They lay in the dark talking, and then made love again and again, until Jesse fell asleep with her cradled in his arms, as if he would protect her from any harm that came along.
But Sophia knew he couldn’t.
Everything in her longed to tell him her secrets, to tell him the truth of what Nash was planning to do to the Silverlake pack.
She ached to believe he could make it stop, that he could make her safe.
But no one could make her safe.
She should never have done this—never have given into the need to feel him touch her, hold her, reach deep into her soul. How would she ever go through with her contract to mate with Kane, seeing Jesse every day, knowing what she could have had?
But how could she break the contract? If she did, Nash would tell everyone what she was, and Jace Monroe would be responsible for tracking her down and putting her out of her misery.
Jesse stirred, as if he could feel her unhappiness in his sleep. Without waking, he slid his hand up and began to rub the back of her neck gently.
Sophia curved her hand around his cheek and kissed him softly, and he smiled.
The only thing she could do was go to Silverlake, and see if there was any way she could keep this whole disaster from happening.
And hope that Jesse didn’t hate her forever, when he found out who she was.
Chapter 5
Jesse woke to the sound that, of all the sounds in the world, he least wanted to hear.
It was Kane, standing on the patio and calling his name.
“Jesse!” There was muttering, and then something that sounded like, “Why the fuck can’t anyone be where they’re supposed to be, doing what they’re supposed to be doing?”
Sophia yawned and stretched, and then came fully alert, sitting up and brushing her hair out of her face.
“Who’s that?” she whispered. “Your alpha?”
He shook his head. “Our Enforcer. Kane.”
Sophia’s eyes grew wide. “He can’t—I don’t want anyone to find me here. They’ll talk, and—”
Jesse gave her a quick kiss, and then scrambled into his shorts. “Just stay in here with the curtains closed. I’ll distract him, and then you can leave.”
She nodded, then pulled him down for a longer kiss. “Go,” she whispered.
Kane was calling louder, walking towards the cabana. Jesse stepped out from behind the curtains, yawning and stretching.
“Well, don’t wake the whole house up, asshole,” he said to Kane. “What the hell do you want at this hour of the morning?”
Kane frowned. “What are you doing out here?”
Jesse kept moving towards the house, forcing Kane to walk along with him. “Went for a midnight swim and fell asleep in the cabana,” he said. “Somehow, I forgot I was supposed to keep you apprised of all my leisure activities. Do you want me to inform you the next time I take a leak, too? Or should I just alert the media?”
Kane just gave him a disgusted look. “Don’t even try that shit on me. Do you think I can’t smell sex all over you? I hope Nash doesn’t find out you’ve been messing with his women. You know most of them are mated or contracted.”
Jesse gave Kane a sideways glance. “Wow. I’d like to tell you how many ways that’s none of your damned business, but I haven’t had my coffee yet, so I’ll stop with one.”
Kane snapped, “It’s my business if you destroy this whole negotiation because you can’t keep it in your pants.” He started muttering again. “Dicks. Why do they all think with their dicks?”
“Because we have more brains in our dicks than you have in your entire body,” Jesse said, as they passed through a set of French doors and into the house. “What the fuck do you want, Kane?”
“We have to leave today instead of tomorrow,” Kane said. “Jace just got a call from the Council. They’ve got an Enforcement job for us. Probably just a couple of days, but it needs to be done now.”
Jesse sighed. He was already mentally exhausted from two days of intense negotiations. “Awesome,” he said. “What do they need us for, and when do we leave?”
“They don’t need you,” Kane said, in a tone that implied nobody did. “They need me and Jace. You are escorting my mate back to Silverlake. You leave as soon as she can get packed.”
Oh, shit. He’d been hoping to have at least one more day with his goddess. He knew she was promised to someone, but he’d been hoping in the back of his mind that there was some way that could be dealt with. Hell, he was one of the best negotiators in the country. If he couldn’t negotiate her out of a mating contract, he might as well tear up his credentials and flush them.
