He jumped up from the couch and stood in front of Jesse. “What the hell is going on with you? Do you know the kind of danger you’re putting us all in? It’s bad enough that we have your brother wanting to kill us to get to the girl, but if you don’t change her then we’ll have our entire species gunning for us to get to her. One way or the other, she’s going to either be changed or killed.” He sighed and let out a deep breath, “the choice is yours.”
Hard lines creased Jesse’s forehead. His jaw muscles clenched as he ground his teeth together. He opened his mouth to say something then closed it without saying a word. He lowered his head and shook it from side to side. His expression and voice softened. “I can’t let it happen. I’m sorry.”
Trevor sat down on the edge of the coffee table and lowered his voice. “This is about your mother, isn’t it? What happened to your mom won’t happen to Lacey.”
Jesse looked at him. “This has nothing to do with my mother. She was a good person” he said through gritted teeth.
Trevor nodded. “Yes, she was. But she never accepted what your father turned her into. She didn’t want to be one of us. She wasn’t happy and she made the decision to end her own life. I don’t think the same thing will happen with Lacey, she’s a very strong-willed girl and she already has an advantage that your mother didn’t have. She knows what we are and she’s still here, willingly. Your mother didn’t know about shifters until after your father changed her.”
Jesse shook his head. “Maybe you’re right, maybe you’re not. But it doesn’t matter, it’s just not right to take a human from their world and throw them into ours. Being a shifter is hard enough for those of us born into this life, it’s nearly impossible for humans to make the transition successfully, without losing who they really are. Just look at Cole’s newbies. Most of them were probably good people when they were human, but the power and urges of the wolf changed them. And now they are just as cold-hearted and ruthless as Cole. I won’t do that to Lacey or anyone else.”
Trevor lowered his head and stayed quiet. It was pointless to try and convince Jesse to change Lacey and he knew it. The reality of the situation was that he was going to have to go against his oldest and dearest friend and change her himself because he wasn’t going to put his mate or anyone else in the pack in danger just so Lacey could stay human. He left Jesse on the couch and went to talk to Tonya.
Everyone in the room resumed what they had been doing before the argument began. Jesse felt relieved that Trevor wasn’t going to push the subject any further. He looked over at Scotty, who for the first time ever, wasn’t smiling. “What?” Jesse asked him.
“Nothing...I just think you’re making a mistake. I mean, I like Lacey too and I don’t want her to get hurt either but changing her really is the best thing to do.”
Jesse shook his head. “Yeah, well I didn’t ask for your opinion.”
Scotty raised his brows and started to say something but stopped when he saw Lacey coming down the stairs. His eyes widened and his mouth nearly dropped open as he stared at her.
“What the hell are you looking at?” Jesse asked before turning around to see Lacey. The second he saw her, he felt as if someone had knocked the air out of him. She looked amazing with her black hair curled around her soft face. Her lips were painted a seductive shade of red and the outfit she was wearing, almost made him howl. The tight black miniskirt and red razor-back tank top accentuated her body in all the right places. She looked more like a woman than a scared, fragile teenage girl.
Jesse noticed everyone in the room looking at her. The interest on Devon, Tyron and Scotty’s faces really pissed him off. He jumped up from the couch and stormed over to the stairs ready to march Lacey back up to his room so that she could put something else on. He reached for her arm but she pulled it away from him.
“Lacey, what are you doing?” Jesse whispered with a hint of anger.
She raised her brows and smiled. “What do you care?” she said and walked past him and over to where Scotty was sitting.
Chapter Nine
Jesse watched as Lacey strode over to where Scotty was sitting and knelt down beside his chair. It took every ounce of self-control he had not to drag her away from Scotty and back up the stairs so no one but he could look at her. He stood frozen at the bottom of the stairs trying his best to remain calm. Kindal came down the stairs and stopped beside him. She looked from Jesse to where Lacey and Scotty were talking. “Um, did I miss something? Why is Lacey talking to Scotty and not you? I thought when she asked me to help her with her hair and clothes that she wanted to impress you, not him.”
