Page 105 of Confusing Hearts

Kyle mimicked him with a howl that was echoed by each of the Grand Council members that brought the dogs to a screeching stop. As enemies faced enemies in a standoff, awaiting the call back to action, she pleaded, “This has got to stop now. Look around you. How many more must die today? The seer was wrong. It has nothing to do with the lions. It has nothing to do with Jenna. Can’t you see? It is not the pride that will bring on the demise of the panthers—it is YOUR own pride! Look. See what is happening. Only you can stop this now.”

King Edmond Lockhardt shifted and stood beside his mate. He looked around at the devastation. Both dogs and cats lay dead or injured all around. Kelsey was running from one to the next trying to heal as many as she possibly could before it was too late. When she leaned down over a dying panther, Edmond hissed.

“What is she doing?” he asked through gritted teeth.

I hadn’t noticed that Jenna had shifted back to human form, too. She was still kneeling on the ground. Knowing how uncomfortable that made her in front of others. I moved to cover her. She wrapped her arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

“Kelsey’s a healer, Daddy. She’s helping the fallen.”

“But that’s a panther?” her mom said, astonished.

“It doesn’t matter. Every life is worth saving. Kelsey knows that. She shouldn’t have been here today. She’s pregnant and unable to shift, leaving her vulnerable, but she knew she could still save lives here, and insisted on coming,” Jenna told them. “She’s my Pack Mother,” she added.

Her father tensed, and took a step back when Kyle shifted on the spot.

“Let her do her job, sir. It would not be in your best interest to try to stop her. My mate is very powerful,” Kyle told him. He was trying to appear calm, but I could see how tense he was, sensing a threat to Kelsey.

Edmond raised his arms in surrender. “My daughter fights as equal alongside her mate. I realize now that no matter how this plays out, I’ve already lost her. I am done.” He gave another of those awful screeches and the cats that could, turned and walked back in the direction they came.

Kyle barked, followed by the Grand Council as the dogs began to retreat as well. The battle was over. It had been senseless. No one won today. Matt Williams was dead. My best friend was gone. The pain of that was difficult to handle.

Brothers for life, and beyond, I thought.

“Chase, come forward,” Jenna’s mother said. She looked me over critically. “I do not know how this is even possible. I can’t begin to understand it, but I watched you during the battle. One eye on your enemy, and one on my girl. You only left her side once, to help protect your friend, a cat no less, and only after a very strong and capable wolf took your place to protect her. If you had left her exposed for even a second, I would have snatched her up like the cub she once was and been gone in a flash. It will take some time. Old prejudices are hard to overcome, but there is no doubt in my mind that you love my daughter.” She began to weep. “And at the end of the day, what is more important than that?”

She then turned to Jenna and, without meaning to, I protectively wrapped my arm around her, pulling her closer to me. I couldn’t protect her from all that had happened, but I would shield her as best I could from any further physical or emotional damage that her family could cause.

“My little princess. You grew up when I wasn’t looking. He seems like a good man. All I’ve ever wanted is happiness for you and Tessa. If you’ve truly found that, then we’ll find a way to accept it.” She glanced back to where her mate was standing, watching, but unwilling to reach out. “Give him time. He loves you. I know he too will come around.”

I was torn as I loosened my grip on my beautiful mate, but as she cried in her mother’s arms, a smile lit her face. They said their goodbyes and Tessa grabbed her in a huge bear hug.

“I’m proud of you and I’ll see you at home. The girls and I have decided we aren’t leaving the ARC. We’re ready to take our stand, too,” Tessa whispered to her before kissing her cheek and turning to follow their parents.

I held my mate as we watched them leave.

“Do you really think he’ll come around?” she asked.

“I think we have to have faith he will.”

Jenna

Epilogue

I walked into the cabin, dropped my purse on the table then collapsed onto the couch. My last final of the semester. I was amazed I’d made it. Life had changed drastically upon returning to Archibald Reynolds after spring break, and not all for the bad.

Everyone on campus heard about what went down, and I guess you could say that meant the cat was out of the bag about Chase and me. The gossip and pettiness surrounding that seemed insignificant to me as I adjusted back to life at school. I had only been away from campus for one week, but it felt like a lifetime. I changed, grew up in that week.

Chase took Matt Williams’ death really hard. Within a few days of returning to school, he told me he couldn’t live in the frat house any longer, and moved into the cabin. It was just too hard for him. I knew he missed his friend and it broke my heart watching him mourn. Anita was still struggling, too, and somehow blamed me for it. We were talking now, but it was always tense.

There was a lot of tension at the sorority house, too. I stuck around for about two weeks before I packed up and moved in with Chase at our cabin. It was truly home now and we were both so much happier. Tessa came by several times a week, and we ate lunch whenever I was on campus. It was strange. With all that happened, I somehow grew closer to my twin than I had ever been before.

Chase might not have lived in the doghouse any more, but he was still very much a Delta Omega Gamma. Brothers for life and beyond, the slogan now went. Those guys had been wonderful through it all. They were family, my brothers too, and they never let me forget it. We had to put some boundaries on the cabin after it became the unofficial second doghouse.

It wasn’t the boys who were the problem; it was the girls that followed them everywhere. The cabin was now a mostly girl free safety zone. We especially had issues once the weather turned warm and Chad shed his ‘winter fluff’ as he explained it. He went from the cute chubby guy you’d want to hook up with your best friend who has terrible luck in guys, to panty dropping sexy, according to more than one girl wiping drool from her mouth. I still couldn’t believe it. It actually made me laugh every time I saw him. You would barely recognize him as the same person, yet he was in every way that mattered.

According to Chad, that was normal for squirrels; they bulked up in the winter and slimmed back down during the warm months. It was just what squirrels did. Damon had moved into Chase’s old room, unable to stand sleeping in the room he had shared with Matt. According to him, nothing had changed except Chad’s looks. He was still hiding food throughout the room and he still talked incessantly, but he had a huge heart and we loved him just the way he was.

The front door opened and closed. I didn’t budge. I had heard the Jeep coming up the drive, and I could smell my mate as potent as if he were standing before me. Hey, there were definitely some benefits to being an unofficial wolf.

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