Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 139606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 558(@250wpm)___ 465(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 558(@250wpm)___ 465(@300wpm)
“What? Of course I do. I’m glad we don’t have anything to worry about.” Except he’d kind of held on to that worry. He would have to talk to her at least one more time to make sure she wasn’t pregnant.
And if she had been, he couldn’t leave his child fatherless.
Like that would happen. Tasha would have ten men stepping up to the plate. She wouldn’t be alone for long. Her mother was right. She would briefly mourn him and move on.
“You call us wolves, and that seems to scare you,” Charlotte began, her tone softer now. “Are you hesitating because of anything my husband and I have done?”
Charlotte couldn’t fix this problem. “You are wolves. No matter how you wrap yourself in designer wear or Ian plays the laid-back sarcastic guy. Kala is an obvious predator, but Kenzie’s one, too. The world you move through is harsh, and I don’t think there could be a place for me there. I’ve spent my whole life with a wolf at my throat.”
She laughed, though there wasn’t a lot of humor behind the sound. “No, you haven’t because your father isn’t a wolf, and he’s never been. Your father is a jackal. He’s a shark. He’s a lone predator who thinks of nothing but his own hunger. You fundamentally misunderstand what it means to be a wolf.”
“So you don’t deny it?”
“Absolutely not,” Charlotte declared. “I’m not sure I was born a wolf. I don’t know if I would have become one had my father not murdered my mother and taken my sister and I back to Moscow. He was the head of a syndicate. He thought it would be fun to have a teenage girl assassinate his enemies.”
“I would think that’s an excellent reason to become a jackal.”
“Ah, but I already had a pack,” she corrected. “I couldn’t fight my father because he used my sister against me. He hurt Chelsea to punish me. I had to protect her. Like you have. You are a wolf. You just haven’t found your whole pack yet. You’re a young wolf protecting even younger wolves, and no one taught you. You had to figure it out yourself. That’s the difference. The jackal is alone and likes it that way. The jackal uses those around him to feed his own hunger, never thinking of anything but himself. The wolf pack protects its own. You could have a pack. You’ve done so well on your own. You’ve protected them since you were a child.”
“It sounds like you did the same. Didn’t you choose your sister? How can I choose myself?”
“There’s no choice to be made here. Your siblings are welcome in our pack. One way or another your father will go down,” Charlotte promised. “If you need to be in Toronto for a while, I think you’ll find Tash would go with you. There’s a time to pick your siblings and a time to form your own pack. I had to make that decision long ago. I had to pick my husband. It didn’t mean I left my sister behind, only that every decision I faced had to be made with him in mind, with him at my side. If it helps, my sister is still in my life. She’s still my closest friend. She will never admit it, but her life started when I made that choice.”
A pack. A family. His father had never cared about family except how his looked to society. “I don’t know what I would do. Sit around and wait for her to come home?” He shook his head, realizing how that sounded. “Not that women haven’t done that for years. I don’t want to bring Tash to Toronto. I want to be done with everything my father built. I want something new. Her career is important to her.”
“Oh, you are coming along nicely,” Charlotte said with a satisfied smile. “It just so happens that a new position has opened up at McKay-Taggart. We need a head of sales and marketing. I bet there would be a lot of travel involved. See, jobs make excellent cover for an operative and her husband. No one would think twice about Tasha being in Europe if her husband is taking meetings.”
He could be her cover.
She wanted a life of adventure, a life with her family. He could be part of her family. Part of her pack.
He wouldn’t have to be alone. Ian and Charlotte Taggart could teach him how to protect his own pack when the time came.
“Don’t let stubbornness cost you both. When Tasha says she wants you, she’s not pretending. She’s not lying or manipulating you. She says it because she loves you, and if there’s one thing my daughter knows how to do it’s love someone. She is loyal and steadfast. You will never find another woman who can love you the way she will,” Charlotte said quietly.