Jesse curled his upper lip and snarled. “You dressed her like that? What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was just trying to help. Lacey said that she wanted to look sexy so the guy she was interested in would notice her and since I thought she was talking about you, I helped her. I had no idea she was talking about Scotty.” Kindal smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “Besides, you did say that you weren’t interested in her. And I think they make a cute couple, don’t you?” she asked playfully before walking away to join Scotty and Lacey where they were now listening to music in the corner of the warehouse with Devon and Tyron.
Jesse growled low in the back of his throat and stormed into the kitchen and flopped down in a chair at the table. He couldn’t take his eyes off Lacey as she laughed and talked to Scotty. Tonya rested her hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
“I’m fine” he replied in a thick angry voice.
Tonya glanced over at Lacey. “Sure you are. Why don’t you just go over and talk to her? I’m not even going to pretend to understand what’s going on right now but I really don’t think Scotty is who Lacey wants to talk to.”
“Apparently, he is and I don’t care. She’s a human, as long as she’s safe, I don’t care who she’s talking to...” Jesse paused and looked over at Lacey, “or hanging all over” he growled. The muscles in his jaw clenched and his brow furrowed in anger.
Tonya frowned when she saw Lacey wrap her arm around Scotty’s waist and lay her head on his shoulder. She patted Jesse on the arm in a motherly gesture and walked out of the room to look for Trevor. She had a feeling things were about to get ugly.
Jesse tried not to notice what was going on in the corner. He didn’t want Lacey to know that it bothered him that she was with Scotty. But every time she laughed, he couldn’t help but look over at her. And every time he did, he got angrier and angrier. She was constantly touching Scotty. Either touching his arm or wrapping hers around his waist. And now Scotty was starting to touch her as well.
Devon put on one of his mixed cd’s and turned the music up loud and started dancing.
Scotty smiled at Lacey. “How about a dance?”
She spared a glance in Jesse’s direction. He was looking at her. She quickly looked away and smiled at Scotty, debating on how far she was going to take flirting with him. The fact that Jesse didn’t seem bothered by her being with Scotty made her want to push it a little further. “I’d love to” she said with a smile.
Scotty took her hand in his and they started dancing. They talked and laughed with each other as they moved around the room, trying not to bump into Kindal and Devon as they danced wildly. After two fast paced songs passed, a slow song played. Scotty raised his brows in question and held his hand out to Lacey. She took it. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and pulled her close to his body.
Jesse couldn’t take it anymore. He was so consumed with jealously that he wanted to rip Scotty’s arms from their sockets just for touching Lacey. He jumped up from the table, knocking his chair over, and stormed over to where they were dancing. He grabbed Lacey by the arm and pulled her away from Scotty. He pointed his finger in Scotty’s face, “Stay away from her and keep your damn hands to yourself” he growled.
Scotty smiled nervously and held his hands up in front of him. “Hey, we were just dancin
g, Jesse.”
Kindal quickly turned the music off.
“The hell you were, you had your hands all over her!” Jesse accused.
“What do you care?” Lacey said from behind him. Jesse turned around to see her looking at him like she wanted to hit him. She was rubbing her arm where he had grabbed her. “You can’t tell me what to do or who I can spend time with” she said as she came from behind him and stood beside Scotty. She wrapped her arm through his. She didn’t really want to go to him but she wasn’t about to let Jesse take away her independence and tell her what to do.
Jesse stared at their arms linked together and snarled. Before he could think better of it, he lunged at Scotty and punched him in the face. Lacey screamed and Scotty fell to the floor. Just then, Trevor ran into the room and grabbed Jesse from behind while Tonya took Lacey’s hand and led her away from everyone and over to the stairs.
Jesse struggled to break free of Trevor’s hold, the whole time throwing cuss words at Scotty.
