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Melody gripped hold of the little girl and pulled her up into her arms. Holding her tight, she pulled her head against her chest and covered both her ears before she turned back down the hall and suggested, "Maybe Sally ought to stay with me while the two of you go next door and discuss all of this?"
"Don't you dare try and tell me what to do!" Miranda snarled over Jake's shoulder, but he looked at Melody with great gratitude.
Ignoring his ex-wife, he asked, "Are you sure that's okay?"
He looked deep into Melody's eyes, and she nodded. For a few seconds, the world around Melody melted away and all she could see was Jake. She was locked in his blue gaze, her heart hammering until all she could hear was the blood pounding in her ears.
Then, just like that, he broke their connection and everything came rushing back. Melody watched with both horror and amusement as Jake turned and practically flung Miranda over his shoulder.
Jealousy and desire mixed as Melody imagined what it might have been like were she in Miranda's shoes. Though she would never stand arguing like that or go utterly hysterical, she could imagine all too well how it would feel to have him throw her over his shoulder and carry her to bed.
All too flustered for comfort, Melody forced a smile and released Sally back down onto the floor. "How about I make some popcorn and we watch a movie?"
That seemed to do the trick, and the little girl was immediately distracted from the open front door. "Really?"
The little girl's eyes grew wide and hopeful.
"Really," Melody said. "I'll even let you pick the movie!"
She only wished she could distract herself as easily as she had the little girl. No matter how hard she tried or what she did, she couldn't bring herself to stop thinking about Jake.
Chapter 7 - Jake
Though she kicked and screamed, Jake didn't put Miranda down until they were safely inside his house. He kicked the door shut with his heel and planted her on the floor, trying to ignore the stinging in his back where she had clawed at him.
"You have no right to keep me from my daughter!" she snarled at him, her green eyes gone amber as though her wolf was surging up to the surface.
Jake stood his ground unlike he ever had before. He was fed up, no longer concerned with being careful for the sake of Sally. She had already seen too much. It was time he finally grew a backbone and stopped her mother walking all over him, all over them.
"Well, I can't seem to stop you from walking away from her all the time, either," Jake countered, crossing his arms over his puffed-out chest. "You're a mess, Miranda. Just look at what you're doing."
"What I'm doing? I'm not the one who leftourlittle girl with a total stranger!"
Jake growled and bared his teeth. "Melody isn't a stranger."
Saying the words, he realized their accuracy. Though she had kept herself on the outskirts of the pack and Jake had only encountered her a handful of times, he oddly felt as though he knew her better than the woman standing before him, the woman he had been married to for almost a decade.
"Just because you're putting your dick in her doesn't make her capable of taking care of Sally!"
It took all Jake's willpower not to launch himself at Miranda for reducing his and Melody's relationship, whatever the hell it was, to something so vulgar.
"I am not sleeping with Melody," Jake snapped back at her.At least, not now.He quivered inwardly, remembering the mind-blowing night they had shared over a month ago. "And even if I was, she's a damn sight better for Sally than a mother who couldn't give a toss about her usually. It wouldn't have bothered you if I had dropped her off with Lewis, one of the others, or even one of your friends. You have a funny way of picking and choosing."
"I don't know her!"
"And I don't know this new boyfriend of yours that you have around Sally, but you don't see me turning up without warning to come and attack him!" Jake said, his volume rising uncontrollably as he grew more frustrated.
Miranda scoffed at that. "As if you think you could. Kai would flatten you like a wolf-cake."
Jake's hands tightened to fists, claws cutting into his palms.
Fuck, don't rise to it. That's what she wants,he told himself, forcing a deep breath to remain calm.
"I am not doing this anymore, Miranda," he said, shaking his head. He half-turned to grab the door. "If you want Sally, you can take me to court because I am keeping her here with me."
"You can't do that!"
Jake yanked open the door and gestured Miranda out. She didn't budge an inch, and Jake had to fight not to forcibly remove her. He had hoped that his new home would remain a Miranda-free zone, hating the very smell of her now that it was tainted by warlock.
