Pete's Persuasion (2019 Reissue)

by Lavinia Lewis

  Pete’s Persuasion

  Lavinia Lewis

  Copyright Lavinia Lewis 2019

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

  License notes

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. The book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of Lavinia Lewis.

  Warning: This book contains material that some readers might find disturbing or objectionable and is intended for mature readers only.

  Back Cover Information

  When wolf Pete Johnson hears there has been an explosion at the dancehall he manages, he rushes to the scene with his alpha, Kelan.

  Kelan’s mate Jake had been on his way to Jessie’s dancehall with Tony, a friend visiting from New York who Pete has yet to meet.

  When they arrive at the scene, amid the chaos, Pete discovers that Tony is his mate.

  However, Tony is human and doesn’t know about the existence of wolves.

  As more fires ravage the small town of Wolf Creek, including Kelan’s home – The Crazy Horse ranch - Pete must help find the person responsible while trying to persuade Tony that destiny brought them together and they are made for one another.

  Can Pete convince his mate and capture the culprit before Tony becomes yet another casualty of the insane wolf, bent on revenge, who has the werewolf population of Wolf Creek running scared?

  Reader Advisory: The events in this series follow chronologically so each book is best read in sequence as part of the series.

  ***Please note*** This book has been previously published, the cover has been changed and the story re-edited, but otherwise the content remains the same.

  Chapter One

  Pete took in the exasperated expression on Kelan’s face and tried to hide his grin. “They’re doing what?” he taunted.

  He already knew the answer, but sometimes he loved to watch his alpha stew. Kelan seldom got angry and he rarely showed people when he was upset, but he looked close to exploding from pent-up rage over this particular situation.

  It was good to know he wasn’t as unflappable as he sometimes appeared. From what Pete knew about the mating bond, Kelan’s reaction to what his mate was doing seemed pretty much normal.

  It made him grateful he wasn’t mated.

  Kelan all but growled out his reply. “They’re bowling!”

  Pete had to turn his face away.

  He clamped his lips together and prayed the chuckle that was bubbling up in his chest didn’t break free from his lips. Even though he had managed to keep his mouth shut, he was sure the laughter in his eyes would have been more than evident.

  Kelan had said the word ‘bowling’ as if it were a euphemism for fucking.

  Maybe it was.

  He finally managed to get a lid on his mirth long enough to ask Kelan the question that had been bugging him about this turn of events.

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  Kelan narrowed his eyes. “It is when I’m not around to keep an eye on them.”

  “I thought you trusted Jake.”

  “I do. It’s Tony I’m wary of.”

  Pete frowned. “If Tony can’t be trusted, then why did you invite him to stay in your home?”

  Kelan took off his cowboy hat and wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand.

  He let out a long sigh.

  “It’s not that I distrust Tony, exactly, it’s just that… Aww, hell. They used to be lovers, okay? And I think Tony still has feelings for Jake. But that’s not to go any further, ya hear me?”

  Pete swallowed down his surprise.

  “Wow. I mean, of course I wouldn’t say anything. But still—wow. You must have some control to allow your mate to hang around with his ex. I don’t think I could do it.

  “I’m pretty sure my wolf would want me to kick the shit out of him.”

  Pete knew Kelan’s self-control was one of the things that made him such a good alpha—one of many traits, in fact. His father had been alpha before him and he’d run a tight ship, but Kelan was more personable than his old man had been. By far.

  Pete had been one of Kelan’s betas since he’d first taken over the position when his father had passed away. Pete’s control was good but damn, it wasn’t that good. If Jake were his mate he knew without a shadow of a doubt he couldn’t be as restrained and reasonable as Kelan was being.

  “It’s not easy,” Kelan allowed. “But Jake is human and sometimes he doesn’t fully understand the wolf mentality. It doesn’t matter how much I try to explain it to him. If you’re not a wolf, I don’t think you can ever really get it.

  “I don’t want to tell him what to do and I don’t want to control him. Jake is his own man and he deserves better than that. He has his own mind and that’s just the way I like it.

  “Besides, I trust him, even though my wolf instincts are screaming at me to get him as far away from Tony as possible.”

  Pete had yet to meet Jake’s best friend, Tony.

  From what he understood of the situation, Tony had come to stay in Wolf Creek for a week, but he’d enjoyed his visit so much he had come back a month later, taking another couple of weeks off from his job in New York. Pete had been busy running Jessie’s Dancehall since Tony arrived in town, and, even though he’d been to the Crazy Horse a couple of times to see Kelan, he and Tony kept missing each other.

  Pete was intrigued to meet the man who had managed to ruffle his alpha’s feathers so much.

  Kelan leaned back against the wall of the ranch house and looked out over the corral.

  “Any news on the sale of Jessie’s yet?”

  Pete shook his head. “Nah. I spoke to Jessie earlier. I don’t know what he wants to do anymore. I don’t think he knows. It looks as if he might have changed his mind about selling.”

