“I have a new e-mail,” said Harley. Her stomach sank as she read it.
“Is it them?” rumbled Jesse.
“Yep. They know I’m alive but they don’t know where I am.” And he wanted to teach her what happened to sluts by fucking her in every orifice she had while covering her face with a pillow. It wasn’t a threat he hadn’t made before. She was more disturbed by the line, “You might look innocent while you sleep, but I know the truth and nothing will save your soul.” Creepy.
After punching in a few keys, Harley slid the laptop back to Jesse. “This e-mail is the first one they sent.”
As Jesse read each e-mail aloud, he called on every ounce of his hard-won control to conceal the dark rage building inside him and his wolf. It was bad enough that the bastards called her a slut and a whore. One of them also talked of sneaking into her hotel room and slitting her throat while he raped her—that watching the life leave her eyes would make him come harder than he ever had before . . . and that was the tamest sexual threat he’d made.
Only once Jesse was done did he realize his hands were clenched so tight that his knuckles were white. He shoved the laptop aside, a growl rattling in his chest. His wolf was raking Jesse’s insides with his claws, wanting to surface and wreak vengeance on the people who had dared target and threaten Harley.
A long moment of silence passed before a very pale Shaya said, “I don’t have words.”
Ally rubbed her stomach. “I genuinely feel ill. Harley, how have you not gone insane receiving these, week after week?”
“I consider myself to be a tough bitch, but even I’d be a wreck if I was being harassed this way,” admitted Roni.
Harley shrugged. “Words are just words. At first I worried, but when time went by and they didn’t do anything, I figured they were all talk.” But she had still been scared, she just hadn’t wanted to face it, as it would have given the bastards power over her.
“Did you know your father monitors your movements?” Nick asked Harley.
She nodded. “He’ll know I’m here. That a problem?”
Eli pursed his lips. “Well—”
“No,” said Shaya, casting Eli a warning glare.
They chatted a little more about the extremists before Jesse walked his pack mates out of the lodge. Ally, however, hung back and then turned to Harley.
“I know what it’s like to come here, feeling unwanted and with no chance of fitting in,” Ally said to her. “If you ever need to vent about it or anything, you come to me.”
Surprised, Harley blinked. “Um, okay, thanks.”
With that, the Beta female was gone.
“She’s uncomfortable here,” Marcus said to Jesse.
He gave a curt nod, fists clenched. “The shifter world was never good to Harley. And she doesn’t trust easy.”
“Did you tell her I was half human?” Shaya asked.
“Yeah. I think it relieved her to know that being half human wouldn’t be an issue.” He was pretty sure it also annoyed her that he’d weakened her “I can’t stay” argument.
“It takes time to settle into a new place, especially if that place is filled with strong personalities,” Ally pointed out as she joined them. “You’re not exactly a relaxing person to be around, are you, Jesse?”
“Harley deals with me just fine.” Which wasn’t an easy feat.
“She won’t find it easy to fit in here,” Derren warned him. “I’m not trying to be an asshole. I’m just being straight. Her upbringing was no walk in the park, but she survived it. That tells me she’s strong. And I can see she’s highly dominant. Prides and packs have a similar structure, but she wasn’t part of a real pride. This will all be very new to her.”
“I know,” he said.
“She’s also spent a lot of years around humans,” continued Derren. “For her, moving to a pack will be the equivalent of a city girl moving to a small town. She’s used to noise, bustle, and privacy. We’re in each other’s business and have no real privacy and are out in the middle of nowhere. It might not bug her, but she might grow to feel bored, overwhelmed, and disconnected. She’s used to having a paying job and a purpose; she might not find a role or purpose here.”
Jesse sighed. “I know all this, Derren.”
“You need to also consider that she’s been living the high life for a while now.”
“She also spent a lot of her years living the total opposite of that.”
Derren tilted his head, conceding that. “So maybe she won’t find this so hard. But maybe she will. You need to be prepared for all of this so that you can help her adjust. If you’re blind to it, she’ll struggle.”
