I reached down and took my mate's hand, and she shook her head and laughed.
“I have no idea why Jett Lovell’s brother hugged me. I think he confused me with someone else.”
We walked in silence for a while. Jett Lovell… Alaric Lovell. That was the Alpha of Pack Kiba. That wolf must have been his son. I did well to learn the Alpha’s of the three Packs that surrounded Clare’s home in case I encountered them while I was staying here. He had given me permission to be here, so if there was any issue, he would be the person to speak to.
I thought about what she’d said, how she didn’t know this shifter. Not enough to warrant a hug hello at least. It was an unusual encounter, and one that didn’t make sense to me either. From the emotions he gave off, he knew Clare. A lot more than she knew him. She couldn't fake that, even if she knew I could read her like that. Emotions were hard to hide without years of practice.
Clare didn't know him well at all. He was a younger shifter than me, and even if he could control his emotions, he couldn't fake the strong feelings he had towards her. They were platonic, but he loved her in some way, and it was messing with my panther and my heart.
Other than to stir me up enough to have me shift and give him the right to fight me for exposing our kind, I kinda felt bad for the guy. Something wasn't right here, and I couldn't figure it out. I wanted to speak to him… but that wasn't a good idea. So I would just leave it for now.
“Let's go touch the freezing cold water.” Clare pulled on my hand and laughed. I realized she had sensed my mood after the wolf touched her. But my panther was happy she didn’t have a connection to him. Clare was all mine.
“Let’s both dip our toes in,” I suggested, nuzzling her face and wiping all traces the wolf had touched her away. She shook her head and giggled.
“I’m not putting my feet in there at all. They’ll freeze off.”
Mr. and Mrs. Briggs’ twenty-fifth wedding anniversary was a black-tie event. I didn’t even own a suit, let alone a tie. Mr. Briggs begrudgingly lent me a suit after Clare refused to go without me. She’d apologized more than once about it. She thought it was just a small gathering of friends at their home. They certainly didn’t tell us about the dress code while we were out shopping earlier. Clearly didn’t want me to attend.
I could tell from the looks I received that I wasn’t welcome there with their crowd. More than one person had mentioned my tattoos behind whispers, that Clare was just going through a phase and would grow up and meet a nice man. But I ignored all their words as I knew that wasn’t the case with my girl. She was one of a kind, and I might not look like the nice guys' they thought were good for her, but I knew no one would be good enough for her, not even me.
Clare stood out among them. She wasn’t one of them, even though she grew up with all of the privileges they did. She didn't act like any of them. Not once did she ever come across as someone who came from wealth like this. If I didn't come here, I would have never known.
But here, she blended in enough to go unnoticed by most. Yet, for someone like me, you could see she was too good for the world her family were a part of. Her small act of rebellion against her parents was in her choice of footwear.
She wore pink flip flops with her black evening gown. I heard her mother yelling at her earlier to go and change into the heels she got for tonight’s occasion. But Clare stood her ground. It made me smile while putting on the too big penguin suit knowing she did that. It was a small thing, but I could tell it was big for her to stand up against them. When she approached me, I kissed her so hard and heavy that her father cleared his throat and told us that there would be, and I quote, “none of that at the party.”
He was right, there was none of that at the party. From him or his wife. They didn’t even hold hands or kiss when thanking everyone for coming out.
All in all, I think I did well for my first and last black-tie event. I didn’t kill anyone, I didn’t shift, and at the end of the night…
I still got the girl.
Chapter16
Mekhi
The contact we had been texting had sent us a photo Friday night. Clare was beaming as she sat on her bed next to her roommate, Vicki, our contact’s sister and the one who we paid to be there. Watching over Clare.
It was a few days ago, but Jett kept showing me. To remind me why this was the best for Clare. I just couldn't look anymore. It might be what was best for her… but it wasn’t best for me.
“See look, she’s fine. She looks really happy, Mekhi. We did the right thing, you can see that.”
I knew it to be the truth, she did look happy. I just missed her so much. Every day my wolf cried for her. Longed for her touch. But I couldn’t go to her, wrap her in my arms, and feel content like I used to.
“She looks happy,” was all I could say in return. I could tell my mood was affecting Jett. I didn’t mean to be this way, I just had so many feelings about what we were doing. What we had done.
So much guilt for what we did to get her to college. We shouldn't have taken her memories. We shouldn't have messed with her head.
“We pay that witch enough for her to never have to work again. So I wouldn’t expect anything less than her making Clare happy. Look, I texted just before to see how she was today. Apparently, she’s studying for a big test and eating chocolate.”
That sounded like typical Clare. She would always be eating chocolates while she studied. She was smart, but she worked hard to get the grades she did. It didn’t matter if Jett or I passed high school. We were going to work for the Pack regardless. Just meant we didn’t get much of a choice with the jobs we could do if we didn't have the grades to back it.
We passed, but just barely. So we didn’t opt for online college like others. We just ran security instead. I preferred that to being stuck behind a desk crunching numbers anyway. I could be out in wolf form for hours, just running through the woods of our territory. Looking for threats… or if I was lucky, Jett would be on duty with me. It didn’t happen often. Alpha knew we were lovers, even though we didn’t act like it in front of the Pack. Everyone knew. You can't hide anything from shifters.
“Summer break will be here real soon. I bet she will come home.” I gave him a half smile. What good would that do us if she was home. She didn’t remember us. We couldn’t go and talk to her. I wasn’t sure what that would do to her even if we tried.
“Hey, snap out of the funk.” Jett pushed me and I fell onto my bed. I couldn’t just snap out of it. I didn’t know how to. I rolled over onto my side, my knees coming up as I snagged the pillow and hugged it to my chest.
