Jared (River Pack Wolves 3) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (14 page)

Jared strolled in the front door of the safehouse. The great room was bustling with people he didn’t know, and the scent of dinner lingered in the air even though the dining room had been cleared out. He didn’t see his brothers among the meandering and chattering temporary residents of his home, but he caught a glimpse of his mother’s long gray hair as she disappeared into the kitchen.

He strode after her. She had three shifters on kitchen duty, cleaning up the massive pile of dishes left over from the evening’s meal. They weren’t letting her lift a finger and had set up some kind of production line to get the job done, but she was definitely in charge.

“That bowl goes on the top shelf, Owen,” she said. Owen was ex-military, one of Jace’s brothers-in-arms, and he’d been a prisoner of Agent Smith’s for over a year. The guy looked like shit when they first rescued him, a few days ago, but some of the black circles under his eyes had already started to disappear with Mama River’s good cooking and attentive care. She mothered everyone, whether they needed it or not… but most of them did.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Owen said with a small smile and a nod for Jared behind her. Owen quickly stowed the bowl on the top shelf and returned to his station at the end of the production line of washing, drying, and putting away the dishes.

Jared’s mother turned to him. “You missed dinner.” Her small scowl was more a concern that he hadn’t eaten at all, not that he had missed her particular spread that night. His mother could support the 10th Mountain Division on KP duty, if she had to. One missing shifter from the table wouldn’t alarm her.

He stepped forward and dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. She startled, eyes wide, and he smiled as a blush crept up on her cheeks.

“Don’t think that’s going to earn you forgiveness.” But her voice faltered a little.

He just grinned wider—he hadn’t done anything like that in forever. But a painfully wrenching sense of hope and life stirred inside him, and it was no mystery why—Grace had brought him back, almost literally, from the dead.

“You could put me on KP duty as punishment,” he suggested.

His smile was still throwing her. “Shut up and sit down,” she ordered, gesturing to the small table in the corner of the kitchen. “I’ll rustle up some leftovers.” She swept toward the massive refrigerator where she kept her supplies to feed the hungry hordes.

He could tell she wanted to say something, but there were way too many people present. Fellow shifters, but still strangers. Not even pack, much less family. She dug around in the refrigerator and came out with bread, an assortment of sandwich meats, and condiments. He relieved her of the jumbled mix and carried them to the table.

She turned to her KP detail. “You can just leave the rest of that.” She waved them away from the sink.

Owen frowned. “We’re not letting you touch a bit of this mess, Mama River. You best get used to that.” His Texas drawl was no match for his mama’s will.

Jared took a seat at the table and just folded his hands behind his head to watch.

His mother parked her delicate hands on her hips and gave Owen her patented glare. “Private First Class Owen Harding, I need you to
clear the room,
soldier. You can finish kitchen duty when I’m good and ready for you to.”

The other shifters turned to send a questioning look her way. Owen hiked up his eyebrows, but then glanced at Jared and seemed to figure it out.

“You heard the lady,” Owen said barked to the others.
“Clear out.”
As the lot of them trotted out of the room, Owen said quietly as he passed her, “You touch any of those dishes, Mama River, and we’re going to have a talk about the proper meaning of gratitude.”

She shook her finger at him on his way out. “Don’t you sass me, Owen Harding. You haven’t earned that privilege yet.”

He just grinned as he left the room.

His mother came and sat with him. “Jared Anthony River, you tell me right now what’s happened.”

“I thought you wanted me to eat,” he teased, gesturing to all the sandwich fixings.

“This is the one time you can eat while talking at the same time.” Her serious expression didn’t waver.

He shook his head, rueful that a couple smiles and a kiss on the cheek was grounds for this level of concern in his mother. He’d been way too deep in his own head for too long. The toll it had taken on his family was becoming painfully obvious.

“I’m good, Mama,” he said softly. “I know I’ve been… distant. Hell, let’s just say it—I’ve been broken. I know that’s worried you, and I’m sorry for that.”

She grasped onto his forearm, which was lying on the table. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. Not then, and not now. Full stop.”

She was talking about Avery. And the war. It was no secret, at least among his family, what had happened with all of it. “It’s not that, Mama. I met someone, and she’s…” Gorgeous. Sexy. Bringing him to life in a way that caused a smile to break out on his face at the slightest provocation. “She’s something special.”

If the word
joy
had been stamped on his mother’s forehead, it wouldn’t have been any more obvious how she felt. That look settled something deep inside him—something that Grace stirred up and revived. And now she was bringing healing to not just him, but to the people he loved.

Tears pricked his eyes—which flat astounded him. They vanished in his surprise.

The smile lines around his mother’s eyes crinkled. “When do I get to meet this girl?”

Jared smiled again. He loved this most about his mother—complete and total acceptance of people. No judgment. Just joy.

“Soon, I hope. She’s in a bit of trouble right now, and I aim to get her out of it.” He glanced back at the open door to the dining room where several of the kitchen duty shifters were still lingering, pretending they weren’t listening in. “Where are my brothers? I’m going to need their help.”

She squeezed his arm where her hand rested, then let him go. “They’re out back, fixing up some of the cabins. Making a home for their new mates. Maybe we need to make room for one more?”

His smile tempered, but his heart leapt—which made him realize just how much he wanted that. When Grace had said it, he thought his heart might burst with need. But he didn’t want to get his mother’s hopes up. Or his.

He shook his head. “I don’t know, Mama. Can’t rush her too much. She’s in a fragile state right now. She needs me to go slow.”

His mother nodded, just once, then stood up. “I know you, son. You’ll do what’s best for her. No doubt in my mind about that.” Then she gave him a slightly skeptical look—like she had reason to doubt he would do the best thing for
him.
That didn’t concern him.

