Grace pulled up to her mother’s house and shock went through her when she saw Mason had his truck parked in front of it. He was leaning against the door, with his massive arms folded across his equally massive chest. He was certainly a lot bigger then he’d been fifteen years ago, and was sure to be stronger too. She sat in the car as she stared at him, trying desperately to get her heart rate back down to normal. Why the hell couldn’t he have gotten uglier over the intervening years instead of hotter? It would have been a hell of a lot easier for her peace of mind and her ability to get him out of her thoughts.

She shut off the ignition and braced herself. Was she really prepared to go toe to toe with him again, now that she’d decided to cut her losses and leave East Brook for good this time. Well, if nothing else, it would certainly prove to her that she’d made the right decision. And she couldn’t sit here staring at him all day.

She pulled the keys out of the ignition and tucked them into the pocket of her jean shorts. Sending up a silent prayer that he was here for something else other than to antagonize her, she opened her car door and stepped out. He straightened away from the truck, and she turned away so she wouldn’t have to see how good he looked in the black T-shirt with his gym’s logo on it, which was stretched over the breadth of his chest. How many hand spans would it take for her to get from one shoulder to the other?

You don’t need to know. She went to the back of the car, and opened the trunk. It was full of empty grocery store boxes. She’d figured that if she had made the decision to list the house, it was time to go through all the stuff her mother had accumulated over the years and finally deal with it.

“If you plan on staying for longer than five minutes, you might as well give me a hand.” He had yet to say anything about why he was here, in fact he hadn’t said anything at all. If he was going to be here, he was going to help.

His footsteps got closer and she managed to avoid looking at him as she pulled boxes out and dumped them on to the drive way.

“What’s all this?”

“Boxes.” So if they were not going to fight and yell at each other, were any future conversations they were going to have going to be this stilted and awkward? She sighed when she remembered how different it had been fifteen years ago. They talked all the time, at least when they weren’t too busy making love with each other. They’d had the insatiable appetites of young lovers and could barely keep their hands off each other.

“I can see that. What are they for?” He stacked several small boxes into a couple bigger boxes and picked them up. His hands were large and tanned against the cardboard and she tried to blot out the memory of what it had felt like to have those gentle hands caressing her skin. She was never going to feel that again, so she better stop thinking about it.

She slammed the trunk shut and scooped up a bunch of her own boxes. With a glance at him, she led the way to the house and set the boxes on the porch while she fished out the house key from her pocket.

“I’m going to start going through my mom’s stuff. I don’t know how much of it is worth keeping, but I thought that some of her things could be given to any member of the pack who wants or needs it.” It was going to be a daunting task and one she’d avoided until now.

“How long as she been gone?” For the first time since she’d come back, his voice was soft and he sounded like the old Mason. She shoved aside the ache in her heart at the sound of that voice. It didn't matter what he sounded like, he was no longer the sweet, gentle guy who she’d been in love with fifteen years ago. Her lies and secrets had seen to that.

“It’s been five years. It’s time I got it done and over with. I don’t want to put it off in case the house sells quicker than I think it will.”

Using her hip she shoved the door opened and walked into the living room of the tidy little house. She dumped the boxes on the couch and turned to take the ones he was holding from him.

“Well you better make sure you have somewhere in East Brook to live in if it does sell quick.” The look he cast around the house told her that he had his doubts that it would happen. East Brook was a blink and miss it kind of place, things weren't exactly prosperous but what was she going to do? She wanted to cut all ties to East Brook and move on, and part of that meant getting rid of this house.

“I have no intention of living in East Brook.”

“You’re not moving to Cold Bay, are you?” He drew back, and her mouth tightened when she saw the momentary look of horror cross his face before he masked it.

“No, I’m not moving to Cold Bay. Don’t worry, you won’t see much of me anymore. Once I get the house settled I’m going to ask Logan to release me from East Brook’s membership.” It was the hardest decision she’d had to make, and there was no guarantee that Logan would agree to it.

Now more than ever he needed every pack member that he could get, but she hoped that he would understand why she needed to do it. When she’d first come back she’d thought that she could handle it, that she could come home again, but just like looking at Mason now, it was too painful. The past had her in it’s grip and wouldn’t let her go unless she made a complete break from everything.

