Page 14 of New Blood

The cleaning bucket with the dirty towels still in her hand, she headed for the stairs. As she came around the corner, she saw one of the newcomers, Austin, standing in front of the door to Cameron’s room. He nodded at her, looking her up and down. Did he know that she’d been in his brother’s room? Was it written on her face that she’d almost kissed him? Were her cheeks still flushed? They certainly felt like it.

“Evening, I’m Austin,” he said with an easy smile, extending his hand toward her.

Danielle shifted the bucket into her left hand and shook his. “I’m Danielle.”

She felt instantly at ease with him. There was nothing threatening about him, nothing imposing. Although she could see the family resemblance with Jude, he was nothing like his brother, maybe because he wasn’t the new alpha. Austin was simply a new member of the pack, even though as the alpha’s brother, he occupied a high rank.

“It’s nice to meet you, Danielle.”

“Likewise,” she replied, feeling herself relax and smile back at him. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“No, no,” he said with a motion to the open door. “Priscilla is getting the room ready for me.”

Danielle looked into the room, just as Priscilla emerged from the walk-in closet, a large box in her arms. Their eyes met.

“Oh, Danielle, could you please give me a hand and bring this box down to the storage room? I’ve got another one, which is just as full.”

“Of course,” Danielle replied.

“Let me do that,” Austin interrupted.

They both entered the room at the same time, bumping into each other in the narrow doorway.

“Sorry!”

“My fault,” he replied.

Despite the contact with his body and the fact that Austin was just as handsome as his brother, she felt nothing, no spark, no attraction, nothing that drew her to him.

“No, no, you don’t need to help,” Priscilla said quickly, a tinge of dread in her voice. “Danielle and I can take care of it.”

Was Priscilla afraid of Austin? Afraid of what the Werewolf Alliance could do to her and to all of them if they were displeased with anything the Gallagher pack did? Or was she just frazzled and still in shock over what had happened tonight?

“I’ll take the box,” Danielle said, and reached for it. She took the box with both hands, her bucket in her left hand, dangling underneath the box now.

“Thanks, Danielle,” Priscilla said and turned back to the closet to take out the second box.

“Thank you,” Austin said. “Both of you. I’m really not used to being waited on hand and foot.”

She ignored the comment and quickly nodded before she left the room and headed downstairs. Despite Austin’s words, she knew that everybody in the pack would make sure that Jude and his men would receive everything they needed before they had to ask for it—everybody except for some of the family members. Having witnessed Byron’s outburst during the earlier meeting, it was evident that he would make it as difficult as possible for the Werewolf Alliance team to assimilate. Or maybe it was the other way around: perhaps the Gallagher pack had to assimilate with the Werewolf Alliance, because it was their rules the pack would have to live by from now on.

The small storage room was located on the first floor. Danielle used her elbow to press the door handle down before pushing the door open. Inside the windowless room, it was pitch-black. Again, she used her elbow to flick the light switch. There were several shelving units as well as numerous boxes stacked up on one side of the tiny eight-by-eight room, covered with a thin layer of dust. Danielle set down the bucket and looked for a space to store the box from Cameron’s room. Seeing that there was very little space left for anything, she closed the door almost completely to see if there was any space left behind it. She was lucky and found a spot into which she could squeeze the box.

She turned back around, reached for her bucket, and switched the light off. But before she could open the door, she heard hushed voices right outside the storage room. Her hand on the door handle, she froze.

“Listen to me,” Eve hissed. “He killed Cameron. We can’t just let that go.”

“Cameron was an asshole, and you know it.” She recognized Byron’s voice.

“He was our brother! Just because you and he constantly got into fights doesn’t change that!”

“I’m not saying that.”

“You know what? This is typical for you! Big mouth and no action! You’re just gonna stand by and let them exile Dad without doing anything about it, aren’t you?”

“Well, what the fuck am I supposed to do about it? At least, you’ve got an easy way out! All you need to do is mate with the alpha, and you’re back in power!”

“Mate with him? Not in a million years! I despise him! He comes rolling in here with his thugs, making a big announcement, thinking I’ll submit willingly. Phew! I wouldn’t screw him if he were the last man on earth!”