Page 28

Itook a deep breath as she moved past me, relishing the scent of her. The essence of her had filled my mind since she’d disappeared from my truck on Friday. Blueberries and sage. Every molecule of her remained as enticing as it had been before her first shift, but now…

Now her attraction had been amplified, as though her body screamed at me through a megaphone that every inch of her pled to be lovingly adored.By me. If the rest of her was as sexy as the rainbow tattoo…

My inner wolf whined in the back of my mind, begging to be allowed to the fore. Refusing my instincts wasn’t something I was used to, and it was going to become a problem, at least where Emma was concerned. Dwelling on the inconvenient reality of my sex drive didn’t make it go away, so I mentally pushed it to the corner of my mind where I stored the incessant whining of the canine who wanted to be let loose.

The floor creaked with each halting step she took into her new life. The muted sounds of voices filtered up the grand stairwell. Glasses clinked, and silverware scraped against plates. The guard trailed after us.

She glanced at me. “How many are down there?”

“How many do you hear?”

Her eyebrows dropped low over her eyes, and she shoved a strand of her disheveled hair behind her ear. “I can’t tell that.”

“You sure about that?”

I thought she mutteredfuck you, but I didn’t ask her to repeat it, knowing she probably already regretting leaving the soft bed. None of what I’d said made sense to her, and she didn’t trust her senses yet. The newly shifted were much like newborns as they sorted out how to deal with the rush of new information pouring into their brains. If history proved true, Emma would be hungry and tired every few hours for as long as it took for her to adjust.

As we made our way downstairs, Emma clutched the banister, keeping her head high as though she’d refuse any help I might offer. Her squared shoulders led to her rigid spine. Everything about her body language screamed her independence, but my gaze dropped to the soft curve of her hips and her ass.

Holy shit.Emma was a firecracker with a body I hadn’t been able to get out of my head since Friday night, and now she was within reach. Too much closeness fanned the flames of a need I hadn’t been able to fill.

Get it together, Logan.Too much depended on keepingEmma safe, and the next days would be an endless denial of her. Whether she believed it or not, she was the prophesied shifter, the one who would unify all the clans against an evil we had to band together to beat. I’d always assumed the threat would come from Acheron, and with her emergence, that seemed more likely than ever.

At the bottom of the stairs, I reached for her elbow, intending to point her toward the formal dining room in the rear right quadrant of the house where the breakfast buffet was be assembled on the sideboards. My fingertips grazed her skin, and static sparks jumped between us. She yanked her arm away, nearly losing her balance.

“I’m fine,” she snapped.

“You’re not fine. You’re not meant to be fine. Shifting is hard on the human body, and it takes practice to get used to the change,” I murmured.

I wouldn’t push her. I wasn’t Olivia, willing to bully her into accepting my help. Emma had to learn to trust us... to trust me.

She turned her head to the right and then to the left before aiming toward the room with the most noise spilling out of it. Her steps halted before she moved into view, and she glanced back at me, her insecurity apparent. “Do I look okay?”

“Nobody cares. Clothes are human, and they hide the truth of who we really are.” I lightly touched her shoulder and then dropped my hand.

She turned toward me. “Are they all naked?”

I chuckled. “No, they’re all dressed. We don’t make ita habit of eating meals together in the buff. Standard rules for the Alpha Manor.”

“Alpha Manor?” she echoed.

I gestured to the building around us. “This is Alpha Manor. It’s the headquarters of the pack leader and the home of the alpha.”

“Alpha? You didn’t explain that.”

“The Alpha is the leader of the pack, and every pack has an alpha. In our pack, they aren’t so much elected as they win the position, though I was raised by an Alpha, so there’s some genetic tendency in my family to be strong enough to lead.”

“Oh.” All the overwhelm of the night and morning summed up in one syllable. “So, you’re the alpha?”

“Yes.”

“I thought you had a construction company.”

“I do. Six-Mile Construction. Most of my employees live here on the grounds because they’re members of my pack.”

She chewed her bottom lip. Her mind had to be racing. Every word I used wasn’t applicable to humans. As a vet, she understood the terms from a human perspective better than most.

Around the corner, the dining room had gone silent.