جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 140

(Jenna’s POV)Danny’s last sentence landed, and it landed hard.“You didn’t want to destroy Beth’s relationship with her family,” I repeated.“Yes. I was… I was trying to be responsible and understanding.”I laughed.I actually laughed. The sound surprised both of us.“Because Beth’s family was important.”“Yes.” Danny’s face looked relieved, as though he appreciated that I understood his position.And I did.Just not the way he thought.As my heart broke, my mind was piecing things together very fast.Beth’s family mattered.Beth’s legacy mattered.Her career mattered.Her reputation, too.Anything connected to Beth mattered.“But my reputation… my career… my relationship with my family, those things didn’t matter as much to you.”Danny had the audacity to flinch.“That’s not true.”“You let my mother believe that I failed out of law school. You let the pack believe that I was a maid. You let your mother call me a b&stard.”I paused.“And you burned the letters that my father w

(Danny POV)My mother stood up.“I’m not doing this right now. Go back to the packhouse. We will talk tomorrow.”“No, Mother. We talk now.”My father stood up too.“Your mother is right. This whole conversation is pointless. What’s done is done. We can talk later.”I stayed sitting.“I’m not done,” I said coldly.“You are acting like we did something wrong,” my mother complained. “We did nothing but try to teach you right from wrong.”“No, Mother. You taught me to ignore my own heart, my own feelings, my own instincts. You taught me that I had to have blind trust in a mate bond no matter how messed up it seemed or felt.”“Goddess!!!” my mother answered, throwing her hands up in the air as she turned to my father. “John, I figured it out. This is about that girl – Jenna. I knew the second she came back to the pack that she was going to be nothing but trouble.”“This is about Jenna,” I confirmed. No reason to hide it.“She left the pack right after the funeral,” she told my

(Jenna POV)I won’t lie.I was nervous about answering the door and seeing Nick. As in, very, very, very nervous.Ashley wasn’t wrong. I had definitely wondered more than once recently whether Nick could be my second chance mate.It was sort of funny, actually.Two years earlier, I didn’t even think I was worthy of having a beta as a mate. Now I was seriously debating whether I could be mated to the Alpha King.Things really had changed.But… what if he wasn’t?“And what if he is?” Willow asked, sounding both tired and anxious.“I don’t know if I want to know. Not now. Not tonight,” I linked Willow back.“Well, I do,” she complained. “Answer the door, Jenna.”I closed my eyes and let out a breath.Fine.I could do this.No matter what the answer was, I was going to be okay.I heard more knocking.Finally, with my heart pounding fast in my chest, I forced myself to walk over and answer the door.And there he was.Nick.Looking handsome as always, with a worried look on his face.

(Jenna POV)I will give credit where credit is due.Roman was a good dancer, and considering he was an alpha, he was surprisingly warm and easygoing.He talked my ear off the entire first song, leading me to quickly agree to a second and then a third.By the time we were done --I had to draw the line at three— I knew the name of his pack; how many siblings he had; his wolf’s name; and even that his mate died a week after they met. I also knew that he had an embarrassing habit of drinking milk straight from the carton.I didn’t talk very much, but that was okay. In fact, it was more than okay. It was nice letting someone else lead the conversation.Roman walked me back to the table where Ashley and Andrew were waiting for me. Just before I sat back down, he pulled me into a friendly hug. Nothing sexual; nothing inappropriate.“Jenna Maxwell, I would love it if you would give me your phone number.”I frowned.“Roman, I ….” I paused, trying to figure out how best to navigate this.

(Jenna POV)“You are… pregnant?” Andrew asked.Ashley looked down at her hands.“Yes. Three months along.”“Oh, Ashley,” I said, rushing out of my seat to hug her. “Is this good news or bad news?”“I don’t know.”“Have you told Kade yet?”She shook her head.“I wouldn’t be here if I did.”Unfortunately, she was probably right.Alpha wolves are naturally protective of their mates. Add in a pregnancy and they become practically obsessed. It was one of the reasons that, growing up, my mother’s story about what happened between her and Alpha Black made less and less sense. And one of the reasons that I had recently started to wonder if I had been wrong to avoid him as an adult.“What are you going to do?” I asked gently.“What can I do? If I reject him now, it will hurt the pup.”I squeezed Ashley’s hand. “You were never going to reject him anyway. You love him too much.”“But he hurt you, Jenna,” she whimpered, tears threatening to fall. “How can I stay with him after what he di