Total pages in book: 203
Estimated words: 199654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 998(@200wpm)___ 799(@250wpm)___ 666(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199654 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 998(@200wpm)___ 799(@250wpm)___ 666(@300wpm)
After grabbing a flannel from his closet, I peer out his bedroom window, which overlooks the back yard and the river. Beyond the riverbank, my eyes are drawn to a bonfire in the drum outside Roxy’s.
Oh… Jase and Linc are wrestling out there. Cade and Joel are watching. Jase must have gone straight there from my house. I don’t know where he got the shorts he’s wearing.
They’re pushing one another, feet wide apart.
Jase’s face is angry. Linc looks like he’s egging him on.
I clench the blind cord when Linc slaps Jase’s head before throwing his head back to laugh. Jase trips him and as Linc falls down Jase comes down on top of him with his elbow pointing to hit Linc’s gut.
“Sheesh!” I exclaim with a wince as I see Linc’s reaction to Jase’s elbow and weight. That looked painful.
Both are on their feet again and I watch Linc lift Jase up in the air and drop him. He lands so hard, I gasp, grabbing the window but stopping myself from throwing it open to shout at them. Luckily, Jase bounces back to his feet like he’s made of rubber.
Immediately, he pulls a maneuver that puts Linc on the ground and they roll around in a tangle of alpha limbs for a minute before Linc grabs Jase by one leg and an arm, flipping him over, but Jason hooks his other ankle around Linc’s neck. And now they’re rolling around some more.
Thirty or so seconds later when Jase headbutts Linc, it doesn’t look like their usual wrestling.
Linc is holding his head.
Jase’s chest is rising and falling like he’s either out of breath or about to absolutely lose it.
“Omigosh!” I manage before I snap the blinds closed.
They’re usually fun to watch when they wrestle, but this match doesn’t seem like much fun.
I poke a finger through to look one more time and am relieved to see Joel between them, looking like he’s giving Jase a talking-to. Linc and Cade disappear into the building.
I wait, watching Joel and Jase and Jase’s body language has my stomach dropping because misery is written all over him. He’s massaging the back of his neck, throwing his other hand out as if he’s ranting about something.
They go inside and I stare, in a daze, at their campfire for another couple minutes before Cade comes out with a bucket to douse the fire.
I kick off my shoes and change into one of Jase’s button-down shirts to sleep in, though instead of putting the t-shirt he wore today in the laundry basket where it belongs, I snuggle it. Miraculously, I sleep for a solid seven hours.
39
JASE
I pull up to the clinic and see my mother’s car out front.
The other council members, minus Grey, are here but they say he’s on his way.
Riley updates me on the Jared Stone situation. He and Cicely are coming to the clinic later on because Mitch Blakely is running a bunch of tests on Jared in both his forms.
“Where’s Blakely?” I ask, sniffing the air.
“He’s up in my mother’s apartment,” Tyson answers. “How are you doing?”
“About how you’d expect,” I tell him.
He drops a hand on my shoulder and looks into my eyes. He’s about to open his mouth when I speak first.
“If you’re about to tell me it’ll all be solved by taking what’s rightfully mine, save it. I can’t handle this the way you did.”
“I wasn’t going to tell you that, Jase. I have regrets about some of my actions with my Ivy. I was going to tell you you’re doing the right thing. You know what you need to do. Just like Grey knew, like Mason knew. Riley was a different story. I’m here if you want to talk. I’m also here if you wanna spar. I like to spar.”
“Thanks, bro. Linc’s been helpin’ with that.”
“Why does he get all the fun?” Tyson quips.
I laugh. “Can you get your mother here so we can get this over with?”
“Absolutely.” He pulls his phone out.
I open the door to the clinic, to my parents sitting with Sherry in the waiting room.
Mom jumps to her feet.
I hug her. “Sorry I haven’t called.”
“You’ll make it up to us,” she says, patting my cheek affectionately.
Pops slaps my back. “You doin’ all right?”
“Hangin’ in there,” I tell him.
“Sherry,” I greet.
She’s sitting here, make-up free, wearing a tracksuit. Sherry never leaves the house unless she’s all dolled up.
“What’s goin’ on?” she asks, eyes panning the room.
I sit beside her and take hold of her hand. She yanks it back.
“You know since we believe so strongly in everything happening for a reason, the pack doesn’t typically do abortions when the father is alpha unless there’s a medical reason.”
Her expression hardens.
I continue. “And we checked with the coven who looked into it and this baby you’re carrying needs to be born.”