Shift Happens(57)

“I know,” he said. At my puzzled expression he continued, “I told Wick a woman who smelled of the forest and wore his scent was having a showdown with a hot Wereleopard and asked if I should do something.”

I didn’t recall hearing a phone conversation while I had my stare down with Angie. But then I’d been too distracted to notice him enter the building and approach us. He could’ve communicated with Wick telepathically through their pack bond. “You think she’s hot?”

He gave me a flat stare.

“I would have preferred being the one described as hot and Angie described as slutty…” I shrugged. “But there’s no accounting for taste.”

Steve chuckled. He looked down at my purchases—at least what I intended to be purchases. At this rate, I wasn’t sure if they would be within their three year expiry date before I paid for them. “You are what you eat, you know.” His smile flashed.

I’m twisted like licorice? Somehow that didn’t feel like a compliment. I bit back the immediate ‘screw you’ response and smiled wide. “That’s funny. I don’t recall eating sexy beast this morning.”

Steve paused while he tried not to laugh. “I take it you’re not a health nut like Wick.”

“Nope. Speaking of which, what’d he say?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What did Wick say when you asked him what to do?”

Steve’s smile broadened. “He told me to protect you at all costs.”

The cashier interrupted whatever I would have managed aside from ‘huh,’ by calling out “Next!” She seemed perturbed at being made to wait. Steve winked at me and walked out of the store before I could ask him anything else.

“Bye!” I called out at him, and he waved without looking. I stared at his retreating back, only noticing now that he hadn’t purchased anything.

The cashier took hours to ring up my three purchases, which gave me time to think. Wick said protect at all costs. He’d basically announced to a pack member I was his mate. The alpha’s mate.

I chewed through half the licorice on my way home while I tried to figure out how I felt about that. About Wick. About everything. One thing was for sure—the big boy and I were going to have words.





Chapter Twenty-Five


I let the door slam when I walked into Wick’s house. Prepared to launch into a tirade, the fresh scent of other Werewolves in the house pissed me off. Well damn. I’d have to wait. With my body overheating, I used my shirt to fan myself before walking down the hall. Though I expected to see a number of people, I froze when I rounded the corner. The place was jammed full of Werewolves. Packed with pack.

My scent drifted into the room before me as a silent announcement, and the Weres turned toward me as a collective whole. Some growled their disproval.

Cold invisible hands clamped around my throat, squeezing, as a memory surfaced. Unable to breathe, the panic numbed my body, sinking my feet into the plush carpet. I stood helpless, unable to move, forced to relive the images as they bitch-slapped my mind.

“They’re watching,” I whispered. “They’re all watching.” A familiar humiliation broiled, deep in my gut.

“They’re pack, Andy.” Dylan gripped my hair and threw me to the floor. “They’ll do what I say.”

“Please don’t do this.” I hated the weakness in my voice, how pathetic I’d become, whittled down to a shadow of my former self.

When confronted by a pack of Werewolves not showing or feeling fear was imperative. I’d just failed that test. My scent gave away my emotions, even if my face didn’t. Fuck. The whispers in the room flowed over my body, waking it up and disrupting the vision from going further, to a place I didn’t want to go. Never again. I took a deep breath, then another. I could not allow the memory to control me, not in front of a pack. I lifted my chin and threw my purse on the counter. “Wick, I didn’t get the memo about a pack meeting.”

Wick’s smile flashed across the room. He rose out of his seat and the Weres parted for him to approach me. “It was impromptu.” He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek, his lips quirking as he withdrew. Was he daring me?

“Nice turnout.”

Wick nodded and turned toward his pack, giving his back to me as a silent testament of his trust. If anyone had thought to challenge me from my show of weakness, they might rethink it now. Wick’s pack observed the exchange in silence—some still growling, some smiling, while others wore unreadable expressions, blank slates. I could only imagine what the internal pack dialogue sounded like. John pinched his nose.