“You’re really not telling me anything I don’t already know, but I appreciate your concern.” Jesse turned to Ally. “There’s a rumor that Clive is the founder of The Movement. Is that true?” Ally’s foster brother, Cain Holt, was part of the group and posed as one of the leaders to give the true leaders more freedom and privacy.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I don’t ask Cain for details and he doesn’t volunteer them—it’s better for both of us that way.”
“Do you think he is?” Derren asked Jesse, putting an arm around his mate.
“I wouldn’t put anything past Clive Vincent,” said Jesse.
Marcus kept his voice low as he spoke. “I heard about what he did to the humans who killed his son. It was pretty gruesome. Even worse than what the humans did. But I don’t blame Clive one little bit.”
Neither did Jesse. The group of human men had attacked thirteen-year-old Michael with a baseball bat, a lead pipe, and glass bottles. After beating him almost to death, they’d poured gasoline over him and then set him alight. He’d died before the paramedics arrived. Clive had visited the exact same injuries on the humans when he killed them one at a time, calling it karma. But he also used a knife to carve “For Michael” into their chests before castrating them—this was while they were still alive.
Clive told the court that he did the latter because “they weren’t men” and they needed to die with the same indignity his son had suffered when they attacked him as a group, making him feel powerless and unmanned. It was definitely a cold method of retaliation, but Jesse had sought vengeance for his own sister’s excruciating death, so he was in no position to judge.
Hearing humming, Jesse turned to see Cassidy skipping toward them with Kathy, who was carrying Willow. “Hey,” he greeted. “How are you pups doing?”
Willow pulled her thumb out of her mouth. “They’re here,” she sang in a perfect imitation of Carol Anne from the original Poltergeist movie.
Shaya gasped. “Who let her watch that?”
Willow regularly spouted creepy lines from horror movies. Jesse was pretty sure Bracken was teaching them to the pup so she could spook people—he was odd like that, and Willow seemed to enjoy doing it. Eli, Marcus, and Zander shuddered every time.
Cassidy cocked her head. “Did you bring the pretty lady here?” she asked Jesse, biting on her lower lip, but it was clear she already knew the answer.
“I did, yes. You saved her. Thank you.”
Ally crouched down to her level of height. “And you did very well explaining the vision to us, Cassidy. We’re all proud of you for that.”
The little girl scrutinized Jesse closely. “You would have been very sad if the lady was hurt.”
He swallowed. “I would have been.”
“Are you so mad because someone wants to hurt her?”
Jesse nodded. Her Seer senses no doubt picked up on his emotions. “Would you like to meet her?”
Kathy narrowed her eyes. “I’ll go with Cassidy.” She went to hand Willow to Ally, but the Beta female shook her head.
“You’re not going in there, Kathy,” said Ally. “You were a total witch to me when I first came here. I won’t sit back and watch you do the same to Harley. She has enough shit going on.”
“Which is a good reason for her not to be here,” Kathy hissed. “We have our
own problems.”
“And yet, I’m not feeling a need to back down on this one.”
Leaving the two females to quibble, Jesse led Cassidy into the lodge. He found Harley in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher. It was such a simple and domestic sight, yet also satisfying. He liked that she touched his things, leaving her scent everywhere. It soothed him and his wolf slightly.
Sensing she wasn’t alone, Harley turned. The lines of stress in her face softened as she noticed Cassidy. “Well, hello there.”
Cassidy peered up at Jesse. “See, I told you she was pretty.” Then she skipped over to Harley. “I’m Cassidy. You don’t have to tell me your name. I heard everyone talking about you. Kathy wants to know what kind of mother would name her daughter after a bike. Kent likes it, though. He’s mated to Caleb, and they have the prettiest lodge. Nick says I can have my own lodge when I’m bigger. Are you really a margay? There was a margay shifter in the shelter, and she was double . . . double . . .”
“Double jointed?” supplied Harley.
