Page 16 of New Blood (Werewolf Alliance #1)

F uck!

Jude stood in his dressing room sporting a boner the size of a baseball bat.

After responding passionately to his kisses, Danielle had fled.

What had gotten into her? Had he gone too fast?

Shit, he shouldn’t have touched her that intimately, but damn it, when he’d smelled her arousal, he’d been unable to stop himself and had to touch her pussy through her jeans.

Despite that barrier, he’d felt the heat emanating from her.

But his bliss had lasted only a second before she’d pulled back and run out.

He couldn’t exactly follow her half-dressed and fully aroused.

Everybody in the house would have known instantly what was going on.

Yeah, what exactly is going on?

It was his inner wolf’s voice that spoke in an almost accusing tone.

Why did you let her go?

“Shut up!” he cried out, suppressing that side of him that was all beast, all wild and without any sense of the rules he had to live by. The rules he’d sworn to uphold when he’d given his oath to the Werewolf Alliance.

With trembling hands, he pulled a casual sweater from his bag and slipped it over his head.

He inhaled slowly, filling his lungs with air.

It didn’t help calm his thundering heart.

Danielle’s scent was still all over him.

He could still taste her on his tongue, still feel the ghosts of her hands on his skin where she’d caressed him.

The softness of her breasts was still cushioning his hard muscles, and her soft stomach was still cradling his hard-on.

Would the others be able to smell her scent on him?

With some luck, not. But that didn’t make his erection deflate.

He flicked his index finger against the sensitive tip of his erection, causing it just enough pain to get the message across: down boy! A second flick of his finger, and his cock retreated. It was still thicker than normal, but beneath the thick cloth of his pants, nobody would notice it.

If it were up to him, he would look for Danielle now, but he didn’t have that luxury. He had an important meeting to attend.

By the time he entered the living room, his team and all the Gallagher family members were already assembled. He greeted them with a quick nod and stopped in front of the fireplace.

“Thank you all for coming,” he started. “Please take a seat, if you’d like.

” He’d decided to conduct this meeting as friendly and painlessly as possible.

“When the Werewolf Alliance assigned me to take over this pack, they also made sure I was aware of the full extent of businesses the Gallagher pack is involved in. We have no intention of taking away any of your businesses, but we’d like to understand how everything is run and lend our expertise if necessary. ”

“Expertise,” Byron grumbled.

Jude looked at the young hothead. “Let’s start with you, Byron. Which of the Gallagher businesses are you involved in?”

Byron tipped his chin up. “I’m running the Bail Bonds companies,” he emphasized.

“Good. How many are there?”

“Three in San Francisco, two more in Oakland, one in Sonoma County, and one in Napa County.”

“I’m assuming that you have managers who run the day-to-day there?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Jude nodded, then motioned to Wendell, who stepped forward. “Byron, I want you to show Wendell the ropes. Introduce him to the managers and show him what you do.”

Wendell’s no-nonsense attitude would be just the right antidote for Byron’s hotheaded personality.

Byron jumped up. “What? So you can replace me?” He pointed to Wendell as if accusing him.

“Rest assured, I have no intention of replacing anybody. You’ll remain in charge of the Bail Bonds business as long as you wish. But I want my team to understand the workings of this pack, and that includes its businesses.”

“Whatever!” Byron shrugged and tightened his jaw.

“Good. Then that’s settled.”

He shifted his gaze to Eve, who sat in a comfortable armchair, her arms crossed over her chest. She raised an eyebrow when their eyes met.

“Eve, I’m guessing you’re running the Equestrian estate?”

“What tipped you off?”

“I might have heard somebody mentioning that you’re good with horses.

” The truth was that he’d read it in the report that the Werewolf Alliance had sent him.

In fact, he knew exactly which family member ran which business.

But he found it prudent to make them think that they were the ones who decided to tell him about their jobs.

He’d experienced that pack members shut down when they had the feeling that the enemy—which they probably still saw him as at the moment—already knew everything about them.

“Yes, I breed horses for the pack. We’ve won a few awards nationally.”

She shrugged as if it wasn’t important, even though Jude knew that she was extremely proud of her achievements. He’d seen photographs of Eve next to her prize-winning horses in the foyer as well as in this very room.

“That’s excellent.”

Now would be the time to tell her that he would like her to show him the equestrian estate, but he decided otherwise. There would be plenty of time to get to know Eve better. He didn’t need to be the one to stomp around stables and horses.

“Please take Ransom to the equestrian estate and show him around. He’s good with horses, so that’ll be a plus.”

Eve’s chin dropped before his eyes fell on Ransom, who shot him a what-the-fuck-dude look.

Only then, he remembered that Eve and Ransom had clashed the previous night and taken an instant dislike to each other.

But he couldn’t assign anybody else now, or he would look weak and indecisive.

What was done was done. They would just have to get over it and make it work.

At least, Ransom didn’t have to mate with her.

How difficult could it be for the two to spend a day together at a horse ranch while talking strictly about business?

Before anybody could protest, Jude continued, “Thaddeus, which business do you run? The vineyard or the shipping business?”

