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I’m still fretting over Jake by the time I slip into my dress, which I blew half of my entire paycheck on. It’s a gauzy periwinkle number with several layers — the longest of which hits just above my calf.

I let my hair dry curly and leave it down, which makes it easier to hide the thick rough scar over my right ear.

I’m about to leave to go downstairs when I hear a soft knock at the door. Thinking it must be Carmen letting me know about some last-minute change to the ceremony, Ithrow open the door without looking through the peep hole and stagger back on my heels.

Jake is standing outside the door, looking more handsome than I’ve ever seen him. He’s wearing a charcoal suit with a crisp white shirt underneath, left unbuttoned at the top for a slightly less-formal look. He smells amazing, as always — clean and spicy and masculine.

“Hey,” I manage, still shocked to see him standing there.

The corner of his mouth lifts in a grin. “Hey.”

“I thought . . .” I swallow and tug nervously at the gauzy layer at my chest, which swoops across my left breast and makes the super-low cut passably modest. “I haven’t seen you all day.”

Something dark flickers in Jake’s expression, but it’s gone so quickly I’m not sure I didn’t imagine it. “Figured you’d be busy with the bride,” he says, his eyes smoldering as he takes me in. “You lookbeautiful, Lena.”

My heart flutters uncontrollably — both at the compliment and the nickname. His face is so serious as he says it that I know it’s not a throwaway line. I blink a few times and clear my throat. “Thanks.”

I’m not one of those girls who’s oblivious to her looks. I’m used to guys gawking at me. What I’mnotused to is getting this attention from Jake — or getting a compliment that’s so sweet and sincere.

“Shall we?” he asks, holding out his arm.

I swallow and then nod, baffled at seeing Jake all cleaned up and acting like a gentleman. Where is my rugged fighter who was brawling in the club less than twenty-four hours ago?

But I take Jake’s proffered arm and shiver when he lays his other hand over my wrist. He smells evenmoredelicious up close, and my head spins from the physical contact.

Calm down, I tell myself.He’s just escorting you to the rehearsal dinner because Raf asked him to keep an eye on you.

And yet I can’t shake the feeling that Jake and I are here together — as in,together-together. It’s making my poor heart go nuts.

The rest of the wedding party is already gathered in the ballroom when we arrive, along with the bride and groom’s immediate family. Since Jake is neither family nor a member of the wedding party, he wouldn’t normally be invited to this, but he is technically my date.

He brings me up to the front of the room to join the bride and groom, but just as he turns to leave, Derek walks through the door. I turn toward Carmen to avoid his gaze, my anxiety ratcheting up.

If things had gone differently, we might have come here together. Instead, he humiliated me at Carmen’s bachelorette party.

I don’t see the look Jake gives him as their paths cross, but the air crackles with tension. Derek quickly lowers his eyes, and my jaw hits the floor.

As a human, I’ve never been able to pick up on the subtle hierarchy among shifters the way my brother can, but it was always my understanding that Derek was a highly dominant wolf. For him to submit to Jake, he must have been utterly cowed.

I try not to smirk as he comes to stand beside Carmen’s fiancé, but my smugness is quickly extinguished at thelook on Derek’s face. He’s staring at me as though I’m some disgusting thing he scraped off the bottom of his shoe. I’m sure I’m not the only one who notices, either.

My cheeks burn, and I look away, shrinking under his gaze.

I don’t know what it is about Derek that always made me feel less than. My brother is analpha, for crying out loud — not to mention the billionaire CEO of the fastest-growing company in Denver.

But maybe that’s it. No matter how well I do in life, I’ll never be one ofthem. Derek never invited me to any pack events when we were dating, nor did he introduce me to any of his friends. It was as though he wanted me to understand that I would never measure up. I would always be the human girl who wasn’t good enough.

I feel Derek’s chilly gray eyes boring into me for the entire rehearsal, and I’m so flustered that I forget what I’m supposed to be doing when Carmen hands me her bouquet. She gives me a funny look but doesn’t miss a beat. Everything goes off without a hitch.

I’m relieved when the run-through is over and I’m able to join Jake at the long table. He must realize how hard it was for me to stand up there next to Derek, because he shoots to his feet and pulls out my chair like a perfect gentleman.

I flash him a grateful smile, and I feel the heat of his body on my cheek as Jake leans in. I expect him to whisper something sweet, but his voice is low and rough. “Do noteverlet me see you shrink like that because of someone likehim.”

His voice is so quiet I doubt if even the shifters rightnext to us heard, but it steals my breath away. I shiver as Jake pushes my chair in and takes his seat beside me.

JAKE

The other guestsfill in the seats around us, and my skin prickles from the proximity of so many wolves. The chatter dies down as the groom’s father gets to his feet to toast the happy couple.