Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,88

him. Elias and the mayor took spots around the table, and after a moment of seriously considering putting an end to both Miller and the meeting with one decisive swipe, Jasper went to stand behind Jack Henry.

Miller edged slightly closer. “You look good, Saul.”

“No thanks to you,” Jasper rejoined immediately.

“We didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.”

“Funny, considering seven people ended up in the hospital.”

“It wasn’t supposed to go down like that. We didn’t expect Saul to fight. There were eight of us.” Miller flashed Saul an admiring look that Jasper considered wholly deserved.

“You believed that bullshit his father sold you about him not being a real alpha, didn’t you? I guess now you know more about what being a real alpha means.”

Miller nodded, still watching Saul with worshipful eyes. “I couldn’t have held off so many men at once. None of that crowd could’ve. I didn’t hit you any myself,” he added in an ingratiating tone.

Jasper wasn’t sure if that made Miller a more decent person or a bigger coward. Miller had organized but not fought, allowing other people to bear the brunt of his misdeeds. And Saul’s wounds were only one part of what Miller had to answer for.

“Maybe you didn’t intend to hurt him. Maybe you really believed he’d let you burn down the house he built with his own hands. But the house was a distraction, a way to keep me and him busy while Lon raped my omega.” Even as he said the words, Jasper winced at his proprietary tone. Jack Henry was more than an omega and not his—or at least not solely his—but an uber-alpha whose mate had almost been raped wasn’t a rational creature. He still hadn’t managed to retract his claws.

“I didn’t know about Lon,” Miller swore. “Never even heard of him. I would never countenance rape, least of all to your omega, Jasper. We just wanted your pack to move on. Leave Galvetta to Galvetta.”

“I wouldn’t take Galvetta if you handed it to me on a platter. I only want what’s mine. The land, the house, Saul, Elias, Jack Henry. Everything you fucked with was mine.”

“I’m sorry.” Of course Miller was sorry now. Because Jasper had sent his co-conspirators away on stretchers. “But people were talking, and some of ’em said—”

“I don’t give a fuck what other people said. I told you straight to your face, didn’t I?” He was so fucking mad.

“You told me,” Miller admitted.

“What do I have to do to make you believe it? Never mind.” Jasper ran a hand through his hair. “We’ll have to move.”

“No,” almost everyone said at once.

Saul was attached to the house he’d built, Jack Henry to his dance studio. Elias had his job at the library, and the mayor had her determined belief that the pack’s presence in Galvetta elevated its profile somehow. But Jasper didn’t see any other option. Miller would be too scared to fuck with them in the future, but there were plenty of other malcontents in town.

“What if we incorporated?” Elias asked Mayor Hyde. “Jasper’s land falls under Galvetta’s governance now, but let’s say we incorporated a new town, drew up boundary lines so our property isn’t in Galvetta anymore. No one needs to worry about Jasper taking over Galvetta if we’ve got our own separate town.”

“But we want Jasper to—”

“No,” Jasper said firmly. “Galvetta is a democracy, and it stays that way. I like Elias’s idea. We’ll make our own town, draw up a boundary, do it legal. Would that satisfy you?” he asked Miller.

“I swear I’ll never interfere with your pack again.”

“Would it satisfy your friends?” Jasper tried. He didn’t know whether to believe Miller about not being involved in the attack on Jack Henry or not, but Lon was dead. If Miller’s cadre could be convinced that Jasper would leave them alone, then maybe the pack wouldn’t have to move.

“I think people would be okay with it,” Miller said.

Mayor Hyde was disappointed Jasper wasn’t going to be crowned King of Galvetta, but the rest of them were pleased with the arrangement. The undeveloped land to the east would become Treehouse, owned and operated by the Treehouse Pack, and Treehouse would formally cede their rights to Galvetta, as if they’d had any rights to it to begin with.

“So that means we can have a baby?” Jack Henry asked as soon as the four of them were away from eavesdropping ears. He’d developed a one-track mind on that subject.

Jasper pulled him in against his body and