Chapter 3: Not A Puppet

Garnet POV

Garnet felt comfortable in the dining room at Cresta House for one reason: no ugly, dark statues that Cyran found in their cellar from some long-dead ancestor. She would have to get rid of those when she got back home, and it didn’t matter how many people howled.

The house was hers now. Hers and Jiro’s, if he became her consort. Then she could borrow some of his family’s good energy and taste in decorating.

The Cresta dining room just had a homey feel, rather than the smothering, warlike one in her dining room that made her skin crawl. She resolved to change the d*mn dining room. Although she’d keep the chairs and table because of the memories of eating there with her parents and because the set had been passed down through the generations.

“I like your dining room,” she said to Jiro, who had gotten up from the table like a gentleman when she walked in.

Alone together finally. Her entire body trembled, and not from fear. She was a bit nervous and excited.

He seemed a bit more relaxed than just a quarter of an hour ago. “Thank you. It suits you. More than the one where you live.”

She smiled slightly. They were off to a good start. His brother Dane must have set his mind at ease. “Except for my great-great-grandmother’s table and chairs, I agree. I like your library, too.”

“It suits you, too. It’s my favorite room,” he said, shuffling his beautiful feet. Every part of him was gorgeous to her, from the wave of red hair to his toes.

“You don’t say,” she said, with a slight laugh to cover her nervousness.

“It’s the room where I’ve spent nearly every day either writing a letter to you or reading your letters.” His eyes snapped with righteous indignation. “And not once in one of those letters did I hear that I was even being remotely considered–”

Her hackles rose and she felt her teeth sharpen. “Now wait a minute.”

His eyes were full of hurt. “If you knew–”

She marched over and jabbed a finger at him. “I’ll only say this once. I am no one’s puppet, and I’m certainly not pulling your strings.”

He stood tall and proud and straight. “I never accused you of any such thing. All I meant was that I wanted a little warning.”

Why was he digging in his heels? “You and I both. I barely had time to get used to the idea. But you heard Barrett and me. We were doing it quietly, because of Cyran.”

His eyes widened. “I didn’t hear.”

She blushed, and her teeth returned to a human shape. “That’s right. You didn’t. You bolted out the door before we could explain.”

“I didn’t … I just needed time after the world got turned upside down.”

She glared at him. “Well, wrap your head around it. My people need you. They need us.”

His eyes blazed. “I don’t need you to lecture me about duty.”

As if duty was exclusive to him. “Because you’re used to lecturing people?”

His head snapped back and he stared at her. “Well, yes.” He looked surprised at his own honesty.

She wasn’t surprised in the least. For someone whose job involved plenty of secrets, he spoke his mind and didn’t play head games, a trait she found appealing. It was one of his many qualities she’d come to appreciate, especially after Cyran’s glaring lack in that department.

After thinking for a moment, he covered his face and groaned. “I’m acting like a complete idiot.”

She smiled, attempting humor. “That’s a first. I suppose it had to happen sometime.”

He lowered his hands. “Of course, you couldn’t tell me. What if he intercepted your letter? Or any other communication? I should have thought of that. I’m the intelligence chief, for Fenrir’s sake.” He reached across the wooden table and grasped her hand. “And I didn’t run from you. You would be the LAST person I’d run from.”

The sincerity in his blue-green gaze took her breath away, and a jolt traveled through her at his touch.

“I’m sorry for my boorish behavior,” he said.

She gave him a ghost of a smile. “At least you don’t treat me as if I’m made of brittle glass, or the enemy … you don’t give me death threats from the shadows.”

“No, but I shouldn’t speak to you in a way that would have all four of my brothers and Lilia and Azandra tearing strips of my fur off my body,” he said.

“And you haven’t. We dropped you in the lake and just expected you to swim. It would be only natural that you would be floundering.”

Melancholy crept into his voice. “It’s not the first time. The time before that was like drowning.”

She gave him a sad smile. “At least your brothers are all still sane.”

“Yes, even though they can drive me over the edge in other ways,” he said quietly. “And they’re your brothers now, too, and Lilia is your sister, and Azandra is, too. Ravyn will be overjoyed to be your mother.”

A thrill went through her. He accepted her as his fated mate.

In the next moment, his eyes darkened like a stormy ocean as he thought of something. “Death threats. You’ve been getting death threats? How DARE they? Who are they? Obviously, they’re the biggest fools in the pack because they have no earthly idea who they’ve crossed.”

She shouldn’t be surprised he picked up on that. Sniffing out threats was his job. “Emotions are running high. People feel betrayed.”

His righteous indignation was like a blast. “GARNET. This is unacceptable. YOU were betrayed, too, in the worst way. You were abused and they want to pile on. No! I hate bullies more than anything, and so does the rest of our family.”

