls here. Then we can stay out of the way if someone comes.”
“But what if I lose. Then they will have you. There won’t be a chance to run.”
“You’re not going to lose. Jared’s on your side. And you’ve got us. I’ll claw anyone’s eyes out for you.”
Wes laughed. “If he wins, you’ll simply be his mate instead of mine.”
“He can’t make me.”
“If he’s the one that’s been controlling us, then he can. He can make us do anything he wants.”
