Jared (River Pack Wolves 3) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (21 page)

“Agent Smith is dead.” Grace let those words hang in the air.

Her father’s face opened with shock. He looked to Jared, then back to her, and Grace could see a light sheen of sweat break out on his forehead. He shuffled to the side like he was going to make a run for it.

“I don’t think so.” Jared stepped to block her father’s path to the front door.

The Senator held back, frozen in some kind of indecision in the middle of the office.

“Who the hell is Agent Smith?” Nolan asked, his voice pitched up and panicky.

“He’s the man who did this to me.” Grace let her hands drop and rotated her arms so the myriad of white lines that crisscrossed them were obvious to Kylie and Nolan.

Both blinked in horror.

Nolan edged forward and took one of her hands, gently, staring at her arm. He looked up. “Oh my God, Grace. Are you all right?” His voice was soft. She could feel the sudden weight of his concern—the concern of a friend, not a jealous lover.

“I’m fine, thanks to Jared,” she said with a small smile. “He saved my life. But that’s not what’s important now. What’s important is doing the right thing.” She held Nolan’s gaze.

He frowned a little. “I’m not sure what you mean.” But it was gentle—he wanted her to explain.

She straightened. “I will tell you exactly what I mean.” She glared at her father again. “I’m going to tell the world I’m a shifter. In fact, along with that news, I’ll also announce that I’m running for Congress.”

Nolan just blinked at her, surprise freezing his face for the third time. Kylie covered her mouth because it was gaping wide. Her father’s panicked look settled into one of fury.

“The hell you are,” her father said.

“Oh, yes, I am.” Grace let her anger have free rein. “And you, Senator Krepky, have a choice—either announce that you’re not running for re-election and that you support my campaign, or I’ll release all the information on these hard drives that explicitly connects you to the program to genetically engineer a super-soldier shifter.”

“You wouldn’t… you can’t…” Her father was sputtering.

“Oh, I can, and I definitely will.” Grace’s jaw hurt when she clenched it—she’d been biting down all day, trying to survive Agent Smith’s sadism and fascination with her ability to instantly heal. It made her woozy to think about, so she shoved it aside and let her righteous anger rise up. “In fact, the dirty laundry is coming out no matter what. The people deserve to know how shifters have been mistreated. How their human rights have been violated. And they deserve to have one of their own on the floor of the House to make sure something like this never happens again.”

“I will not support this!” her father shouted, but his voice was screeched with panic.

“Very well,” Grace said, calmly. “Then I’ll show the world the scars your henchmen gave me. They can make their own judgment about a man who sent his own daughter into such a program. And all your little, bigoted friends can try to figure out where my shifter genes actually came from… and what kind of man you actually are.”

Her father paled and leaned against Kylie’s desk. His eyes still had that calculating look, but she could tell—he knew he was in a box with no way out.

“You’re leaving me no choice at all.” He looked lost, and for a brief moment, she felt bad for him. The Senate was all he knew, all he had ever wanted, and she was destroying that power dream for him. But then she reminded herself—he destroyed it the moment he sent her off with Agent Smith.

“This is your bed, Senator,” she said, coolly. “I didn’t make it, but I’m going make you lie in it.” It felt hard—brutal almost; he
was
her father after all—but it needed to be said.

The resignation finally came across his face. He straightened up from the desk, stiffly, holding his chin up. But she knew it was just bravado. She could allow him an exit.

“I’ll make the announcement tomorrow,” he said.

“So will I,” Grace replied.

He gave her a short nod, then strode toward the door. He paused when he reached her and Jared, and for a moment, Grace thought Jared might just kick the crap out of him right then and there—but he held back. There was fury on Jared’s face, but also a strange sort of satisfaction, as if things were working out just the way he had hoped.

Her father only spared Jared a glance, but he gave her a look full of loathing. “You will not be welcome at the estate.” And with that, he strode out of the office.

If that was all he could threaten her with—that she couldn’t return to her childhood bedroom—she figured that was as close as she would get to a complete and utter concession.

She heaved a sigh of relief once the door was closed behind him.

“Holy shit, Grace,” Kylie said, breathless. “All this time…” She looked at Jared anew, running her eyes over him in appreciation and a kind of awe.

“I would say
holy shit
is about the least of it.” Nolan’s eyes were shining as he looked at her. Once he had her attention, he said, “I need to get back to work.” But he didn’t make a move to go anywhere.

Grace frowned. “I know you and Kylie both… well, you work for the Senator and—”

“I have a speech to write,” Nolan cut her off. “You’re doing this tomorrow, right? And our themes are the human rights violations of shifters and cleaning up corrupt government? I can work with that.”

A grin swept across her face. “Nolan…” But then she was too choked up for words. She lurched forward and threw her arms around him.

He hugged her back hard. “You sure you’re okay?” he whispered into her hair.

She nodded, then released him. “I promise.”

He glanced at Jared, but for once, it wasn’t filled with rivalry. “He’s a shifter, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” Grace said with a small smile for Jared. “And he’s my mate.”

Jared’s eyes sparkled in return, but he stayed silent. He had watched the whole thing play out, quietly backing her up with his presence and his strength.

Grace looked back to Nolan. He frowned a little, but he didn’t look surprised. “I can work with that, too.”

She hugged him again, then Kylie shoved him aside to get her turn at hugging.

“Holy shit, girl, you do
not
mess around.” Kylie grinned when she let Grace loose. “I totally would vote for you without the hot shifter man as your mate, but girlfriend, that’s going to lock it down, you know what I’m saying?”

That forced a laugh out of her. Grace thought all her tears had been wrenched out, but it turned out there were a few more left inside her.

