Logan shook his head. "I know. Listen, I've got to get home. I have a mate to rake over the coals for keeping secrets from me."

Jace managed a halfhearted smile. "Her co-conspirator has earned some chastis.e.m.e.nt too."

Logan chuckled and slapped him on the back. "Good night, Jace. If there's anything I can do, well, you know how to reach me."

"Thanks, Logan. Good night."

The two friends parted company, climbed into their respective vehicles and drove away. As he drove back to Hayley's, Jace replayed the events of the evening, his mind whirling with confusion, anxiety and anger. He'd been dreading the thought of finally telling Hayley about his true nature and having to deal with her reaction. Feeling this unsure of himself had greatly unsettled him. Jace was no coward. He'd faced every difficult situation head on, but for this one. He felt a growing anger with himself.

Now he not only had to deal with the consequences of his indecision-after having accidentally turned Hayley, he had to deal with a truckload of guilt. To top it all off, she was keeping secrets from him. Secrets that could endanger her life. He grudgingly acknowledged the fact that they were not at the stage where Hayley would know that she was to rely on him for protection. Yet he unreasonably felt as though she distrusted his ability to do so. Her failure to come to him left him feeling as though she had judged him inadequate to handle the situation.

That line of thought knotted his tangled emotions and fueled his anger to the point that by the time he reached Hayley's house, he wasn't sure which way was up. He was mad as h.e.l.l and spoiling for a fight. Exiting his truck, he strode up the porch steps and, upon reaching the door, pounded loudly on that shivering panel.

Having heard his truck pull up, Hayley was already at the door. "Hey, take it easy on the door, buddy," she teased as she opened it to let him in.

Unsmiling, Jace stalked in and very deliberately closed the door. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out?" he questioned harshly, his eyes glowing like heated lava.

Hayley frowned. "Find out what?"

"You had somevisitors at the bookstore this morning."

"Oh that. It's no big deal."

"No big deal. No bigdeal ? That man intends to harm you and you think it's no big deal?" Jace gave her a disbelieving stare. "Why don't you tell me the real reason you didn't want me to know, Hayley."

"All right, fine," she bit out, her own eyes beginning to blaze. "Bryn and I knew that you and Logan would overreact, just like you're doing right now. I suppose Logan is giving Bryn the third degree right this very moment."

"You got that right. Logan won't stand for his mate keeping secrets from him and neither will I."

Hayley frowned. "What do you mean bymate ?"

Jace's anger was momentarily arrested but he quickly recovered. "It's just a word, Hayley, another term for wife or lover. Don't try to distract me. You and I both know you weren't afraid I'd overreact to the news. The real reason you didn't tell me about that man threatening you is because you don't trust me. You don't think I'm man enough to handle it for you."

"What?That's bulls.h.i.t and you know it, Jace McKenna. I don'tbelieve this. You rush over here all angry and indignant trying to make me feel like I've done something wrong, when all you want is your ego stroked. I thought you were a man, not a little boy."

A flood of fury swept all good sense from Jace's head. He grabbed her arm, pulling her close. "The only thing I wantedstroked got taken care of earlier, babe. Your senses must be impaired if you couldn't tell it was aman you sucked off."

Hayley's face blanched, her breath coming in shaky pants. "Get out," she ordered.

"Gladly," Jace replied bitterly. Releasing her arm, he spun on his heel and opened the door, slamming it behind him. Reaching his truck, he jumped in, started the engine and revved it before popping it in gear and peeling out of her driveway. He headed straight for Morgan's.

"Two-f.u.c.king-forty-three in the morning," Cade D'jorlin growled as he looked at the clock by his bed. "If one of those cubs is in trouble again, I swear I'm gonna peel his hide." He picked up the ringing telephone. "D'jorlin."

"Cade, it's David Morgan."

"Son of ab.i.t.c.h . Which one is it this time, Dave?"

Dave chuckled. "Well actually, it's our alpha."

"Jace?"

"That's the one."

"I'll be right there."

Cade rolled out of bed and walked with just the barest hint of a limp to the bathroom. Comfortable in the dark, he used the toilet, washed his hands and splashed water on his face before picking up the bottle of mouthwash by the sink and taking a swig. He swished it around before spitting it back in the sink then ran the water to rinse it down. Picking up his hairbrush, he gave his short blond hair a couple of swipes-not that there was much to be brushed. Cade kept his hair short, a habit ingrained from his time as a Marine.

Heading back to the bedroom, he reached down for the pair of jeans he'd thrown on the floor by the bed. Knowing they were clean, he pulled them on, sans underwear, liking the feel of the denim against his skin. He stood, went to the closet and pulled out a hunter green t-shirt, slipping it over his head and skimming it down his muscled torso.

