Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
JESSE
It was mid-morning by the time Jesse stirred.
He’d slept better than he had in a long time—deep and restful, without the usual startle-awake fear that he’d be discovered by someone.
Probably because he was in a comfy bed instead of curled up in the woods, nose under tail, praying some hunter didn’t spot him.
Might be nice to have this, he supposed. A roof over his head, warmth, and no need to wake every hour to check for danger.
But it wasn’t worth the cost. His mind unhelpfully supplied an image of what the cost looked like, and somehow that shadowy, dark alpha controlling his life morphed into Matt Urban. All power and black-clad authority, looking at Jesse like he saw right into him.
Jesse huffed, scrubbing a hand through his hair.
Urban was exactly the sort of alpha Jesse should be staying the hell away from.
Urban loomed over the rest of his pack. Even when he said nothing, his presence filled a space, commanded attention, demanded obedience.
Jesse had watched the way his pack were always aware of him and adjusted their behavior to follow what he wanted from them.
Jesse knew one thing for damn sure—he wasn’t the following type. And yet… Temptation curled through him, insidious. Urban was powerful. Dominant. And hot as hell.
He turned onto his stomach, burying his face in the pillow with a groan and not shifting his hips to rub his cock against the sheet. He wasn’t thinking about how it might feel to have all that power directed at him. Nope, he definitely wasn’t doing that.
Just as he didn’t wrap his hand around himself in the shower, feeling the press and slide as he jerked himself off thinking of those black jeans and how they were about the tightest thing Jesse had ever seen.
Good as they’d looked, more than anything, Jesse wanted them off Urban.
Wanted to taste him, to see how he looked when his head tilted back, his eyes closed, while Jesse sucked him.
He rubbed his thumb over the head of his cock and shivered at the thought of Urban above him. His hot eyes would be boring into Jesse as he held him down, helpless under him, so he couldn’t do anything except take whatever Urban wanted to do to him.
He came with surprising suddenness. After he’d gasped his way through it and could think again, he was mad as hell at his brain—the last thing he wanted was anyone holding him down like that. He didn’t know where that urge had come from.
Deciding to ignore the part of his mind that had betrayed him so badly, Jesse took his time shaving and packing away his things, ready to leave.
He hesitated for an instant over his duffel.
Long enough that he grew frustrated with himself, before he eventually decided it would probably be safe in the bedroom.
If Urban had been telling the truth, and Jesse had believed him, he was going to let Jesse go.
If Urban hadn’t been telling the truth, Jesse would have more things to worry about than whether he had a change of clothes.
It never even occurred to him to turn left out of the bedroom and head for the front door.
Instead, he made his way toward the kitchen, breathing in the scent of sizzling crispy bacon and fresh coffee.
And something else, that wasn’t the scent of food, impelled him toward the kitchen. A need to be there.
He didn’t know what that churning deep inside him—his wolf, he reminded himself—was so insistent about. Not until he walked into the kitchen and saw Matt Urban sitting at the table.
It had been Matt he’d sensed. The raw power in the man was unmistakable now he was facing him. Matt’s black jeans and black button-down contrasted sharply with the way his blond hair shone in the sunlight through the window, and his eyes were a piercing green as he looked at Jesse.
Arousal hit Jesse deep in the gut, burning sharp and clear until he couldn’t think of anything, didn’t know anything except that he couldn’t breathe.
Matt rose to his feet, a long, sensuous unfolding of his body, and prowled across the room toward him. His movement was so full of power and grace that Jesse’s mouth dried. Matt stopped just inches away—so close Jesse could swear he felt the heat radiating from him.
Jesse was breathing raggedly, his body primed, ready. But then, Matt stepped back and turned away to pour a coffee, like nothing had happened.
The loss hit Jesse before his brain caught up. What the hell kind of alpha did that? All that heat, and he didn’t even try to jump him? Rude.
Matt passed him a mug, and Jesse took it reflexively.
“Thought you were going to sleep all day,” Matt said, his voice cool and calm.
But his eyes were still dark, and the tightness in his body said he hadn’t been able to just flick a switch and turn that thing between them off.
No matter how much he wanted Jesse to believe he had.
