“I’ve never been around other shifters, okay?” he shot back.
Urban stilled, and his fingers curled before he caught himself and stopped them. He kept studying Jesse, as if judging his truthfulness.
“That puts a different perspective on things,” he said at last. “But how the hell’s that possible?”
“Don’t see how that’s any of your damn business,” Jesse retorted swiftly. “Uh, no offense,” he added, remembering he was speaking to the alpha who was currently holding him prisoner.
To his shock, Urban’s lips lifted slightly at the corners, almost as if he found Jesse’s response amusing rather than enraging.
Urban rose from his chair, and Jesse tensed, ready to lunge out of his way. But Urban seemed almost to have forgotten Jesse’s existence as he paced over to the window, rested his hands on the sill and looked out into the darkness beyond. He was silent, the set of his shoulders revealing nothing of his thoughts.
Jesse flicked his eyes toward the closed door, working out if he’d be able to reach it before Urban got to him. And then all his muscles tightened as Urban turned once more.
“I want you to stay here tonight. If it’s true you don’t know something as basic as scent markings, I need to teach you enough so you don’t get yourself killed out there. Then you can head out.”
Jesse bit his lip and ducked his head without thinking.Shit—that looked submissive, like he was begging. He yanked his chin back up fast as he weighed Urban’s words. Heseemedlegit.And if he wanted Jesse to stay, he’d have no need to dress it up in fancy reasoning—he could just forcehim. Unless he was trying to get Jesse to drop his guard.
And the hell of it was, ever since Urban’s lips had twitched, Jesse was having problems seeing him as the threat he’d been before. Weird, how fast someone could go from potential predator to maybe just a shifter with some cockeyed sense of honor, trying to play teacher. But Jesse wasn’t sticking around to find out.
“Nah, I’m good. Don’t need a lesson either,” Jesse said. “Reckon I’ll just keep to myself in future.”
“That’s what you thought you were doing tonight,” Urban pointed out. “Didn’t go too well for you, did it?”
Damn the man. There was no arguing with that. He sighed, irritated that he couldn’t find a comeback.
“I also want to know about that bite you’ve got,” Urban continued. “You’ve obviously hadsomeinteraction with shifters.”
It still rankled, the way Urban said what he wanted and just expected it to happen, but Jesse saw no problem telling him about the bite. Wasn’t as if it was a big secret.
“I ran into another pack out in the mountains,” he confessed. “When they saw me—well, they didn’t exactly sit me down and feed me steak and potatoes.”
“The mountains?” Urban’s voice was sharp, sudden tension vibrating through. “Where?”
“Hell, I don’t know. Not like I was carrying a map. Just—out there.” Jesse waved his hand in what he thought was the right direction.
Urban was silent for a long time, his gaze resting on Jesse’s face with a weight that Jesse didn’t care for. It was like he was assessing Jesse, judging him again.
Eventually, Urban raked his hand through his hair and stood up from where he’d been leaning against the windowsill. “It’s beena hell of a day. Why don’t you bunk in the room Bryce put you in earlier, and we’ll sort out the rest of this tomorrow.”
It wasn’t a question. Jesse rose to his feet.
Urban’s eyes flicked to the duffel he was holding. “I’ll put your clothes in the dryer so they’ll be ready in the morning.”
That was a thoughtfulness Jesse hadn’t expected, but there was no way he wanted Urban pawing through his clothes. They weren’t much, but they were all he had.
“Don’t worry about it. I got it,” he said.
Urban didn’t argue, but he was still determined to act like Jesse’s jailer. “In that case, I’ll show you how the dryer works.”
“Okay,” Jesse said gruffly, lowering his head in acknowledgement. Realizing that was perilously close to a gesture of submission, he yanked his head back up.
Urban looked amused more than anything, which kind of freaked Jesse out as he silently followed him out of the room.
Clothes safely in the dryer, Urban walked him back to the bedroom he’d been in earlier. “I’m in the room next to the den,” he said. “Any problems during the night, let me know.”
Jesse wasn’t sure what sort of problems he might mean, and this was feeling all kinds of intense, with Urban standing so close to him. The nerves that had been shrilling with anxiety somehow seemed to have changed their pitch, and the hairs on Jesse’s arms felt like they were standing on end at being so close to Urban. Like he wanted Urban to touch him. Which wasnotthe case. He intended to get out of here safe and sound and unmauled by anyone, especially an alpha—he’d heard tales of their cruelty.
Urban was still standing there, like he expected Jesse to open the door and invite him in.
