He slid his arms around her and kissed her neck. “Because, like I said before, you get me.”
Yeah, she did. She got that he hadn’t done it out of a malicious jealousy. He’d done it to protect her, because that was what he did. A guy who’d lost his true mate wasn’t going to just sit back and take for granted that the female he intended to claim would be fine without him watching over her. And said female couldn’t be in a relationship with him unless she took that into account and made some allowances. So Harley hugged him back and said, “Yeah, I get you.”
CHAPTER NINE
Watching the kids running around while Bruce yapped at their heels, Harley smiled. The play area looked awesome with all the fake green and brown foliage twined around the wood. Camo fabric, inflatable banana trees, and animal-print balloons added to the jungle feel. The large stuffed jungle animals were also a nice touch . . . right up until the kids each claimed one and ran off with them.
Sadly, the party hadn’t been a surprise, since Cassidy had foreseen it. Still, she was thoroughly enjoying herself, leaping around in her leopard costume. Willow was always close behind in her tiger costume, roaring or laughing.
All four of the other children were in fancy dress getups. Well, they had arrived in costumes. A toddler with a mop of blond curls named Dexter had long ago stripped off his giraffe suit and was dashing around in his underwear.
The only outsiders present at the party were Shaya’s human father, two cat shifters who worked at a shelter for lone shifters, and of course the Phoenix Pack. Some looked at Harley with curiosity, others with wariness. But they all looked away whenever the tower of overprotectiveness at Harley’s side turned a glare on them.
Shifters without a fully formed mating bond could be pathologically possessive and protective—it was something to do with being insecure in the mating. Since she had yet to return Jesse’s claim and they didn’t even have the beginnings of a bond, it was really no wonder that he was finding it difficult to have so many unmated males around her.
“Cassidy’s so happy here,” said Makenna. “It’s great to see her settled.” Her hot yet deadly-looking mate grunted. Ryan seemed to prefer communicating in grunts, and Makenna seemed able to translate them.
“She’s also pretty fast; even Kye can’t catch her,” commented Taryn, referring to her son, who was dressed as a monkey. Perched on her hip was the infant daughter of Grace, one of her pack mates.
Considering the Phoenix Alpha female was Shaya’s best friend, Harley had expected Taryn to be cool toward her, given the trouble Harley could bring the pack. However, both Taryn and her mate, Trey, had been nothing but pleasant. To look at, the couple was an odd match; Taryn was a tiny little thing and Trey was built like a Highlander.
“Savannah, down!” ordered Kye, every inch the alpha, making his parents chuckle.
That was when Harley saw a little girl with caramel pigtails hanging upside down from a tree branch, dangling her elephant costume with her fingers. “Is she okay up there?” Her cat badly wanted to join her, a little overwhelmed by the large number of strange shifters.
“Sure,” replied Riley, a small female with enviably dark iridescent hair who was also a raven shifter. “Savannah’s a viper.”
“I thought I could smell ‘snake.’ I just hadn’t figured it was one of the kids.” Harley had never met a viper before, since they were fairly rare.
“Dexter’s a cheetah,” said Riley. “He and Savannah are from the shelter, like me.”
“Our pack gave them and Riley sanctuary,” said Taryn. “It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement, but we adopted the kids into the pack and are hoping Riley will join us too.”
Riley shifted uncomfortably. “I’m still unsure.”
“If you do decide to leave, I don’t think you’ll find it easy.” Trey gestured at a wolf who was staring at Riley with a possessive gleam in his eyes, a wolf who had earlier been introduced to Harley as the Phoenix Pack’s Head Enforcer.
Riley sniffed. “That hot-and-cold motherfucker has no say in what I do. When I first arrived at his territory, he whined about it and wanted me gone. Now he growls at me whenever I talk about leaving—all the while scowling at me because he doesn’t like that he wants me to stay. How messed up is that?”
Taryn chuckled. “That’s just Tao for you. His mind works in mysterious ways. Still, we all hope you’ll stay.”
