Chapter Thirty
RILEY
Riley blinked awake to sunshine pouring through the window. Every part of him ached, and for an instant he thought he’d spent another night squashed awkwardly on the seat of his car. But there was a warm weight in his lap, and when he looked down, it all came flooding back.
Jason’s head was across his thighs. The rest of his dark body was stretched out on Urban’s living room floor, with another wolf pressed closely against his back.
Last night, Urban had brought Riley a chair to lean against, once he realized he wasn’t going anywhere.
Through the long night, Riley had gotten used to the clicking of claws on the floorboards as the pack came and went, each one quietly taking their turn lying close to Jason as he slept.
He didn’t know if they’d done so for Jason’s comfort or theirs.
The vet—vet!—who’d looked at Jason had declared the bullet wound to be nothing more than a graze.
He’d cautioned them about what to watch for with the head injury, but his confidence, along with the fact Jason had been awake for a while, had reassured Riley.
As had the fact that the wound on Jason’s back leg had almost healed overnight.
Still, he wasn’t moving from here until he knew for sure Jason was okay.
The morning light spilled across the floor, reaching Jason and the wolf pressed against him. And Riley stared. Unless he was losing his mind, the other wolf’s coat was not just glossy in the sunshine—it shimmered. Almost like it was lit from within. The wolf’s blue eyes met his, direct and steady.
“I see you’ve met our Argent.”
Riley jolted at Urban’s voice, and looked up to find him sitting in an armchair. His gaze was level, unreadable.
And then Urban’s words penetrated and Riley’s jaw dropped. Their Argent? After all this, it was true they had a fucking Argent in the pack. He didn’t know whether to laugh or throw up.
The wolf didn’t blink, just stared back at him like he knew exactly what Riley was thinking. Riley shifted his gaze back to Urban, but that wasn’t much better—his expression hadn’t softened.
Urban’s voice was quiet but iron-hard. “No need to tell you what happens if you breathe a word of this outside this room.”
Riley swallowed. Somehow, he held his gaze. “I get it.”
Urban’s stare didn’t flicker. “He’s the one who said you should know. Said he figured you care enough about Jason to keep it to yourself.”
The lump in Riley’s throat made it hard to speak. “He’s right.”
Urban sighed. “Well, shit. You couldn’t have waited until he was out of earshot before agreeing with him, could you? He’ll be damn near intolerable to live with now.”
Riley stared. Urban’s fearsome alpha demeanor hadn’t faltered, but his voice was filled with the weariness of someone who’d spent far too long trying to herd an unherdable cat.
“Er, sorry?” he offered uncertainly.
The wolf curled up with Jason gave him what he could have sworn was an extremely smug smile, and he suddenly realized. “Jesse,” he said, and got another grin.
He shook his head and found himself smiling back. It seemed somehow inevitable that the last remaining descendant of the dignified and stately shifter nobility would turn out to be the scruffiest and least formal one of them all.
Returning his attention to Jason, he ran a gentle hand over his fur and willed him to wake. Hoping, yet again, that Lennox hadn’t hurt him too badly.
He sucked in a sharp breath as he remembered all that had happened. “Lennox won’t—Jason won’t be in trouble for attacking him, will he? He was defending me.”
Riley knew what The Daily Sentinel would make of the incident. They’d claim it was proof that shifters were little more than savage animals, unsafe to walk amongst humans.
“With two eyewitnesses, plus the fact Carmichael has no concealed carry permit, there’ll be no trouble,” Urban said. He sounded calm and confident, as if that were an end to it.
And maybe it was. Riley had been concerned about one man having so much power, and now, part of him felt ashamed at being relieved that this was just going to go away.
But as he looked at Urban, he reconsidered.
He didn’t kid himself that Urban would ever give any member of his pack over to human justice if he felt the charge unjust, but nothing about the man suggested corruption.
He hadn’t said he’d make it go away. He’d said there’d be no charge because of the evidence.
Riley relaxed again, and wondered just when he’d decided Urban was trustworthy. Scary as fuck, but trustworthy.
And then Jason stirred, just slightly, his fur brushing against Riley’s hand. The movement was so small it was barely noticeable, yet it scattered every thought but one. Jason was waking up.
JASON
Jason stretched in the sunlight, feeling more content than he could ever remember being.