“Yes. Are you?”
“I am.”
“So your cat can twist her ankles all weird?”
“You mean can she twist them a hundred-eighty degrees, yes.” Her cat preened.
“Can you show me sometime?”
“Sure.” Harley smiled. “It’s the least I can do for you. Thank you for telling Jesse about your vision. You’re now officially my favorite person for life.”
Giggling, Cassidy gave her a simple “that’s okay” shrug—as if it was every day that she stopped people from exploding into tiny pieces. Harley’s cat liked the little pup.
Cassidy, who was clearly a chatty child, then went on to tell Harley dozens of stories about things that had happened on Mercury Pack territory. Eventually Shaya came for the pup, rolling her eyes as Cassidy continued to chat until the very moment she left the lodge.
Harley looked at Jesse. “She’s . . . friendly.”
“She is,” he agreed.
“What’s her story?”
“Her entire pack died when she was just a baby. They made a suicide pact, but we’re not sure why. At least her mom gave her up to Social Services before killing herself. It would have been better if she’d made it clear that Cassidy was a shifter. Then she wouldn’t have been adopted by a human family. An overly religious family that gave her up, afraid of her visions.”
Harley’s heart hurt for the kid. “That’s pretty sad.”
“Yeah.” He slowly moved to Harley’s side and leaned against the counter, watching her resume loading the dishwater. “You were frowning when I walked in. What were you thinking about?”
“I was just thinking I need to call Tess at some point. I haven’t spoken to her in a while. She worries.”
“Does she know about the hate mail?”
“No. Tess would have freaked. I didn’t want to scare her.”
And Harley hadn’t been taking the whole thing seriously enough. Jesse cupped one globe of her ass. “You need to start taking better care of this; it’s mine and I want it safe.” He lightly tapped her ass to punctuate his point, and her eyes flared.
“You have no ‘caution’ lights in your head at all, do you?”
He smiled, perversely liking her exasperation. That was nothing new.
“You know what your problem is, Dalton?” She slammed the dishwasher door so hard the plates rattled. “You’re not equipped to deal with dominant females.”
She was right, actually. As fate had paired Jesse with a submissive wolf, being in a relationship with someone like Harley wouldn’t come naturally to him, but she was who he wanted.
“You go on and on about how I’m yours and you’re keeping me blah, blah, motherfucking blah. How can you possibly be so certain that you want me to be yours?”
“How could I not want a girl who’s weirdly freaked out by the sight of wax statues and is absolutely convinced that The Matrix could be real?” he quipped.
“It could be; the signs are there.” She narrowed her eyes. “How did you know about my aversion to wax statues?”
“Because I know you, Harley. And you know me.” He pushed away from the counter. “Come on.”
“What? Why? Where are we going?”
“Exploring.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Taking her hand, Jesse led her out of the patio doors and into the sunshine. Anyone else might have been mesmerized by the view of the forest and mountains. His female was too busy gaping in awe at the thick tree right next to the lodge. “You’ll climb that the first chance you get, won’t you?”
She smiled. “Well, of course.”
He’d never seen anyone climb and navigate trees as well as Harley. Remarkably agile and quick, margays were tree dwellers and had the ankle flexibility that allowed them to climb down headfirst like a squirrel. He’d seen her beautiful little cat do it more than once.
He remembered the animal clearly. She had big brown eyes and a thick, plush, honey-colored coat that was patterned with black-ringed rosettes, spots, stripes, and elongated blotches. Her undersides were white, and she had two dark stripes on both sides of her face. Her tail was long and marked with dark bands.
He’d often tried to coax her to him when they were kids, but the little cat had always kept her distance. Still, she hadn’t hissed at him or warned him away—he’d taken that as a good sign.
“Right, time for a tour.” Over the next few hours, Jesse showed her everything. The forest, the lakes, the hot springs, the waterfall, the mountains, the other lodges, and the new kids’ play area. He showed her the spots with the best views and pointed out all the wildlife. He relished every smile and laugh, satisfied whenever her eyes lit up.