“You’re leaving the pack?” There was a look of stunned disbelief on his face, as if he couldn’t conceive of why anyone would want to do that. She supposed that for Mason, Cold Bay and the pack were everything to him, but for her, East Brook held nothing for her anymore. Nothing but bad memories

“Well not immediately, but yes. There’s nothing for me here any more, and the pack doesn’t need me now that it’s merging with Cold Bay. It’s time to move on.”

“So that’s your new motto now? Just move on when things get a little difficult? Or is there someone else waiting for you somewhere else?”

Grace rolled her eyes. She should have known that it was too good to be true, that the old, understanding Mason wouldn’t hang around for long. He was back to being the newer, bitterer version of himself and this was another reason why she was moving on. They weren’t healthy for each other, and perhaps if she was out of the picture, the past could loosen its grip on him too.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but there is no one else. Do you honestly think I would have told Logan that I would mate with him if I had someone else in my life.”

“Why not? It hasn’t stopped you before.”

A quick flash of pain went through her as his barb struck home. She was certain that if she had done what he thought she had, it would have drawn blood. As it was, it didn’t matter that she was innocent of what he accused her of, because he would never know. Some secrets should never see the light of day, and by leaving she would make sure that the one she'd carried around with her for fifteen years like a millstone around her neck would stay hidden.

“Did you come here to insult me? Because if you did, you can get out. Thanks for the help with the boxes but you can be on your way.” She turned away and started sorting through the boxes, piling them on the floor by size for lack of anything better to do. She heard him sigh behind her, and there was the weight of regret in it. He put his hand on her arm and she stiffened.

“I didn’t come to insult you. The opposite in fact. Logan kicked my ass this morning and told me to get out here to apologize.”

She pulled her arm away from him and moved to put some distance between them before she turned to face him. “I don’t need you to apologize to me just because your alpha ordered you to. As a matter of fact, I think that would be more insulting than not apologizing at all.”

He sighed and his shoulders sagged for a moment. He scrubbed his hand over his face, and she could hear the rasp of his skin over the black stubble covering his chin.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was one of quiet sincerity and as she looked into his dark blue eyes, she could see that he meant it. This was not a coerced apology, made at his alpha’s behest. “I didn’t come here to insult you. Your life is your own, and you need to do what’s good for you. And I’m sorry for how I acted last night too. It was stupid of me to go after Rafe the way I did. If it makes you feel any better, Logan tore me a new one over that.”

“It doesn’t make me feel better to know that you and Logan are having conflict. But thank you for apologizing. I know it can’t have been easy for you to do it.” She pushed a smile on her face, one that she knew would not reach her eyes. Hopefully he would be leaving soon. It was difficult keeping her barrier up against him now that he had such a soft look in his eyes. “I don’t know if I’ll see you again, since I doubt I’ll be back in Cold Bay now that I don’t have business with Logan anymore. Take care of yourself, Mason.”

He made no move to leave, and she would have thought with the tension between them the way it was that he would jump at the opportunity to get out.

“The apology isn’t the only reason I’m here. Logan sent me to bring you to Cold Bay. He wants to have a meeting with you and me.”

Logan wanted to meet with her and Mason? Her heart picked up its pace and she swallowed hard for a second. The only person who knew that she had not taken off out of East Brook fifteen years ago because of another man was Logan. Had he had enough of the discord that the past between her and Mason was inflicting on his pack that he’d decided that he was going to reveal what he knew?

“Do you know what it’s about?” She licked her lips nervously as she tucked her hands in her back pocket.

“No.” He frowned for a second and she could have kicked herself for letting what was going on inside her come out. She was sure that he could read the anxiety on her face. “If you’re worried that he’s going to go off on you over what happened last night, don’t be. He knows who was to blame for it all. Come on, we’ll go in my truck.”

He turned around and strode to the front door. She followed behind, and reassured herself that Logan would not reveal what he knew from fifteen years ago. He’d given his word that he’d take it to his grave, and Logan was nothing if not a man of his word. This meeting had to be about something else, and as soon as it was over with, she could make a start on a new life that didn’t include East Brook, Cold Bay or Mason.