Grabbing his keys off the dresser, he walked through the house, stopping to slip on his shoes, then let himself into the garage. Only then did he flip on a light and paused to admire the shine on his baby. The black 1982 model Corvette in cherry condition awaited him, and Cade lost no time in seating himself behind the wheel. He sighed with pleasure. The seat fit like a glove.

"At least I getsome pleasure in being pulled out of bed in the middle of the night," he muttered as he headed down the road to Morgan's.

Cade made the trip in fifteen minutes and pulled into the lot, noting that Jace's truck and David's car were the only two vehicles present. He parked by Jace's truck and got out, locking his door behind him. More than familiar with Morgan's, he entered and-seeing no one around-headed to the back office. David was there alone, going over some invoices.

"Hey, Dave, where is he?"

"Upstairs. Glad you're here, Cade." Dave rose and led the way back out front. "I wasn't so much worried about him driving-you know how fast the effects of alcohol wear off on us, and I could keep him here until they do-but something's bothering him. He's not saying what, but I think he needs to talk, and who better than you or Logan?"

Cade followed Dave and they halted at the foot of the stairs. Cade slapped Dave on the back. "I'll take it from here. Thanks."

"No problem. I'm headed home. Lock up when you leave. Okay?"

"You got it."

Cade climbed the stairs. It was the first time he'd ever done so without the jukebox wailing, and he smiled at the heretofore unnoticed creaks. His ears also picked up the sound of quiet singing. At least it wa.s.supposed to be singing.

Little Jace, one-note,he thought with an irreverent grin.

Reaching the top floor, he spotted Jace sprawled out in the furthermost booth. The table was littered with shredded and wadded-up napkins scattered amongst empty bottles. It looked as though he'd started with beer, then graduated to whiskey shots straight from the bottle-several bottles in fact.

A bleary-eyed Jace spotted Cade. "Hey, Cade, ol' buddy. Sit down, brother wolf, and have a drink.

Have a bunch of drinks. I did." He let out a belch and a drunken chuckle.

Cade walked up to the booth and moved some of the empties over before taking the seat opposite Jace. "Hey, boss, how you doin'?"

"s.h.i.tty, and that's the G.o.d's honest truth."

Cade's brows rose. He was surprised Jace confessed to having a problem so easily. He'd been sure it would take a while to weasel it out of him. "So what's the trouble? It's not like you to resort to this," he observed, his glance taking in all the empties.

"I f.u.c.ked up, Cade, I f.u.c.ked up bad. I hurt Hayley and now she hates me. My mate hates me." Arms on the table, Jace hung his head, his shoulders slumping.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?"

Jace started, his explanation at first a confused ramble, but by the time he was finished, he was dead sober.

"Well, how 'bout that. You reallyare in love. When it comes to women you're usually the original Mr. Smooth." Cade smiled. "But you really put your foot in your mouth this time. h.e.l.l, you swallowed it whole."

Jace groaned. "You're not helping."

Cade chuckled. "I'll tell you what. Think about this. Here you are, feeling guilty as h.e.l.l and messing yourself up because you hurt Hayley's feelings. Right?"

Jace nodded.

"Seems to me she said some harsh words to you too, especially that 'I thought you were a man' remark.

What do you wanna bet she's feeling some guilt of her own?"

"You think?" Jace asked hopefully.

"Oh yeah. You see, the thing with women is, unlike men who run out and get drunk, they start thinking about what happened. They pick it apart and a.n.a.lyze every word and every gesture to try to figure out just what went wrong. They obsess about it until they're sure they've wrung every little bit of information they can out of it. And in this case, unless she's a cast-iron b.i.t.c.h with no heart who's determined to make everything your fault, I'd bet money on the fact that she's feeling just as bad as you are."

Jace considered Cade's words for a moment then actually found a small smile tugging at his lips.

"How'd you learn so much about women?"

"I was actually in love once. Trouble is, she turned out to be a cast-iron b.i.t.c.h."

"You never told me that."

"Some things are better left forgotten. You ready to go home?"

"Yeah."

They both slid out of the booth and headed downstairs. Cade pulled the door shut, making sure it locked behind them. The sun was just beginning to rise as they walked to their vehicles. A cool, fresh breeze brought the morning's aromas to their heightened senses. Jace took a deep breath, pushing the last of the fuzz from his head.

"Thanks, Cade. Sorry I got you out of bed so early."

"No problem, boss. By the way, next time you try to sing, let me know and I'll bring you a bucket. Although I doubt it would help."

Jace growled. "Very funny. You and Logan should team up. You'd make a great comedy duo."

Cade laughed. "I'll have to discuss that with him."

He unlocked his car door, opened it and slid inside. With a wave, he took off down the road. Jace sat in his truck for a moment, thinking about Cade's words and making a few plans. With a hopeful att.i.tude, he started his truck and headed for home.