“Shipping,” Thaddeus said, his voice calm and pleasant, a neutral expression on his face, though his hands weren’t idle. He was fidgeting. “But I ran it with Cameron. But now…” He shrugged. “We might need to hire another manager.”

“I understand. Why don’t you take Mason along and explain the business to him, and then we can see who might be best suited to help you on a permanent basis, if that’s what you want.”

Thaddeus nodded. No protest, no change in facial expression.

Jude couldn’t help but feel uneasy around him.

He was hiding something. Nobody had such an even-keeled nature, particularly not after what had happened in the last couple of days.

The one person who would be able to figure out what made Thaddeus tick and what secrets he was hiding was Mason.

He had a knack for getting close to people despite their best efforts not to reveal their innermost thoughts.

There had been moments in his own life where he’d found himself confiding in him even more so than in his own brother. Mason had that effect on people.

“Storm, that alright with you?” Jude asked, glancing at his cousin.

“Sure thing.” Mason nodded at Thaddeus. “Can’t wait for you to show me around. We can leave right away, if you want.” He glanced back at Jude. “As you know, I’m not a fan of meetings.”

“Your choice,” Jude replied, knowing why Mason was doing this. He, too, had noticed Thaddeus fidgeting, feeling uncomfortable in the meeting. By voicing what Thaddeus didn’t, Mason was trying to gain his confidence.

And it seemed to work: Thaddeus rose. “Yeah, let’s go, or it’ll get too late. The docks aren’t exactly safe at night.” Not that a werewolf would be concerned about that, but he let Thaddeus’s excuse stand.

He and Mason walked out, and the door shut behind them.

“So, that leaves the vineyard,” Jude said.

“I run the vineyard,” Owen volunteered. “I guess you want me to show the vineyard to one of your guys?”

“That’s the plan.” Jude looked at the remaining two team members whom he hadn’t assigned to anybody yet. “Grant? Parker? Who wants to go with Owen?”

Grant raised his hand. “I never say no to a bottle of wine.” He looked at Owen. “What varietals are you growing?”

“I’ll tell you on the way,” Owen said and rose. “Let’s go. There’s a lot to show you.”

When they walked to the door, Eve rose too. “Well, since the meeting is breaking up, guess I’m allowed to leave too?”

Jude caught the challenging look she tossed him. Yeah, she would be a tough nut to crack. “You’re free to leave whenever.”

When she turned without another word, he was relieved. On his way out, Ransom tossed him a glance and mouthed You owe me one . He was aware of that. Byron and Wendell also left, with only Parker, Spencer, Flora, and Violet, as well as himself, staying back.

“Okay, that leaves us,” Jude said, putting on a friendly smile. “Flora, I’m assuming you’re running the house and the estate?”

“That’s right. Are you gonna have somebody shadow me, too?” A slight tone of annoyance accompanied her words.

“No, that won’t be necessary. I haven’t seen much of the estate yet, but from what I can tell, it’s run expertly.” So what if he had to butter her up a bit?

He noticed the surprise in Flora’s face, and she seemed to relax. “Oh? Well. Good.”

Jude turned to Spencer. “Spencer, what’s your field of expertise?”

“First and foremost, security. That also involves IT, and William also had me look into possible acquisitions.”

“Excellent. Our own IT guy is Francisco. He’ll be back tomorrow, and then you can show him how the estate is protected from intruders, and bring him up to speed.”

“Sounds fair.”

“At a later point, you and I can talk about acquisitions.”

“Fine.”

“How about finances? Who’s in charge of all the financial reporting?”

“I am,” Violet said. She cleared her voice and continued, “I do all the accounting and consolidate the finances across all businesses, so that Uncle William always knew what the whole picture looked like.”

“That’s great. So, Violet, I’d like you to prepare a financial overview for me. Will you be able to do that so that we can meet sometime tomorrow to go over it together?”

“Yes, that’s not a problem. I can run the reports pretty easily.”

“Thank you. Well, that’s all.” He looked at Parker. “Parker, a quick word before I go explore the estate for myself.”

“Sure,” Parker replied.

“Do you want to get a tour of the estate?” Flora asked, and pointed to Violet. “Violet can show you around so that you don’t get lost. It’s quite big.”

The idea of being stuck with Violet, whom he was even less attracted to than Eve, didn’t appeal to him at all. “That’s really not necessary, Flora,” he said with a forced smile. “Violet is busy enough with the financial reports. I’ll ask Heath or Chase to show me around.”

Or Danielle.

He waited until everybody had left the room before he motioned Parker to approach.

“What do you need?”

“I’d like you to keep an eye on the house and the goings-on. And while you’re at it, put together a floor plan. I want to know where everybody’s room is. I think we should make sure that at least one person from our team is on each floor of the main house and the side wing.”

“I suppose you don’t want me to ask Flora for that information, do you?”

“You suppose correctly. Maybe Priscilla can tell you. She works in the house. She should know where everybody’s room is.”

“Consider it done.”

“Thanks, buddy.”