  “Can he do that?”

  “It’s his place,” Pete replied. “He can do whatever the hell he likes.”

  “Sure, but I thought you’d come to an arrangement of sorts.”

  They had.

  Jessie Delaney, Pete’s boss for the past year, had agreed to sell him the bar. There had been a lot of trouble in Wolf Creek the past six months, a lot of it taking place in the dancehall, and Jessie had said he was too old to deal with the stress of it all.

  Pete shrugged.

  “Why would he change his mind?”

  “I don’t know—he might be reconsidering his position because there hasn’t been as much trouble in town over the last few weeks.”

  “Maybe, but Jessie wouldn’t go back on his word, would he? I thought he’d retired?”

  “He has, but I heard his son Brandon is back in town so he might want him to run the bar now.”

  Kelan pushed away from the wall, his face suddenly serious.

  “Brandon is home?”

  Pete shrugged. “That’s what I heard, although I haven’t seen him yet. Why?”

  “Damn.” Kelan frowned. “Brandon and I don’t exactly see eye to eye. He’s a dominant wolf and we came to blows a couple of times when we were younger. The last tim
e was right before my pop died.

  “The last I heard Brandon had joined a pack out east in the city where he went to college.

  “Maybe he’s just back for a visit,” Pete reasoned. “You know what rumors in this town are like when they start.”

  “Yeah, but I think I might pay Jessie a visit. Find out the truth from the horse’s mouth.”

  Pete grinned. “Good luck with that. I haven’t been able to get a straight answer out of Jessie for months now.”

  Kelan placed the Stetson back on his head and pulled the brim low over his eyes. “Then maybe you should come with me—get some answers for yourself.”

  “Yeah. I think I might do that.”

  Chapter Two

  Tony rolled his eyes and stole the twenty bucks out of Jake’s hand.

  “You cheated. As such, I cannot declare you the winner.”

  Jake snorted and grabbed the money back.

  “You don’t have to declare a thing. I won. You’re just a sore loser and you know it.”

  “Am not!”

  Tony tried to look outraged, but he couldn’t even pretend to be angry with Jake, even though the man had done things that would make a saint mad over the ten years they’d been friends.

  “I’ll tell you what,” he said, eyeing the money. “You buy a round of drinks out of that and we’ll call it quits.”

  Jake grinned. “I was going to do that anyway. What do you say we stop off at Jessie’s Dancehall on the way home? Get a drink there?”

  Tony waggled his eyebrows. “Will I see hot cowboys? I love a man in chaps.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Jake replied. “As far as I’m concerned, I’ve got the only hot cowboy in town.”

  Tony groaned. “Aww, man—you’ve got it bad for Kelan, haven’t you?”

  Jake shrugged nonchalantly, but color flooded his cheeks and he averted his gaze. Tony still couldn’t believe that Jake had settled down, and with a cowboy in Texas, no less. He never thought he’d see that day coming. There had been a time when he’d hoped Jake would have those sorts of feelings for him, but it hadn’t been on the cards for them.

  Tony had known deep down that Jake didn’t see him as more than just a good friend. He’d made his peace with that a long time ago, but it still hurt on occasion. Especially when he saw how close Jake and Kelan had become. They were good for each other and he could say that without even know Kelan very well. If Tony didn’t know any better, he’d say destiny had brought Kelan and Jake together the night they met in Liberties nearly a year ago.

  “Oh…come on, then,” Tony said with a much put upon sigh. “Take me to Jessie’s so I can see these butt ugly cowboys with my own eyes.”

  Jake threw his head back and laughed.

  “I’d advise you not to say that to any of the cowboys in Jessie’s, but I’d love to see what happens if you do.”

  “Masochist,” Tony accused, although he couldn’t keep the grin from his face as he followed Jake to the parking lot.

  After Jake had sent a text to Kelan telling him where they were going, they rode to Jessie’s in companionable silence. Tony rested his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.

  He needed to decide what he was going to do with his life.

  He’d done a lot of thinking in the year since Jake had left New York and he’d decided he needed to make some changes. The hardest thing was how lonely he’d been feeling lately. He hadn’t mentioned it to Jake because he didn’t want his friend to feel bad about moving away, but Tony’s life hadn’t been the same since Jake had come to Texas.

  He missed his friend.

  Tony had taken another week off work to visit Jake. His boss could hardly argue because he hadn’t taken a single vacation in the three years before his first trip to Texas so he was long overdue a break. But now that he was in Texas again, enjoying the sun on his face and good company, he didn’t want to go back home to New York.

  “Well, this is the place.” Jake pulled up in the lot outside Jessie’s Dancehall.

  Tony cast a cursory glance over the building’s façade then groaned.

  “Do I need protection? And I’m not talking about rubbers.”

  Jake rolled his eyes and killed the engine.

  “Anyone would think you hadn’t been in a honky-tonk before.”

  “Anyone would be right.”