One of the pack was pressed against his back.
A test of the air told him it was Jesse, just as he became aware of his alpha’s steady, reassuring presence making everything safe.
And then there was the soft warmth his head was lying on, and a hand stroking down his neck.
He scented the air again, wanting to know who was providing such comfort.
He jolted fully awake as Riley’s scent hit him, rolling over and scrabbling to get stiff legs under him. Riley was staring at him, pale and shocked, as he backed away.
“Jason,” he said pleadingly, holding out a hand to him.
Jason shook his head, the movement sending sharp pain lancing through him. What the hell was Riley doing here?
He stepped farther away and shifted.
“There are clothes on the couch,” Matt said, rising to his feet and sounding calm as ever. “Come find us when you’re ready.”
He dug his foot into the side of a grinning Jesse, who looked set to stay for the duration. Jesse huffed indignantly and reluctantly trotted out in front of Matt.
Jason pulled on a pair of faded black sweats and a white t-shirt before he dared turn to look at Riley again. He expected revulsion, or fear, or anything other than what he saw on Riley’s face—shock, yes, but also wonder.
“Doesn’t it hurt, shifting?” he asked Jason.
Jason hesitated, wondering how best to explain it. “I guess it’s like when you lift something heavy,” he said. “Your body’s designed to do it, but you can feel the exertion it’s gone through, if that makes sense.”
“It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen,” Riley said.
Jason shook his head again. It still hurt, but the stabbing pain in his skull was nothing compared to the confusion he felt. “What are you doing here?”
“You don’t remember what happened last night?”
“Yeah, I just—” And then Riley’s words registered. “You’ve been here all night?”
Riley stood slowly, wincing a little. “Where else would I be?” His eyes caught Jason’s and didn’t waver. “You were hurt. I couldn’t leave you.”
A shocked laugh bubbled in Jason’s chest, the bitter kind that had nothing to do with humor. “Why?” he demanded. “You lied. You used me.”
Riley flinched as if Jason had hit him. Then he turned and crossed the room to stare out the window, arms folded tight like he needed to hold himself together.
After several moments of silence, when he realized Riley wasn’t going to say anything, Jason fumbled his way down into a chair.
His head hurt with more than the injury he’d received.
He didn’t know what Riley was doing here.
He didn’t understand, and it didn’t matter how thrilled his wolf was to see him, Jason wasn’t going to let himself be hurt again.
But he couldn’t help remembering Karl’s words and how pleased Riley had seemed for that instant last night, before everything went to hell. And he couldn’t help hoping.
Eventually, Riley turned around. He leaned back against the windowsill, his arms still tightly shielding himself. When he spoke, his voice was strained.
“What I did, investigating the pack, that was nothing to do with what lay between us. For what it’s worth, I wish I hadn’t done it, but I can’t take it back. I can only say sorry.”
“I don’t understand how you could have done it.
” The words spilled out in raw honesty. Maybe more than anything else, this was what Jason wanted to know.
Who Riley really was. How he’d been so warm, so careful with Jason, yet had been cold-bloodedly deceiving him all along.
“What kind of person lies like that to everyone?”
Riley flinched again. “Yeah,” he said, and he wouldn’t meet Jason’s eyes.
“You’re not wrong about me. I guess in the newsroom with the other reporters, it was fun, thinking of ways to trick people into telling you what they didn’t want you to know.
” His voice was rough. “And when I was working on my cover story and talking to the others about ideas…”
He paused for an instant, his throat working, and finally dragged his gaze up to meet Jason’s.
“It felt like I finally belonged somewhere,” he said harshly.
“I wanted that. God, Jason, I wanted that so badly. I never thought that it could hurt anyone, not until I met Mr. Garrity and saw the way he believed me and the hope I’d given him. ”
Jason was biting down on his lip to stop himself saying anything.
Even now, after everything, he wanted to comfort Riley.
His wolf was whining deep inside, longing to give Riley everything he should have had in his life that had been missing from it.
But the rest of Jason wasn’t going to be burned like that again.
He wouldn’t survive betrayal on that level a second time.
“But even when I started to understand the cost of everything—of what I was doing,” Riley corrected himself. Almost as if he were determined to take responsibility. “Even then, I couldn’t stop. I had to see it through.”