Page 26 of Jasper

“Yeah, he did,” Viola said. “It was beyond your control, just an odd twist of fate that kept your wolf from ever coming out. Grimes thought that you’d pass along what he called your ‘defect,’ and he decided that he wasn’t going to allow you to mate with anyone.”

“Jasper told me about that conversation,” she said. It still baffled her. “I can’t believe Grimes wanted to keep me from being mated.”

Her dad nodded solemnly. “I’m afraid he did. Did Jasper tell you about wanting to choose exile and take you with him and Grimes’ threat?”

She nodded. A bit of hope fluttered in her heart. She still couldn’t believe that Jasper had stood up to the alpha on her behalf, but she’d never known. Or that her alpha had threatened to kill her if she mated Jasper.

“Unfortunately, that’s when shit hit the fan,” her mom said, grimacing. “Grimes saw himself as some kind of perfectionist with shifters, and he didn’t want you tainting your children. Which is ridiculous, of course. Your dad and I told him as much, but he was unmovable.”

Gaining his composure quickly, her dad said, “At any rate, Grimes forced Jasper from the pack immediately, barely gave him time to pack a bag. He joined up with Joss at the park in New Jersey and that’s that.”

Her hackles raised. “That’s notthatat all, Dad. Why didn’t you tell me? And he said he sent a letter asking me to join him. What happened to it?”

“Don’t you understand?” her mom asked, her voice plaintive. “You would have been killed if you left. Grimes was determined to keep you unmated and childless forever. He would have found you no matter where you went.”

“You took the letter?”

“We had no choice,” her dad said. “We knew if we gave you the letter, if you realized that Jasper left to save your life, that you would have gone to him. We couldn’t risk your life, not when we didn’t know if Jasper could keep you safe.”

“You should have given me the choice,” she said.

“We did what we needed to do to keep you safe,” her dad said. “I have no regrets about that.”

“You could have at least told me! I spent the last seven years thinking my soulmate abandoned me, and he clearly thought thesame thing! He was so furious when he saw me, so angry and hurt. You…you had no right to keep things from me. It’s my life and was my choice to make!”

“You’re our child,” her dad said, his voice going low with authority and the power of his wolf.

She ignored the authority he was trying to exert over her and said, “On top of all of that, when things went tits up with the pack, you said Jasper was the only one who could help. You destroyed my relationship with him, you left him floundering without his home packandhis soulmate, and you still expected him to save you.”

“He did,” her father said.

“Yeah, I’m not really sure why. He should have told me to go to hell.”

She stared at her parents for a long moment, then walked out of the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” her father demanded.

“For a walk.”

She heard their protests as she opened the door, and then silence once she’d closed it behind her and stepped out onto the concrete walkway. She rested her hands on the iron railing in front of the walkway and stared out into the darkness, her mind spinning.

All these years, she’d thought Jasper had just walked away from her. In reality, he’d sent for her, but she’d never known. It was no wonder that he’d been so angry when he saw her: he assumed she hadn’t wanted to be with him.

But how could she not want to be with him?

Not only was he her soulmate, but he was just a good male. Despite his anger at the past, he’d still gathered his friends and gone on a mission to save her parents.

But things weren’t settled between her and Jasper. She’d agreed to come back to the park so they could talk, andthere were so many misunderstandings and so much lost time between them. What if no matter what she said, he didn’t want anything to do with her?

What if she was still alone after all this time?

A knot formed in her stomach and her wolf let out a soft, mournful howl in her head.

“Hi, are you okay?” a male voice asked from the darkness ahead.

He stepped into view, and she recognized him as Lucius, who’d come with Jasper to help set her parents free.

“Not really. I need to see Jasper. Can you take me to him?”

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