With Jackson gone, Garland had taken over supervising the retreaters. Jordan had gone back to group after Jackson left and grudgingly took up the painting that had been assigned to her, if only to distract herself. What had happened earlier couldn’t happen again. Nuh-uh. She shook her head and let out a huff. They had been way too close. No more being alone with him, or getting close to him, and no more heart to heart conversations. And certainly, no more touching and definitely no kissing.

Her wolf disagreed and made its displeasure known by whining at her. When she ignored it, the animal resorted to clawing and growling at her, as if telling her, stop ignoring me and give me what I want. It was so ill-tempered that a few of the Lycans around her sent her strange looks when they walked by.

She dropped the paint brush on the ground and then wiped the sweat from her brow. Around her, people were already wrapping up their work, and she realized she’d been painting for hours.

“All righty, good work everyone,” Garland announced. “You all can go get cleaned up. We’re done for the day, so I’ll see you folks at dinner.”

After cleaning up her things, she trudged back to the house. She needed a shower and a nap. After saying hello to Lily, who was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, she headed up the stairs, but stopped halfway when she heard the sound of a truck engine roaring out in the driveway.

“… And don’t you walk away from me, young man, I’m not finished,” came Jackson’s angry voice.

Jordan stopped and pivoted. Austin was at the bottom of the steps, his father right behind him in the doorway. Jackson looked pissed. His face was red and his posture was as tight as a bow.

“Well what’re you gonna do now? Double punish me? Lock me up in my room forever?” Austin looked just as angry, and if it wasn’t for the tension in the room, Jordan would have thought it funny how alike father and son were at the moment.

“I can’t believe you’re starting fights now,” Jackson roared. “Getting into shit and destroying things is one thing, but you could have seriously hurt that boy!”

“He started it!”

“I don’t give a f—shit who’s started it.” Jackson raked his hand through his hair. “Shit got started and now you’ve been kicked out of school. You’re only in the third grade!”

“I hate that school anyway, I’m glad I ain’t studying there no more,” Austin screamed back.

“And where am I supposed to send you now, huh?”

“I don’t care! I’ll stay home. I don’t need no school to be Alpha!” Austin’s face was now red as a tomato.

“You think you’re going to be Alpha, acting this way?” Jackson’s lips thinned. “I’d sooner give the title to one of the cows!”

“I hate you!”

Jackson’s face darkened as he advanced toward Austin. Jordan didn’t know what happened, but in an instant, she was charging down the stairs placing herself between father and son. “Jackson! Stop.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Jackson rubbed a hand down his face. “You think I’d hurt my son?”

She glanced down at Austin, looking pointedly at the black eye he sported.

“That wasn’t me,” Jackson said defensively. “It was the other kid.”

The young boy also had what looked to be a swollen nose. Dried blood spotted his shirt and there was a rip in one of the knees of his pants. “He got you good, huh, kiddo?”

Austin’s face turned into a sly smile. “You should have seen his face.”

“For crying out loud.” Jackson threw his hands up. “He’s the one in trouble here. Stop looking at me like you wanna murder me. I said I wasn’t going to hurt him.”

“Then what were you going to do?” she asked.

Jackson looked at his son. “Austin, go up to your room and stay there.” When Austin opened his mouth to protest, Jackson gave him a steely glare that made him shut his mouth. The young boy marched up the stairs, making his steps as loud and as hard as his little legs could manage.

She gave him a freezing stare. “What are you planning to do now?”

“Ground him until he’s eighteen.” His shoulders sagged. “I don’t know what to do with him. He’s been getting in and out of trouble for the last year. But this … he nearly sent that other boy to the hospital.”

“What?” Oh dear. “What happened?”

“Apparently, my son thought it was a good idea to challenge this boy—who was a whole grade older than him—to fight after school. Thank God he doesn’t have his Lycan strength yet because who knows what would have happened.”

“He really kicked that other boy’s ass?”

The corners of Jackson’s mouth turned up slightly, as if he was trying to stop himself from smiling. “That Maycock kid was a foot taller and probably had twenty pounds on him. Austin beat the living daylights out of him and sent him to the nurses’ office. His parents are furious and threatened to sue if the school didn’t kick Austin out.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. Well, I don’t know what to do know for his schooling. Don’t get me started on his grades. He’s already behind as it is. Summer’s a few weeks away so I suppose it doesn’t matter now. But when school starts again, I’ll be shit out of luck. The only other elementary school’s about three hours away.” Jackson sat down on the steps and put his head in his hands. “It’s hard you know? I have the ranch, the clan, and Austin. Sometimes I feel like the only way I’ll be able to do it all is to rip myself in two.”

The ache in her heart came out of nowhere, and she fought the urge to put her arms around him. Instead, she sat down next to him. “So he’s been getting into trouble and you’ve been grounding him. What has that done?”

“Nothing.”

“What did Lily do to you when you got in trouble as a kid?”

He lifted his face from his hands and looked at her like she had grown a second head. “She didn’t do anything. I mean, I never got into trouble.”

“Seriously?” She thought for a moment. “Even I was a snotty little shit at some point. But when I was acting out, my parents didn’t tell me to go to my room.”

“They didn’t?”

“Are you kidding me? That wouldn’t have been a punishment for me,” she laughed. “Nah, they made me work my butt off. Violin lessons, after-school math class, French lessons. Eventually all those things became fun for me too, and I didn’t have time to get into trouble. You should think about doing the same maybe.”

"That’s a great idea." Jackson stood up. “All right then, it’s settled.”

“Huh? What’s settled?”

“You’ll be his tutor. For the week at least.”

“Excuse me?” She shot up to her feet.

“It’s the perfect solution,” Jackson declared. “Austin has to stay home and you don’t want to be outdoors because of your allergies or bird flu or whatever.” She snorted, but he continued. “So, you can tutor him this week until I find another solution, then I will sign off on your paperwork so you can go back to your lab.”

She opened her mouth, then quickly shut it. He was right. It was the perfect solution to their problems. She could keep her job and he would have someone to keep Austin out of trouble. Besides, the kid was starting to grow on her. “I guess I can do that.”

“Great. I’ll have Austin’s teacher send over the materials.” He gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Thanks Jordan, you’re a good person.” He gave her a pat on the shoulder.

As she watched him whistle and jog up the stairs, she had a sneaking suspicion that he had been planning this all along.