She let go of his hand and hugged herself. “Cyran’s supporters hate me for resisting him and continuing to resist him. Some of the pack loyalists resent me because … well …”

“They just want someone to blame, and Cyran has vanished,” Jiro finished, with a ferocity in his eyes and a hardened jaw that made her almost pity the people who’d made her life even more of a hell than before in the last several weeks.

She got up and began pacing the comforting dining room, and Jiro let her, watching her with sympathy and understanding. “I should have stopped him–”

He just sat back in his calm way, his long, lean body stretching out. “You did when it counted, when we needed you the most. And by ‘we,’ I mean both our packs and our family. This is not your fault, Garnet.”

She exhaled slowly. Every time she’d poured out her regrets in her letters, he’d always been sympathetic, but unwavering on this point. “Thank you.”

“Does Barrett know about the threats?” he prodded gently.

“He does, but he’s been juggling everything so fast his paws can barely keep up. Besides, the threats have been anonymous.”

Jiro’s jaw firmed even more. “Increase security. That’s the first step. I know your brother had an entire force at your residence. But you need personal security until people come to their senses.”

She smiled, touched by his practical concern. “We can do that. Although we had to hire all new guards.”

“It might be a good idea to have a few from the Evenhide Pack. Dane will kill me, but I’m poaching a couple of them.”

Her wolf howled in approval.

She returned to him and sat beside him. “Your brother is willing to give you up to save our pack. I think that’s bigger than two or three guards.”

He stared ahead of him, his gaze distant. His lean, thin nose, finely sculpted face, and surprisingly full, sensual lips all tightened in contemplation. It made her want to pull him into her arms and never let him go. She wanted him to shatter the barriers she’d built around herself to survive Cyran. Yet if he broke those barriers and broke her heart …

Her wolf growled at her for even entertaining such an idea. Jiro was a kind and gentle man. The goddess wouldn’t have matched them otherwise.

“Dane understands what’s at stake,” he said quietly. “More importantly, he feels your people have been wronged. We both saw it first hand. That’s why he wanted to assist in the search for a new Alpha. We both grasped quickly that Barrett is happier being a beta. We also hoped that you might find some peace.”

“Well, if this works as Barrett and our wise woman Roslynn Rossa and I think it will, he’ll get everything on that list.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Do you accept?” she asked softly.

* * * * *

Jiro POV

He hadn’t meant to hit Garnet with a verbal barrage, and he felt like the lowest scoundrel for even thinking she held back information. Even if she did, he didn’t blame her. She was fighting for her pack.

His pack too, now. From what he’d seen and learned, they were a good pack. They had once been even more tradition-bound than the Evenhide Pack, but also more riotous in their celebrations and expressiveness. The red in their name suited them very well. Patch had spoken the truth in his flippant way. Jiro could be their mascot as well as their Alpha.

He could protest and say he wasn’t ready, that someone like Kyon or Dane or even a non-shifter like Lilia was better suited to a leadership role. But if he sat here thinking of objections, of everything that didn’t work about this plan, he’d get nothing except a false feeling of safety and watching Garnet walk out of his life. He might still have her as a penfriend, but nothing close to what he could have had.

She deserved so much more than a penfriend. She’d had enough disappointments in her life, and now death threats from the shadows. Dane had been right that people wanted an easy scapegoat for the mess their lives and their pack had become. It was probably simpler than realizing they’d let themselves be fooled by a charismatic but corrupt leader.

His wolf, Connery, growled at the idea, wanting to rip out the throats of these sniveling cowards. How dare they threaten someone who was practically a Cresta! They would regret the day they said one hurtful thing to or about his fated mate. In his dark thoughts that he rarely shared with anyone, he invented ways to make them suffer, even though he was not a violent man.

This must have been how Dane felt when Cyran’s rogues menaced Lilia and how Kyon felt when Marcus Mond and Azandra’s parents got in the way of their bond. He understood now on a deep, primal level.

Kyon hadn’t even bonded with Azandra until he felt free to do so but still felt protective. Dane had accidentally bonded with Lilia and was like a berserker fighting for and alongside Lilia.

Bonded.

His wolf was hopping up and down the minute he even thought the word. His wolf probably put the thought in his head.

“What is it?” Garnet asked, looking at him intently.

“I have an idea that will give you protection, guaranteed, and anyone that wants to threaten you will think twice from now on because mating is sacred to most of our people. It will also give you our family name.” He took several deep breaths. “I’m proposing it because, even though it terrifies me, I accept the offer to be the Crimsontail Alpha. I definitely accept you as my Luna, with no fear whatsoever. But we need to move with all due haste. Do you want to hear what I have in mind? Maybe you’ve guessed already.”