Jesse took a moment to interpret that the right way. Shifter questions, not “Can I see you naked” questions.
And yeah, he did have one huge question. He’d looked it up online, but everyone and their mutt had a different theory, and he hadnoidea what to believe.
“Where’d shifters come from?”
Urban snorted what sounded like a laugh. “Couldn’t ask anything easy, could you? No one knows.”
Jesse was disappointed. He’d begun to believe Urban had an answer for everything. Sure as hell acted like he did. But he hadn’tfinished.
“We’re in records going back to Ancient Rome, but no one knows how or why the first shifters came to be. Some say a wolf impregnated a woman, but the only people who believe that are those who hate us. Others believe it was some sort of mystical union to do with the moon and magic, because legend says the first shifters, the Argents, glowed silver under the moon.”
“Wait, what?” Jesse leaned forward in disbelief. Mates were bad enough, but wolves that shone? “You tellin’ me they lit up like fucking nightlights?”
Urban’s lips twitched.
Jesse sat back with a snort. “Sounds like a perfect merch tie-in. Bet the Romans made a killing, little glow-in-the-dark wolves for kids.”
“When you put it like that, you may have a point,” Urban said. “But there’s a couple of sources reliable enough to make me wonder. A lot of shifters still believe it. They say the Argents ruled us once—silver wolves, the rarest of all, born to lead. Some call them a royal line, though God knows what that meant in practice.”
“You said they died out? Mighty convenient, just when cameras came along.”
“They were wiped out long before that. Hunted for their coats, or just for being different. But to get back to your question where we came from, the way I figure it, we’re simply a product of evolution, only it took a left turn somewhere, away from the rest of humanity.”
“So you reckon we’re human, then? Despite what some people say.”
Urban’s eyes on him carried a weight, suddenly, and Jesse remembered he was talking to an alpha. “Damn right, we’re human. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you want to look up anything more about shifters, stick to shifter-hosted sites. Non-shifters don’t understand us at all, and they know nothing about our history and our culture. They just make up whatever serves their agenda.”
He pushed his chair back. “I’ll take you out later, teach you about scent markings, but first, I want to check in with Karl. Better if you stay in the house for now.”
Better for who? Jesse should probably argue, but fuck, he was tired. And yet, exhaustion wasn’t the only thing on his mind. Even now, with his eyelids drooping, he couldn’t tear his focus away from Urban—the lines of his chest, the sharp edge of his jaw.The skin that practicallydaredJesse to touch it. His pulse kicked up, and not because he was afraid.
He stretched his arms over his head, rolling his shoulders to get rid of his building tension. “Reckon I’ll go back to bed.”
Urban’s reaction was fast, barely there, but Jesse caught it—the flicker in his eyes, the brief parting of his lips. Like the wordbedhad conjured something vivid in his head. Like Jesse wasn’t the only one still feeling this between them.
“By the way, Jesse,” he said, as Jesse got to his feet. “What you said earlier about alphas—you’re not wrong about some of them, but an alpha’s true purpose is to protect and lead their pack. Control’s essential for that, but it’s not control for the sake of it, or for anything bad.”
Yeah, right. Jesse narrowed his eyes as he looked at Urban. Like he was going to believethat.Except, Urban looked… Unless Jesse was losing it, Urban looked haunted.
“Okay,” Jesse said with a shrug, wanting to wipe that look from Urban’s face. “Told you I don’t know about shifters.” Then he huffed. “Well, Ididn’tknow. Reckon you put that right.”
It was the closest he could get to saying thanks. No way was he going to put himself in Urban’s debt, but hewaskind of grateful. There was a lot for him to think about, and he still thought most of it was bull, but for the first time, he felt as if he were part of a larger picture. Like he wasn’t some ghost, slipping through the world alone and unseen.
As he locked the bedroom door behind him and dropped his duffel on the carpet, he thought again about Urban’s insistence that shifters needed a pack. He wondered what that would feel like. But no way did he want to be under some alpha’s control. Not even if that alpha was Matt Urban.
Though he wouldn’t mind experiencing just a little bit of that control in bed. He stripped and climbed beneath the covers,intending to think about all the ways it would be if Urban was there with him right now, all commanding and powerful, taking him apart.
But as sleep pulled him under, the fantasy shifted. It wasn’t rough or urgent any longer. It was warm. Safe.
Something he’d never known.
MATT
With Jesse safely shut away in the spare bedroom once more, Matt headed outside. He wasted no time shifting. And then he put his head down, and he ran.
He needed to run the perimeter. Needed to protect his pack, keep his senses sharp, stay busy.
That worked for about five minutes. Then the dam burst. And everything he’d been holding back flooded through—Jesse was his mate.