“Stop this!” Trevor yelled. Jesse stilled and took a deep breath and looked around for Lacey. When he saw her, regret instantly filled him. She was scared. “I’m fine, let me go” Jesse said.
Trevor released him and Jesse looked at Scotty who was now back on his feet. “Stay away from her” he warned before walking off in a huff.
“What is your problem?” Lacey asked as Jesse walked over to her. He ignored her question and took her by the arm and started up the stairs. She struggled against him. “Let go of me!” she said and tried to pull her arm free, but he continued to pull her up the stairs anyway. Everyone in the warehouse looked away, showing that they weren’t going to get involved.
Once at his room, Jesse opened the door and pushed Lacey inside. She stormed across the room and flopped down on the bed with her arms crossed over her chest. She watched Jesse pace the floor in front of the door, the veins in his arms protruded as he tightened his fists at his side. He looked really mad and Lacey was scared to say anything. This was definitely not the reaction she wanted from him. After a few tense minutes, Jesse stopped pacing and leaned back against the door.
“Don’t ever do that again” he said, so low that it was almost a whisper.
“Don’t do what?” Lacey asked in a falsely innocent voice.
Jesse narrowed his eyes at her and pushed himself away from the door. “You know damn well what you were doing. You were trying to make me jealous and it worked. Are you happy now? Because of you, I just struck a member of my pack.”
Lacey jumped to her feet and put her hands on her hips. “So I wanted to make you jealous...that doesn’t mean that I wanted you to hit Scotty. You did that all on your own buddy, so don’t blame me for your temper.”
Jesse stopped in front of her. It was clear that she was mad at him but he didn’t care. All he cared about was that she was alone with him and not Scotty. Nothing else mattered. He reached out to touch her face and she moved away from him. He locked eyes with her and tried again. This time she let him touch her. He rubbed his thumb gently over her cheek then lowered his head to kiss her.
Lacey pushed him back. “Oh no you don’t! You can’t tell me that you don’t want me then think I’m going to let you kiss me” she said in a cracked voice like she was trying hard not to cry. Emotionally, she was a wreck. He had hurt her with his earlier rejection and she had only added to her own distress by her juvenile antics with Scotty. Now she felt hurt and embarrassed. She tried to walk past Jesse to the door but he grabbed her hand.
“I’m sorry” he whispered and lifted his other hand to her face to wipe away a tear as it slipped from her eye. “I didn’t mean to hurt or scare you” he paused and let out a deep breath, “I do like you, Lacey. More than I should. But my feelings don’t matter. We can never be together. It’s just the way things have to be.” The desperation in his voice was undeniable and Jesse knew even as he spoke the words that he wasn’t going to be able to stay away from her much longer.
Lacey pulled her hand from his. “Then get out of my way and let me go back to Scotty” she said sarcastically and pushed past him. She had no intention of going back to Scotty but she had to get away from Jesse. She reached for the door and pulled it open. As soon as she did, Jesse reached around her and pushed it closed. She turned around and was face to face with him. His breath was warm on her cheeks. He was looking at her with an expression that she was getting used to seeing on his face...desire. It excited and angered her at the same time. Before she could say anything, Jesse crushed his lips to hers and pushed her back against the door.
Despite the turmoil of emotions swirling inside her, Lacey eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck and melted against his body as he kissed her. She had never wanted anyone the way she wanted Jesse. And the way he was kissing her, it was obvious that he wanted her too.
After a few heated minutes, Jesse broke from the kiss and looked down at Lacey with lust filled eyes. He knew at that moment he couldn’t fight his feelings for her anymore. “The only man that will be touching you from now on... is me. If Scotty so much as looks at you again, he’ll be eating through a straw from now on because I’ll knock all of his teeth out.”
Lacey smiled shyly. “You don’t have to do that. I’m not interested in Scotty and he doesn’t want me either. He was just doing me a favor. I asked him to flirt with me to make you jealous, now he may never speak to me again. You shouldn’t have hit him.”
