“Reckon so long as you haven’t put a pea under the mattress, I’m fine,” Jesse said, and Urban’s lips did that twitching thing again.
“Alright then,” he said, stepping back. Somehow, under his relief, Jesse felt disappointed.
“Oh, and in case you get any ideas about trying to leave before morning, don’t,” Urban continued. “Karl’s out there patrolling, and he hasn’t met you. I’d rather your first meeting wasn’t when you were on our territory uninvited.”
“Not the kind to roll out the welcome wagon then,” Jesse surmised.
“You could say that. See you tomorrow morning.”
He turned and walked away. He was still between Jesse and the front door, so it seemed safest for Jesse to go into the room he’d been given, at least for now. But as he wrapped his fingers around the door handle, he found himself watching Matt Urban’s back view. And goddamn, if the situation had been different, Jesse would have loved to get up close and personal with that ass. Tight black jeans left little to the imagination.
Sounds from the kitchen reminded him he was surrounded by strange wolves and wasn’t safe. Scowling, he stepped into the room and shut the door, locking it firmly behind him.
Chapter Five
MATT
Matt left the door to his den open as he dropped down into his armchair, intending to think through what Jesse had said. But the air still held a faint scent of Jesse in the room, overlaid with that antiseptic smell, and Matt’s wolf wouldn’t settle.
Hauling himself to his feet again, he headed for the kitchen, where he knew Bryce would be waiting to know what he’d found out.
Bryce shoved a mug of decaffeinated coffee at him and sat opposite him at the table as Matt rubbed fretfully at his temples. He’d had a headache circling for most of the day, and now he wasn’t distracted by Jesse’s presence, it was getting worse.
“He says he ran into a pack in the mountains,” he said.
Bryce stiffened, and his brows drew down. “Thereisno pack out there. Or rather, there shouldn’t be.”
“Yeah,” Matt agreed. “I’ll make some calls tomorrow, see if anyone knows anything. Maybe they’re still getting established andhaven’t let the Council know because they haven’t yet decided on their borders.”
“Could be,” Bryce allowed, but he looked as unconvinced as Matt felt.
“He also says he’s never been around other shifters.” Matt hit him with the other bombshell.
Bryce’s jaw dropped. “How’s that even possible?”
“No idea, but he seems… credible,” Matt compromised. Something in him had believed Jesse from the first moment. Which made no damn sense—Matt didn’t trust easily these days. Understatement of a lifetime.
He swallowed a mouthful of the sludge that tasted nothing like real coffee, trying to shove Jesse Turner’s voice out of his head. But it lingered—low and rough and too damn compelling, like he was still in the room. Like Matt could still see those sharp blue eyes, challenging him, reading him.
“I need to get out there for myself, find out what’s going on,” he said. “Watch him for me, will you. I don’t trust him not to make a break for it.”
“He’s staying?” Bryce let the words hang in the air.
“Just till I’m sure he’s telling the truth and that he hasn’t got trouble on his tail,” Matt said firmly. “That’s all.”
Damn, once he got back from this patrol, he’d need to keep Bryce away from Jesse. Bryce scooped up every hard-luck case that crossed his path. Which was how Matt had ended up with a pack, though he snorted at the thought of Christian’s reaction to being called a hard-luck case. But then, Christian was an explosion looking for somewhere to happen.
He’d thought he was done with other shifters, with everything that went with being alpha. But when Bryce had taken in shifters inneedof an alpha, shifters for whom having no alpha was even worse than having one as catastrophically damaging as Matt, he’d had nochoice but to step up. Now, he had a pack he hadn’t wanted, but which he’d fight to the death to defend.
That didn’t mean he was going to take in every stray that crossed his path. Especially not Jesse Turner. He hadn’t yet worked out what it was about Jesse that disturbed him, but he knew he didn’t want that feeling to continue. Matt was always in control—he knew what happened when he wasn’t. And whatever it was about Jesse, it had the potential to knock him clean off-balance.
Added to which, Jesse wasn’t a hard-luck case. He was a scrappy fighter with an attitude that wasn’t just the defensive bravado Matt had first taken it for. Jesse didn’t need Bryce’s brand of gentle handling.
Matt rose to his feet and headed for the back door, but before he opened it, he paused. His wolf was surging inside him, protesting something, and he didn’t know what.Settle down,he murmured.You’ll run soon enough.
“I won’t be long,” he threw over his shoulder at Bryce.
But hestillcouldn’t make himself leave. This was ridiculous. He could trust Bryce to ride herd on Jesse. Bryce was no alpha, but he was calm, shrewd, and more than capable.