Jesse huffed, still off balance and covering it the only way he knew how. “Guess you don’t know everything after all.”
Matt’s mouth tugged up at one corner, but he didn’t take the bait. He leaned against the counter, watching Jesse like he was trying to figure something out.
“You should eat,” he said.
Jesse snorted. “You ever get sick of bossin’ me around?”
“I could just let you pass out from hunger halfway down the driveway,” Matt said with a shrug.
The remaining anxiety slid from Jesse’s shoulders. Urban really did intend to let him go.
He’d gotten what he wanted. So why did it feel like he’d lost?
MATT
He’d been so close— so fucking close—to touching Jesse. To pulling him in, kissing him until he melted under the assault, and never letting him go again. Thank God his brain had come back online before his wolf had his way.
Jesse was tucking in to bacon, eggs and pancakes, one arm wedged around his plate, guarding it.
Matt wanted him to stay long enough so that every meal didn’t seem like a feast to him, one where he had to eat all he could because he didn’t know where the next one would be coming from.
But the longer he was around Jesse, the more of a battering his self-control was taking, and Matt had to get him out of here before his instincts overcame all common sense.
He’d still teach him about territorial boundaries, but after that, Jesse was gone. “Once we’re done with the markers, I can drop you off somewhere,” he said.
“Y’know, I could take it personally, you being that eager to get rid of me.”
Matt tilted his head as he examined Jesse. Just this morning, Jesse had been desperate to get out of here. He still was, if Matt had read his body language right, but there was… Was that hurt in his eyes?
Fuck it. This whole mate thing had Matt second-guessing himself, something he never did.
Unease still flickered inside him about not telling Jesse they were mates.
It would be the right thing to tell him, except as Matt had no intention of doing anything about it, it would only cause trouble for both of them.
Better to keep Jesse in ignorance, and once he was gone, Matt could get back to his life.
His empty, duty-bound life.
And if he’d needed any further proof that this whole mate thing was screwing with his head, that was it. So maybe it wasn’t much of a life, but it was what he had. And what he deserved.
“I’ve got some chores to do before taking you out to the perimeter,” he told Jesse. He had no idea why he felt the need to explain rather than just tell him what was going to happen.
His plate scraped clean, Jesse slurped his coffee, into which he’d stirred a frankly obscene amount of sugar. “Need a hand with anything? Kinda feel I should earn breakfast.”
About to refuse automatically, Matt paused.
He’d lectured Jesse about needing to be around other shifters, and yet he’d been about to isolate him again.
Maybe spending more time with Matt would get it into his stubborn head that he needed people.
And it would get the chores done quicker.
They were all out of their usual routine after the extra patrols last night, and Matt had said he’d pick up the slack, given he was staying home to ride herd on Jesse.
“Chickens need feeding,” he said.
Jesse raised his eyebrows. “You’ve got chickens?”
“You think eggs just appear on the plate?”
“I mean… I hoped.”
Matt rose to his feet, amusement once again tugging at him. Damn it, Turner was a handful. Just as well he was going to be someone else’s handful very soon.
He sobered swiftly as he realized that he didn’t know what Jesse might be walking into when he left here.
Maybe Matt could sneak some bills into his pocket before setting him loose, just enough to keep him on his feet.
Not that Jesse would accept charity. He’d bite before he begged, that much was clear, so Matt would have to be careful.
He could hide the bills in his bag, where Jesse wouldn’t find them until he was too far away to come back and argue about it.
Though, given Jesse’s argumentative personality, that might have to be Alaska.
He sent Jesse toward the chickens and set to forking hay in the barn. Only to pause when he heard a hell of a racket coming from the direction of the chicken pen—indignant squawks, flapping of wings, and a hastily bitten-off “goddammit!”
Setting his fork aside, Matt went to investigate. Animals didn’t sense their wolves in human form, so it couldn’t be the presence of a strange wolf upsetting his normally placid and well-behaved chickens. Tristan’s damn goats were in the paddock, so for once they weren’t the culprits.
Jesse burst through the run door, nearly tripping over himself as he slammed it shut and bolted it as if the hounds of hell were after him. Behind the wire, chickens still squawked and flapped their outrage, feathers and straw floating in the air like the aftermath of a battle.