“Jackie—”
“You need to go.” Before he shattered and threw himself at Boone. He was close, hanging on to his control by a thread.
The shifter just smelled so damn good.
“If you know about shifters, then you know about mates, what that means to us.” Boone’s words were spoken with a hint of anguish, but it was nothing compared to the pain on the man’s face. “How can you dismiss me so easily?”
Jackie swallowed hard, trying to manage a feeble answer. “I know shifters are dangerous. I know that they don’t care about who they hurt to get what they want. And I know that despite the laws your great Feline Council has set down, there is no punishment for shifters who break those laws.”
Boone stared for a moment, his gaze intense, searching. “Who hurt you, baby?”
Jackie gasped before spinning around and marching back through the house. He wasn’t about to share his nightmare with Boone, or any shifter.
He slid across the hardwood floor when he tried to stop quickly. His living room wasn’t vacant. The man who had introduced himself as Alpha Hugh Marshall sat on his sofa.
The man lifted one eyebrow as he looked at Jackie. “Are you ready to talk?”
“You need to leave. I didn’t invite you here.”
Hugh sighed. “Jackie, look, I’m not leaving until we talk, so you need to wrap your head around that.”
“I’ll call the council,” Jackie threatened.
Hugh chuckled. “Call them. I’ll wait.”
Well, hell.
