Page 67 of Untamed

“My dad believes she’s trying to draw you out of hiding. Your existence is what she’s fighting against. Lydia Greystone has always been a purist. Now that she has evidence you’re not from a fated pair, she’ll do everything she can to stop you from mating with me and force you out of Lunar. We can’t play into her hands.”

I shake my head. “Jonah, their punishment won’t be just a slap on the wrist. She’ll cast them out of the pack. Even if by some small chance that doesn’t happen, the truth will be out there for everyone. It will completely ruin them. Especially my mother. They’ll make her out to be nothing. Less than nothing. If you thought the bullying at the party was bad for me, it’ll be worse for her because now they have proof. She’ll be ostracized more than she ever was.”

Jonah presses his lips together. His eyes soften, but determination still hangs there. He won’t break. His only focus is me. All he cares is that his mate is in trouble. It’s his nature to protect me at all costs.

“Jonah, I love you,” I tell him, reaching out to cup his cheek. “But my parents are my parents. I can’t let them go down for this. There’s still a chance that we can change Lydia’s mind. We have to do it before she tells the whole pack. It’ll devastate my parents.”

“Kinsey....”

“Jonah,” I snap. I’m not budging on this, and thanks to the Greystone blood, he can’t make me stay. “I’m going. And if your big, brooding ass wants to protect me, you’re going to have to follow.”

He drops his gaze to the ground. “You’re a pain in my ass.”

I place my hands on his shoulders. “Well, according to your parents, that’s to be expected.”

He half shakes his head. “We don’t know how far she’s willing to go. If you show up, she might order you killed right there. She’s a Greystone. She can pretty much do whatever she wants and no one will question it.”

“You won’t let her.Iwon’t let her. I’m not going to sit back and sacrifice my parents when they’ve already sacrificed so much. If Lydia doesn’t want the Greystone name tainted, she’ll shut her mouth. It won’t impact me at all to throw them under the bus.”

Jonah slams a shaking hand onto the counter, and a crack splits the wood. “Fuck,” he roars. After gazing at me for a long time, he picks the phone back up with a frown. “Change of plans,” he states when his dad answers. “We’re headed into Lunar.” Jonah closes his eyes, listening to whatever his father is saying on the other end of the line.

My stomach flips. I know this is killing him. He’s going against his very nature to do this for me, but this is the only way.

“Meet you there,” Jonah finally says, then hangs up.

I blink at him. “Your parents are coming?”

“My father is. My mother will be home, protected,” he emphasizes, zeroing his eyes on me. When I don’t back down, he continues with a sigh. “He’s hoping Lydia will see that we have support and she’ll stop. It’s a big if, Kinsey. We’re going but you’re to stay behind me at all times. No buts. I’ll be in complete territorial, possessive mode, and if you don’t do what I say, there’s a chance I’ll be the next one in trouble. Murdering a member of the alpha’s family is generally frowned upon.”

I touch his chest, trying to calm his wolf. “How long until we leave?”

He stands, moving me with him. “We have to hurry if we’re going to catch her before the Council meeting.”

Jonah sidesteps me and goes into alpha security mode. He grabs an already filled tactical bag from a shelf in the gun locker, and we make our way through the house and outside. Once there, he tells me to strip and then shoves the clothes I was wearing into the bag. “Stay in your wolf form,” he orders me. “She’ll protect you.”

“I’m not supposed to be in my wolf form.”

“That’s the least of our worries, babe.”

He double checks the bag as I stand there waiting for him. The sky rumbles with thunder. Over the lake, the sun still streams down as if the day is going to be beautiful, but behind Jonah, the sky grows dark and threatening, matching the tension in my body. Hopefully, the storm will blow over, the dark clouds will break apart and lose momentum, and we’ll once again feel the bright sun shining down on us.

Jonah tugs me forward to kiss my forehead. “Ready?”

I nod into him, and then he steps back and shifts. He paws at the bag, and I bring it around his shoulders before shifting myself. Our wolves take off through the dense forest. Since we’re at the lake, it won’t take long to return to Lunar proper, but Jonah’s wolf presses the pace anyway, making sure we don’t miss our opportunity. He skirts the perimeter of Lunar, and when he starts running along the main road that enters the town, a black SUV pulls up alongside him. He shifts, maneuvers the bag off his shoulders and dresses inside the tree line. “Stay a wolf,” he reminds me with a glare. “I’ll do the talking.”

My wolf pulls her lips into a snarl. He knows how I feel about this, but I also know Jonah is in that territorial part of mating, and he won’t be able to stop himself if he feels I’m being threatened.

Well, he can thank the Greystones for making our introductory mating period even rockier than it would have been. I can’t believe I ever used to fantasize that I was one of them. Now that it’s true, it’s the last thing I want.

The rear door of the SUV opens. Jonah hops in first, and my wolf follows, settling next to him. Johnathan Livestrong sits in the driver’s seat. He meets my wolf’s gaze in the rearview mirror and nods. His sharp jaw feathers, and like his son, he’s in complete security mode. My wolf howls at the feeling of warmth and family surrounding us. I’ve gone from believing everyone is against me to having a select few put themselves on the line for me. I mistakenly thought the whole pack was rotten just because of a few, but I was wrong.

“We’ll have to be careful,” Mr. Livestrong states, locking eyes with his son.

Jonah tangles his hands in my wolf’s fur. “I can’t let anything happen to her.”

“Understood. I’m behind you both one hundred percent. Lydia isn’t dumb. She won’t want to ruin the Greystone name.”

My wolf growls, and Jonah scratches behind her ear. Both of us need this to be over with soon.

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