  Jake stared at him open-mouthed.

  “You’ve never been to a dancehall?”

  Tony rolled his eyes. “Do I look like the type of person that would spend any length of time in Hicksville for any reason other than being lost?”

  Jake’s gaze raked over Tony’s designer jeans, white, pressed shirt and silver Rolex. He didn’t even look down at Tony’s shoes, but his friend was well aware that Tony wouldn’t consider buying a new pair unless the designer had been featured in Forbes.

  However, something that Jake didn’t know was that Tony had changed.

  He’d grown tired of the lifestyle he’d once held in such great esteem.

  He could easily see himself living on a ranch in Texas, learning to ride a horse and dressed in old T-shirts and holey blue jeans.

  Well, okay…maybe not that last part.

  “I guess not,” Jake finally answered. “You’re a city boy through and through. Come on then, let’s begin your small-town education.”

  Tony got out and slammed the door shut, glancing around nervously.

  “Uh, you’ve got my back in there, right?”

  Chapter Three

  “It’s Jake,” Kelan said, reading a text message on his cell. “He and Tony are on their way to the dancehall.”

  “Maybe I’ll finally get to meet Tony if they’re still there by the time I go into work. You gonna stop by for a drink?”

  Kelan shrugged. “Why not?”

  He opened the screen door and wrapped his knuckles on Jessie’s door.

  Jessie Delaney was a stout man in his mid-fifties with sun-bleached blond hair that had kept its color despite his age. It was long on top and fell forward every time he moved to obscure eyes the color of caramel. When he opened the door to Pete and Kelan, his eyebrows rose in surprise, but he didn’t lose the grin that seemed to be a permanent fixture on his weather-beaten face.

  “Howdy, boys,” he drawled, reaching out to shake hands with Kelan and Pete in turn. “Alpha,” he nodded. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  His expression darkened and he swiveled his head to Pete.

  “Nothing wrong down at the bar, is there? There hasn’t been trouble again?”

  “Naw,” Pete replied. “No trouble.”

  Jessie held his hand to his heart and let out a long breath.

  “Thank the Lord. I thought someone had been killed down there again.”

  Pete scowled at the mention of the time Neil Rafferty and a couple of his friends had shown up at the dancehall with the sole intention of starting trouble. They’d got into an argument with a couple of shifters and ended up killing a human in cold blood. All three men were now in prison for their crimes and Wolf Creek was all the better for it.

  “No more trouble,” Kelan reiterated. “We’ve got a couple of questions we’d like to ask. Mind if we come in?”

  “Oh, of course not.” Jessie moved aside to allow them entrance. “Come right on in. Can I get you boys a drink? Beer? Something stronger?”

  “Not for me,” Kelan said. “But thanks for the offer.”

  “Thanks, but I’m going in to work soon,” Pete said by way of an explanation. “I like to have a clear head when I’m at the bar. Hasn’t been any trouble there in a while but you never know.”

  “Fair enough,” Jessie said with a nod.

  He led them into a living room that didn’t appear to have been updated since the seventies. Ugly orange and brown furniture dominated the small room that was made to feel even smaller by the cheap, varnished, wooden paneling that covered every wall.

  Jessie made himself comfortable in a brown plaid armchair and motioned
for Pete and Kelan to take a seat on the matching sofa opposite. Kelan took off his Stetson before sitting and Pete sat next to him.

  Coming into Jessie’s home to question him made Pete feel uncomfortable, but he was being kept in the dark about something that was important to him.

  He had to know what was going on.

  His future rested on Jessie’s decision to sell him the bar. He’d poured blood, sweat, and tears into running the dancehall and had been led to believe it was going to belong to him one day soon. If that was no longer the case then he had a right to know

  “So, what’s this all about?” Jessie asked. “If you have some questions for me then you might as well spit ‘em out. I don’t like beating around no bush.”

  Kelan looked to Pete and nodded once, giving him permission to go first. Pete cleared his throat and turned to Jessie.

  “Uh, well—the thing is, sir, I’ve been wondering what’s happening with the dancehall. You haven’t been real clear about whether or not you still want to sell the premises to me. I need to make plans so I’d like to know what’s on your mind.”

  Jessie squirmed in his seat, his gaze shifting uncomfortably.

  Pete’s heart sank.

  “I’ve still got a mind to sell,” Jessie said. “I just hit a few…problems, is all. Nothing you need to be worrying about.”

  “What sort of problems?” Pete asked.

  “Well, it’s to do with my son, if I’m honest.”

  Pete sank into the sofa, resigned.

  “I knew it. You don’t want to sell to me anymore, do you? You want to give the bar to Brandon.”

  “Now, don’t go getting ahead of yourself none,” Jessie said. “Not when you don’t know the full story.”

  “Is Brandon home in Wolf Creek?” Kelan asked.

  “No, sir, he ain’t—at least, not yet he ain’t, but I am counting on him coming home real soon.”