Jared (River Pack Wolves 3) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (24 page)

Then it was back to the main house for champagne and an overwhelming amount of small plates that his mother had made and catered in for the affair. There was a lot of backslapping and cheek-kissing and general well-wishing.

Jared had never been happier in his life.

One of the Wilding cousins was setting up a DJ station, and Jared debated whether to stay for the full celebration, or haul his gorgeous bride back to their cabin for an early start on the honeymoon, but she was being mobbed by her admirers—she was already a celebrity in shifter circles for her act of bravery, coming out to the world as well as shutting down the Senator. Jared could stand to sit back and watch, let her have a moment in the sun before he squirreled her away all to himself. He was just joining Jace, Jaxson, and Owen for a drink when a commotion at the front door drew their attention.

Some kind of heated argument was going down at the door between a guest and some junior members of the Wilding pack who were serving as doormen.

“What’s going on over there?” Jace asked with a frown.

“I don’t know,” Jared said, setting down his champagne glass. He peered around the throng in the great room blocking their view. “Isn’t that Daniel Wilding at the door?”

Daniel had been captured by Agent Smith, like most of those in attendance, but only suffered a few of the tortures—but he had helped bring down the Colonel, his father, who had orchestrated the kidnapping and incarceration of several military wolves.

Including Owen, who spoke up first. “Yeah, that’s him.”

Jace craned his neck. “Piper invited her brother to the wedding, but he had some kind of appointment. Daniel said he would show up for the reception.”

Owen frowned. “He’s makin’ quite
 a fuss.”

“Yeah. I don’t like it,” Jace said.

Jared tipped his head, and his brothers and Owen followed him to the door.

“Is there a problem here?” Jaxson asked Daniel.

Daniel’s red-faced anger didn’t bode well for pretty much anything. “These idiots don’t want me to bring bad news to your wedding,” he said, tight-lipped. “And am sorry about that, but I figured you needed to know, regardless.”

They were drawing the attention of the partygoers nearby. Mama River was making a sweep through the room, ensuring everyone had food and drinks, but having her three boys at the front door with tense looks grabbed hold of her attention. She started pushing her way through the crowd.

“All right,” Jaxson said, grimly. “Out with it.”

Daniel scowled. “Someone has doxed the entire Wilding pack.”

“Doxed?” Owen asked with a dark look.

Jared gritted his teeth. “Doxing is when someone publishes your private information online. Names, addresses. It’s usually a revenge kind of thing.”

“How the hell did they get hold of the Wilding pack private information?” Jaxson asked, eyes wide.

Daniel gave a pointed look to Jared. “Maybe the Senator had something to do with it.”

Jared frowned. “He certainly has motivation, but how would he get hold of the Wilding pack information? You guys are scattered all over Seattle, not to mention the globe.”

“It gets worse,” Daniel said, his face drawing down further.

Mama River had worked her way through the crowd and come up to join them. “Worse in what way?” she asked.

“The information was released with some kind of YouTube video—guy in a mask reading off the Wilding pack and the River pack, outing them as wolves, giving all their detailed information. Some hate group, an anti-shifter group, is claiming responsibility for the video.”

“Fuck,”
Jace said, running a hand through his hair, glancing around the great room. “Do they know about the safehouse?”

“No,” said Daniel with a fast shake of his head. “At least, it’s not in the video.”

Jaxson swore under his breath. “All right, no one leaves the safehouse. No one goes back to their normal homes. Not until we get this straightened out.”

“Yeah, well, that might work for the River pack,” Daniel said bitterly, “but as Jared said, the Wilding pack is spread all over. There’s no way you’d have room for all of us, and besides, there’s no way everyone’s going to come hide out in the mountains. Including me.”

Jaxson scowled in frustration, but Daniel was right.

“That’s it,” Mama River proclaimed. “I’m expanding the estate. Construction starts tomorrow. People can double up.”

“That’s great, Mama,” Jace said, tightly, “but Daniel is right. Even if you have room, not everyone is going to come hide out here just because someone outed them as wolves. Especially the Wildings—trust me on this. Taking orders from others is not their strong suit.”

“Then what are we going to do?” she demanded. “Because I’m not standing by while wolves get hurt.”

That brought out nods from both of his brothers and Daniel, as well.

“It’s simple,” Jared said. “
We take care of our own.”

