“And how is that going to earn Jasmine’s trust? She actually thought we were going to take her kids.”
“She doesn’t still believe that. If she did, she wouldn’t have left them in our care.”
“Did she trust us with them? Or did she trust that Josh would protect them from us? She had wanted to talk to me. Alone. Maybe that was why she’d left with me.” Rafe sighed. “Don’t you see? I don’t know Jasmine. I have no idea how she’ll react to moving home or the mate bond. I don’t even know if she would want me.”
Kade’s brows scrunched. “Why wouldn’t she? You’re a good male, and she’d be getting immortality. What else is there to consider?”
What indeed? Rafe’s gaze strayed to the house where Josh was waiting for his chance to steal her away.
Rafe rubbed his thumb over his fingers to ease the sharp pinch of his claws pushing against his skin. “We’ll give it a couple of days. Jon might not even stick around. We’ll sit tight and wait. As long as the kids and the humans are with one of us, Jon won’t dare touch them. He knows he’s no match for us.”
“I hope so, brother. I don’t want to lose any more of our family.”
“We won’t,” Rafe said, then jogged across the lawn.
It was time to learn more about Jasmine, and his best source of information was Josh. Actually, Jasmine should be the one to reveal everything, but Rafe didn’t have time to get to know her, not if he wanted to gain her trust before the next time it was tested.
Chapter 23
Jazz stretched, and the bed she was lying on squeaked. No, not a bed. She recognized the sound. It belonged to the sofa in her office. Why was she sleeping on it?
She pried open her eyelids and scanned the room. Her gaze settled on the pair of torn jeans lying on the floor.
Rafe.
Memories rushed over her—spending the night with Rafe, hearing the fear in Seth’s voice, and the lion peering at her through the car window.
“Real. It’s all real.”
The sound of voices drifted to her before she could take the thought further.
She smoothed her skirt and top, but her ripped panties made her feel naughty. She and Rafe had come together in a rush of desire. It had been an amazing encounter, but she couldn’t go outside without wearing underwear. Her kids and Rafe’s family would be here by now. It wasn’t that she worried they might see something they shouldn’t. Her skirt was short but not that short. It just felt…wrong.
She reached for the phone to call Rafe to see if he’d bring her a pair of panties. The shorts neatly folded on the top edge of the sofa caught her eye. She grinned. Rafe had thought of her. She snagged them and changed.
Obviously his, the shorts hung to her calves. She had to roll the waistband three times for it to stay up, but she was decent. Fashionable? Not even close. Anyone who looked at the outfit and her disheveled, tangled hair would be able to guess exactly what she’d been doing. At least the adults would. Her kids? She often wore mismatched or too-big clothes while working on her cars. She bought whatever she could find at the secondhand store in town.
On her tiptoes, she peered out the top window of the door. The two tough brothers from Rafe’s background picture on his phone stood near an SUV, and the woman from the same photo leaned against a dark blue car. She had to be Mira, Devin’s twin. She was curvy, tall, and with the uniquely colored hair, exotic. She also looked incredibly sad. In the throng of men, she stood alone.
Jazz scanned the yard. No sign of her kids or Josh. In the house maybe? She had to make sure. She flung the door open.
Everyone looked in her direction. She froze under their unblinking stares. Rafe’s brothers openly perused her. If their heated gazes were any indicator, they liked what they saw.
She swallowed against the lump in her throat. It took every bit of self control she had not to slink back into the office and hide. She didn’t like being the center of attention. It made her nervous. Her first thought was always—they know I’m a liar and a coward.
Silly, of course. How would anyone find out the truth about how she’d gotten her boys? Or that she’d left their mother behind to face those horrible men? Jazz never shared her story with anyone, not even Tony.
She forced her feet to move. Image was everything, especially when the shifters watching her could smell her fear. She could chalk hers up to being around strange shifters or the worry over Jon. Nobody needed to know it was guilt that plagued her.
Her attention zeroed in on Rafe. He stood with a raven-haired man in a kilt. She blinked. Nope she wasn’t seeing things. The guy wore a kilt and a leather vest. No shirt.
He was gorgeous, but one glance told her he wasn’t one of Rafe’s brothers. He didn’t have the same exotic eyes as Rafe or Kade. This new man’s were almond-shaped, deep-set, and brown but just as intense. Another predator. Wolf, maybe? Didn’t matter. He was obviously friends with Rafe, so he had to be one of the good guys.
She caught Rafe’s gaze and silently urged him to come over to her. He gave a small shake of his head and held out a hand. Was she supposed to walk across the yard in front of his family? When he didn’t move or drop his hand, she guessed that was exactly what he wanted.
Her hands shook with another wave of nerves, but she tucked her tangled hair behind her ears and went to him. She
