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The Wicked Wolf of the West has a reputation that has only grown to a myth-like status over my lifetime.
By now, I’ve heard every rumor about him because of my dad. As the Alpha of Lakeview, he was determined to keep his pack protected from any prospective threats. When it came to my mom, though? He’s always been fanatical about her safety. It didn’t matter that she broke her mating with Jack Walker twenty-five years ago. My dad is devoted to her, and he’s never been able to understand how the Wicked Wolf could let her go.
She was his fated mate, but he preferred to bed any willing—and, from the rumors I’ve heard, not so willing—females in his pack. No one was strong enough to say no to the Alpha, and they rarely did.
It looks like things have hardly changed. As Christian leads the two of us to the front table in the middle of the district square—he calls it the Alpha’s table—I pass quite a few female shifters milling about. At least three of them reek of Walker. The only way to embed a scent that deeply into another shifter’s skin is through mating. The more animalistic the sex, the stronger the scent left behind. It would only last a few hours unless he mated them again.
My stomach turns queasy. The Wicked Wolf’s been a busy, busy man today.
I try not to think about that. He’s insisted we join him for dinner, and if I think too much about him hopping from bed to bed, I won’t be able to choke anything down. And wouldn’t that just give him the perfect reason to be offended?
He’s already seated at the table when we approach it. I see that there are four different plates heaped with food, but only two empty place settings. One is set in front of Walker. One is directly opposite of him. A third seat is placed next to that one, making it clear he intends for me and Elizabeth to sit across from him.
Almost dutifully, Elizabeth takes the seat without a plate. With only one left, I sink into that.
Christian nods—or, you know, bows—at Walker before disappearing.
Once we’re seated, Walker clears his throat.
“You look lovely, girls,” he says, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who hears the slime in his voice. His eyes sliding my way, he then adds, “I tried to make Elizabeth my mate. Sometimes I wonder if I should’ve fought harder to claim her.”
Well, that’s one way to start a conversation.
Out of the corner of my eye, I peek over at my new roommate. Until I can figure out where the Wicked Wolf has hidden Trish, I’ll be staying with her.
She looks horrified. Honestly, I don’t blame her. I can’t tell if he’s teasing or not—something tells me not—and just the thought that he tried to force her to mate her has me wanting to throw myself in front of the dainty shifter to protect her.
He knows, too.
My bio-dad picks up his glass. With a grin that makes me want to rake my claws down his perfect face, he takes a sip, knowing that he has full command of my attention.
Prick.
“Thirsty?” he asks slyly.
I glance down. Next to my plate, there’s a glass of water. But only mine.
Elizabeth doesn’t get one of those, either, I notice.
I seize the opportunity. My knee-jerk reaction is to protect her, but at the end of the day, she’s choosing to be here. I’m not. Using the back of my hand, I shift it toward her. She can have it, instead.
Sorry, Elizabeth, but I’ve already made that mistake once in my life. I accepted that Coke poisoned with quicksilver from Audrey Carter and, boy, did I live to regret that. I’m not about to go through that again, especially since Audrey thought she was only doing what was good for the pack.
I wouldn’t put it past the Wicked Wolf to poison me for shits and giggles.
Walker tsks. “That’s for you.”
“I’ll drink something later. Elizabeth can have mine.”
“Elizabeth isn’t thirsty. Are you?”
“No, Alpha.”
His perfectly styled blond eyebrows lift as he smiles. “Give her the glass back.”
The order is unnecessary. Elizabeth has already shoved it toward me before dropping her hands back in her lap. The perfect submissive wolf, only if she’s truly a submissive, then I’m freaking Santa Claus.
Oh. I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.
