Filthy rich werewolves novel Chapter 68

GRACE

I shake my head to clear it.

This is my ‘brother’ and he likely didn’t mean what he’d said the way I am taking it.

It was an innocent question. I shouldn’t read so much into it.

This attraction I feel…it is one-sided and couldn’t go anywhere. If I cross that line, I’d only stand to lose him. He deserved better than that.

We both did.

I swallow hard and avert my gaze.

“Of course, I would be sad over you. I care for you deeply, Jay.”

“As you did for Sean before you learned the truth about him?”

Actually, I feel more for Jay.

But I can’t tell him that. If he misinterprets my meaning, there will be no putting the genie back in the bottle.

And the last thing I want is any awkwardness or distance between us.

I value his friendship too fiercely.

I clear my throat. "I can love my younger brother but that isn't the same kind of love.”

“Oh?”

Jason isn’t letting me off the hook, and the whole conversation is making me want to cringe. “It's two different feelings. I thought loving someone was forever and irreplaceable. I even... thought that lovers could live and die together.”

“True mates?”

“I know we have ‘matings’ and for wolves, the term mating these days is almost synonymous with ‘marrying’ but those aren’t the real bonds. The kind that bound you to another soul for—

“For 99 lifetimes,” Jay supplies.

I scoff. “No. Forever. A true mate bond extends from this life to forever.”

“And you believe in such a love?” He seems genuinely curious.

“I do.”

“What a romantic notion,” Jason says.

“That kind of love… to live or die together. It’s all-encompassing. All empowering.”

JASON

I watch as Grace blushes. She’s quite expressive. Her face radiating whatever emotion it is that she’s feeling and it’s usually a very strong one. She’s all-in, I realize.

Quick to love, to hate. To forgive. To smile.

To live.

Why did I suddenly want to experience such a thing? And with Grace.

When I catch her, I tickle her instead.

She laughs and smiles and squirms. And laughs some more.

The sound is so pleasing. I keep at it until she’s breathless, because I like having her close and having the sound of her joy in my ears.

“Stop, stop. Okay.” She pouts. “I’m not even sure what I said to set you off.”

I tap her nose. I’m holding her close now and if she hasn’t sensed the change in my demeanor—in my body—she’s going to, any second.

”Jay, you would never make me sad, right?" The gentle tone of her voice has me taking this conversation seriously once again.

I give her the answer she is prepared to hear.

“Your brother will never make you sad,” I say. I mean it. Protecting her for life is as easy as lifting a finger for me. Hell, my accountants could probably find some tax write-off for it.

When she stared at me, her eyes so earnest and hopeful, I feel a pang of unease.

I promised not to make her sad, yet… when she one day discovers that I am not Jay Smith, some vagrant worker, and am actually Alpha ruler of Pack Reed and this entire region… how would she react to the lie he’d been living?

Sad was likely an understatement.

This woman had built up walls all around her and I’ve been let in.

With a word, I could send those walls crumbling to the ground.

It isn't really a question of if I would hurt her, but when…