Jane’s POVHunter marched straight into my bedroom and grabbed my shoulders. He yanked me to him; his nostrils were flared and his eyes were wide.Dread swept through me barely a second before he spoke.“Jane, are they my kids?”My world careened off its axis. I was quick to hide my shock and quick to recover. Instead of frowning – or gasping – I arched an eyebrow at him. “Who are you talking about? Actually, what are you talking about?”His whole body shook. “Don’t – don’t do that. I want the truth, Jane. Tell me the truth.”I lifted my chin. “I don’t know what you mean.”“Yes,” he snarled, gripping me even tighter, “you do. Are they my kids?” he asked again.How on earth had he worked it out? I trusted my boys completely; they wouldn’t have told him. We’d all been so careful to keep the secret. He had no reason to think Ares and Owen were anything to do with him.What had happened during their first training session?Before I could answer, the two of them rushed in. “Alpha Hunter,
Hunter’s POVI couldn’t let them go.They were my boys. Mine.I stared blankly at Jane, her firm, “No,” ringing in my ears and making my head pulse with pain. “No?” I repeated, pressing my thumbs to my temples and digging them in hard. A second ago, my mind had been full of excited plans – and now it was like every part of me had frozen solid. “What do you mean, no?”Jane frowned at me and took a slow step back. “Hunter, you can’t just start taking us out for dinner and acting like a parent. Things haven’t changed that much. We’re not a couple. You still have Amy, and Ava, and Obie. You have your family; I have mine.”“But Ares and Owen are my family,” I argued. “They’re my children.”It all made sense now. Why I’d felt so drawn to them, why I’d found them so cute compared to the other nose-picking little brats. Werewolves had an innate sense for these sorts of things, and I’d clearly been ignoring mine for far too long.‘I’m a daddy wolf?’ said Reg, like he was coming out of a stupo
Jane’s POVI stood in my bedroom, my hands braced on the windowsill, until I’d managed to halfway process everything that had just happened.Then I thought the words, ‘Hunter knows Ares and Owen are his sons,’ and I started to spiral all over again.I sank down until I hit the floor, my back sliding down the wall. I buried my head in my hands and took some deep breaths. I didn’t even have Ina to talk to anymore, not in the same way; without her, my worries consumed me.Distantly, I was aware that I was supposed to be at work. I couldn’t let myself fall apart now. Wasn’t that just the story of my life?After checking on Ares and Owen and getting them off to pack school, I drifted over to the hospital in a daze. My mind stopped forming full sentences at some point and just provided me with a series of images, mostly Hunter’s facial expression shifting, almost infinitesimally, just enough that I could feel his hurt and anger reverberating through me.It made me hate him all the more. Or
Jane’s POVI stared at him. My sons rushed past me and sat down at the dinner table, grinning from ear to ear.“What’s going on?” I asked coldly, narrowing my eyes at the three of them. “I said we couldn’t have dinner tonight, Hunter.”“You did,” he said amicably, sitting down and pouring two glasses of wine for us, and two glasses of water for the kids. “But then I remembered that I’m your Alpha, and that means you have to play host to me if I ever feel like it.” He met my gaze with a cheeky smirk. “And tonight, I feel like it.”My skin burned with hatred. That bastard! He’d already used the Alpha card on me to force me to stay in the Storm pack, and now this. It was beyond belief.Only it wasn’t, was it? Hunter didn’t know how to show his feelings. I didn’t think he even knew how to feel them a lot of the time. He got what he wanted by trickery – or, like tonight, by just taking it.“Come on, then, sit down.” He gestured for me to take the seat beside him. “I’m still in my work clo
Jane’s POVColin knotted his hands together in front of him and swayed back on his heels. His brow was creased and his bottom lip was red and sore from being bitten.I bit back a sigh. “What do you want to talk to me about?” “It’s important,” he insisted.“I gathered that.” I gestured for him to follow me over to the sofa. “Come on. I don’t think I can deal with whatever this is standing up.”“Probably a good idea,” he muttered. I shook my head slightly before dropping down heavily onto the couch.“Well, go on then. Shoot.” Colin picked at his cuticles. “I’m sorry for saying it was a mistake.”It took me a moment to realise what he meant. “Oh – that? It’s fine, Colin. Honestly, it was.”He dropped his gaze and pulled his arms tight around himself. “Oh,” he whispered.I could feel myself getting impatient. “Do you have something important to tell me or not?”“I do!” he blurted, looking up so fast his red hair was flung back from his freckled forehead. “I had to say it was a mistake b
Owen’s POVMommy was in her own head that night. She didn’t let us see her upset, but we weren’t stupid. Something had really hurt her feelings. She was quiet over dinner and sat with us while we did our homework. Instead of focusing on helping us, though, she sat with her head in her hands over a blank sheet of paper. Occasionally she’d scribble something on it, only to cross it out a second later.Ares and I shared our patented Something Is Really Wrong look but didn’t say anything straight away. After a few looks, though, we asked what was wrong, but she wouldn’t say. Mommy was like that; even though we wanted to look after her, she always asserted that she was the one who looked after us.We still wanted to cheer her up, though. I didn’t like seeing her sad.So, the next morning, at Alpha training, Ares and I devised a way to solve all of our problems. It seemed so simple to us.But it turned out that we weren’t the only ones there with a plan.* * *“Good morning,” drawled Hunte
Jane’s POVI hadn’t been able to face Hunter this morning when he’d come to get the boys for Alpha training. I still felt awful about how I’d behaved last night, but it had taken everything I had not to shatter in front of them. I’d tried to help them with their homework – not that they ever really needed it – but I’d ended up staring blankly at the piece of paper I’d been planning to use to map out my muddled thoughts.In the end, I’d not even told Ares and Owen that Colin had gone. If I’d started to tell them, I would’ve cried. They didn’t deserve to have their own mother sobbing about her problems to them. Everything was hitting me all at once. I felt like I’d survived the hits I’d taken so far, like I’d managed to bounce back after each and every one, but this was the final straw for me.Even Colin had been out for himself, out to get me. After sleeping on it, I knew I had to pull myself together – and fast. After training was over, I would demand Hunter told me everything he kn
Hunter’s POVAres and Owen never showed up at Lake Pear to talk to me. I wondered if it was some sort of trick on Jane’s part, making them behave like they liked me only to spurn me later on. ‘Yeah, that could totally be it!’ said Reg. ‘I mean, they seem way too nice to do something like that, and so does Jane.’ He sighed wistfully. ‘Sweet, lovely Jane. So, no, maybe that isn’t it at all, buddy.’‘Such helpful insights as always, Reg.’‘Thanks, Hunter!’I let Reg shift out for a run around the lake. Maybe they’d got delayed, and I wanted to be here if they arrived late. But after an hour of laps and still no sign of Jane’s boys – my boys, I corrected, and felt a jolt of pure joy go through me – I decided to go back to the pack house.I trotted back, still in Reg’s form, letting him take the lead. There was a worry nagging at me, a tiny niggle at the back of my mind, but Reg’s endless, inane chatter silence it pretty effectively.‘Now I’m a daddy wolf, do I need to learn how to chang