“Please take the time to consider this. You aren’t thinking straight right now. And you’ve had a big shock today.”
Laura snorted. “Just a bit.” Her mouth straightened. “I’m tired. I’m turning in.”
Jessie rose. “I’m going to make some tea. Do you want any?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks.”
Jessie shut the door behind her and made her way to the stairs.
A large form blocked the bottom steps. Kade, sitting on the third one up. He stood so she could pass by.
It was still a squeeze through the narrow stairwell. Jessie had to brush by him, giving her the unsettling sensation of pushing against muscle as hard as rock, but warm. Alive. She caught a whiff of him—a musky scent, not human. More animal.
Her heart and breathing accelerated. Jeez. Shehadbecome a nympho. Was it the Were virus doing this? But Kade wasn’t the one who bit her.
“Don’t trust her,” Kade whispered, as she finally got past.
“What?” Jessie stopped and swung back to him as he followed her down. How had the Were heard them? She glanced at the landing and the closed door.
When she looked back at Kade, his eyes glowed in the dim light. “You can’t trust her. Braden has his hooks in deep. And she’s accepted him.”
Jessie’s gut twisted. “She might change her mind.”
He shrugged.
Jessie stared at him. She wasn’t about to let him make a comment like that and not explain himself. “You don’t believe me?”
He didn’t reply until Jessie narrowed her eyes, then he said, “She’s thinking Braden isn’t so bad.” He showed her Laura’s phone. “I’ve taken this. Just in case. Don’t want her talking to anyone about this.”
“She’s under Braden’s influence,” Jessie pointed out. “We need to break that link. Then she’ll see how wrong it is.”
“Might not be possible,” he noted. “Some women find the strong alpha thing irresistible.”
Jessie’s brows rose. In an alpha contest, she’d put her money on Kade. Braden was more of a bastard, but Kadeoozed dominance with every breath.
But he didn’t dominate her. She bared her own teeth. “Women find the Rambo-alpha-dominant-I-rip-things-apart-for-a-living thing irresistible?”
The eyes gleamed. “I wouldn’t know. And I meant Braden.”
“You haven’t noticed women panting after you?” Jessie tapped her fingers on her chin. “One would think that would be kinda obvious.”
The large Were crossed his arms and stared down at her. “There’s been a few,” he admitted. “But I don’t pursue human women.”
Jessie snorted. “Maybe you should start hanging around Laura. She seems to like dominance.”
Kade’s lip curled. “Braden’s had three weeks, so his hold will be hard to break.”
“He’s had as long with me,” Jessie said. “And I’m not his yet.”
“You are strong,” Kade rumbled. A muscle jumped in his broad jaw.
Strong? She didn’t feel strong. And a niggling part of her, the part Braden owned, suggested it would all be so much easier if she’d just give in. She rubbed her arms. The thought of submitting to him didn’t sit right with her. But some women might like that kind of thing.
“If Laura decides she wants Braden, can’t we let her make up her own mind?”
Kade’s mouth straightened. “I have been ordered to shut this initiative down. Giving Braden what he wants will not achieve that.”
“But if Laura makes that choice, do you have the right to stop her from going to him?”