Of course, that was assuming she wanted him to get her out of it. That last night had meant as much to her as it did to him. He had to see her, as soon as she’d had a chance to make it back to her room and get cleaned up. And he had to explain to her why he had to leave—to spend two days on the road with sweet little Sophia, who would probably be scared as hell.
Although from the girl’s perspective, it would probably beat being stuck on the road with Sir Stick-up-his-ass for two days.
“Hey, wait,” he said, stopping at the door to his room. “I only have my bike. How the hell am I supposed to get Sophia and all her luggage back to Silverlake on that?”
Kane walked into the room and threw Jesse a contemptuous glance. “You’re taking my truck,” he said. “Get a scratch on it, and you’re dead. Give me the keys to your bike.”
“Are you kidding?” Jesse said. “I’m not lending you my bike. You’ll trash it.”
Kane just held out the truck keys. “Believe me, I’m not happy about it either,” he said. “Give me your fucking keys.”
Jesse grabbed his keys from the dresser, but when he turned to give them to Kane he suddenly found himself up against the wall, Kane right in his face. “If you touch my mate, I’m going to fucking rip you limb from limb. In front of the whole pack. Got that?”
Jesse tried to stare him down, but he’d never been able to stare Kane down.
“That’s right,” Kane said softly. “Crawl on your belly, Omega. There is no way you can take me on.”
Jesse slammed his keys into Kane’s hand.
“Don’t mess up my bike,” he said.
Kane just sneered as he left the room. “Be ready in two hours,” he said. “And for God’s sake, clean yourself up. I don’t know whose scent is all over you, but everyone in the Nashville pack will.” He stalked out.
Jesse stared after him, fists clenched, feeling like he always did after Kane was finished with him. Burning inside, and wanting just once to bleed him so bad it would wipe that sneer off his face forever.
He hoped he got the motorcycle back in one piece. And that he managed to get Sophia back to Silverlake without pulling over, giving her a plane ticket and telling her to run while she still had the chance.
Chapter 6
Inside the cabana, Sophia put on her bikini bottoms with shaking hands. She searched around for her top, only to realize that Jesse had dropped it in the pool last night.
What had she been thinking? This was crazy. One look at Kane and she could see that he was another one like Nash—cold, cruel, and heartless, just like Emma had said. If he ever found out that she’d slept with Jesse…
She’d started the rift in the pack that Nash wanted, without even meaning to. This was going to be a total mess, and she only had a day to straighten it out before they were leaving for Silverlake, and her trial visit.
She had to talk to Jesse. She had to tell him this had been a mistake, that no one could ever know.
Her wolf whined at the thought.
She grabbed a robe and hurriedly wrapped it around her, and then made a towel turban around her hair. Hopefully anyone she passed would just think she’d gone for an early morning swim. And wouldn’t get close enough to scent Jesse on her.
She hurried through the hallways, breathing a sigh of relief when she reached the door of her room without encounte
ring anyone but a couple of servants. She turned the knob and went in.
Cigar smoke permeated the room. Nash was sitting at her computer desk, his feet propped up on her papers, smoking one of his smelly cigars.
Sophia stopped dead. “What are you—”
She stopped herself. Nash hated insubordination. “Why Daddy, what a surprise,” she said, her tone going honey-sweet. “It’s awful early for a visit, though. I don’t even have my face on yet!”
Nash wasn’t impressed. He never was, but he still liked his girls to put on the southern charm. “Don’t be a fool, Sophia,” he said. “You think I didn’t notice this bed ain’t been slept in?”
Of course he’d noticed. He noticed everything.
“That’s nothing for you to worry about,” she said. At least, she desperately hoped it wasn’t. She had to see Jesse, soon.
“If you hadta be out cattin’ around, I sure hope at least you had the sense to do it with Kane,” he said.