* * *

Mason pulled into the parking lot of Sawyer’s Place, and willed himself to say something. The truck ride here passed in a silence so thick that he was certain that if he could eat it, it would be like trying to chew through a mouth full of gristle. Did this mean that if they weren’t fighting, if he wasn’t making accusations and she wasn’t pushing back against him, that they had nothing to say to each other?

The corner of his mouth turned down as he shut off the truck. It was just as well that she was leaving the area, because when they were together they were only tearing each other apart. The old saying about time healing wounds was a sack of shit as far as they were concerned.

He got out of the truck and hurried around to her side so he could help her out. When he was only an arm’s length away, she jumped down and stumbled in the gravel. Out of reflex he reached for her, putting his hand around her upper arm as she fell forward against his chest. They froze for a second, and he swallowed hard at the feeling of her full breasts pressed against him.

They sprang apart like scalded cats, and he cleared his throat.

“You okay?”

“Yep.” She pulled her purse strap up on her shoulder and wiped her hands down the side of her jean shorts. “I’m sure Logan’s waiting.”

He hung back a little, calling himself every kind of fool for letting his eyes drift down to her butt. If nothing else, that woman could fill out a pair of shorts. That was what had drawn him to her in the first place, the sight of her bare legs and pert ass in a pair of jean shorts. For a second it was like time stood still and he was cast back to that moment fifteen years ago.

He’d wanted her from the first second he’d seen her, although he knew that she wasn’t meant to be tangled with. Back in those days her stepfather had run East Brook with an iron fist, and Mike Sawyer had done the same with Cold Bay. The rivalry between the two packs made it so that the teenagers of both packs had snuck off to the lake that was half in East Brook and half in Cold Bay. There had been a lot of making out and fooling around at that lake. From the second he’d seen the leggy blond from the East Brook pack he’d been a goner.

“Mason. You coming?” She’d stopped several feet away from him and turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. He mentally shook himself like a dog as he tore his eyes away from her shapely legs. The past was the past, and if he wanted to move on he needed to live in the present.

“Yeah, I’m coming.” He rushed forward to meet her and when he got to the door he pulled it open and held it so she could go in ahead of him. Thankfully Sawyer’s wasn’t jumping like it had been last night, and only Rafe was sitting at the bar with Alex polishing glasses behind it. “You go on ahead into Logan’s office. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Grace wasn't the only one he owed an apology too. He walked over to where Rafe sat and stood beside him, bracing his hand on the bar.

“Looks like things are a bit better between you and her this morning.” Rafe watched as Grace walked to Logan’s office, and Mason clenched his jaw when he saw the other wolf’s eyes drifting down the length of her legs. He had to get past this irrational jealousy. As Grace had pointed out to him last night, he had no rights where she was concerned and she was a beautiful woman. Men were going to look.

“I’m sure it’s a temporary cease fire. Listen, I didn’t come here to talk about her. I acted like an asshole last night, and I’m sorry about that.”

Rafe’s eyebrows climbed to his forward as he stood up. He clapped his hand on Mason’s shoulder, and it looked like there were going to be no hard feelings between them.

“Don’t worry about it. I know what it’s like when you get a hair up your ass. Besides, it was pointed out to me that it does take two to tango.” It was then that Mason saw the shadow of a bruise along Rafe’s jaw and he was certain that if he looked in the mirror he’d see the same one coloring his face.

“The alpha kicked your ass too?” Logan had said he was going to, so it shouldn’t have come as any surprise that he’d followed through with Rafe. Rafe laughed as he gave Mason an easy grin, not at all looking like he’d been bothered by being corrected by Logan.

“Oh yeah. You want to see the boot print?” Rafe sat back down and reached for his beer. He wiggled his bottle with a question in his eye. “You want to have a beer?”

“No, I have to meet with Logan. I just wanted to make sure that we’re still good.”

“Yeah, don’t sweat it. We’re good.”

Mason turned away and walked quickly toward Logan’s office. He walked in and closed the door, taking the seat in front of Logan’s desk beside the chair where Grace sat. Logan frowned at him.

“Sorry I’m late, but I had to have a few words with Rafe.”

“That’s fine. But I didn’t call you both here to talk about what happened last night. The guilty parties have been dealt with and as far as I’m concerned it’s over.” Logan clasped his hands in front of him on his desk and looked first at Mason and then at Grace. “I wish I didn’t have to have this meeting with you at all.”

