Pack Ties, Blood Lies

Chapter 49 - Patriarchal Progress?

Hi guys!

Here is the first of two, for today's special double release! This one is also a bit longer than usual.

Let me know what you guys think :)

- Molly x

Feeling like a new wolf after my glorious orgasm and hot shower, I walked back to my room with mixed feelings.

I wanted Jack to understand that my forgiveness definitely isn't cheap – if it is attainable at all.

The thing is... I really wasn't mad about his past. Sex is good for the soul and his had been taking a battering. In his position, I would likely have done the same thing.

What hurt more, was the lies.

Yet another man in my life hiding big truths from me. Hiding a full fucking relationship that he'd had with another woman. One he had ended only a week before he kissed me for the first time after Quals.

My thoughts on Rebecca were mixed. But mostly I felt sympathy for her. Losing a mate and then being lied to by your next serious love interest has got to take a toll.

I wandered along the river, in no hurry to get back to the man that had better still be tied to my bed.

I watched the water move lazily over the river rocks, trying to sort through my muddled thoughts.

If I was honest with myself, I knew I wanted Jack. Not because he was my mate – or that he gave me mind blowing orgasms – but because he was my friend.

I couldn't help but think of our camaraderie over the years. Our playful conversations and laughs. He had been such a pillar of strength and home to me.

I remembered all the times he had looked out for me, took care of me and put me first.

It was easy to ignore all those years together in the light of our newfound distrust. I didn't like it. It wasn't us.

I just didn't know what to do about the gaping hole in my heart, where my complete faith in him used to live.

I finally arrived back at my room, no closer to a resolution than I had been before.

Sighing I let myself in, eyes falling on the man still waiting in my bed.

"Finally..." Jack grimaced. "I know I deserved that, but can I get up now? I really need to pee."

His damp, rumpled clothes were wrinkled and his hair was a mess, face pinched with his need to use the bathroom.

And yet he was still the most handsome man I'd even seen.

I nodded, moving to sit at the small dresser as I watched him easily snap his ties.

He shot to the door, hand on the handle before pausing to look back at me. "Will you allow me to come back in?"

I chewed my lip but ultimately nodded again, we still had things to talk about.

As the door was closing, a large hand landed on the faded wood. A growl announcing it's owner.

"Say the word, Charlie, and I'll gut him for you." My father pushed the door open, eyes landing on me with a hard anger he seemed to have held onto all night.

"I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself." I sniffed. "Besides, I wouldn't do it just yet, unless you want pee on your shoes."

My father released the hold he had on Jack's arm, with a disgusted look. The younger man, rubbed the blood back into his forearm and sighed, clearly very affected by Julian's sudden change to him.