He rose up as well and hastily put together a sandwich. His mother nodded approvingly. Then he stuffed the sandwich in his face and chewed as he strode out to the back part of the estate. He was actually famished, so it went down quick.

They had horses and a few livestock in the stables, and the rich smell assaulted his nose, mixing with the pine scent that swept in from the forest behind the estate. This had always been home to him, even after he had moved out to the city like his brothers. And when he’d taken Avery for a mate, they’d used one of the bridal suites out back—a small, cozy cabin, just the two of them. It felt strange to even contemplate bringing Grace here, but this was his home. And she needed one—or at least, she would, once her father disowned her. That was the most likely outcome, and he wanted to have a place for her to come and feel welcome. He should bury the ghost of Avery now, once and for all, before Grace arrived. He didn’t want her feeling even a hint of that lingering.

The animals were quiet, and there wasn’t much activity out back, now that night had fallen. Light shone from two side-by-side cabins at the end of the row, and Jared figured that must be where his brothers, Jaxson and Jace, were making their new homes. As Jared approached the cabins, Jaxson strolled out of one, carrying three stacked boards on his shoulder.

“Hey, you’re back,” his brother said. “How’s it going on the political front?”

Jared tipped his head to the second cabin—the front door was closed, but light poured from the windows. “Is Jace in there?”

“Yeah, we’re trying to get stuff set up for a week from Saturday.”

The two of them headed for the door. “What’s happening then?” Jared asked.

“The weddings?” Jaxson smirked. “You didn’t think our mother was going to let any grass grow under her feet with that, did you?”

No, he supposed not. Jared returned his smile.

Just like their mother, Jaxson startled at seeing Jared’s grin. “What’s going on?” he asked, stopping dead in his tracks.

Jared kept walking toward the cabin door. “I need to talk to you and Jace both.”

Even before Jared open the door, he could hear the voices inside.

“Well, we can’t fill the entire wall with shelving.” That was his brother, Jace.

“Why not? It’s the perfect corner for reading.” Piper’s voice had a little edge to it.

Jared opened the door just as Jace responded, “Because then we won’t have room for the crib.” He followed it up with a sexy smile, and Jace’s arms wrapped around Piper’s waist. His brother was going in for a kiss, and she was giving him a dead-sexy, encouraging smile.

Jared cleared his throat, and they both jumped. He smiled at them. “Hate to interrupt your baby-making plans, but I need a minute of your time.”

Piper glared at him. “Jared, your timing
sucks.”

He just laughed. “People have said much worse things about me.”

Jace just stared at him with open-mouthed wonder, then he said to Jaxson, “What the hell happened to him?”

Apparently, the changes Grace had wrought in him were that obvious.

Jaxson brushed past him on his way into the cabin, then set down the shelving boards. “I don’t know, but I like the new Jared a lot better than the old Jared.”

Piper was studying him with a gleam in her eye. “This is about the girl, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Jared closed the door behind him, then turned to their expectant faces. “Here’s the thing: she’s willing to come out to her father as a wolf. She thinks it will embarrass him, but even more important, she thinks she can use it to talk him out of the legislation. Make some argument about not putting her under the scrutiny of the law or some such thing.”

Jaxson looked skeptical. “But you don’t think it will work?”

Jared folded his arms. “She wants to appeal his sense of decency. I’m not entirely convinced the man has one. You should’ve seen his supporters at this anti-shifter rally today.”

“I heard about that on the news,” Jace said, releasing his hold on his new mate. “Something about a shifter gang crashing the rally and making threats?”

“That was all a setup.” Jared shook his head. “The Senator orchestrated the whole thing.”

“That’s… disturbing.” Jaxson rubbed the stubble on his chin, thoughtfully.

Jared nodded. “Grace saw right through it. And I told her about the experiments. I think she believes me, but she still wants a chance to talk her father out of the legislation. So we’re waiting until morning. I came back here to check in and find out where you were with your side of things.”

“Well, Olivia’s got everything ready to roll out to the press,” Jaxson said. “She’s got shifters lined up to talk about it on camera, and she’s alerted her friends in the media that she might be calling a press conference. She’s just waiting for us to give her the word.”

Jared nodded. “I just need a little more time. I don’t want to throw Grace and her father under the bus with a press conference. Especially if we don’t have any more evidence connecting him to the experiments. That might just force his hand into something more drastic.”

“We do have
something
on him,” Piper said. “I tapped a hacker—someone Olivia knew—to breach the Senate’s email server. Got a raft of documents to sort through. But I’ve already found a couple emails between him and some guy named David Alcore. We think it might Agent Smith. There’s probably more, once we dig through it all. Got several shifters working on it.”

Jared sucked in a breath. “That’s good news. And if we’ve got evidence against the Senator, we’ll use it. But I trust Grace to help us—she wants to stop him as badly as we do.”

Jace and Jaxson exchanged a look of concern. “Are you sure about that?” Jace asked. “This is her father we’re talking about. She might not be willing to do what it takes to bring him down.”

“I trust her.” That was one thing Jared was sure about. “But I know she’s emotionally compromised in this situation. She needs my help to get through it.”

Piper’s eyebrows lifted, and Jace and Jaxson looked surprised as well.

“So… sounds like
she
trusts
you.”
Piper nodded approvingly. “You’re more than just her bodyguard now, aren’t you?”

That he could feel at all defensive about that surprised him. “I’m not going to let her get hurt. She knows that. And I’m helping her, well, to explore her wolf side.”

Jaxson broke out into a grin.
“Damn,
Jared. Sounds like you’ve been busy.”

Shockingly, this made heat rise in his face. “We’ve been getting to know each other.” He wasn’t going to tell them all the details—they could figure that out for themselves—but they needed to know she was something special.

Jace shook his head. “Are you sure about this? She could be playing you, Jared.”

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.”