“He got what he deserved. I don’t want to talk about Scotty. I’ll deal with him later” Jesse said and kissed her again. He knew he was making a huge mistake by giving into his feelings but he couldn’t think about that. All he could think about with Lacey wrapped in his arms was how much he wanted her. He picked her up and carried her over to the bed, all the while never breaking from their kiss.
The familiar buzz of Lacey’s powers went unnoticed as she wrapped herself in Jesse’s arms. It wasn’t until all hell broke loose that she realized what the goosebumps all over her body really meant.
*****
Trevor and Scotty were talking in the kitchen when they heard a loud crash from upstairs. They both ran up the stairs and stopped at the top. Neither of them could believe their eyes. The wooden door to Jesse’s room was shattered and lying in pieces in the hall.
“What the hell?” Trevor said as he stepped over pieces of the door on his way to Jesse’s room. He stood in the open doorway and stared into the room with his mouth open. Scotty joined him. His eyes grew wide with what he saw.
The room was completely destroyed. Clothes from the closet were scattered across the floor, all the drawers from the dresser were lying around the room, shattered into little pieces of wood just like the bedroom door. The flat screen television that Lacey had already damaged by cracking the screen was now in a heap on the floor.
Lacey was sitting in the middle of Jesse’s bed. Her red lipstick was smeared across her face from kissing, and she looked terrified. Scotty looked around the room for Jesse. He found him hunched over on the floor against the wall by the bathroom door, rubbing his hand on the back of his head. Trevor walked past Scotty over to Jesse to check on him.
Scotty raised his brows at Lacey. “What the hell happened in here?” he asked.
Lacey started to say something but the trickle of blood from her nose stopped her. She quickly covered it with her hand and jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom. Jesse leapt to his feet when he saw the look of alarm on her face. “What’s wrong?” he asked as she pushed past him into the bathroom.
“Nothing” she said and grabbed a washcloth from beside the sink.
Blood was seeping through her fingers. Jesse noticed and immediately became worried. He took the rag from her and moved her hands away from her face so that he could clean her up. “Hold your head back” he ordered.
Lacey did as she was told and after a few minutes, the blood flow slowed. But the tension on Jesse’s face didn’t ease up. He dropped the dirty cloth to the floor and grabbed another on
e and held it to her nose. He looked over his shoulder to Trevor and Scotty who were watching from the bedroom. “She’s fine...we’ll be downstairs in a little while” he said and tilted his head toward the door, hoping that they’d get the hint and leave them alone so he could talk to Lacey.
Trevor gave him a disapproving glare before following Scotty out of the room.
Once they were alone, Jesse looked at Lacey with concern. “I want to take you to the hospital.”
Lacey pushed his hand that was holding the rag to her nose away and pushed past him out of the bathroom. “No” she said stubbornly.
Jesse followed her. “Lacey, I’m worried about you. I’m no expert on human biology but I do know that nosebleeds and headaches like you’re having are not normal. I think you’re sick.” He looked away for a second, not wanting to meet her eyes because he didn’t want her to see the fear in his.
“What is it? What aren’t you telling me?” Lacey asked.
Jesse sighed and shook his head slightly. “There’s something wrong with your blood. I can smell it. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not normal.”
Lacey chuckled. “There’s nothing about me that’s normal. That doesn’t mean that something is wrong with me” she said and wrapped her arms around his waist, hoping to ease his concern. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes, wishing that she could make her own fear go away. She knew that Jesse was right, something was seriously wrong with her. She felt as if she was slowly losing strength and her fatigue was increasing. She kept telling herself that it was stress, after all she had been in a hell-of-a lot of stressful situations in the last week. But then she thought about the months before she ran away from home, the truth was she hadn’t been feeling well for a while, ever since the headaches and nosebleeds began. But whatever was wrong with her, she prayed that it would heal itself because her fear of hospitals and doctors was preventing her from getting the help that she knew she needed.