Page 16 of Jesse (Pecan Pines #6)

Jesse

The pounding came again and it was louder this time.

I groaned, rolling over in bed, half-asleep and already annoyed. I instinctively reached for the warm body I expected to find next to me. Beck.

But my hand met cold sheets. Just fabric. No soft breathing. No familiar warmth curled into my side. Right. Beck had gone home last night.

We’d been absolutely slammed at the fair. I hadn’t seen a line that long since the grand opening of Briggs BBQ.

We were pulling double orders, both of us working in silence by the end of the night, too tired to do anything but move.

Jackson had offered to drive Beck home since I was still closing the truck down, and Beck, with shadows under his eyes and flour still on his cheek, hadn’t argued. Neither had I.

We needed sleep. Heck, I still needed sleep. The banging continued, and I groaned again, throwing an arm over my face.

“Alright, alright,” I muttered, dragging myself out of bed, every muscle in my body protesting.

My apartment was still dim, the morning sun just beginning to creep through the blinds. I shuffled to the door barefoot, rubbing the heel of my hand against my eye.

When I opened it, I blinked at the figure on the other side.

“Colton?” I croaked. “What’s up, cousin?”

He didn’t smile. Arms crossed, brow pinched. He had that look, the one that said I’d screwed something up and he’d been elected to handle it.

“Cooper asked me to check on you,” Colton said dryly. “You weren’t answering your phone.”

“My phone?” I echoed, confused for a beat. Then it hit me. “Dang it. I forgot to charge it. I passed out last night.”

He stepped inside, and I closed the door behind him with a yawn.

“Sorry, man. I was completely zonked. I think I fell asleep with my shoes on,” I told him.

Colton’s sharp gaze swept the apartment, pausing on the clean counters, the folded blanket on the couch, and the faint scent of Beck still clinging to the air.

He raised an eyebrow. “It’s clean.”

I snorted. “Yeah, well, Beck stays over sometimes. I don’t want him stepping over dirty laundry.”

His brow twitched upward again, and I braced myself for the teasing. But instead, his tone shifted to serious. The kind of tone we didn’t use unless it was about pack matters.

“Jesse,” he started, crossing his arms again. “It’s good the food truck’s doing well. And I’m happy for you and Beck, really. But you can’t keep letting your pack responsibilities fall through the cracks.”

That woke me up faster than a triple shot of espresso.

“I know,” I said, running a hand through my hair, trying not to sound defensive, even though the frustration bubbled up almost immediately. “It’s not like I’m out here partying. I’m working my ass off.”

“I’m not saying you’re not,” Colton replied calmly. “But you’ve missed a pack meeting, skipped a run, and Cooper mentioned you not showing up when he wanted to brief the enforcers about patrol changes.”

I clenched my jaw. Okay, maybe I had ignored some of the things I should’ve been paying attention to, but I never did well under pressure.

With everything piling up, I chose to pour my energy into the truck and into keeping Beck safe.

“I didn’t forget because I don’t care, Colt. I’m exhausted. Beck and I have been pushing to keep up with demand, and I’m still doing my part to keep him safe. I haven’t let my guard down,” I said.

“That’s the other thing,” Colton said carefully. “If it’s too much, trying to run the truck, protect Beck, and fulfill your role, you could ask Cooper to reassign another enforcer to Beck’s detail. Just temporarily. Give you space to focus on one thing at a time.”

My blood turned hot in an instant.

“What the hell do you mean?” I demanded.

He held up a hand, but the damage was done. My wolf lunged forward, bristling under my skin, teeth bared, hackles raised.

The thought of someone else watching over Beck, protecting him, dug under my skin like barbed wire. My vision pulsed, my fists curling tight at my sides.

“He’s mine,” I snapped, the words slipping out before I could think to temper them. “I don’t need anyone else to keep him safe. I’ve got it covered.”

Colton’s gaze flicked to mine, cautious but steady. He wasn’t trying to challenge me, but he wasn’t backing down either.

“Jesse,” he said, low and firm, “no one’s saying you don’t care. No one’s questioning your ability. But the rest of us see how stretched thin you are. If you go down, what then? You can’t protect anyone if you collapse.”

