All Chapters of His Secret Second: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

(Danny POV)Before I could even answer Jenna’s question, she stood up.“You know what? Never mind.”She then turned to Kade and Ashley.“Thank you for a great evening. It was nice to meet you both. I am sorry to head out early, but I have another long workday in front of me.”Without waiting for me … or even waiting for a response from them… she left.I followed after her, of course, but only after giving Kade a dirty look.“You f&&king owe me,” I mindlinked him. “If I lose my mate over this, I will never forgive you.”“I didn’t tell you to f&&king lie to her,” he linked back.“Like hell you didn’t.”“Okay, well I didn’t tell you to lie like THAT.”URRRRRGGGGGHHHH.He was right.Even if he wasn’t, regardless of what Kade thought, I never should have lied to Jenna. Not over something stupid like this. I just … panicked. Kade had been my best friend since we were in diapers, and he had been there for me when I was dealing with all the Beth stuff. I also knew how hard it had bee

(Jenna POV) The last thing that I wanted to do was keep talking about my mother, but I guess I didn’t have a choice.“One bedroom was for my mom. One room was for her family who came to visit. One room was for her friends who came to visit. And one room was for any other visitors that she might have from her old pack.”Danny looked at me like I was crazy.“Jenna, your mother has never had a visitor from her old pack.”“I know.”“So ---”“She wanted the rooms to be perfect, just in case someone ever did show up.”“So where did you sleep?”The couch. The floor. Outside. It depended on my mother’s mood.I didn’t want to tell Danny any of that though. The information that people knew about was bad enough. What happened behind closed doors was even worse. I didn’t want Danny to wonder, if I wasn’t good enough for my mother to love me, was I good enough for him? The rational part of my brain knew that was a silly thing to worry about, but some of my old insecurities ran deep.“Are

***Author Note: There is a small spoiler at the end of this chapter, which I include only because the chapter might hint at an overly common trope that actually isn’t the story at all. ***(Jenna POV)I got a bad feeling in my gut as soon as we drove past the pack gates. I couldn’t explain why; everything Danny said to reassure me (and himself) made sense.But then we walked by Brenna and Samantha at the hospital –-two of my biggest bullies in high school— and the awful gut feeling multiplied by 100. At first, I hoped that they would not recognize me; I looked very different than I did when I lived here. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky.“Oh, my goddess. Look who it is! The Unwanted B&tch of the West,” Brenna said in a three-way mind-link between her, Samantha, and myself.“Does your mother know you are back?” Samantha asked. “Are you here to ruin more lives?”So much for most wolves forgetting. Sigh.I ignored them and kept walking. My focus needed to be on Danny and whateve

(Jenna POV)I did not mean to growl.I just… I had been standing there, listening to them talk about Beth’s cancer diagnosis and the likelihood that it was the rejection that had caused it… and my heart was breaking for Beth, for Beth’s family, and for Danny. I didn’t know whether it was okay that I was still standing there… I felt like I was intruding on something that I should not be listening to. But with this kind of news, Danny would need me, right? He had asked me to stay, and he would need the comfort of his mate. I didn’t want to abandon him by walking away.And then, while a hundred conflicting thoughts were going through my head, someone (a doctor?) suggested that Danny and Beth get back together. And Willow got angry.. and I got angry… and the growl just … came out.Deep down, I knew it was irrational. Danny belonged to Beth first. If his rejection meant that she would die, maybe she should get him back. I mean, wasn’t it crazy that I ever expected that this mating b

(Danny POV)I watched as Jenna processed my questions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she did not react well.At first, she looked at me like I had slapped her.Then, as she began to fully digest my words, she looked like she wanted to slap me.Even worse, when I silently refused to take back what I had asked her, much less the tone in which I had asked, Jenna’s face transformed into a look that told me that she was ready to tear my heart out of my chest and eat it for dinner.“You need to leave,” she said coldly. “We can talk another time.”“Not happening,” I growled.“I need time to think, and I am sure that you do too.”“Bullsh&t. You made promises Jenna. No hotel, no clothes, remember?”Jenna looked at me like I had grown two heads. And in that moment, I felt like maybe I had. But it didn’t matter. Jenna was my mate, and I wasn’t about to let that change.I’d messed up one mating bond. I would not mess up two.***(Jenna POV)I could not for the life of me understand what Danny w