LOGIN(Danny POV)“Jenna almost died.”Those words rolled around in my mind.Something had happened to Jenna?No. That wasn’t possible.She was healthy and strong. And Kade had promised to keep an eye on her while I was gone.I must have mis-heard him.“What did you just say?”“Jenna. Almost. Died.”He pronounced each word slowly, almost as though I was a toddler.I didn’t like his tone, but that wasn’t what was important.What mattered was that I had not misheard.But now I needed to wrap my mind around it.“What are you talking about? Jenna’s been hurt? When?”“At Beth’s funeral.”“Beth’s funeral?” I repeated. Now I was really confused. “Jenna wasn’t there.”Kade opened a red medical file on his desk. He thumbed through the paperwork and slid a report across the desk towards me.“Oh, but she was.”I sat down as I looked at the report. It appeared to be a print-out from a computer record. I wasn’t really sure what I was looking at, but several sections jumped out at me.“Patient
(Danny POV)The drive back to the pack house was quiet at first.It wasn’t the comfortable kind of silence that I was used to with Kade, in which we didn’t need to fill the space with words.This was different.Heavy.I kept my eyes on the road, trying to make sense of what he had told me.Kade had reported us to the werewolf council. The werewolf council was investigating.They would be doing interviews tomorrow.Questions slowly began to flood my mind.So did panic.“How’s Jenna?” I asked after about ten minutes, deciding to start with the question that mattered to me the most.Kade glanced at me.“Do you care?” he asked.There was an edge to his voice that I almost didn’t recognize. He sounded both bitter and frustrated.“Of course, I care,” I replied, feeling slightly offended. “She’s my mate.”“Your mate,” he repeated, the disbelief obvious.“Yes, my mate. How is she?”Kade took a deep breath and let it out.“You’ve been gone for a long time, Danny.”I furrowed my brows.“Six
(Four Weeks Later)(Danny POV)As I got off of the airplane, I took a deep breath. Goddess, it was nice to be home.Alabama had been nice, but there was no substitute for the Pacific Northwest.Smiling, I walked into the airport terminal and towards the area that Kade said he would pick me up. It had been a long six weeks.I had only been home once during that time. And even that visit was very short, just long enough for me to attend Beth’s funeral.I had originally planned to be gone just two weeks. Just long enough to get the treatment that I needed and start to stabilize. But when I went home for the funeral, it didn’t take long for me to understand how far I still had to go.Over Kade’s objection, I had contacted the treatment facility within two hours of being home and voluntarily signed up for another 30-day program. I won’t lie. The program sucked. It came with mandatory block-out periods in which I was prohibited from having any contact with the outside world. No pho
(Jenna POV)Nick left me alone for several minutes.Then he walked in and sat down next to me. He was holding a bottle of werewolf whiskey, and his sleeves were now rolled to his elbows, exposing his muscular forearms.“I wonder if he’ll be naked by the end of this conversation,” Willow said in our link.I forced her back.We weren’t going there.We were still mated to Danny, even if only in name.“Where did you get the whiskey?” I asked, my voice starting to slur even to my own ears.“I brought it with me. Another recommendation from Ashley. She thought you’d need it.”“I have a smart friend.”“Indeed.”Nick opened the bottle and took a swig from it.“Shouldn’t I be the one drinking that?” I asked.He gave me a look. “I’m pretty sure you are doing just fine on the human vodka.”I rolled my eyes.“Whatever,” I muttered, taking another sip.We sat there for a moment.Not talking. Not moving. Just existing.I stared at the bottle in my hand. A part of me hoped that it would give m
(Jenna POV)I returned a minute later with another, larger bottle of vodka. I didn’t even remember buying it; I was never a big drinker. But old-Jenna must have known that I needed to be prepared for a day like this.I took another shot. I had lost track of how many I was up to by this point.“Why didn’t he tell me?” I asked.I don’t know why I expected Nick to know. But he seemed to know everything else.“Tell you what?”“If he only married Beth for the insurance, why not just tell me that?”“Would you have been okay with him committing fraud?”“F&&k no. I would have tried to talk him out of it.”“Would you have stayed with him after he got married?”“Not for a sloppy second.”Nick shrugged. “That’s why. The a&&hole was an idiot, but he at least had enough sense to not want to lose you.”Okay, that did make sense, even to my drunk brain.“It’s still slimy as f&&k,” I responded.“Do you always curse this much when you are drunk?” Nick asked, with a hint of amusement in his voic
(Jenna POV)I downed two shots of vodka before offering Nick one.I half-expected him to decline, but he didn’t. Instead, he downed a second and then a third one.I sat back down at the table across from him. Our food was long since forgotten, but the bottle of vodka was front and center.“When did you find out that Danny and Beth were married?” I asked, not wanting to wait any longer.“I knew they were planning to get married since before we met officially. They registered the marriage with the council.”I studied his face, a part of me hoping he was lying.He wasn’t.F&&k.I poured myself another shot of Vodka and swallowed it.Even though I was putting Danny behind me, the depth of his betrayal still shocked me.Especially as I slowly started to piece the timeline together.“When… when did they get married?”“You should really be asking Danny these questions.”“Danny’s not here. You are,” I snapped. “When did they get married?”Nick sighed as he removed his suit jacket and loos
(Jenna POV)A few days later, I was with Ashley and Andrew when Danny called me.“Where are you?” he asked when I answered.“At the packhouse. Why?” “Aren’t we doing our run?”Sh&t. I forgot that it was Sunday.“You’ve missed the last two runs,” I reminded him. “I didn’t think you wanted to do
(Jenna POV)“What did you say?” I asked, not believing I heard her correctly.“He told me that he was going to leave me.”My heart started pounding through my chest. I wondered if Beth could see it.“A month ago. The night you missed the run. He told me that night that he loved you and that he co
(Danny POV)I followed the Alpha King into Kade’s kitchen. He poured two glasses of whiskey and handed one to me.It annoyed me how comfortable he seemed in Kade’s alpha suite. It reminded me that Jenna wasn’t the only one I had neglected the last several months.“You are going to lose her,” he sa
(Jenna POV)I don’t know how long I cried while holding onto Nick.I just know that it was for a long time. Long enough for the shaking to stop, and long enough for the pain in my chest to dull.And when I started to realize that I didn’t want to let go of Nick, I did.I had to.Because I wasn’t t







