Force of Temptation

“You don’t necessarily have to wait until the extremists are no longer a problem. Not if your old boss will keep quiet that you’re the buyer. Maybe you could contact the guy and ask him if he’d wait to sell and keep your identity to himself.”

“I thought about it. But I’m not sure your Alpha would sanction one of his pack running a club anyway. I get the feeling he likes the idea of his pack being tucked away like this.”

“Yeah, he does,” Ally admitted with a sigh. “Partly because he’s so protective of us, and partly because he just doesn’t like people. But he’s not a tyrannical Alpha; he’s not an asshole. He wouldn’t dismiss your dreams. He would completely take over the security measures, though . . . which actually wouldn’t be a bad thing. Leave it with me. I’ll speak to Shaya about it. Then us girls will discuss it together, come up with a plan.” Ally paused, looking hesitant to continue. “You know that Jesse might not react well to you owning a club, considering he’d have to share your attention, right? Dominant males are like that.”

“Yeah,” replied Harley. “He’ll definitely balk at it, but he’ll respect that this is very important to me. He won’t hold me back.”

Ally gave a bright smile. “Then the only hurdle will be getting Nick on board.”

“You really think that can be done?”

“Nick is hard as nails, but he can’t refuse Shaya. At least, he can’t for long.” Ally twisted in her seat. “I’m excited at the idea of the pack branching out. Maybe I could even work behind the bar.”

“Do you have experience?”

“No. But I can brew beer.”

Harley’s brows flew up. “Seriously?”

“Oh yeah. My foster uncles taught me lots of stuff.”

“Like what?”

Ally grinned. “Well . . .”

Pulling on his T-shirt, Jesse held back a wince. The claw marks on his sides burned like a motherfucker. His jaw was swollen and he was pretty sure he also had a couple of bruised ribs. His spar with Eli had been anything but a spar. The Head Enforcer had gone at Jesse like he’d fucked his mother or something. Jesse had landed some pretty decent shots on the moody son of a bitch, even broke his nose. Eli had snapped it back into place with a growl.

“Little rough today, weren’t you, Eli?” said Zander with a glare, voice hard. Neither Bracken nor Derren looked any happier with the Head Enforcer.

Eli just shrugged and pulled on his tee. “How will he learn anything if I go easy on him?”

Derren took a step toward him. “Jesse isn’t a trainee. He doesn’t need to be tested or pushed to his limits. He’s a full-fledged enforcer who’s trained in combat . . . and you just treated him like a damn novice, which is why he put you flat on your back several times.”

Muscle ticking in his cheek, Eli scoffed. “You’re exaggerating. His wounds are shallow; he’ll be healed within the hour.”

“Not the point,” Derren bit out.

Jesse stared at the Head Enforcer while his wolf flattened his ears and snarled. “If you’d been some guy on the street, I would have torn your throat out for half the moves you dared to use. And you know it. You want to vent about something, you do that. But you don’t get to use me. Do we understand each other?”

They all turned as Ally stepped into the clearing and frowned at her mate. “I could feel your anger building through our bond. What’s wrong?” She looked from Jesse to Eli. “What the hell happened to you two?”

It was Zander who responded. “Eli was venting about something.”

As Ally came closer, Jesse sensed, “You’ve been to see Harley.” He could smell his mate on her. The scent soothed his irritation.

“I’ve been in her position,” said the Seer. “I wanted her to know that she had a friend if she needed one.”

Grateful for that, Jesse gave her a nod of thanks. He didn’t want Harley feeling disconnected from the world. But if the only person she had here was him, it was likely to happen. It went in his favor that she wasn’t particularly social, preferring her own company to that of others.

Ally checked her watch. “It’s almost time for lunch. Want me to go get Harley while you and Eli resolve whatever the hell just happened here?”

Jesse shook his head. “No need. Not interested in what would be a fake apology. See you all later. I’m going to have lunch with my mate.”

“You’re not eating with us?” Eli called out as Jesse began to walk away. There was an edge to his voice that Jesse chose to ignore. Whatever was messing with the guy’s head wasn’t Jesse’s problem.

Without turning, Jesse replied, “Not today.”

“So she has you pulling away from the pack?”

It was more of an accusation than a question, and it rubbed Jesse’s fur the wrong way. His already irritated wolf bared his teeth. Halting, Jesse slowly spun. “What?” he clipped.

There was an ugly twist to Eli’s mouth. “She’s not comfortable with us, so you’re going to spend most of your time with her at your lodge to placate her, aren’t you? You’re going to pull away from your pack.”

“I don’t know what crawled up your ass and died,” rumbled Jesse, “but I don’t care. Be a big fucking boy and deal with your shit instead of piling it on me.”

“So I’m wrong?” challenged Eli, either oblivious to the danger of continuing or simply not caring. “You’re not having lunch at the main lodge because she doesn’t want to be around us?”