“Sometimes. We hunt rabbits and the like. Small plentiful animals, mostly. Nothing protected.”
“My brother likewise.”
“You didn’t tell me the whole story of how you really escaped from Conchita Ruiz, did you? Your brother in his shifter form has something to do with it.”
“Yes.”
“As much as we can, we try not to be conspicuous to the normal townsfolk. Not many people outside our community know we exist.”
“The witches certainly do.”
He smiles. “Magical creatures tend to flock together. Or else they are at war.”
“How do you intend to resolve your feud with the Walker family?”
“It hasn’t been resolved for over a hundred years. What makes you think I will be the one to resolve it?”
He shakes his head.
“It isn’t easy being the alpha of this clan. My younger cousins are nipping at my heels, and yet I know I cannot cede my position to them, or else my own immediate family and everyone else will suffer. My cousins are not matured enough to understand the consequences of an all-out war against other shifter clans and the witches. They are more feral, and they are itching at the bait to fight. I can’t allow that to happen. The only way I can do that is to maintain control, as much as I don’t want the job.”
“You have no one else to pass the mantle to?”
“Not yet. The eldest of my cousins is Bob, and he has been trying to challenge me of late. He has been trying to provoke me into a fight. I can see that happening one day. He thinks I’m too diplomatic to be an alpha, and the younger ones are agreeing with him.”
Shannon remembers the pack of werewolves who were advancing towards Jared.
“If Bob had his way, he would rip your brother apart,” Kirk says meaningfully. “I won’t allow that to happen.”
“I know.” The thought of having so many enemies around them is sobering. Would they ever find peace? Or is that wishful thinking on her part?
“If you fight Bob, what’s going to happen?” she asks, suddenly fearful for Kirk.
“Right now, I am still stronger on account of my age and skills. But Bob is rapidly catching up. I have to be better, stronger to maintain the status quo. It isn’t easy. I’m growing older. Pretty soon, I’ll be thirty. My brother was a very aggressive alpha. He kept his rule easily enough among us, but his natural aggression led him to challenge the other clans as well, including the witch clans. I don’t think that is the right course. But I fear more of my cousins are becoming restless with my rule, and soon, there will be an explosion.”
She doesn’t say anything, thinking of what he must be going through.
He goes on, “Being the alpha of my clan goes against everything I am. My role in life is as a healer, not a fighter. Every day, I struggle with this divide within myself.” He laughs softly. “It’s like having a split personality.”
“Were you always a werewolf?”
“We come into our heritage when we hit puberty. My family always had the gene as far as their genealogy can be traced. The girls become more subdued when they have their firstborn and the need to transform gets less and less, and that is why so many of my sisters opt to have their families early.”
She gazes at his perfect profile. He is looking up at the scudding clouds wistfully. She knows he is thinking about anything and everything – about being shoved into a role he does not crave.
Then she thinks about Lucien. He too is being shoved into a role he does not wish to be in.
But he is not protesting too hard, is he?
“Shannon?”
She turns to Kirk. His green eyes are sparkling with intelligence and empathy.
Wordlessly, he holds his hand out to her, and she takes it.
He says in a hoarse voice, “I’ve always resisted being with a woman because of who and what I am. But I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately. I try not to . . . because you are my employee and you are in a vulnerable position right now. But I can’t help it. I can’t stop thinking about you.”
A pang shoots through her chest. She has been thinking about him since the first day she saw him, and trying not to think about him in any way but a professional one – especially when she was dating Lucien.
Is it wrong to desire two men at the same time? Two very different but gorgeous men – who happen to be in opposing camps?
His hand is a furnace, just as his body was when he held her in her bed.
“Shannon . . . ”
“Just hold me.”
She swallows a choke.
Swiftly, he crosses the short divide between their bodies. His long hair falls away from his face as his mouth seals itself upon hers. The passion seizes her loins and her entire body jerks in response to his touch. His mouth is like melted butter – hot and moist and sweet and mellow and delicious all at once.