Force of Temptation

“Yes. Giving me to Tess was, by no means, a selfless act.”

Reaching the SUV, Jesse pulled her close and spoke gently. “Baby . . . I ask this without judgment: If you don’t like to visit him, why do you?”

“When I was sixteen, Tess had trouble with her boss. Sexual harassment. She made a complaint, and he set out to ruin her reputation; basically portrayed her as ‘the office slut.’ She’d come home from work every day, stressed out and devastated. She’s such a gentle person. Not tough when it comes to things like that. I mentioned the situation very briefly to Clive, not expecting him to react one way or another. He didn’t say anything about it or even look interested. Two days later, her boss pleaded guilty to sexual harassment and resigned.”

“Clive found some way to threaten him?”

“That’s the weird thing. I expected him to proudly declare that, yes, he fixed the situation so I’d feel indebted to him. But he claimed to have no idea what I was talking about. I could tell he was lying. I still don’t really understand why he lied. But it shows that even cruel people can do good things for a woman in need.” For ridding Tess of that problem and eliminating the stress from her aunt’s life, Harley could at least take time out of her own life to visit him now and then.

Jesse kissed her forehead. “Maybe it was his way of repaying Tess for caring for you the way he isn’t capable of doing.”

“Maybe. Can we go home now?”

“Home works for me.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Sitting at the dining table in the main lodge with Ally, Harley explained her plans for the club she would soon officially own, having worked out an agreement with her old boss. “I contacted the shifter bands and DJs who I’ve enjoyed performing alongside in the past; many of them are interested in playing at the club.”

“On a permanent basis?” asked Ally, tapping her pen on her notepad.

Harley shrugged. “It depends how much they like the club. Some may do it as part of a tour.” She checked the clock, disappointed to see it wasn’t even time for lunch yet. Jesse had left shortly after breakfast to pay a visit to Hector’s parents, but it seemed like he’d been gone for several hours. She and her cat were missing him and hadn’t wanted him to leave, but they also understood that he had duties that couldn’t be ignored.

“In terms of staff,” began Derren, “how many people will you need to hire?”

“The club isn’t huge, so four bartenders working in shifts of two would be enough,” replied Harley. “I’ll also need two bouncers working on the door at one time. I can deal with the administrative side of things.”

“I mentioned the club to Taryn,” said Ally after jotting down Harley’s answer. “She thinks it’s a great idea and that it might be wise to use at least one of her enforcers as a member of the staff—they’ll be recognized as Phoenix wolves, and it will be a visual reminder that anyone thinking of fucking around will have to deal with both our pack and theirs.”

Eli nodded a few times. “That makes sense.”

“Makenna said that one of the loners who works at the shelter used to work at a bar.” Ally tilted her head. “You probably met her at Cassidy’s party: her name’s Madisyn.”

Harley searched her memory. “Oh yeah, she’s a cat shifter.” Harley hadn’t been able to sense what breed, though. “I like her. If she’s interested, we can definitely talk.”

Ally scribbled something on the pad. “I think Riley would be a good choice as undercover security, someone to keep an eye on what’s going on inside the club. She’s tough.”

“She’s also in hiding,” Eli reminded her.

“Yeah, but—” Ally cut off and her eyes went white. She didn’t move, didn’t speak—just froze.

Hackles raised, Harley demanded, “What’s wrong with her?”

In an instant, Derren was behind his mate, gripping her shoulders. “She’s having a vision.” There was no panic in his tone or expression, which made Harley’s own anxiety recede a little. It couldn’t have been even thirty seconds later that Ally’s eyelids flickered and she was once more looking at them with her brown eyes.

Ally shot to her feet and looked around, blinking in surprise . . . as if confused by her surroundings; Harley recalled that her visions weren’t flashes of an event—for Ally, it always seemed like time had continued as usual, but then she would snap out of it and realize what she saw hadn’t yet happened.

Ally grabbed Derren’s hand. “Somebody’s here.”

Derren stilled. “What?”

“We have a trespasser.”

Eli shook his head. “None of the sensors have been tripped or all our cell phones would be beeping.”

“This person can get past those sensors without tripping them,” she told him.

Harley was about to ask how that was possible when something else caught her attention. She cocked her head. “Do you hear that? The birds. They’re going crazy.”

“That’s because there’s a bird shifter out there,” said Ally.

“What?” demanded Derren.

“In my vision, we were sitting here talking about the club when we heard the birds going insane. You and I went outside and saw a little kestrel with too-wise eyes; we sensed it was a shifter. It was gone before we could even try to grab it. I’ll call Bracken. Derren, you warn Zander. Eli, tell the others to head to the basement.”