Page 17 of The Return
A big hand wrapped around the back of my neck and pulled me close. “No, what I missed was you. And so you know, I had a fantasy of taking you in public, where anyone could see me claiming what’s mine. I wouldn’t so much care if I was there to protect you, but the thought of you showing off that amazing fucking body when I’m not there drives me up a wall.”
I melted. No one had ever said anything so erotically outdated to me.
“We should get back,” Jonas said. “We have an appointment at four.”
We did? “We do?”
He nodded. “You have some paperwork to sign at the bank. That’s part of what took me a few days to sort out. You need to sign your name on the property documents, showing that you’re now entitled to half the resources of the pack.”
No way had he just said what I thought he did. “Excuse me?”
“As my mate, you’ll be co-leader of the pack. Everyone will defer to you, unless I say otherwise.”
“No.”
His eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“I said no.”
I stood and held out a hand. He took it with a grin, then laughed when I tried to help him up. Heavy bastard.
“Why are you saying no?” he asked, pushing himself up without any effort.
“Seriously? Are you even listening to yourself? Everyone will defer to me? What the hell does that even mean?”
He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and goddamn it, I leaned into his touch. We started down the street back to my house.
“It means that if you tell them to do something, they need to do it.”
“So if I said they all needed to come to the shop in the morning for a cup of coffee, they’d do it?”
He nodded. “That’s what it means.”
“Thanks, but you can keep it. I want them coming there because I made good stuff, not because they’re forced to.”
“They’re not forced. They do it because they want you happy. And a happy pack prospers.”
“Then they’ll be happy with my stuff, especially if it’s their choice.”
“That’s not how this works, Core. You might not have noticed, but we’re an extremely tight-knit group. We give business to people in the town as much as possible. The only time we reach outside of the pack is if it’s something no one here makes. They’ll come to you because you make the best things, yes, but that’s not the only reason. There’s no way around it.”
It killed me to do so, but I pulled away from him. “Yeah, there is. I’m not signing any papers.”
He huffed. “Is it possible you’ve become more stubborn in the last few years?”
I whirled on him. “You don’t get it. I scratched and clawed to get my place open. I have loans out the ass.”
His cheeks pinked. “No, you don’t. Everything you’re paying in has been going to an account set up until I got back. You’ll be able to collect on that and—”
Unbidden, my hands clenched into fists. “What the fuck?”
We got to my door. My blood was boiling. I threw it open and stalked inside, with Jonas on my heels. He closed the door gently.
“Listen to me. You’re the Alpha Mate of the pack. It’s more than a job. You’re responsible for the wellbeing of our people. Think of it as a den mother, only you’re a man.”
It was like he wasn’t hearing me. “Am I speaking some foreign language to you?”
“Sometimes I think so” came the snarky reply. “Why are you so upset about this?”