Sophia didn’t answer. Nash pursed his lips in disapproval. “In my day, girls didn’t go ‘round droppin’ their drawers for every boner that came their way,” he said, shaking his head.
Hypocrite. He’d stuck his boner in every girl he could get to drop her drawers—however he could get them to do it. But she wasn’t about to say that.
“Nothin’ to say, my little tiger?”
“Did you come here for somethin’ in particular, Daddy?” she asked.
“Why yes, darlin’, I did. I came to tell you that you better get your little undies packed, because you’re headin’ out for Silverlake as soon as we can get your Louis Vuittons in the truck,” he said.
What? Sophia stared at him. She was leaving for Silverlake today? She had to talk to Jesse.
“I thought we weren’t leaving until tomorrow.”
“Well, it seems that your new alpha had a change of plans. He and his Enforcer had a business emergency come up, so they need to leave today. Their Negotiator’s gonna drive you back.” Nash stood up and ground his cigar out on Sophia’s favorite decorative plate.
He walked up to her, his cane dangling from his hand. Most people thought it was an affectation; few knew it was a weapon.
He kept advancing, and she knew better than to back off. That would only make him angry. “You know what you gotta do, girl,” he said. “You gotta wrap that Enforcer popsicle around your little finger, and then you gotta convince him he needs to be alpha.”
“I thought you were going to do that,” she said.
Nash said, “Don’t you give me any lip. Just make that wolf trail you around like a puppy, you hear? Suck his dick every night and put your ass in the air for him whenever he wants it.”
Sophia couldn’t hide her disgust at his crudeness.
Immediately, she felt the pressure of Nash’s dominance. “Don’t you give me none of your attitude, girl,” he said. “Get down on your knees.”
His dominance hit her with the force of a hammer, and her knees buckled and hit the floor. Nash swung his cane up and stabbed it into her ass, hitting a hidden trigger. An electrical charge shot through her, agony surging through every nerve. She strangled her scream; if she screamed he’d hurt her worse.
He snarled, “I didn’t hear you answer, me girl. You gonna do what I told you?”
“Yes, sir. Of-of course,” she stammered through the pain.
He hit her again with the cane, the charge setting her nerve endings on fire. “Of course what?”
“I’ll suck his dick every night and put my ass in the air for him whenever he wants it.” Sophia repeated his crude words exactly, pain and humiliation filling her. The look of satisfaction on Nash’s face made her want to vomit.
“That’s right, girl.” Nash sniffed the air, then pointed his unlit cigar at her. “You better make sure he’s the only one you’re keepin’ happy. Your days of cattin’ around are over. So you wash that sex-stink off yourself and then go make nice to him before you leave.”
He reached down and grabbed her chin, yanking her head up and getting right in her face, so she could smell his putrid cigar breath. “I want that territory, girl, and I want that pack. Just remember what’s gonna happen to you if I don’t get it.”
He walked out the door, and Sophia sat down on the floor, her legs trembling. She wrapped her arms around her waist and hugged herself, rocking back and forth.
She wished desperately she could go to Jesse. That he could be the one holding her, soothing her, making things right.
Any other time, she’d be thrilled to spend two days driving to Idaho with him. But now—how was she ever going to face him, explain to him why she’d slept with him even though she was going to mate with Kane? And how was she ever going to stand being with someone else, knowing what it could have been like with him?
Worst of all, how could she destroy his pack, the way Nash wanted her to?
She made herself climb to her feet and walk over to her dresser, staring at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t wish her monster on Jesse. But she couldn’t let it destroy him either. What was she going to do?
She’d never wanted to be a tool for Nash’s ambitions. But once he’d found out her secret, when she was only six years old, that’s all he’d trained her to be.
His secret weapon. His Trojan horse.
His tiger.
