“What an amusing child. Anyone would think she had some sort of claim over you,” Jolene said.

Her assessment of Ellie was so dismissive, Jack’s leopard wanted to smack her down, but he chose to ignore her. Instead, he watched Ellie walk away, her every step mesmerizing to him.

“Well?” Jolene asked, irritation sharpening her voice when Jack didn’t rise to the bait.

He dragged his attention away from Ellie’s sashay across the open meadow. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

Hard lines of discontent pulled the corners of Jolene’s mouth down. “I was wondering how you wound up with someone like her clinging to your shirtsleeves.”

“Long story. You wanted to speak with me? Well, here’s your chance.”

“Not here.” Jolene turned her head slowly from left to right, scanning the compound like the predator she was. “Inside.” She held out her hand with a playful smile.

“I don’t think Seth would like that.” Jack didn’t respond to her outstretched hand. He managed not to smirk when she let it drop to her side.

“Well, that’s one of the things we need to talk about. In the house.” She turned on her heel and headed back for the cabin. Jack was sure she meant for her walk to be every bit as alluring as Ellie’s had been, and yet he couldn’t think of anyone he wanted to follow less. He was tempted to go after Ellie instead, but when Jolene reached the bottom of the stairs, she looked back to see if he was coming. She put a hand on her hip with a frown when she saw he hadn’t moved. “Jack? I wasn’t joking when I said you needed me.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Jack muttered under his breath, following Jolene up the stairs into the cabin.

The screen door slammed behind him. He stood for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the gloom within. The house smelt of beer, grease, and stale cigarettes. A glance in the kitchen revealed dirty dishes stacked by the sink. As he watched, Jolene lit up a cigarette next to an ashtray already overflowing with butts. She inhaled with the reverence of a true addict, and gave him what she probably thought was a sultry smile.

“Well now. The Prodigal returns.” She blew smoke out with her words. He supposed some people might find her sexy, but he was aware of the stench of rotting food in the house, and the buzzing of flies in the kitchen. Chain-smoking had dug vertical lines around her mouth from the constant pucker of her lips. He found her about as attractive as a two-day corpse.

“What do you want, Jolene?”

“Now, that’s not very friendly.”

He said nothing. As the silence stretched between them, she grew impatient.

“Very well. You’re going to want me on your side when you take Seth down. I can be an asset, you know.”

“I appreciate your offer. But I’m not here to challenge Seth.”

“You’re not?” She arched an eyebrow. “Everyone seems to think that’s exactly what you’re here to do. If you don’t plan on taking over the clan, why did you come back, Jack?”

“Maybe I wanted to visit my mother.”

Jolene’s laughter sounded more mocking than amused. “As if. Try another excuse.”

There was no way he was going to tell her Ellie’s safety was at stake. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t use Ellie’s presence here, just the same. “It’s no excuse. I wanted to introduce Ellie to my mom.”

Jolene crushed out her cigarette in the ashtray, spilling the contents over the side onto the end table. “What are you saying, Jack? That you’re involved with the girl? You must be joking.”

She spoke with utter contempt. Her words caused a hot coil of flame to ignite within him. “Be careful, Jolene,” he warned.

“Be careful.” She openly mocked him now, crossing the room with the quiet deliberation of a predator stalking its prey until she stood before him. “Or else what? You can’t possibly mean that girl is important to you in any way.” She was so close now, the odor of smoke nearly choked him.

“I do.”

Anger struck any vestige of beauty from her face, and left in its place a snarling ugliness. “Life in the big city must have made you desperate if she’s your idea of a good lay.”

Leopard stared down cougar. Something in his eyes made her take a step back. When she continued, it was on a different track. “If Seth comes back while you’re still here, you’re going to need all the friends you can get.”

“I have plenty, thanks.”

“Don’t be stupid, Jack,” she snapped. “Seth will kill you if he finds you here. I can talk him out of that. If you give me reason to do so, that is.”

He stood perfectly still. Part of him knew he would do whatever it took to keep Ellie safe, even if it meant debasing himself with Jolene to secure her aid should Seth return unexpectedly, which could happen at any moment. Jack’s position within the compound was precarious: if Seth came back, he might well order his supporters to take Jack out if he thought Jack were there specifically to challenge him. Or he could challenge Jack directly. Either situation was the last thing he needed right now. Why had he thought coming here was a good idea? Oh, right. Because he assumed most people behaved in a rational fashion. He should have realized that Seth’s paranoid delusions and power hungry grabs meant he would do anything to secure his base. Coming here had been a mistake. But since Seth wasn’t here at the moment, maybe Jack could salvage this. He just wanted to get Ellie delivered safely to her grandfather. Twenty-four hours. That’s all he needed. Was that too much to ask?

Jolene took his silence for consent. She suddenly swarmed over him like a hive of bees finding flowers ripe with pollen. The swiftness of her movement caught him off-guard and he only just had time to instinctively turn his head away when she began smothering him with kisses.

She kissed him anyway, peppering his face and neck with insistent demands that he pay attention to her, that he accept her forced attentions as she pushed up against him. He couldn’t help but compare her actions to that of Ellie the night before, when she lay before him in open invitation—and realized the difference between taking something that was willingly offered versus something rammed down his throat.

When he failed to respond to her blatant charms, Jolene turned on him with the fury of a woman scorned. She pushed back away from him, her fingers digging into his shoulders as she glared into his face. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Not interested, that’s all.” He brushed her aside and turned to open the screen door.

“Not interested?” She screeched the words. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Don’t tell me you prefer that utter cow over me.”

He whipped around so quickly, Jolene gasped as he leaned into her face. “Watch how you talk about my mate.” He spoke softly, but the intensity of his words made Jolene pale.

“You can’t be serious,” she stammered.

He knew with utter certainty that he was. What he would do about that fact was another matter, but here and now? “Why the hell do you think I’d come back here?” His words purred dangerously, warning her not to push him any further. “You certainly didn’t think it was because I’d been pining for you all these years?”

She’d been pale before, but now all the color leached out of her face, only to return full-force in a livid flush that clashed unbecomingly with her scarlet hair. “You need me.”

“No.”

“When Seth returns, I’ll tell him you seduced me.”

Jack gave her a pitying smile. “Go ahead. It will only add to his reasons for wanting to kill me, but for you? He’ll hate you for thinking you gave in. After all these years together, I’m guessing he knows you pretty well. So think twice about making me the bad guy here if I were you.”

“You’re going to regret turning me down. You’ll see.” She spat the words in a feline fury.

A tiny part of him felt sorry for her. Sorry she was the sort of person who hitched her wagon to anyone that would do her the most good at any given time. It had to have been hard, being Seth’s woman.  It was no wonder she’d sought solace wherever she could find it.

But only a tiny part of him felt compassion.

“We’re done here.” There was already the chance that Ellie wouldn’t understand why he’d needed to hear Jolene out. After realizing Jolene’s attempt to speak with him privately was just another attempt to seduce him, the conversation was over as far as he was concerned. But would Ellie see it that way?

Does it matter? When I’m sending her off with her relatives tomorrow?

Ruthlessly, he shoved those thoughts into a small, dark place.

“You can’t possibly prefer that ugly slut over me.”

His hand snapped out before he’d even realized it, catching Jolene by the throat and walking her backward several steps as she gasped and clawed at his grip.

“I’ve tried talking to you as another person. Now I’m speaking to you as a shifter. You watch how you talk about my mate,” he said, before he let her go.

She stood glaring at him as she rubbed her throat, but her determination to have him was broken.

Like it or not, he’d just declared Ellie his mate and made an enemy of Jolene to boot.

His inner leopard couldn’t have been more pleased.