“I’m not going down,” I growled, voice sharper than I meant it to be. “Beck’s not just some responsibility I can pass off like paperwork. He’s?—”

I stopped myself, chest heaving.

He’s mine. My mate.

Even if I hadn’t said it out loud, the word rang between us. My wolf snarled with possessive fury just thinking about anyone else being assigned to Beck. Touching him. Watching over him.

No. Absolutely not. Colton studied me, and something in his expression softened.

“You should tell Cooper that,” he said simply. “He wants to talk to you. Today.”

I nodded stiffly.

“Yeah. I will.”

Colton clapped a hand on my shoulder, and for a second, his scent changed. It was less stern pack member, and more worried cousin.

“Just take care of yourself too, Jesse. We need you sharp. Beck needs you sharp,” Colton reminded me.

Then he left. I stood there for a beat, breathing through the fury, letting my wolf settle back down. It didn’t like being told I couldn’t handle my responsibilities. It didn’t like being told to share my mate.

I turned, looking around my apartment. The bed was still rumpled from my quick rise, the coffee table where Beck had left his water bottle last night, the blanket he liked to steal off my couch.

Beck was quickly becoming part of my life. The food truck, the late nights, the exhaustion, I could handle all that. But the idea of letting someone else be responsible for his safety made me feel like I was failing already.

I didn’t waste time. I splashed some water on my face, yanked on jeans and a clean shirt, and ran my fingers through my hair in the mirror. I grabbed my keys, slammed the door behind me, and got in my truck.

The drive to the pack compound was quiet, the roads still mostly empty in the morning haze. I tapped the steering wheel, thoughts racing faster than my truck could take me.

Cooper wasn’t wrong to call me in. Colton wasn’t wrong, either. But they didn’t feel what I felt when Beck leaned into me, trusting me with his safety like it was the most natural thing in the world.

They didn’t know how his scent clung to my clothes, how his laugh made something quiet in me ache with want.

They didn’t hear the way my wolf went silent whenever Beck touched me, like it didn’t have to guard, or fight, or snarl. Like it was home.

I pulled into the gravel lot outside the compound, engine idling for a few seconds before I killed it. I sat there, staring at the building, heart thudding against my ribs like a war drum.

I wasn’t going to hand Beck off to anyone else. I didn’t care how exhausted I was. He was mine, and I’d find a way to make all of it work.

By the time I pulled up at the pack compound, my nerves were stretched tighter than an overworked wire.

The gravel crunched under my boots as I crossed the yard, the sun barely peeking above the treeline. I shoved open the doors, bracing myself for whatever lecture Cooper had in store for me.

I found him in his office, already seated behind his desk, flipping through a folder like he’d been waiting. His eyes lifted the second I entered.

No smile. No nod. Just sharp-eyed scrutiny that immediately put me on edge.

“Sit down, Jesse,” Cooper said.

I obeyed without argument, dropping into the chair across from him. I leaned forward, resting my arms on my knees. My leg bounced once, twice.

“I want an update,” he said, cutting straight to it. “Where are you with the case?”

I let out a slow breath. “Nowhere,” I admitted. “No new leads. No new evidence. The fair’s been packed, but I’ve ruled out the other food trucks. Their staff and schedules check out.”

He didn’t look convinced. “How thorough were you?”

“I make it a point to watch them,” I said. “Keep tabs on who’s where, when. Nothing sketchy, nothing that even pings my instincts.”

What I didn’t tell him was that I couldn’t monitor them all the time.

Beck and I were slammed at the truck, handling a never-ending line of orders, the griddle always sizzling, customers asking for more. I barely had time to breathe, let alone play shadow.

But that wasn’t something I could say aloud. Not to Cooper. Not when his face was stone and his tone sharper than usual.

“And the footage?” he asked.

“Tony’s still working on it,” I said, keeping my tone even. “He says it’s a mess. Corrupted, fragmented, but he’s trying to salvage what he can.”

Cooper shook his head, a frown tugging at his mouth. “We can’t wait around for that. If Tony hasn’t fixed it by now, chances are he won’t.”

I stiffened, defensive. “He’s trying.”

“We need results,” Cooper snapped. “Not excuses. That footage was our strongest lead and now it’s dust. That means you need to be out there. Asking questions. Pushing. Watching.”

