Somehow, Matt kept his expression neutral. He supposed it made sick, inevitable sense that Cale had dug into his past, wanting to find out who his competition was.
“You’re not taking him,” Matt said, his voice quiet but inflexible.
Cale hesitated, just for a fraction of a second. When he stood and inclined his head, it seemed to Matt the amusement on his face was forced.
Fine,Matt thought, as Cale walked out.Now we both know where we stand.
* * *
Back at the house, Matt headed straight for the kitchen. Bryce was leaning against the counter, chatting to Jason as he cooked, but no one else was around. The place was strangely quiet for the time of day. Jason glanced up as Matt came in, and answered his unspoken question.
“Christian and Dave are patrolling, Karl’s sleeping, and Tristan took Jesse out to the yard. No idea why, but it looked like mischief.”
Devoutly hoping mischief didn’t involve Tristan’s damn goats, Matt stepped onto the porch, searching for Jesse.
A gray figure shot around the side of the barn, eyes bright and tail waving frantically as he ran, tongue lolling out of his mouth in a way that reminded Matt irresistibly of Tristan’s easy laughter. Hard on his heels came another wolf, one that had to be Jesse. At that instant, Matt’s brain stuttered and went into meltdown.
“Holy fuck,” Bryce said from behind him, sounding awed. “Holyfuck, Matt. Is that why Cale… ?” He broke off.
Matt swallowed, suddenly cold in the afternoon sunshine. He stared at the wolf who had just pinned down a happily strugglingTristan and was pretending to savage him mercilessly. His coat was sleek and lustrous as it gleamed silver in the sunlight. Matt had no doubt that in moonlight it would blaze brightly—something that belonged in myth, not reality. And his eyes... Bright blue, just a shade darker than when he was in human form.
Time stretched, long enough that Matt’s breath stalled in his chest.
Jesse was an Argent.
A legend. A ghost story. A royal bloodline so long extinct that most doubted it had ever existed.
Matt dragged in an unsteady breath, the weight of it sinking into his bones. If this got out, Jesse wouldn’t be just Cale’s target. He’d be everyone’s. There’d be no safe place left for him.
“Fuck me,” Bryce breathed. When Matt tore his eyes from Jesse, he saw his shock mirrored in Bryce’s pale face. “Matt—” He shook his head, swallowing hard. “It’s impossible.”
“I know,” Matt said. There was absolutely no way Jesse could be an Argent. Except for the small fact that he so obviously was.
Bryce drew a sharp breath. “And Dave and Christian didn’t think totellus?”
Matt was still trying to catch up, to make sense of it all. “You know they’d never have kept this quiet,” he bit out. “But if the moon wasn’t out, there’d have been nothing for them to see.”
Argents were said to have glowed pure silver under the light of the moon, their coats like silver fire. In sunlight, their coats had held a paler echo of that brilliance, though still unmistakable. In the dark, they’d been the same as any other wolf.
And holyshit,he was going to have to stop thinking of Argents in the past tense. He thought his brain might liquify.
Howcould Jesse be an Argent? How could he have not told Matt? He’d saidnothing—let Matt tell him about the old tales without breathing a word. Matt wanted to be furious at Jesse forthe betrayal, but everything in him told him that wasn’t Jesse. He didn’t lie.
But about something as huge as this? A secret this dangerous? Knowing every shifter out there, everyhunterout there would want a piece of him? Maybe hewould.
Matt’s breathing wasn’t easing any because nothing with Jesse—nothingaboutJesse—was as he’d thought.
“Jesse.” Matt’s voice was a whip crack, and Jesse instantly raised his head from where he’d been mouthing at Tristan’s ruff.
Matt stepped forward, rigid with the control he was exerting over himself. “Inside, now. We need to talk.”
“Damn right, we do,” Bryce agreed.
“Not you. I want you to wake Karl. He’s got command out here until I’m back.”
Bryce bristled. “I’m your damn beta, Matt, not him.”
“You are, but he’s got more experience when it comes to a battle.” Matt’s eyes were still on Jesse, who had shifted and was quickly pulling on the clothes that had lain in a pile on the end of the porch, his gaze flicking nervously over Matt. “Go.”
