My Cheating Mate (Emma and Jeremy) novel Chapter 130

Chapter 130

“Jeremy

Emma’s voice tant somehow. Careful

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I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. My vision was tunneling, rage so pure and absolute that it burned through everything else. Every thought, every feeling, every ounce of composure I’d built over months of therapy and healing-gone. Obliterated by the image of my sleeping daughter captured through a window by someone who wanted to take her from us.

*”She is a cute little dog.”

Agrowl tore from my throat —raw, guttural, not entirely human. My claws were extending, digging into my own palms hard enough to draw blood. The couch cushion beneath me was splitting where my grip tightened involuntarily.

“Jeremy. Jeremy, look at me.” Emma’s hands on my face. Gentle but firm, Grounding me. Pulling me back from the edge. “Look at me. Breathe. You need to breathe.”

I forced my eyes to focus on her face. On the woman I loved more than anything except possibly the tiny creature sleeping

between us.

“They photographed her,” I managed. The words came out barely human. “They were watching Grace sleep and I wasn’t—I

couldn’t-”

“I know.” Emma’s voice was steady now. Steadier than mine. “I know, Jeremy. I’ve been sitting here with that knowledge for two hours. Waiting for you to come home.”

“Two hours?” The realization hit me like a physical blow. “Emma, you’ve been sitting here alone for two hours knowing someone was watching our daughter and you couldn’t—”

“I couldn’t tell anyone. The messages were specific. If I told anyone, they said they’d know. Said they have someone inside the pack.” Her jaw tightened. “They wanted me isolated. Frightened. Alone with this knowledge while everyone celebrated victory.”

“Did it work?” I asked quietly.

“The fear part? Yes.” She didn’t look away from my eyes. “The isolation part? No. Because I knew you’d be home eventually. Knew that the moment you walked through that door, I wouldn’t be alone anymore.”

My wolf was still pacing furiously inside me, demanding action, demanding blood. But Emma’s hands on my face, her eyes locked on mine-it was enough to keep me present. Keep me from shifting right here in the living room and tearing through the woods hunting for whoever had threatened my daughter.

“Another spy,” I said through clenched teeth. “Inside the pack. Someone we haven’t found.”

“Someone close enough to photograph me in the kitchen. In the rocking chair. Someone with access, with knowledge of our security rotations, with-” She paused. “Jeremy, Dr. Chen was a plant. I think she was designed to be found. A sacrificial source meant to make us feel like we’d identified the threat.”

The implications crashed over me like a wave. “While the real threat was watching from somewhere else entirely.”

“Exactly. We spent weeks turning Dr. Chen into a double agent, feeding false intelligence, planning the warehouse strike-all while someone else was right here. Right under our noses. Watching us. Watching Grace.”

Grace stirred between us, making a soft sound in her sleep. Both of us instinctively looked down at her–this tiny, perfect person who had become the center of our entire universe in the span of one week.

Someone had been watching her sleep.

My claws were still extended. I forced them to retract, pain shooting through my fingertips as they shifted back to normal. Blood smeared across my palms where I’d pierced my own skin.

“The midnight deadline,” I said, forcing my mind into tactical mode despite the rage still burning through every nerve. “They want you to bring Grace to the eastern tree line. Alone.”

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“bviously a trap.

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