Loosely hooking an arm around Harley’s neck, Jesse said into her ear, “See, other species of shifter can survive well in wolf packs. So will you.” When she gave him a “we’ll see” look, he nipped her earlobe, smiling at her little yelp. “They’d better open the buffet soon. I’m starving.”
“I don’t think the cooks will make us wait much longer; Marcus is driving them crazy, harassing them for food,” said Harley, unsure how someone who ate so much could look so hot. “Ally did a good job with the birthday cake.” The huge chocolate monstrosity was decorated with standing edible trees and jungle animals. With Roni and Marcus hovering around it, Harley would be surprised if there was any left for the others to taste.
All was well again between Roni and Harley. The she-wolf and her mate had appeared at the lodge earlier and, with a “please forgive me” expression, she’d handed Harley some catnip. Like that, the tension was broken and Harley burst out laughing. Marcus sagged in relief, and she suspected he’d worried that Harley wouldn’t “get” his mate’s somewhat offbeat sense of humor.
Eli had also come by again and apologized to her, which wouldn’t have been all that surprising if he hadn’t had Kathy at his side. She’d said a very terse yet sincere apology to Jesse and then handed Harley a box of books she’d had “lying around.” With that, she’d stomped off. As the collection of books included works by Stephen King, Harley was willing to accept the silent act of contrition.
Caleb and Kent had also made their apologies, asking if said apologies could also be passed on to her cat, who they seemed to be absolutely petrified of. Harley had taken pity on the couple. They were impossible to dislike, even though they’d acted like idiots by following the crowd instead of thinking for themselves.
Since then, all had been fine within the pack. Jesse explained the previous night: “You’ve earned their respect by proving you’ll defend me—even against our own pack mates—you won’t take shit, you can protect yourself, and you’ll gracefully accept their apologies even when they might not deserve it. They consider you officially one of us now.”
Well, whatever.
Feeling eyes on her, Harley looked to see Nat, Kim, and an old woman staring at her like she’d pissed in their shoes. Yeah, it was safe to say that Nat and Kim hadn’t joined the Mercury Pack in accepting Harley. But the more she’d watched Nat interact with people, the more Harley had decided it would be wise not to take a single thing personally when it came to that woman. She seemed to detest all people equally with the exception of her children. She might be polite and respectful to those around her, but that didn’t mean she liked them.
As for Kim . . . well, she still seemed to have her sights set on Jesse and, as such, saw Harley has an interloper. But why the old woman standing with Kim and Nat was scowling at Harley, she had no idea. “Who’s that?” Harley asked.
Trey sighed tiredly. “That would be my grandmother, Greta.”
“Or, as I affectionately refer to her, ‘the antisocial, psychotic, prudish agent of Lucifer,’” said Taryn, to which her mate sighed again.
Harley vaguely remembered Shaya and Ally mentioning that Trey’s grandmother was very possessive of him, his Beta, and his enforcers—referring to them all as “her boys” and disliking unmated females around them. Roni was the only female she had accepted.
Something about the way Taryn was glaring at Greta made the woman choose that moment to march over. She did a double take at the sight of Savannah. “Will someone get that child down, for goodness sake!” Greta shook her head at Riley. “You have no control over her at all; you let her go
around attacking people.”
Riley crossed her eyes. “She only hurt one person—that was you. And all she did was bite you. Get over it.”
“Greta, this is a kids’ party,” Trey reminded her. “Tone it down for once.”
Lifting her chin, Greta sniffed haughtily. Then her eyes landed on Harley and narrowed. “I’ve heard about you. I respect your father and I respect that he avenged his son, but I don’t respect your actions. You’ve put good people in danger by coming here. Clive would be very disappointed in you.”
Harley snorted. Here was yet another person who didn’t know the real Clive Vincent. Her cat unsheathed her claws and wiggled them.
“Greta,” drawled Jesse. “This has nothing at all to do with you. Stay out of it.”
“I’m disappointed with you, Jesse,” Greta told him. “I would have thought you were more protective of your pack than to take a risk like this. Although I respect Clive, I don’t respect his pride. She’s just like them—selfish. How can you not see that? For God’s sake, she spent most of her life around drugs, alcohol, partying, and bar fights.”