Only a few trusted people in the pack knew that Sophia’s tiger genes weren’t dormant the way Nash told everyone they were. She did shift to tiger—but only when she was terrified, or infuriated. Or in pain. That was Nash’s favorite way to force the change. With his electrified cane prods and his sharpened baton. All the things he’d used on her when she was a cub.
And, worst of all, once the tiger took over, she couldn’t change back. She couldn’t even control herself in tiger form. Without Nash to keep her in line, she was so scared and confused she just attacked whoever was nearest. He’d made her do it more than once—forcing the change and closing her in a pen with whoever he wanted to get rid of. Then later she’d find herself naked in a cage, shivering, with blood on her mouth and under her fingernails, and only blurred memories of pain and death.
He’d make her tiger take out the alpha, and anyone else from Silverlake who resisted him.
And if she ever tried to turn on him, all Nash had to do was “regretfully” inform the Council that her tiger had manifested and gone rogue. They’d hunt her down and kill her.
If she didn’t succeed in destroying the Silverlake pack, she was dead. Nash would make sure of it.
Chapter 7
Jesse sat on the bumper of Kane’s truck, his legs splayed out in front of him, trying to fight the churning emotions inside him.
Ever since he’d left his sun goddess that morning, all he could think about was getting back to her. He’d wanted to wake up with her slowly, make love to her again. Talk to her and find out everything about her.
Leaving so fast had left too much unsaid. He knew things could look different to her in the morning. Maybe she regretted what they’d done. Maybe all she really wanted was one beautiful memory—maybe she didn’t want to see him again.
But he wanted—needed—to see her. To look in her eyes and see if there was any kind of a chance for them.
He knew it was crazy to feel this way after only one night. He knew there probably wasn’t a chance in hell she’d want to throw away a sure thing—a rich and powerful mate—to take a gamble that what they had might turn into something real. But even if she didn’t, he had to make sure she knew he hadn’t just gone off and abandoned her. Remind her once more that she was important, regardless of who she was with. She mattered.
His wolf wanted to pace restlessly, and he made himself stay still so as not to betray his agitation. He didn’t even know who his Athena was—he hadn’t had the chance to get her real name. He couldn’t run around the house desperately asking everyone where to find a woman whose name he didn’t even know. That would be like shouting to everyone in the pack what they’d d
one.
And he didn’t know how much trouble that would cause. Technically, female shifter wolves were free agents unless a mating contract was finalized and the bond sealed. But like most things having to do with sex, the reality was a lot more complicated than that. Especially if the contract was part of a tricky negotiation, or her potential mate was particularly possessive.
Besides, Jace had also asked him—more like ordered him—to stay close. They were parked here in front of the house because supposedly Sophia was coming along any minute to join him for the drive to Silverlake. But they’d been stuck here in the driveway over an hour, and she still hadn’t shown. Cold feet? Or just reinforcing her status by making them wait?
Jace had been eyeing Jesse all morning with his alpha face on, which meant that Kane had probably complained to him about Jesse sleeping with one of Nash’s pack. He’d probably get a raft of shit about that later. Kane was leaning against the fender at the opposite end of the truck, thinking stick-up-his-ass thoughts and not sharing them with anyone.
Emma and Jace were over by the wide curved stairs that led up to the carved front door, talking in low tones. Emma was probably regretting insisting that Kane should be there to see Sophia off, so she could at least meet him before they took off in different directions. This was taking too long, and Jace was getting antsy to leave for the Council job.
The stairs were marble with wrought-iron railings, and lined with precisely trimmed shrubbery and flowering plants. It was all so perfect and expensive that it gave Jesse the wild desire to shift to wolf and piss on something. He wondered how a girl raised in this environment was going to adapt to the rustic conditions at Silverlake.
He kept telling himself that this wasn’t the end of the road for him and his goddess. She might come to see Sophia off on her trip, and he could grab a minute with her. Worst case, he could talk her name and number out of Sophia during the trip, and call her.
Tiger Mate (Silverlake Shifters Book 3) Page 4