“What rights do I have?” She made her voice firm. She wanted to be clear on this.
His eyes glowed hot, but the moodiness, the edginess remained. “The same as any mate.”
She dug her fingernails dug into her palms while she fought the urge to punch him. She'd never struck another soul in her life, but right now it was damned tempting. “I'm not one of you. I didn't grow up here like Liza. I don't. Know. What.
That. Means. Jonas!”
Okay, so she lost it. Her fist connected to his chest, though it didn't faze him.
He grabbed her elbow and yanked her close, a feral smile on his face.
“I like this side of you,” he growled softly, bending to nuzzle her neck.
It stunned her. First, that a male of her acquaintance hadn't lashed out at her outburst. And second, that he had most definitely liked it. His erection ground against her stomach, and his teeth, nibbling her through her turtleneck, made her eyes roll to the back of her head. She was gasping when he gently set her away from him.
“The explanations will have to wait. I have a meeting with Liza and Caleb, and Mick is waiting for you at the clinic.”
“Why?”
“I think he misses you,” Jonas teased.
“No. Why the meeting?”
Who cared if she was being pushy? He said she had the same rights as any mate. Surely that included questions.
“Pack business. Boring stuff.”
Ouch. Guess having rights didn't equate to being trusted. He leaned over to buss her cheek and turned her toward the stairs.
“Go find Mick, darlin',” he ordered. With a slap on her ass he was gone, leaving her to fume through her wounded pride.
Chapter Eight
Zach waited just inside the door, leaning one shoulder against the wall with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He fell into step beside Jonas as he walked down the hall.
“She's going to make you pay for that.”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“Your mate. Blowing her off. The „don't worry your pretty little head about it'
response back there.”
He snorted. “Not your business how I deal with my mate, Beta.” Zach grabbed his arm, stopping him before he could open the alpha's office door. “Everything in this pack is my business, up to and including how you treat your mate. Caleb and Liza think you have it under control. I think that's about as far from the truth as you can get.”
Jonas wrenched free, barely restraining a growl. Harper was his. He wasn't going to tolerate any interference, not even from his beta.
“I seem to recall your relationship had some growing pains,” Jonas reminded him, fighting to contain his wolf.
Zach watched him and waited until he was back under control before he nodded. “That it did.”
Zach reached out to open the door but paused a moment first. He continued,
“Harper is fragile, but you shouldn't confuse that with broken. A woman doesn't survive what we suspect she did without an iron will.”
Jonas wasn't sure he agreed, but he nodded anyway and followed Zach inside.
Everyone else was already there. Caleb and Liza—alpha and paladin. Plus Gabby and Ethan, two of the other lieutenants, the highest-ranking soldiers in the pack.
The six of them met at least once a week.
Caleb was behind his desk, and Zach sat in an armchair off to the side. Liza went to take her usual perch on the front corner of the desk, but Zach grabbed her before she could and pulled her into his lap. Everyone pretended not to notice the way she blushed.
There was another chair in front of the desk and a sofa tucked under the window. Normally, the chair was his, but when he signaled Gabby to haul her ass out of it, she gave him a mutinous look. Ethan didn't look much happier on the sofa.
Jonas sighed. He was going to have to do something about that. Like he didn't have enough going on? He sat next to the younger werewolf and let his mind wander as they went over training reports and other mundane tasks involved in running a pack the size of Redhawke.
“Something odd in town,” Ethan said when Liza asked if there was anything else. “There seem to be a lot of new people coming and going, but none of my people have been able to get any specifics.”
“For how long?” Jonas asked.
“A few days. Maybe a week.”
He looked at Liza and saw his suspicions mirrored in her eyes. “Harper's—” He cut off people. She wasn't theirs anymore. “Family?” Though he objected to calling them family also.
Liza nodded agreement. “Go check it out.”
“Anything else?”
He stood and looked around the room. When everyone either shook their head or said no, he stalked out, digging his cell phone from his pocket as he hurried to his house and his truck. He put the call through, and it was answered on the first ring.
“Yeah?”
“Mick. You got Harper?”
“She just walked in.”
“Keep her close.”
“What's wrong?” Mick snarled, low and mean. Sometimes Jonas forgot he had that side.
“People snooping around town. I'm going to check it out.”
“Watch your back.” It was as close as Mick would come to telling him to be careful.
“Always.”
Jonas got his truck and drove out the main gate, and hung a left on the dirt track to head for the closest town, which was twenty miles away. Redemption, Florida, wasn't much more than a hole-in-the-wall. Redhawke had spent generations encouraging that. Half of the town's five hundred residents were pack members, either werewolves or humans who had mated in. The other half knew exactly who owned the land they bordered, and most were the descendants of the original founders. A handful were refugees from the magical world.
Redhawke had a good relationship with the town. They depended upon each other for survival. Thirty minutes later Jonas turned onto Main Street. It was a scenic little town, mostly turn-of-the-century buildings and bungalows. He pulled into a parking slot in front of the tiny police department and strolled inside to find the man who ran the operation.
He was sitting behind a desk, leaning back in his chair with his feet propped on the edge while he juggled tennis balls in the air without using his hands. He grinned when Jonas walked in. He was one of the few people Jonas called friend, a lone wizard in werewolf territory, who'd earned respect and trust over many years.
“What brings Redhawke calling?” Harris asked.
“Heard there've been some strangers around.”
“Ah, good.” Harris's feet thumped to the floor. “Ethan found you.”
“Why didn't you call me?”
“Tried yesterday. You didn't answer.”
There was a question in that statement, but Jonas didn't respond to it. He'd been focused on Mick because of the full moon, and later Harper.
“Fill me in now.”
Harris shrugged, standing as he grabbed his hat and gestured for the door.
“There were five or six snooping around. I got wind of it yesterday morning, but a couple of the locals remember seeing them as early as a week ago. Though, looks like they've all cleared out. 'Cept for one.”
“Describe him.” The wolf was in his voice. Harris gestured him to follow.
“Let's go visit. He's staying at the McCaller place.” The last McCaller had died before Jonas was born, and left his house to the town. The town used it as an inn. Redemption was wolf territory, but they'd established it as a neutral meeting ground decades ago. Whoever the stranger was, he wasn't hiding. Jonas would lay odds on Harper's father. He was arrogant and brazen. Neutrality or not, that particular wizard had no business there.