Filthy rich werewolves by Taylor Caine novel Chapter 28

Seeing Sean and Lily, and reliving those hours in the prison… the pain, the terror. Not knowing if I’d live or die.

My whole body shudders.

And that stupid ring…Sean had taken me to that jeweler and I’d tried it on. He’d been ready to buy the same pink solitaire for me, and I laughed and said it was too extravagant. I told him to save his money. My love didn’t cost anything.

We got pregnant that night.

I didn’t know it at the time.

But I knew for Sean…it meant something to him that I wanted to be his mate—and I wasn’t worried about money or jewels or material things.

"Grace... are you going home?" a man's quiet voice asks.

Hearing my name drags me back to the present. I lift my head and see a man about thirty years old smiling shyly at her. He has short hair and wears the uniform of the Fleet.

Oh. I know who this is. I remember now … Gus, from the Sanitation Service Center's Fleet.

"Yes," I reply. “I’m going home. My shift’s over.”

"I'm free. Let me drive you," Gus says.

His light eyes crinkle at the corners. He looks kind. A little bashful even.

Claire had said Gus might be interested in me. That’s sweet, but I have no intention of getting into a relationship.

“I appreciate it. But you don't have to.”

"It's all right. I have a car. It’s no trouble to give you a ride home,” Gus says, making a second attempt.

"Huh! Your car is too cheap. This is Grace Cummins—she only wants to sit in a luxury car. If you could buy her a six-carat diamond ring, maybe then she’d let you drive her around,” Farah says.

There was an expression about bad pennies always turning up. I never understood what it meant when my grandpa said it, but I think maybe it applied to people like Farah.

I inwardly sigh.

I’d hoped to do this privately. To let Gus down gently.

Gus's face immediately turns red, not knowing what to say, and feeling very embarrassed by Farah’s comments about his car.

I turn to Farah. “I think perhaps that’s your dream. Because you only care about material things. Or maybe I have it wrong, and you’ll go home with anyone who asks you?”

Farrah sucks in a breath. “You—you..."

I turn back to Gus. ”Thank you for the offer. You’re very kind. However, I live nearby and I'm used to walking home.” I give him a genuine smile and wish him a nice night.

I leave quickly after that, wanting to avoid a scene.

I purchase sirloin and vegetables. I hadn’t cooked in many years, not in prison or the years I dated Sean before—his pack had servants for that—but I recall recipes from growing up with my grandfather and having someone to cook for makes the process enjoyable.

In the months when I got out of prison, I’d throw anything together. Food was only sustenance and I ate to ensure the proper nutrition. Jay savors the dishes I prepare so I take more care in how I prepare them.

He comes home as I’m plating the steaks.

“That wolf nose of yours has good timing.”

He grunts. But I know he’s smiling. He removes his shoes and hangs up his coat. Then he comes beside me to wash his hands.

His nearness has the oddest effect on me. God, I miss my wolf. Jay’s scent is clean and like a forest, but with my wolf, I know it would be so much more nuanced and strong. His shoulder brushes against mine and it sends tiny prickles of awareness dancing along my skin.

Does he feel it too?

I don’t dare ask. We are well aligned in our brother/sister relationship.

It is enough for me.

“How are you feeling?” he asks.

“Great.”

His dark eyes flash to mine and that burst of gold in his irises is his wolf.

“I thought I warned you not to lie to me, Grace.”

There’s a ripple of power that rolls off him as he says it.

“Jay…I felt that.”

But how is that possible? I have no wolf anymore.

He is not my real kin.

It’s okay. You’re okay.

Tomorrow is a new day.