Acceptable Risk by Candace Blevins Read Free Book Online Page B

option.”
    Everyone looked at him, and he explained, “I saw
Bethany connect with Ranger last night when he went all Dom on her.
If the three of them can form a relationship bond, Ranger might be
able to sever his ties to Duke as if Duke isn’t welcome in the
relationship.”
    Ranger looked at Bethany a few seconds and said,
“It’s fast, but I like you and want to get to know you better. The
relationship bond says we’re together. A unit. We can include
Jonathan physically without including him in the ritual. He’s a
cat, and there’s a way to include him, but not easily so it won’t
happen tonight. But, we can bind you, me, and Mac into a
relationship and Jonathan’s right — I can probably sever the ties
Mac and I have to Duke.”
    “Relationship?” Bethany’s voice squeaked as she
said the word, and she shook her head. “No. We fucked, that’s it. I
don’t do relationships.”
    “Bethany,” Gen said, her voice simultaneously
friendly and antagonistic. “We’ve talked about this before. All
guys aren’t assholes. Besides, you have the harem you’ve been
wanting. Give it a try before you find a reason to push them away.
You deserve your own happiness.”
    Bethany shook her head again, and Mac said, “I
felt it. Our aura’s just split, didn’t they?”
    “Yeah,” said Duke.
    “Bethany and I are going for a ride,” Gen
announced as she stood.
    “Why?” Bethany asked.
    “So we can talk.”
    “Let’s just go upstairs, then. I only have a
t-shirt on.”
    “They can hear us talking from anywhere in the
house,” Gen reminded her.
    Bethany stood with the blanket, wrapped it
around her, and headed towards the door, but Jonathan said, “You’re
barefoot, Raggedy. Let me carry you.”
    She didn’t argue, and five minutes later Duke
had shown Bethany the hideaway with his extra gun, reminded Gen he
expected her to use hers if necessary, and they were on the
way.
    “Three things,” Gen said as she pulled out of
the driveway, “the first is I could tell how much you liked Mac,
and how much you trusted Jonathan and Ranger. Second, you have to tell me about what happened last night.”
    Gen went silent, so Bethany asked, “And the
third thing?”
    “If they can’t break the pack bonds they formed,
Duke will move away before he risks having to fight his brother.
They’re finally back in the same city, and he’s managed to be part
of his biological family again in a small way, if not his original
pack family. I don’t want to see him lose that, but I also don’t
want to have to decide between my career and my husband. If I move
out of the country with him I’ll never get set up with the contacts
I have here. I’ll have to kiss my job goodbye.” She paused and
said, “And you, and my family. I don’t want to have to leave. My
life is here, but… Duke’s my life, too. If he leaves, I’ll go with
him.”
    Gen turned into an empty restaurant parking lot,
put the antique mustang in neutral, and engaged the emergency
break. “I would never ask you to do this if I didn’t think you
liked them, but I saw how you looked at them. Whatever happened
last night was big, and you like them all . You’ve wanted a
harem and this is it! Why are you telling them it was just a night
of sex?”
    “Because guys are assholes. You think they’re
not, but they always turn out to be, once you get to know
them.”
    “Duke isn’t. I’m pretty sure Brain isn’t.
Frisco, Isaac, and Cam aren’t. I mean, Frisco was, but he seems to
have changed for Cassie and Cam. You won’t know if these guys are
capable of non-asshole status unless you give them a chance.”
    “And if I get hurt again?”
    “He-who-shall-not-be-named was an asshole of
immense proportions, but neither of us were old enough or
experienced enough to see it. If we met him now, we’d know it in
the first five minutes, don’t you think?”
    Bethany thought back to the first time she met
him and the way he’d called her babe . His tone of