“Our country is at its best when it’s practicing tolerance and respect for all people.” Grace’s voice boomed out over the crowd of reporters Kylie had assembled. She and Nolan stood to one side of the stage, next to Jared, who was scanning the crowd, ever vigilant for any kind of threat. He hadn’t tried to talk her out of this, but he’d thrown every resource that Riverwise had into protecting her during her “coming out” speech. Dozens of hunky shifter men were sprinkled among the crowd and lined the doors to the hall.

“You don’t have to be a shifter to recognize that the kind of abuses I’ve revealed, occurring right under our noses here in Seattle, are intolerable. We can’t continue to call ourselves a civilized country if this is what we’ve become. If this is what we allow to happen. But I don’t believe this is what we are. I believe we’re a country that can find a way to accept others, no matter how different, rather than fear them. Shifters are our neighbors, our friends, our
family.
They are serving in our military, building businesses and homes and communities. They are, in a word,
us.”
She paused, letting the word stretch. The lights were hot on her face, making her squint at the crowd. They were holding their breaths, waiting for her. “It’s time for a shifter to hold office. To lead us into an era where shifters no longer have to hide in the shadows or fear for their lives or hold themselves separate from society. We need shifter representation in the House precisely to keep these kinds of abuses from happening. Because that’s not the kind of country we want to be. We are
better
than that.”

She pulled in a breath. “Thank you for your time.”

Grace stepped back from the podium. Cameras flashed. The reporters shouted questions. But Kylie had insisted that she leave all of that for later. More interviews. More speeches. This was just the beginning, and Kylie and Nolan had thrown themselves into creating a campaign for her out of thin air.

Kylie hurried forward to take the mic. “Ms. Krepky is not taking questions at this time, but there will be plenty of opportunity in the days ahead.” Her best friend kept talking, placating the crowd, thanking them for their time, but Grace’s head was buzzing as she stepped back to Jared’s side. Nolan gave her a wide smile—she must have done okay in the delivery—then slipped away to leave her alone with the gorgeous shifter man she hoped would be her mate. Someday. Maybe soon? The long hours of the campaign loomed ahead, but the hardest part was already over.

Jared slipped his hand into hers and pulled her past the curtain, off stage. Then he tugged her into his arms and kissed the top of her head.

“You did it,” he said softly, beaming down at her with pride in his eyes.

“But what did I do?” she asked, biting her lip. She had taken this insane step of revealing herself to the world. And she was making herself the spokesperson of her fellow shifters. It was risky and outrageous. And necessary. But she had no idea what Jared truly thought of all of it.

“You did the right thing. And the brave thing.” He sucked in a breath, briefly squeezing his eyes closed with some kind pain, then opening them again to peer at her. “And you stopped me from killing a man.”

She scrunched up her face. “Don’t tell me Agent Smith is really alive!”

The pain on his face relaxed a little. “No. He’s still very dead. And Piper tells me the NSA isn’t eager to have his death splashed all over the news, so they’ve already concluded their brief investigation with the help of the FBI and decided that it was self-defense.”

“So you’re cleared? No charges?” It had been hanging over her heart since the night before.

“No charges.” His lips pressed tight.

“Oh, thank God.” She slipped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest. They hadn’t had any time alone, not since returning to his family’s safehouse the night before, crashing, then preparing for today’s press conference. It felt amazingly good just to hold him.

But his arms were loose around her.

She pulled back and peered up at him. “What’s wrong?”

Several tormented emotions crossed his face as he struggled for words.

She frowned. “Jared, what is it?”

He grimaced, then said, “That night… that first night. Remember how I said I was watching you?”

She cocked one eyebrow. “Pretty stalkerish, but yeah… you were spying on my father to…” Her voice trailed off.
You stopped me from killing a man.
She blinked at him. “You were there to kill my father.” She dropped her hold on him and stepped back.

He winced, eyes pinched and heavy. “Yes.”

“But you didn’t.” Her mind was whirling back to that night. She had argued with her father about the legislation, lost control of her shifting, fled to the forest… and Jared had followed her there. But he had never told her exactly
why
he was there in the first place. She looked up at him with wide eyes. “You stopped to come after me.”

“I wanted to make sure you were safe,” he rushed out. “That was all. And then… I…”

“You would have killed him,” she said thickly, head buzzing. “If I hadn’t decided to stop him and his anti-shifter legislation, you would have killed my father.”

“No.”

She whipped her gaze from the distant stare that had captured her back to his soft brown eyes. “No?”

He shook his head. “Once I met you, Grace… once I
loved
you… there was no way. It was you or him. I chose you.”

“You chose me,” she repeated in a whisper, her heart soaring.

“Yes.” His eyes were wide, watching her like he was afraid she wouldn’t understand.

Tears pricked her eyes. “So when you say
loved…
do you mean that hot, sexy thing we did in my bedroom? Or are you talking about love-love. The kind that, you know…” God, her words were tangling around her heart.

Something broke in his expression, and suddenly, his lips were on hers, his arms crushing her to him. It was hot and fierce and made her want to rip off the crisp jacket and shirt he was wearing right here, backstage. His mouth made demands of her that she willingly gave as her fingers dug into his shoulders, wanting even more. When he pulled back, they were both breathless.

“Love,” he said, his breath hot on her lips, “as in I want to sink my teeth into you and claim you forever.”

His words thrilled her, inside and out. Her wolf panted for more—to have him
now
—but instead she just nodded frantically.

“Yes,” she gasped. “Yes, yes, yes.” She pulled in a deep breath. “Wait… was there a question in there?”

He flashed a grin, then it tempered into a smoldering look that sent heat flushing to her lady parts. “Grace, will you be my mate?”