“It builds character,” said Harley.
“Then she went off to live with a bunch of rich, high-and-mighty humans,” Greta went on. “Why should you lot be the ones protecting her when she’s got them?”
Harley gave her a smile filled with mock pity. “Your parents didn’t hug you enough when you were a pup, did they?” Before Greta could speak again, Harley asked, “What’s it to you anyway? You’re not part of this pack.”
“No, but my Roni is. My other boys didn’t find themselves a decent mate, but Marcus didn’t let me down; he’s mated with a good, strong female who’s a loving mate and takes care of him.” She gestured at the couple.
“Ow! Stop hitting me with spoons!” Marcus whined at his mate.
Roni hit him again. “Stop trying to cut the cake!”
Harley turned back to Greta. “I see what you mean.”
Flushing, Greta humphed. “You’re no better than her.” She stabbed her finger in Riley’s direction. “She moved to our pack for sanctuary, knowing it could bring trouble our way. Some people are just selfish through and through.”
Riley rolled her eyes. “Look, Gretchen—”
“It’s Greta.”
“I don’t care,” said Riley.
Greta looked back at Harley. “See, selfish. And rude. She’s not—”
“Buffet’s open!” Shaya called out.
Just like that, Greta’s scowl fell and she turned to Trey with a shark’s grin. “Ooh good, I’m starving.”
As the woman walked away, Harley said to Jesse, “And I thought Lily was dramatic.”
Jesse snickered and guided his mate to the long table, where they both filled their plates with food before finding an empty bench. As they ate, he watched her, admiring the almost orgasmic looks she displayed after every bite. She was a female who enjoyed her food and made no apologies for it. As conversation went on around them, Jesse licked barbeque sauce from the corner of Harley’s mouth. “Watching you eat makes me hard,” he said in a low voice.
She chuckled. “Then prepare to stay that way for a while because I’m having seconds.”
“So am I.” At the buffet table, they grabbed another plate of food and then returned to the bench. Dominic—a Phoenix enforcer and born flirt—was in their spot, so Jesse just stared at him until he moved, laughing.
“When are they cutting the cake?” Dominic asked Jesse.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Why?”
“I called dibs on the lion.”
Trey frowned at him. “The animals are for the kids to eat.”
Dominic blinked. “What’s your point?”
Sighing, Trey shook his head. “Have you met Jesse’s mate yet?”
“Yeah, I’ve had that pleasure,” said Dominic, grinning. “Hello again, Harley.”
“Hello,” said Harley. The blond wolf was seriously good-looking, long and lean with a wicked grin that spelled “trouble.” And Jesse was glaring at him.
“You’re a lucky guy, Jess,” Dominic told him.
Jesse narrowed his eyes. “I know.”
“I was surprised to hear her dad was Clive Vincent,” continued Dominic. “I actually thought her father might be a lumberjack.”
Confused, Harley repeated, “A lumberjack?”
“Yeah, because whenever I look at you, I get wood in my pants.”
Before Jesse could make a grab for the little fucker, Trey fisted his hand in the back of Dominic’s shirt and yanked him aside, almost making the blond drop his beer.
Jesse pinned the pervert’s gaze. “Fuck off, asshole.”
Dominic looked at him with mock hurt. “What’s with the hostility, dude?”
“You’re breathing my mate’s air,” said Jesse. “That’s enough.”
The blond just chuckled. Jesse wasn’t exactly surprised by Dominic’s behavior. The Phoenix enforcer always annoyed mated males by dishing out cheesy lines to their mates. No one quite understood why Dominic did it, though the general consensus was that he just wasn’t right in the head. Why else would he flirt with mated females?
Hearing her cell phone ring, Harley fished it out of her pocket. “It’s Tess,” she told Jesse. “I’ll be back in a sec.” On answering, she said, “City Morgue, you kill ’em, we chill ’em.”
