Page 24 of Jasper

“Mom! Dad!” she said from where she stood at the second SUV talking to Benjamin, who looked like he’d been in a fight.

“We’ve gotta go now!” Jasper said, grasping her arm and pulling her to the SUV. He pushed her into the driver’s seat and over the console. She squawked as she landed sideways, sitting up and pulling the open door shut. When Finn, Viola, and Alfie were inside his SUV, he put it into gear and slammed his foot on the gas, dirt and rocks flying as the tires found purchase and the SUV lurched down the road. His friends followed closely behind in the other SUV.

Melody turned in her seat. “Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine now, honey,” her mom said. “Thank you for bringing Jasper here to help us.”

“What’s going to happen to everyone else?” she asked.

“I tossed the keys to Cray,” Finn said. “He’ll get everyone free. But the moment we can, we need to get back up here.”

“You’ll have to come without Jasper,” Melody said. He could feel her eyes on him but didn’t take his gaze off the road as he navigated the twisty turns. “And me too.”

“What do you mean?” Viola asked.

“Jasper’s my soulmate, and I agreed to stay in New Jersey.”

Jasper glanced in the rearview and saw Finn’s scowl. “We’ll talk when we get to the park,” Finn said stiffly.

“We definitely need to talk,” Melody said. “I have a ton of questions.”

Jasper did as well.

“How long do we have?” Finn asked.

“About three hours,” Jasper said.

“We can talk now,” Melody said.

“No,” Finn said, shaking his head. “We’ll talk when we have privacy.”

“I’m not listening, I swear,” Alfie said. “Which I realize means that Iwaslistening, but I promise I’m not actually paying attention.”

Jasper knew Finn well enough to know the sullen turn of his mouth meant he wasn’t going to speak until he was ready to, and that meant back in the park.

Reaching over, Jasper took Melody’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “We can talk in the apartment. Let’s just be thankful we got on the way safely.” He gave her a side glance. “Speaking of safety, why did you leave the SUV? I told you to stay put.”

“I totally heard you,” she said. “And I did, until I noticed someone sneaking up on Benjamin.” She told him how she’d found the flashlight and interrupted the male trying to kill Jasper’s friend.

“Honey!” Viola said. “You could have been hurt.”

“Well, I couldn’t just do nothing, Mom. He came up here with me and Jasper to help get you two free. The least I could do was make sure he didn’t shuffle off the mortal coil in the process.”

Jasper shook his head with a chuckle. “You always did have a way with words, Mel.”

“You know it.”

Finn filled them in on what he knew about Ludo and what happened.

“Ludo is Grimes’ cousin,” Finn said.

Melody turned in the seat to look at her dad. “What? He is?”

“Or was,” Finn said. “You two were young when it happened, but maybe fifteen years ago, Grimes saw Ludo as a threat to his leadership, but Ludo was only fourteen at the time and hadn’t shifted yet. Grimes attacked him, left him near dead on the edge of the territory. Told him he’d slaughter him if he ever stepped foot in Northbelle again.”

“Wow, I had no idea,” Melody said. “I can’t believe that Ludo got Grimes, though.”

“He was smart,” Finn said. “He and the males he’d amassed to his side over the years went after the mates and forced the males to come along. But I did hear the guards saying that Ludo killed Grimes, his mate, and Dario.”

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