Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Ethan is Disappointed How is this possible? Ethan thought desperately. I was so sure Elise Carrington was Jane. I was so sure the beautiful she-wolf I met in Eve’s Atelier was my long lost mate. I know she smells different, but she’s a perfume designer, it would be only too easy for her to fake the scent change.

Still, there was no denying the DNA report in his palm, which stated in no uncertain terms that the two samples he submitted were not a match. Elise Carrington was not Jane Blackwell, no matter how alike the two women looked… no matter that she appeared to be mother to three other children who looked so like him, and no matter how many lies she spun. It didn’t make any sense, if she wasn’t Jane, then what explanation was there for her actions? How could this be?

Ethan was so distraught he stumbled straight into a bar and began downing drink after drink, drowning his sorrows and contemplating this strange turn of fate.

Meanwhile Jane took advantage of Ethan’s absence from the hospital to visit sweet Paisley. An emergency surgery arose just before Paisley was scheduled to go under, so her procedure was delayed a few days until the next opening could be booked. They were keeping her under observation until then just to be safe, and Jane couldn’t stand the idea of not seeing her baby one more time before the big day. Ethan scarcely even left Paisley’s side, but her forged DNA results seemed to have done the trick. In that way the fraudulent document killed two birds with one stone, giving her a precious moment with her daughter, all the while protecting her true identity.

“Are you scared?” She asked Paisley, using all her willpower not to climb into bed with the pup.

“No.” Paisley shook her head, “I’ve had lots of surgries afore.”

This blithe statement cracked Jane’s heart right open. “Brave girl.” She crooned. “Is there anything you want or need, anything I can do for you?”

Paisley flushes, staring at her lap and clearly withholding some request she felt to shy to share.

“What is it, little one?” Jane pressed sincerely.

“Can I sit in your lap?” The pup requested so quietly her mother almost didn’t hear.

“Of course darling.”Jane agreed, gathering up the precious being in her arms and settling her in her arms.

Paisley cuddled closer, clutching the silky fabric of Jane’s top and breathing in her comforting scent. “Will you sing to me?”

“I’d love to.” Jane confirmed, beginning at a hum and slowly raising her voice to the low volume of a lullaby. Together Paisley and Jane drifted along with the gentle tune, mother and daughter finally sharing that which had been missing from both their lives since being separated. Paisley slowly dosed off to sleep, and Jane tucked her into bed with a tender kiss before quitting the hospital.

She cried the entire way home, barely getting herself together enough to go inside and face Linda. She knew her friend would never judge her heightened emotions, but she felt like she’d already leaned on her friend so much that it wouldn’t be fair to tax her further.

However Jane never made it that far. Instead she found Ethan staggering in the hallway outside Linda’s apartment, reeking of alcohol and looking at her with unbridled lust. He’s barely coherent, so overwhelmed with drink that his words are slurred as he greets her. “I really thought you were her.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jane lied, as if it hadn’t cost her a small fortuned to pay of the lab tech responsible for running the DNA test.

“I loved her more than anything, you know that?” Ethan rumbles, moving towards Jane in a zig-zag. “You look so much like her… and those pups… I really wanted Paisley to have her mother back… I’m not enough for her.”

His words made no sense to Jane. They contradicted everything she believed she knew about their relationship, and she couldn’t allow herself to dwell on them. Maybe this was just another one of Ethan’s ploys to control her, or maybe it was genuine, either way it would only result in pain for her. Ethan might imagine he’d loved her, but if that were true then his way of showing love was enslavement “You’re drunk.” Jane informed him coolly, “You need to go home. Your daughter is having surgery tomorrow, she needs you in one piece.”

One of Ethan’s massive hands shot out to capture Jane’s arms. “How do you know that?”

“We met in the hospital.” She reminded him, “You told me about Paisley then.”

“I never told you her name.” He growled. “And her surgery was postponed. As far as you should know, she already had it.”

His dark eyes bored into Jane, full of questions and accusations. “You’ve clearly downed enough spirits to tranquilize an elephant.”

Jane argued, “Can you really trust your memory right now?”

“Tell me the truth!” He demanded, pure Alpha authority bleeding into his deep voice, “tell me what’s going on.”

Jane assumed he wanted an answer, but before she could open her mouth to reply, his lips were descending on hers. They collided with devastating force, erasing all thought from her mind. Instantly her instincts took over, and before she could stop herself, Jane was wrapping her arms around Ethan’s neck and parting her lips for his questing tongue.

Ethan groaned into the kiss, slanting his mouth hungrily over his mate’s and delving deep. Her feet left the ground, wrapping around his waist as her back flattened against the wall. Pure desire consumed her, taking over all her senses and erasing all her fears and concerns. No matter what had happened between them in the past, this felt so incredibly right, it would take a far stronger woman than her to resist such powerful feelings.

Ethan claimed her inside and out, rocking his hardness against her already sodden center and drawing soft moans from her lips. In that instant it seemed as if no time had passed at all, as if they had no fears and concerns, as if the world was as simple as it had been when they were sixteen and head over heels in love.

If the Alpha had his way they would have continued like this all night, but the soft nip of his teeth on her neck jolted Jane back to reality. She remembered that they were not hormonal teenagers anymore. They weren’t in love, they weren’t matęs. They were an Alpha and his former slave, and if she let this continue, she would pay the price, and lose her pups in the process..

Reaching out for the decorative vase positioned on the hall table outside of Linda’s apartment, she smashed it over Ethan’s head without a second thought, watching the powerful wolf collapse at her feet, and sobbing her pain and relief into the cool night air. What she did not and could not know, is that on the other side of the door her pups watched with confusion and disbelief as the events unfolded. The boys stood balanced on a chair in front of the peephole, taking in every second of the passionate exchange and sudden attack with confusion and sadness. Exchanging a glance as the sound of their mother’s tears carried through the thin wooden panel, they both knew that something had to be done.