Jesse watched his mate walk away to take the call in private, purely because he loved that ass. It was an ass that fit perfectly in his hands, an ass that turned a gorgeous shade of red when he spanked her. His cock twitched as he remembered doing just that the previous night when he took her hard from behind, his teeth biting into her nape as he kept one hand bunched in her hair. He’d left yet more marks of possession over her body, had learned and tasted and worshipped every inch of it until—
“Here, peace offering.”
Jesse looked up to see Kim holding out a plate of food . . . which might have been a nice thing to do if it weren’t the kind of thing a mate would do. His wolf snarled at the offering. “No.” Before she could try to take Harley’s seat, he put his hand there.
Kim perched herself on the arm of the bench, as if he wasn’t emitting an unwelcoming vibe. “I’m sorry.”
Reminding himself that this was Bracken’s baby sister and he could, at the very least, hear her out, Jesse sighed. “For what?”
“Judging you so harshly for taking Harley as your mate.” She bit her lip. “It was a shock and . . . I guess I’ll just always feel that you should have been Torrie’s.”
“Is that right?”
“I shouldn’t have jumped down Harley’s throat like that and said the things I said,” added Kim, looking sincerely regretful. “I’ll bet she hates me now.”
“She doesn’t hate you. Or like you. Or dislike you. Or anything else.” The female wasn’t a ping on his mate’s radar. And that seemed to piss Kim off.
“You may not think of me as a friend, but I’ve always thought of you as one. We both loved Torrie, and I saw how devastated you were by . . . I just want you to be happy.” She looked at him from beneath her lashes. “You’re sure imprinting will work?”
He bristled. “My relationship with Harley is not your fucking business.”
She swallowed. “Let me just say one last thing. I have a feeling that imprinting will be hard for you. If you ever need to talk, need someone to listen without judgment—”
“He’ll talk to Harley,” finished Ally, making Kim’s head snap up.
“I’m just saying he could find imprinting hard,” Kim told her. “But that doesn’t mean he can’t still have a strong mating bond with a female who isn’t his true mate. I want that for him.”
Ally stepped forward. “No. I think you want it with him.”
Kim flushed. “Torrie was my friend—”
“Great, but you can stop dragging her into conversations. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you kept mentioning her in the hope of making Jesse feel g
uilty for mating with Harley.”
“Look,” began Kim, standing upright, “it seems like you and I got off on the wrong foot, Ally. Or maybe I offended you somehow. If so, I’m sorry; it wasn’t intentional.”
A slow smile surfaced on Ally’s face, but it wasn’t pleasant. “As I’ve already explained to you, it offends me that I take time out of my life to train you and you don’t even take it seriously. But that’s not the issue here.”
“Isn’t it?” challenged Kim, eyes flaring.
“No. And you know it.”
“I just came over to apologize. I don’t want to cause trouble. I’m trying really hard to fit in here and—”
“There’s no reason for you to fit in; you’re not one of us. Harsh, yeah, but it needs to be said. Now I suggest you scamper before I shove this chicken wing up your ass for making me mad at a kids’ party.” Ally exhaled heavily when the female finally stomped off. “Just two more weeks and she’ll be gone,” the Seer reminded Jesse.
Taryn, who’d been listening intently, leaned forward. “Ten bucks says Harley will have clawed her before then.”
Jesse wasn’t going to bet against that.
The kids suddenly whizzed by with Willow droning, “He wants you too, Malachai.”
Shaya’s eyes widened. “Tell me she didn’t just quote Children of the Corn.”
“Sweetheart, how are you?” Tess asked.
Standing in the shadows, Harley said, “I’m good. How about you?”
“Fine, fine. But I’ve missed you. I was thinking of coming to California to see you. What hotel are you staying at?”
Crap. “Um . . .”
“Oh God, what’s happened?”
“Well, to cut a long story short—”
“No short stories. I want the full, uncut version.”
So Harley told her about the hate mail, Cassidy’s vision, and that Jesse had brought her to Mercury Pack territory to protect her. Before she could add that he’d also claimed her, Tess was speaking.
“You’re telling me you’ve been receiving hate mail from extremists and you’re only telling me this now?”