FOUR
Abby
My heart thumped so hard, I felt the jolt of each beat in my bones. Jace looked like he wanted tokillme, and I couldn’t blame him; I’d just made the council’s junior-most Alpha look like a fool in front of his peers.
That hadn’t been my intent, but if desperate times truly justified desperate measures, my conscience was in the clear.
At least, that’s what I tried to tell myself.
For one long moment, nobody spoke or moved. Ed Taylor—who’d paid for the ring his son gave me—looked like I’d just ripped his heart out and handed it to him, still dripping blood. As guilty as I felt, I made myself look away from him so I could keep my eye on the goal.
Thoughts rolled across Jace’s face like cards in a slot machine and I could hardly breathe, waiting to see where they’d settle. I knew the moment he realized I had him trapped, and his visible anger leached the warmth from my body.
Jace waspissed. He would make me pay for forcing his hand, just like he would if I were one of the toms. I was about to find out just how committed to feminism my Alpha really was.
“Fine. We’ll swear you in tomorrow.” His eyes narrowed and he crossed both bulging arms over a sculpted chest that strained against the material of his shirt. “But this is a full-time commitment, and youwillgive it everything you have.” He marched toward the office door, and a path opened in front of him as everyone moved out of the way. “I’ll expect your school withdrawal forms on my desk first thing Monday morning.” Jace stepped into the hall and slammed the office door at his back.
I jumped, startled, and only once all the stares had settled on me did Jace’s declaration sink in.
Withdrawal? I’d have to quit school, one semester shy of graduation?
Whether or not Ihadto quit, he had the authority tomakeme quit—especially if he thought that would change my mind. But it wouldn’t. Itcouldn’t, no matter how badly I wanted to graduate.
This was more important. Even if I couldn’t explain that to anyone else.
“Jace, wait!” I threw open the office door and ran after him, heedless of the stares and whispers, but the back door was already closing behind him. I followed him onto the lawn stretching between the main house and the guesthouse out back, where he’d lived as an enforcer. “Please, just...wait.”
Jace stopped but didn’t turn around, so I had to circle him to see his face. His eyes sparkled like ice in the moonlight, and they looked at me as if he no longer had any idea who I was.
“I’msosorry.” An hour before, his arms had held me as if I meant something to him, and now they were crossed over his chest, defining a tangible barrier between us. “I didn’t mean for... That’s not how the whole thing played out in my head,” I said, already mentally cursing myself for the lame finish.
“What, you thought we’d celebrate you strong-arming your way onto my staff by throwing confetti and popping corks?”
“No, I...” I shrugged miserably. “I didn’t think I’d have to strong-arm anything. I mean, you said you’d have a job waiting for me, if I wanted it.” But we both knew that he hadn’t actually meant that offer any more than I’d meant to take it.
I’d accepted out of the sudden terrifying realization that there was no other way for me to stay in the Appalachian Territory.
“I’m sorry for springing it on you, Jace.” My real mistake wasn’t accepting the job—it washowI’d accepted the job. “But Ireallyneed this.” I’d had no other choice. Maybe someday he’d understand that.
“Be careful what you ask for, Abby,” he growled.
Or maybe not.
The betrayal shining in his eyes bruised me all the way to my soul. I’d destroyed whatever trust he’d had in me, and that electrifying warmth his gaze had taken on recently? I’dtotallykilled that.
Not that that part mattered. I was going to marry Brian, even if his wasn’t the face I saw when I closed my eyes or the voice that whispered my name in my dreams.
So then, why did the new chill in Jace’s eyes sting like an ice dagger shoved straight through my heart?
Faythe sank onto the living room couch next to me, holding two bowls of chili. She moved gracefully in spite of the change to her center of gravity, and under any other circumstances, I would have asked if I could feel the baby move. I’d felt little Greg when she was pregnant with him, and that had been like laying my hand over a miracle.
Or over that incubating gut-monster fromAlien.
Faythe handed me one of the bowls. She’d ringed the inside edge with a row of corn chips and had topped the whole thing with a layer of shredded cheddar.
“Thanks.” I scooped up a bite of chili with one of the chips, then chewed slowly so I couldn’t answer the question she obviously wanted to ask. For a while, we ate in silence except for the crunching, and I listened to the buzz of various conversations from the rest of the house, where the other Alphas and enforcers had gathered in small groups to talk about…well, me.
Jace’s was the only voice I didn’t hear. He’d gone for a walk in the woods.
