Page 68 of Moonlight and Mischief
“That’s not your job. You’re not my mate, not my boyfriend,” I say, my vision blurring slightly. It feels like stabbing myself with a knife, saying those things to him, but I’m so angry and scared, I want him to hurt the way I am. Even if I’ll hate myself for it later.
Jasper looks straight ahead, his jaw tight. “Last night, you wanted to commit to me because of how serious everything was. And now you’re pushing me away for the same reason.”
Snarling, I hit the back of my head against the headrest. “I’m not scared, I’m angry that you’re trying to make decisions for me that aren’t yours to make, and you’re going behind my back to manipulate the situation. If that’s how you operate, I clearly don’t know you well at all.”
His chest rises in shallow breaths, but he has no response. The entire car stays silent, seeped in heavy emotion, until we reach the parking lot.
Heath calls Jasper and Slate away for a meeting to discuss our new tech surveillance, and I throw my arms around Hazel and cry into her shoulder until I am gasping for air.
Hazel rubs my back and holds me steady.
When I finally get ahold of myself, she squeezes my hands and says, “Okay babe, what do you want to do about the situation?”
My eyes feel gritty and my throat is thick, my chest aches. But under it, I feel so disrespected. He didn’t trust me to make my own decisions. Is that how every major conflict is going to go? Because that’s a deal breaker for me.
“I’m not sure,” I say, tucking my forehead against her shoulder. Her hands run up and down my back, soothing me.
“You have any and all options. I’ll beat his ass for you. We can trash his cabin or key his car. Anything you want.”
Through the ache, I can’t help but smile. She’s loyal to the end and I’ve neglected our friendship during this whirlwind with Jasper. When she was falling for Slate, she never pushed me aside.
My hands tighten around her in a hug. “Thank you.”
Her nails run through my hair, brushing it off my cheek. “You deserve to be treated the best. If that’s Jasper, great. But if he is being a dick to you, I don’t care if he is my brother-in-law. I’ll neuter him without a second thought.”
JASPER
Trudging after Heath, my heart thumps in my throat. Marigold was far more devastated than I expected, and now I’m walking away from her.
“Give her a little time, man,” Slate says. “Hazel will help.”
Will she, though? I love my brother’s mate, but she is emotional.
“I’ve never seen her that upset.” I scrub my face with my hands.
“Neither have I.” I flinch at his words.
“I should have found another way. Or stayed with her.”
“You know that’s not reasonable. What you did was fucked up, but I would have done the same thing.” He shakes his head.
“No, you would have dragged your woman off like a caveman.”
Slate shrugs, a small smile lifting his mouth. “Maybe.”
In his office, Heath pulls up the security feeds. We sit and watch the records on fast forward, slowing the feed whenever a group of wolves runs by. It’s our patrols.
“Let’s set a second patrol along that northern border,” Heath says.
Slate nods. “I’ll arrange it. Any specifics you had in mind?”
“Run it twenty-four seven. And I think it’s time to use those drones,” he says, leaning back in his office chair.
“Agreed.” Slate looks at me expectantly.
Two drones arrived yesterday. “It might take a while to get them set up, and then I’ll need to train a few people on using them.”
Heath nods. “Maybe Vale, Aven, or Onyx.”