They might be separate packs, but if someone was outing wolves, especially a hate group... then they were all in this together.

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WILD GAME

(Wilding Pack Wolves 1)

Owen Harding is still recovering from Agent Smith's horrific experiments, but with more threats against the Wilding pack than you can shake a stick at, this ex-Army Texas boy is doing what he can as a personal bodyguard. If only Nova Wilding, the gaming company heiress he's tasked with keeping alive, wasn't so damn sexy... and completely off limits. 

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WILD GAME

(Wilding Pack Wolves 1)

Owen stayed where he was. “I’m doing everything I can to keep you safe, Nova.” 

She unfolded her arms and glanced over her shoulder at him. “I know you are. That’s about all I know anymore.” Then she went back to looking out over the city. 

It wasn’t quite an invitation, but his body was getting squirrelly with so much distance between them. It was like she was a magnet, and while he didn’t understand the source of it, he couldn’t deny the pull. 
He kept his footfalls quiet as he stepped across the room. 

“There’s nothing for you to do about any of this tonight,” he said softly, close at her back. “You need to knock off and go home. Some food wouldn’t hurt you, either.” 

She turned to face him, and he didn’t like the worry etched on her face. Then it twisted into a smirk. “Getting tired of babysitting me? Why, you got a hot date tonight?” 

He dipped his chin to look her more steadily in the eyes. “No, ma’am.” A sweet ache started up in the pit of his belly. The only hot date he wanted was standing in front of him. 

He could see her react—lips part, eyes going a little more wide—then she broke the hot staring contest they were having and seemed to find something interesting to look at about mid-level in his chest. Or she was just avoiding looking in his eyes—he couldn’t quite tell.

In almost a whisper, she said, “Brad wants me to be his mate.” 

“I’d already figured that much out for myself.” He waited for more. If she wanted to open up to him, he would take all of that she wanted to give. It surprised him how much he craved it, too—almost as much as he wanted her lips on him again. 

She finally brought her eyes up to meet his. “He just wants me for the business,” she said, with more than a little bitterness. “Wylderide is worth a lot of money, but it’s more than that—he wants to be alpha. He wants to lead the pack.” 

Owen eased a little closer to her. “So he’s not just an asshole, he’s a money hungry asshole.” 

She huffed a laugh but looked away. “He’s not an asshole. I just don’t want to be forced into picking him for a mate.” 

“That’s easy enough—you tell him no.” It seemed clear as day to him. 

She turned those wide, dark eyes back to him. “It’s not that easy. Wylderide’s employees are almost all pack members—we have a few humans, awesome programmers who just want to hang in their cubicle coding all day and who don’t mind being left out of pack affairs. But most of the company is my father’s pack, and now they don’t have an alpha. And they need one. Brad wants to be that alpha, and I can’t lead the pack without a mate.” 

In one breath, she’d spilled more than she’d said to him in all the time he’d known her. 

He leaned in even closer, pressing a hand against the cool glass of the window behind her head. “But you don’t want a mate,” he said softly.

Her breathing picked up as he got closer, and he could feel his heart banging around in his chest. 

“I don’t want a mate that’s just after my father’s money.” She kept glancing at his lips and letting her gaze flick down to his chest and back up again. She wanted him to kiss her, probably almost as much as he wanted to do the kissing. 

He licked his lips. “I don’t want a mate, either. Can’t have one, anyway. But I haven’t been with a woman since I deployed last, and that was over two years ago. And here you are, prancing around in that tight tank top and loose combat pants, and can tell you this, darlin’—I definitely don’t want you for your daddy’s money.” 

Breath escaped her just as he leaned in for the kiss. 

He started it, but she was a wildcat on him as soon as he did. Her hands shoved his jacket clear of his shoulders even as he was fighting to put his hands just about everywhere on her at once. She was small, and she tucked right into his chest as he devoured her lips, but the best part was how she moved against him, all hot and bothered and squirmy with his touch. He skimmed her hips and that little waist and round to her back to pull her close. When his fingers found the hem of her shirt and slipped inside, he couldn’t help the moan. Her skin was hot and burning into his palm. Her whimper when he reached her breast about drove him insane. 

She pulled away from his mouth enough to gasp, “Someone will hear us.” 

“Ain’t no one here to listen,” he panted against her neck. “You can go ahead and cry out all you like, baby girl.”

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