“I am?—”

He cut me off with a raised hand. “Not enough.”

The words hit me like a slap. I felt my wolf stir, hackles rising.

“Cooper—”

“You need to take this more seriously,” he interrupted again, voice calm but hard. “Beck isn’t just Jackson’s brother. He’s the son of the lead alpha of the Silvercrest Pack. If something happens to him while he’s in our territory, there will be consequences, Jesse. Disastrous ones.”

My jaw clenched. I hated hearing Beck reduced to his bloodline. I knew he mattered to the pack, to his brother, to his father. But to me, Beck wasn’t some political powder keg waiting to blow.

He was mine. My mate. The center of my damn universe. Still, I bit back the retort burning on my tongue.

I could see it now. Cooper’s pressure wasn’t just from being alpha. He probably had Beck’s dad breathing down his neck. And if I was a worried father, I’d be pissed and worried as well.

Beck was vulnerable, and I wasn’t giving them much reason to believe I had it handled. Cooper exhaled and leaned back in his chair.

“I’m assigning another enforcer to shadow Beck,” Cooper said.

“No.” The word snapped out of me before I could stop it. Loud, firm. Final.

Cooper raised a brow. “That wasn’t a suggestion.”

“I’m not agreeing to it,” I said, steel in my voice.

“You can’t do everything alone, Jesse. You’ve got the truck. You’ve got responsibilities. You’re stretched thin and it shows,” Cooper pointed out.

“I can keep my mate safe!” The words came out sharp and possessive, my wolf baring its teeth under my skin.

The very idea of someone else watching Beck, hovering close and walking beside him, had me seeing red.

Cooper narrowed his eyes. “You’ve never mentioned that before.”

I stood my ground. “I’m saying it now.”

He stared at me, his expression unreadable. Then he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

I held his gaze. “Because I wasn’t sure how it would be received. But I’m not hiding it anymore. Beck is my mate. And that means he’s mine to protect. Mine to fight for.”

Something shifted in Cooper’s eyes. The tension between us pulsed like a second heartbeat in the room.

“I won’t let anyone else guard him,” I continued. “You can throw every enforcer you’ve got at this, but I won’t step aside. He’s my responsibility. I won’t fail him. I can’t.”

The silence that followed stretched long. Cooper’s fingers tapped against the desk once, then stilled. Finally, he nodded.

“Fine. But you’d better mean it, Jesse. No more missed meetings. No more radio silence. I need you locked in and pulling your weight,” he said.

“I will,” I promised. “You have my word.”

He studied me for a moment, then leaned forward, folding his hands on the desk.

“You’ve got promise, Jesse. But being that doesn’t matter if you burn yourself out or get sloppy,” he said.

“I’m not burning out,” I said. “I’m just juggling too much. But I’ll do better.”

“You’d better,” Cooper said simply. “Because this thing, whatever it is and whoever it is, it’s circling closer. We’ve had a calm stretch, but that’s what worries me. Like it’s waiting.”

The weight of his words sank into my bones.

“I’ll keep my ears up,” I told him. “And if anything shifts, anything at all, I’ll bring it straight to you.”

“Good.” He reached for a folder on his desk. “You’re dismissed.”

I stood, hesitated for a second, then turned and left the office. My head was buzzing.

I knew I was pushing myself too hard, working the truck day in and day out, spending every waking hour with Beck, patrolling at night when I could. I was running on fumes.

But I wasn’t going to let anyone else carry the burden of keeping Beck safe. That was mine to bear.

As I stepped out into the compound courtyard again, the early morning air hit my skin like a slap. Crisp. Quiet. My truck would be warming up soon.

Beck would be there, probably juggling prep while the coffee brewed, humming under his breath like he always did when he didn’t know I was listening.

I pulled my phone out and texted him.

Jesse: Be there soon. Don’t start without me.

A few seconds later, his reply came through.

Beck: I’m just setting up. I saved you a blueberry muffin from that truck you like.

I smiled despite myself, tension loosening in my chest. Beck always knew how to pull me back down to earth, even through a screen.

My mate.

No matter what happened next and no matter how deep this threat ran, I’d make damn sure nothing touched him.