Hayley had been doing exactly what Cade had predicted. She was going over the fight with a fine-toothed comb. After Jace left, she'd fumed and roundly cursed every hair on his head. Every time she thought about the cra.s.s remark he'd made, a twinge of pain twisted something inside her. Like a sore tooth, she couldn't leave the incident alone. Her mind spun through the whole thing from start to finish, again and again, until she felt dizzy with it.

Finally she fixed herself a cup of tea, forced herself to sit down on the sofa and began some deep breathing exercises she'd learned to alleviate stress. With her thoughts finally calm and focused, she began to really think about what had happened. Not only that, she began to think about Jace, about who he was and what she knew about him.

It began to dawn on her that Jace would never deliberately hurt her. The remark he'd made was a result of her own runaway tongue. Instead of focusing on what the real problem had been, she'd fired the first volley of insults that caused their disagreement to degenerate to the point it had.

"d.a.m.n," she murmured and cringed at the thought of what she'd said.

Jace had been upset because she'd been threatened and because she hadn't told him about it. In hindsight she supposed itcould be misconstrued that she didn't trust him to help her handle it, but the idea of Jace thinking that she would believe he wasn't man enough was totally ludicrous. The man wasn't using his head and she began to wonder just why that was.

Deciding she needed to talk to someone, she picked up the phone and hit the speed dial for Bryn. "Hey," she spoke when Bryn picked up on the other end. "Are you busy? Jace and I had a fight. I need to talk." She listened for a moment. "Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes."

Twenty minutes later she sat in Bryn and Logan's kitchen with a cup of coffee, relating the sordid details of the fight. Afterward she looked at them expectantly.

"Well," Bryn told her. "You two really did a number on each other."

"I know that. And you don't have to tell me that I started the argument on its downhill slide. I never should have said what I said. I realize now that Jace was worried about me. That's why he was so angry. What I don't get is how he could ever think that I would think he's not man enough to handle anything."

"When a man's in love, he doesn't always behave rationally. The thinking processes sometimes go askew," Logan interjected.

Hayley and Bryn turned their wide-eyed gazes to him. "In love?" Hayley questioned. "What makes you think he's in love?"

"Aside from the fact that he told me, which by the way you didnot hear from me, I think it's fairly obvious. Jace is a smart, levelheaded guy who's always been confident and in charge in any situation. Most especially where women are concerned. You come along and all of a sudden, he's acting like an idiot." Hayley smiled and Bryn snickered. "Only love does that to a man."

"He really said he loves me?"

Logan captured Hayley's gaze, his own filled with concern. "You really need to hear this from Jace. I'm only telling you because I think the two of you need a little help right now. It bothers me to see the two of you hurting each other." Hayley's eyes filled with tears. "I'm hoping this is an incident you'll both learn something from. When there's a problem, you need to talk it out rationally, not insult each other."

Hayley nodded, thoroughly chastised, as Bryn looked at Logan, pride and love clearly showing in her eyes. "You never cease to amaze me," she told him softly. "You're going to make such a wonderful father."

Logan's smile was almost bashful. "I'm really looking forward to it."

"Before this descends into a mush fest," Hayley commented with a smile, "I have one more question." Capturing their attention, she continued. "Jace made a strange remark during our argument. He said, and I quote, 'Logan won't stand for hismate keeping secrets from him, and neither will I'." She noted the look Bryn and Logan gave each other. "What did he mean by that?"

"That I shouldn't have kept what happened from Logan," Bryn said. "Which I know was wrong," she added in deference to his pointed look.

"That's not the part I mean. I'm talking about that word-mate."

"It's a common term. Some people refer to their spouse as their mate."

"I know that, but it seemed as though he meant something else, something more. Especially in light of the fact that he and I aren't married."

Logan rose from his chair, taking his cup to the sink and rinsing it out. "That's something you're going to have to discuss with Jace. I think Bryn and I have interfered enough. Don't you, babe?"

"Yes, I do," she agreed and took her own cup to the sink, rinsed it out then stood by Logan's side. She slipped an arm around his waist and the two of them presented a united front to Hayley, who took the hint.

"All right, I'll talk to Jace. After we set things right." She pushed her coffee cup over to Bryn who rinsed it and set it with the others. She rose and gave Bryn and Logan each a hug. "Thanks for listening and not letting me get away with anything."

"Always happy to show you the error of your wicked ways," Bryn teased.

"What a perfect sister," Hayley mocked and walked out of the kitchen to the front door. Logan and Bryn followed, said their goodbyes and saw her on her way.

"Do you think those two will ever get it together?" Bryn asked, leaning back into Logan.

He wrapped his arms around her. "I think they've both learned a valuable lesson. Communication, not castigation, is the key. And speaking of getting it together..." He bent and nuzzled her neck, biting that place between her neck and shoulder that always sent shivers down her spine. "How about we do just that?"