Filthy rich werewolves by Taylor Caine novel Chapter 99

JASON

When she said my name my whole body stiffened.

"Do you hate Jason Reed?" I mumble.

She sighs. “How can I hate him? He is technically my alpha too, right? Well, if I still belonged to a pack, then that pack, like every other one in this region, would have fealty to Alpha Reed.”

She hasn’t answered my question. “But do you hate him?”

“When I had the car accident, Jennifer Atkinson was Alpha Reed’s fiancée. So, of course, I was not going to get out of it easily. How many people want to win favor with him? How many people think that by hurting me it’ll gain them favor with him?”

Grace’s eyes take on a faraway look. “Who knows… maybe if that accident had involved someone else. Someone other than Jennifer Atkinson, I could have won the lawsuit. Would I have been spared from being in jail for three years and experienced all those things? Maybe.” Her eyes are so earnest when they meet mine. “I didn’t drink and drive, Jay. I wouldn’t do that. I still can’t understand how the evidence could corroborate that sort of thing.”

I know the ins and outs of the case intimately.

That was a detail that I’d found odd. Not because of drinking, but because wolf metabolism burned through alcohol so quickly.

It’s why we had our own clubs. Why the scene at Patrick’s place was different. Wolves can’t drink or act the way we do in most human clubs, not without raising a ton of attention.

I squat in front of her, staring at her bent hands. "If I had known you would suffer so much, I would have protected you three years ago."

This sentence has nothing to do with the game but was something that had come from the bottom of my heart.

I hate thinking that this woman has suffered because of me. I’m cold, yes, but I also considered myself fair. I’m not cruel. And Grace has been tortured for no other reason than that I might reward her tormentors.

The thought sickens me.

Back then, I didn’t care what happened to her. That’s true. And I had rewarded some associated when they mentioned getting some payback for my loss. I appreciated their loyalty.

But what Grace said… about being loyal to me, that resonates too.

I had only focused on Pack Reed and my immediate wolves. But I am the ruling Alpha for this entire coast and as such, the wolves of other packs are, by extension, part of mine too.

I’ve been negligent in emphasizing this.

In exploiting this.

In being grateful for this.

But today is not about me! I believe her when she says that the car crash was an accident. And her innocence opens something in my chest that makes me ache with regret.

”I know that you would have defended me,” Grace says. “Alright, let's not talk about this."