He wanted her to love the territory. Wanted her to see she could be comfortable, safe, and happy there. Wanted her to feel at home and see what it was like to be part of a pack that had strong leadership and took care of its own. He knew her cat would adore the land, and he hoped that she would quickly become attached to it.
He also pointed out the boundaries of the territory and taught Harley about their safety measures. “Although there are enough land mines, traps, sensors, and cameras to keep people from crossing the border of our territory, we’ll have to add a perimeter fence if the hotel is built or we’ll be getting sued every time someone is hurt.”
“Hotel?” she repeated, frowning.
“A half shifter called Hector Flynt bought the territory next to ours. He plans to build a hotel resort there.”
“Shit, that would be bad. I mean, anyone could be a guest in that place. People could go there to spy on the pack—reporters, naturists, loners, assassins, extremists, shifter groupies . . . the list goes on.”
“I know. The good thing is that, from what he told Nick, Hector doesn’t want those kind of guests either. The bad thing is that his idea of a solution is to buy our territory from us. Naturally the Alphas are refusing to sell, but Hector doesn’t seem to be getting the message.”
She sighed. “Maybe once the guy realizes there’s no swaying your Alphas on this, he’ll give up and sell the land.”
Jesse slid an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s hope so.”
Sensing that he’d prefer a change of subject, Harley said, “So, tell me what being an enforcer entails.”
As they made their way back to his lodge, Jesse told her about his duties: guarding the perimeter, patrolling the land, acting as a bodyguard, providing backup for his Alphas during meetings, and training with his Betas and the other enforcers. “We take shifts so that each of us has some downtime every day. Obviously we’re always on call in case an issue arises.”
“The position suits you,” she told him. He had always been a protective and proactive person. “Were you an enforcer in your old pack too?”
“No. My old Alpha never liked me much. Our personalities clashed.”
“So the Mercury wolves trained you?”
He shook his head. “You’ve heard of the Phoenix Pack, r
ight?”
Of course. Who hadn’t? The Alpha male had a reputation for turning feral during battles, and his mate . . . well, she was apparently plain crazy. “Yes.”
“The pack is closely allied with mine. Their Beta and enforcers trained me.”
Her brows drew together. “Why not your own pack mates?”
“Nick didn’t really want to start a pack. He would have been happy just to live somewhere with his mate and pup. But he’s a natural born alpha, so his wolf wouldn’t have been content with that. Everyone knew it. So we just sort of formed the pack on our own and waited for him to finally accept the position of Alpha male. In the meantime, the Phoenix wolves put some of us through enforcer training.”
Then she was grateful to them for giving him what his previous Alpha wouldn’t.
“So, what do you think?” he asked as they stepped onto his porch.
Her mouth curved. “It’s a peaceful place. I can see why you’re so happy here.”
“I can see you being this happy here. And so can you, can’t you?”
Hands up, Harley backed into the lodge. “Look, I’m not going to deny that it’s the type of place a person could easily fall in love with. It’s relaxing. Peaceful. But what I’m feeling right now . . . it’s like when you go on a great vacation. You’re so happy and relaxed, and you’re so sure you could relocate there and love it. But after a couple of weeks, you’re ready to go home.”
“Where’s home to you, Harley?” he asked quietly.
Honestly, she didn’t feel that she really had one. But she didn’t say it aloud . . . because she could sense that she didn’t have to; he already knew it.
Jesse covered the distance between them. “Home isn’t always a place, sweetheart. Home is something that anchors you, comforts you, and is a safe haven for you.” He rubbed his nose against hers. “Let me be that for you, Harley.”
If he made her cry she was so gonna hit him.
“We both want this. We’ve both wanted it for a long time. Really, it was inevitable. I’ll tell you how it’s going to work: I’ll claim you, you’ll claim me, you’ll come to trust the pack, you’ll settle here, we’ll imprint, and we’ll be fucking happy.”