Force of Temptation
Page 18

Derren tilted his head, conceding that. “So maybe she won’t find this so hard. But maybe she will. You need to be prepared for all of this so that you can help her adjust. If you’re blind to it, she’ll struggle.”
“You’re really not telling me anything I don’t already know, but I appreciate your concern.” Jesse turned to Ally. “There’s a rumor that Clive is the founder of The Movement. Is that true?” Ally’s foster brother, Cain Holt, was part of the group and posed as one of the leaders to give the true leaders more freedom and privacy.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I don’t ask Cain for details and he doesn’t volunteer them—it’s better for both of us that way.”
“Do you think he is?” Derren asked Jesse, putting an arm around his mate.
“I wouldn’t put anything past Clive Vincent,” said Jesse.
Marcus kept his voice low as he spoke. “I heard about what he did to the humans who killed his son. It was pretty gruesome. Even worse than what the humans did. But I don’t blame Clive one little bit.”
Neither did Jesse. The group of human men had attacked thirteen-year-old Michael with a baseball bat, a lead pipe, and glass bottles. After beating him almost to death, they’d poured gasoline over him and then set him alight. He’d died before the paramedics arrived. Clive had visited the exact same injuries on the humans when he killed them one at a time, calling it karma. But he also used a knife to carve “For Michael” into their chests before castrating them—this was while they were still alive.
Clive told the court that he did the latter because “they weren’t men” and they needed to die with the same indignity his son had suffered when they attacked him as a group, making him feel powerless and unmanned. It was definitely a cold method of retaliation, but Jesse had sought vengeance for his own sister’s excruciating death, so he was in no position to judge.
Hearing humming, Jesse turned to see Cassidy skipping toward them with Kathy, who was carrying Willow. “Hey,” he greeted. “How are you pups doing?”
Willow pulled her thumb out of her mouth. “They’re here,” she sang in a perfect imitation of Carol Anne from the original Poltergeist movie.
Shaya gasped. “Who let her watch that?”
Willow regularly spouted creepy lines from horror movies. Jesse was pretty sure Bracken was teaching them to the pup so she could spook people—he was odd like that, and Willow seemed to enjoy doing it. Eli, Marcus, and Zander shuddered every time.
Cassidy cocked her head. “Did you bring the pretty lady here?” she asked Jesse, biting on her lower lip, but it was clear she already knew the answer.
“I did, yes. You saved her. Thank you.”
Ally crouched down to her level of height. “And you did very well explaining the vision to us, Cassidy. We’re all proud of you for that.”
The little girl scrutinized Jesse closely. “You would have been very sad if the lady was hurt.”
He swallowed. “I would have been.”
“Are you so mad because someone wants to hurt her?”
Jesse nodded. Her Seer senses no doubt picked up on his emotions. “Would you like to meet her?”
Kathy narrowed her eyes. “I’ll go with Cassidy.” She went to hand Willow to Ally, but the Beta female shook her head.
“You’re not going in there, Kathy,” said Ally. “You were a total witch to me when I first came here. I won’t sit back and watch you do the same to Harley. She has enough shit going on.”
“Which is a good reason for her not to be here,” Kathy hissed. “We have our own problems.”
“And yet, I’m not feeling a need to back down on this one.”
Leaving the two females to quibble, Jesse led Cassidy into the lodge. He found Harley in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher. It was such a simple and domestic sight, yet also satisfying. He liked that she touched his things, leaving her scent everywhere. It soothed him and his wolf slightly.
Sensing she wasn’t alone, Harley turned. The lines of stress in her face softened as she noticed Cassidy. “Well, hello there.”
Cassidy peered up at Jesse. “See, I told you she was pretty.” Then she skipped over to Harley. “I’m Cassidy. You don’t have to tell me your name. I heard everyone talking about you. Kathy wants to know what kind of mother would name her daughter after a bike. Kent likes it, though. He’s mated to Caleb, and they have the prettiest lodge. Nick says I can have my own lodge when I’m bigger. Are you really a margay? There was a margay shifter in the shelter, and she was double . . . double . . .”
“Double jointed?” supplied Harley.
“Yes. Are you?”
“I am.”
“So your cat can twist her ankles all weird?”
“You mean can she twist them a hundred-eighty degrees, yes.” Her cat preened.
“Can you show me sometime?”
“Sure.” Harley smiled. “It’s the least I can do for you. Thank you for telling Jesse about your vision. You’re now officially my favorite person for life.”
Giggling, Cassidy gave her a simple “that’s okay” shrug—as if it was every day that she stopped people from exploding into tiny pieces. Harley’s cat liked the little pup.
Cassidy, who was clearly a chatty child, then went on to tell Harley dozens of stories about things that had happened on Mercury Pack territory. Eventually Shaya came for the pup, rolling her eyes as Cassidy continued to chat until the very moment she left the lodge.