“What is it Logan?” Grace’s voice was soft, but at least she didn’t look as anxious now as she had when Mason had first told her that Logan wanted to meet with them. He couldn’t figure out for the life of him why she would be nervous about meeting with Logan, but he supposed it didn’t matter now.

“I called Lucien, to tell him about what happened last night.” Lucien was head of the werewolf council, and he was the one who’d told Logan that if he got both packs to follow him as alpha and agree to merge together than they had a chance to prevent being swallowed by the Batesburg pack.

“And, what did he say? Is he going to go to bat for us?” Grace leaned forward in her seat, and Mason caught the scent of her shampoo and it tightened the muscles in his body. Christ, now was not the time for this. He could tell by the look on Logan’s face that the answer to her question wasn’t good.

“He says he can’t, that we don’t have one hundred percent agreement.”

“What the fuck is he talking about? Both packs were here last night and there wasn’t a single member that dissented.” Mason didn’t envy Logan having to deal with the bullshit that came along with the werewolf council. What more did they want? Every member of both packs to sign a pledge in blood?

“Not every member, as it turns out. There is one hold out, and the reason he wasn’t represented is because he’s not in the area. Apparently he’s in jail, so we don’t have one hundred percent.” Logan looked over at Grace. A funny look crossed his face, and the muscle tightened in his jaw. “It’s Titus Parr.”

The blood drained from Grace’s face, and for a second Mason thought she was going to faint. Whoever this Titus was, he put a look of fear in Grace’s eyes. He didn’t want to look too closely at the surge of protective feelings that went through him when he saw it.

“Who the hell is Titus Parr?” There was something that the two of them knew that he didn’t. A look passed between Grace and Logan, and he had an uneasy feeling that they were hiding something from him. Grace squeezed her hands together in her lap, and turned her head to look at him. She was still pale, but at least that haunted look that had come in her eyes a few moments ago had cleared.

“He used to be my stepfather’s enforcer. He’s bad news, and jail is the best place for him.” She turned away from him and turned back to face Logan. “If Lucien had suggested talking to him and getting him to accept you as alpha, it’s not going to happen. He hates Cold Bay as much as my stepfather did and he’d rip out his own throat before bowing down to an alpha from Cold Bay.”

“That’s what I thought.” Logan frowned and swore softly under his breath.

“So that’s it? We’re just going to let ourselves be swallowed by Batesburg?” Mason couldn’t believe that Logan was going to back down from this just because the council had thrown a monkey wrench in their path. It wasn’t in his cousin’s nature to roll over for anyone, and he refused to believe that he was going to do it now.

“No, we aren’t just going to let it happen, but it’s not up to me. The old solution is still on the table. If we merge the alpha bloodlines of the two packs, we can avoid the merger. If not, then Cold Bay and East Brook are finished.”

It took a second for Mason to realize why he and Grace were meeting to talk to Logan about this, instead of just Grace. He looked over at Grace, and he knew that she was thinking the same thing.

“So let me get this straight. If the blood lines are merged, the packs will be saved?”

“Yes. I was certain to clarify with Lucien that we only needed someone with alpha blood to bind himself to Grace, instead of a sitting alpha. He said yes.” Logan’s jaw tightened. “If circumstances were different, I wouldn’t ask this of you. But it’s the only way we can save the pack.”

Mason knew that if things were different, they would not be having this discussion. If Logan wasn’t so deeply in love with Faith, he would have bound himself to Grace already. But Faith was in the picture, and no matter how much he loved his pack, he loved her more.

Which left him. He and Logan shared a grandfather, who’d been an alpha in a continuous line of alpha’s in the Cold Bay pack. So if he wanted to save his pack, he had to be prepared to make the sacrifice that Logan couldn’t. He had to bind himself to Grace, and if the council meant that there needed to be a literal merging of the bloodlines, it meant he had to have a child with her too.

He stared straight ahead as he scrubbed his hand over his face. So much for moving on with a life without her.

“I think Grace and I need to talk alone.”

How the hell were they going to make this work when they couldn’t even spend five minutes together without tearing each other apart, or sitting in utter silence?