Page 33 of New Blood (Werewolf Alliance #1)
“ K eep an eye out, okay, baby?”
Thaddeus heard Jude’s voice coming from the laundry room, the door of which was ajar. Nobody replied to his words. Who was in the laundry room with him? And who was he calling baby?
It definitely wasn’t Eve. For starters, Eve wouldn’t get caught dead in the laundry room.
Besides, he’d heard her leave earlier, most likely to go riding at the equestrian estate.
It was her leisure of choice, her way of escaping whatever mental demons she was fighting.
Which made him come back to his original question.
Who was the woman Jude had called baby? At least he assumed it was a woman, since Jude didn’t strike him as gay.
He tried to spy through the one-inch gap between the door and the frame but couldn’t see anybody.
But he could hear them, or at least their breathing.
By the sounds of it, they were kissing—and groping probably too.
There were limited options as to the identity of the woman. Assuming that it wasn’t Flora—just thinking about that possibility made him want to puke—there were only three other women on the estate: Violet, Danielle, and Priscilla.
He inhaled deeply and silently to try to get a reading on the scents coming from the laundry room, but unfortunately, the smell of laundry soap was too overwhelming to pick up anything. He couldn’t even smell Jude.
This meant he could only guess. Maybe Violet was making a play for the new alpha.
And why wouldn’t she? She was pretty, smart, and knew that once Eve became the alpha’s mate, she would hold no important position in the pack.
She certainly had the opportunity to get close to Jude.
After all, she’d spent many hours with him behind closed doors, supposedly going over financial reports.
Maybe Jude had realized that Violet was a much warmer person than Eve could ever be.
While he loved his sister, he wasn’t blind to her faults.
She kept her emotions close to the vest, which made her appear aloof.
Violet, on the other hand, was kind and uncomplicated.
Violet being attracted to Jude was certainly not a stretch.
The new alpha had a handsome face and a muscular body that was hard to overlook.
His shoulders were broad, his hips slim, and he filled out his pants quite nicely.
Add to that the power he now wielded, and he was the perfect catch for any female werewolf.
But what if it wasn’t Violet who was cavorting with Jude in the laundry room?
What if Jude wasn’t the faithful kind? What if he’d decided to have a fling with Danielle or Priscilla while he waited for Eve to be ready to mate?
In a way, he couldn’t even blame him. All werewolves had an insatiable libido.
And both Danielle and Priscilla were young and pretty.
Even he could see that, and he wasn’t interested in them, though he always treated both of them kindly.
After all, they got enough shit to deal with from some of the other pack members.
In any case, they were no threat when it came to Eve’s or Violet’s position.
A man like Jude would only pick the best option, which meant it was a choice between Eve and Violet.
Well, he didn’t care either way. He had other problems to deal with.
Just as his mind went to one particular problem, said problem came walking toward him: Mason. He had no choice but to meet him halfway, far enough away from the laundry room, so he wouldn’t hear what was happening in there.
“I was looking for you,” Mason said with a smile.
Well, no surprise there. Mason was turning into his permanent shadow, one that seemed impossible to shake.
He had to be more careful from now on, and he hated that.
While he hadn’t gotten along with his father, at least his father hadn’t had the time to constantly keep a watchful eye on him.
It had made it easy to disappear whenever he needed to.
With the arrival of the Werewolf Alliance team, it had become more difficult to sneak off without anyone asking what he was up to.
Somehow, he had to make sure that Mason didn’t get suspicious of him for whatever reason.
Unfortunately, this meant being open and friendly, even if that was the last thing he wanted to do.
Something about that man made him uncomfortable. Mason was all talkative and charming, but it felt like he was playing a role. To what end, he didn’t know. Not yet anyway.
“Hey, Storm,” Thaddeus replied as casually as possible without sounding fake. “What’s up?”
“I figured I’ve seen enough of shipyards to last me a lifetime. So, what do you say, would you show me the estate? I don’t have a feel for how large it is.”
He wasn’t surprised that Mason hadn’t enjoyed their visit to the shipyard.
He avoided it as much as he could, too. It wasn’t his scene.
He would have preferred working at the vineyard or even at the equestrian estate.
The shipyard reeked of toxic masculinity, which was probably the reason his father had assigned him to the shipping business.
“Sure. Do you wanna walk or ride?”
“You mean as in horses? I didn’t realize you kept horses here at the estate.”
“We don’t. I was talking about ATVs. You know how to ride one?”
Mason nodded. “Sure.”
“Alright then. Let’s go.”
At least while riding the ATVs, the noise of the engines made conversation practically impossible, which was fine by him. He didn’t want to have to make small talk with the utterly unreadable werewolf who made him nervous whenever they were alone.