Force of Temptation

Harley looked at Jesse. “She’s . . . friendly.”

“She is,” he agreed.

“What’s her story?”

“Her entire pack died when she was just a baby. They made a suicide pact, but we’re not sure why. At least her mom gave her up to Social Services before killing herself. It would have been better if she’d made it clear that Cassidy was a shifter. Then she wouldn’t have been adopted by a human family. An overly religious family that gave her up, afraid of her visions.”

Harley’s heart hurt for the kid. “That’s pretty sad.”

“Yeah.” He slowly moved to Harley’s side and leaned against the counter, watching her resume loading the dishwater. “You were frowning when I walked in. What were you thinking about?”

“I was just thinking I need to call Tess at some point. I haven’t spoken to her in a while. She worries.”

“Does she know about the hate mail?”

“No. Tess would have freaked. I didn’t want to scare her.”

And Harley hadn’t been taking the whole thing seriously enough. Jesse cupped one globe of her ass. “You need to start taking better care of this; it’s mine and I want it safe.” He lightly tapped her ass to punctuate his point, and her eyes flared.

“You have no ‘caution’ lights in your head at all, do you?”

He smiled, perversely liking her exasperation. That was nothing new.

“You know what your problem is, Dalton?” She slammed the dishwasher door so hard the plates rattled. “You’re not equipped to deal with dominant females.”

She was right, actually. As fate had paired Jesse with a submissive wolf, being in a relationship with someone like Harley wouldn’t come naturally to him, but she was who he wanted.

“You go on and on about how I’m yours and you’re keeping me blah, blah, motherfucking blah. How can you possibly be so certain that you want me to be yours?”

“How could I not want a girl who’s weirdly freaked out by the sight of wax statues and is absolutely convinced that The Matrix could be real?” he quipped.

“It could be; the signs are there.” She narrowed her eyes. “How did you know about my aversion to wax statues?”

“Because I know you, Harley. And you know me.” He pushed away from the counter. “Come on.”

“What? Why? Where are we going?”

“Exploring.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Taking her hand, Jesse led her out of the patio doors and into the sunshine. Anyone else might have been mesmerized by the view of the forest and mountains. His female was too busy gaping in awe at the thick tree right next to the lodge. “You’ll climb that the first chance you get, won’t you?”

She smiled. “Well, of course.”

He’d never seen anyone climb and navigate trees as well as Harley. Remarkably agile and quick, margays were tree dwellers and had the ankle flexibility that allowed them to climb down headfirst like a squirrel. He’d seen her beautiful little cat do it more than once.

He remembered the animal clearly. She had big brown eyes and a thick, plush, honey-colored coat that was patterned with black-ringed rosettes, spots, stripes, and elongated blotches. Her undersides were white, and she had two dark stripes on both sides of her face. Her tail was long and marked with dark bands.

He’d often tried to coax her to him when they were kids, but the little cat had always kept her distance. Still, she hadn’t hissed at him or warned him away—he’d taken that as a good sign.

“Right, time for a tour.” Over the next few hours, Jesse showed her everything. The forest, the lakes, the hot springs, the waterfall, the mountains, the other lodges, and the new kids’ play area. He showed her the spots with the best views and pointed out all the wildlife. He relished every smile and laugh, satisfied whenever her eyes lit up.

He wanted her to love the territory. Wanted her to see she could be comfortable, safe, and happy there. Wanted her to feel at home and see what it was like to be part of a pack that had strong leadership and took care of its own. He knew her cat would adore the land, and he hoped that she would quickly become attached to it.

He also pointed out the boundaries of the territory and taught Harley about their safety measures. “Although there are enough land mines, traps, sensors, and cameras to keep people from crossing the border of our territory, we’ll have to add a perimeter fence if the hotel is built or we’ll be getting sued every time someone is hurt.”

“Hotel?” she repeated, frowning.

“A half shifter called Hector Flynt bought the territory next to ours. He plans to build a hotel resort there.”

“Shit, that would be bad. I mean, anyone could be a guest in that place. People could go there to spy on the pack—reporters, naturists, loners, assassins, extremists, shifter groupies . . . the list goes on.”

“I know. The good thing is that, from what he told Nick, Hector doesn’t want those kind of guests either. The bad thing is that his idea of a solution is to buy our territory from us. Naturally the Alphas are refusing to sell, but Hector doesn’t seem to be getting the message.”

She sighed. “Maybe once the guy realizes there’s no swaying your Alphas on this, he’ll give up and sell the land.”

Jesse slid an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s hope so.”

Sensing that he’d prefer a change of subject, Harley said, “So, tell me what being an enforcer entails.”