Page 16 of Secret Wolf Baby

What Reacher was implying sounded so absurd, so ridiculous, that I initially thought he was joking. I even gave a soft laugh. There was no way he had just sold me in a trade with Jackson. But then I saw the bewildered expressions on the two unfamiliar shifters’ faces and the grim look of acceptance on Dad’s face.

Oh, God. They were serious.

“I don’t follow,” I said. I had to be missing something. That was the only explanation.

“He’s going to be your mate,” Reacher said in that same slow, mocking tone he used with me sometimes. “It’s all been decided. You’re lucky.”

Jackson’s mate? No. I wouldn’t. Not after the way he broke my heart.

“I don’t want—” I began.

“I think in order to make everything official, we should have a ceremony,” Reacher said, speaking to Jackson as if I hadn’t said anything.

Ceremony? The word sounded so foreign that I couldn’t properly process the meaning.

“Is she all right with that?” Jackson asked.

“Of course she is,” Reacher answered for me before I could say anything. “And I’m going to insist on one, I’m afraid. I think it will be best for both sides.”

Jackson nodded.

“Fantastic!” Reacher beamed. “I think tomorrow will do fine. No use dawdling, and that way, you can get back to your pack as soon as possible.”

Tomorrow?That word seemed to break the mute spell that gripped me, and I finally managed to find my voice.

“N-no,” I said, eyes wide as I shook my head. “No, I’m not—”

“You’ll do what your alpha says,” Dad growled.

My mind reeled as I thought desperately. There had to be a way for me to get out of this. I couldn’t go with Jackson. Not after everything he had put me through.

“You don’t want me,” I said to Jackson, finding an edge of steel I had forgotten I had. “Seriously.”

Reacher’s eyes flashed with warning as he shot me a withering look. “I believe that he just said he does,” he retorted in a voice that said I wasn’t to argue. I didn’t know exactly what was going on, but I knew that I was jeopardizing some larger plan of Reacher’s.

Normally, I would shrink away and obey Reacher. But not about this. Not when he was planning on selling me like livestock. I wasn’t going to let him do that without some sort of fight. At the same time, I knew that fighting back directly would get me in serious trouble. The best way to get out of this was to make Jackson change his mind.

So, I said the one thing I could think of that might scare him off.

“I’m not going anywhere without my daughter,” I blurted out.

It made sense to me to mention Claire. Jackson had abandoned me for a hell of a lot less eleven years ago. If he was anything like how he used to be, he wouldn’t want that extra burden. Hell, he hadn’t even wanted me alone.

A resounding silence fell over the group after I made that statement. Dad looked annoyed. Reacher looked like he might want to murder me. Jackson stared, his mouth open. I waited, heart pounding, for him to turn around and tell Reacher the deal was off. Surely he would do that. It was the only chance I had to get out of this.

“Daughter?” Jackson asked, still gaping at me. “You have a daughter?”

“Yes.”

For a wild, panicked moment, I worried that he might ask if Claire was his, or that he might guess it out of sheer luck. I hadn’t been with anyone but him. I hadn’t ever wanted anyone else. Even if I had, none of the males here would touch me with a ten-foot pole, considering Reacher and Dad had made me a social pariah. Claire could only be his. But there was no way he could know that.

I hoped that if Jackson knew I had a daughter, he would change his mind. Who wanted a kid to go along with their forced bride? I waited for him to turn to Reacher and tell him the deal was off, that he had changed his mind. He had rejected me on my own. There was no way he wouldn’t do the same if I had a kid.

Instead, he asked, “What’s her name?”

I frowned. “Claire,” I said.

He nodded, looking over at Reacher. “Naturally, Claire will come with her mother,” he stated.

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