Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
JESSE
“You’re going to have to stay here until they’ve moved on or been dealt with.”
Matt’s words landed like a punch, turning all his guarantees upside down and ringing with the easy authority of someone who was always obeyed.
Jesse was on his feet, chair shoved back and ready to run for the door. Damn it—he’d relaxed. He’d believed Matt. He’d thought he was in control, but all along, everything that happened to him was Matt’s decision.
But his duffel was in his room. If he ran now, he’d have only the clothes on his back.
“You can’t make me stay.” It was supposed to be a statement. Instead, it came out sounding desperate, a waver in his voice he’d give anything to take back. “You can’t, Matt.”
Matt leaned back in his chair, surveying Jesse from under slightly lowered lids. Jesse couldn’t read the expression on his face.
“It’s for your own—ah, damn it,” he said.
“I never listened when someone told me that. But look, Jesse, a pack like that would tear you apart the minute they caught up with you. Give them a day or so, just long enough to get bored and wander off again when they realize they can’t get to you, then you can go wherever you want. ”
Jesse stared at him, sifting his words for truth.
“It’s an alpha thing. I need to protect you. Just let me, will you?” For a plea, it sure came out aggressively. Then Matt swallowed and said more quietly, “Trust me, Jesse.”
God, what was Jesse supposed to do with that?
Because the shocking thing was, somehow he had come to trust Matt a little.
He wasn’t sure when it had happened, when trust had stopped being a foreign concept.
Maybe it was the way Matt looked at him when he was talking, like Jesse mattered.
Maybe it was just that something made Jesse want to trust Matt, even though he didn’t know how.
Whatever the reason for it, Jesse believed Matt wasn’t going to force him to stay forever.
But Jesse couldn’t roll over and give in. That would make Urban think he was in charge of Jesse, and no one was.
Then he thought back to the wary stillness in Karl when he’d passed on his message and remembered the savagery in those wolves that he’d escaped. If they were out there, watching, they’d see him leave. They’d be on his trail, and there was no way he’d be lucky enough to get away a second time.
He huffed a sigh, so deep that his hair gusted up from his forehead. “Reckon I can stay a mite longer,” he said reluctantly. Letting Matt know he wasn’t in control of Jesse. “But that’s all.”
“That’s all I’m asking.”
Well, Jesse hadn’t noticed much asking. But he supposed he should be grateful that Matt was willing to protect him, rather than let him wander off unknowingly to be torn apart by wolves for no reason he could understand.
“They may not know for sure you’re here, so for now, you’re not to go farther than the barn, understood?” Matt was standing up, a powerful uncoiling that was impossible not to watch.
Jesse plunked back down in his chair, sketching a salute. “Yes, sir!”
It seemed his mockery might have been a little too much, because there was a flicker of annoyance in Matt’s face. “This is serious.”
“And that’s the only reason I’m doing what you suggest,” Jesse pointed out.
He could practically see Matt battle the urge to roll his eyes. “I’m going to check things out for myself. Help yourself to food if you want any, and the TV’s in the living room, along with some books.”
He paused at the back door, glancing back and looking at Jesse as if he were going to say something. But then he turned away, leaving Jesse alone.
* * *
The living room door was standing open, and Jesse ventured in, curious.
It was a sunny room, filled with comfy-looking furniture and bookshelves stuffed with a variety of books, DVDs and even a stack of old CDs.
Jesse dropped onto the brown leather sofa and ran a finger over claw marks.
Some of the pack clearly liked their comforts, even in wolf form.
The remote was on the seat beside him, but his head was too full right now to think of watching anything.
He wanted to be out there with Matt, doing something.
But the sensible part of his brain, the bit that didn’t often get much of a say, told him that going out there where the unknown threat would see him would undo everything Matt was trying to do by protecting him.
He’d never had anyone protect him before. The thought made something warm settle inside him—something he didn’t trust. Maybe it was some bullshit wolf thing, an instinctive response to an alpha.
He didn’t even know what was real when it came to shifters. Some of it sounded like total fantasy, like the Argents—wolves that glowed under moonlight? Sure. And as far as the mate thing was concerned, that was just a way to prop up someone too weak to make it on their own.
Matt had said shifters could be with anyone, not just their so-called mates. Which was a damn good thing, because going without sex forever? Yeah, no thanks.
His nostrils flared, and he realized why his mind had gone there—the faint scent of Matt lingered on the sofa.
Jesse imagined Matt sitting next to him, thighs touching, close enough to pull him in for a kiss.
And then Matt would press him back on the sofa, weight holding him down, his cock pressing against Jesse’s—oh, God, he was sitting in a common room in the house and getting hard.
He fled to his bedroom, where he locked the door and took himself into the shower. That way, there’d be no scent for anyone to detect. As he wrapped his hand around himself, thoughts of Matt surged back, hotter than ever.
If he had to stay here, he was damn well going to make it worth his while. All that power and golden skin, and the way Matt looked when he smiled? Jesse wasn’t about to let that go to waste.