AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do you know who I am?”
“Being alpha doesn’t account for bad manners,” I countered.
His eyebrows rose slightly.
What the hell was going on with me? I wasn’t usually this snappy, but this shifter seemed to have a god-complex, and that rubbed me the wrong way. I was powerful, too. It wasn’t against the rules to move between territories.
“This is Rory Holden,” Elaine said quickly. “She’s from New York.”
Bishop narrowed his eyes at me. “Colter’s pack. He didn’t tell me you were coming.”
“Was he supposed to announce my arrival?” I asked.
“You are free to go wherever you please. But you know as well as I do that it’s only common courtesy to warn me of your arrival. Who knows what you’re here to do? It would have been nice if he told me he was sending his third.”
I bristled at that. “He doesn’t own me; we’re good friends.”
“And yet, you left him.”
“Why I’m here is none of your business.” I had no idea what made me so cocky with Bishop. His power rolled over me so that my wolf should have cowered, but instead, I was pissed off that he assumed I belonged to someone and had to ask permission from Colter to leave, and then permission from Bishop to arrive here.
Even though, as Bishop had said, it was common courtesy.
Bishop glanced at Elaine, who looked like she wanted to crawl under the table. She was sweet to bring me here and show me around, but for a bear shifter, her cowering attitude irritated me.
“Rory knows Turk,” Elaine blurted out.
I glared at her.
“Oh?” Bishop narrowed his eyes. “Is that why you’re here?”
I frowned. “Is he a reason I should be here?”
Why had he asked that question? What did he know that I didn’t?
Bishop laughed, but his tone was mocking.
“You’re a feisty one, aren’t you?”
“I can hold my own, if I have to.”
It was a challenge, and Bishop took it as such, stepping closer to me. I was painfully aware the whole bar was watching us, and I felt them draw a collective breath when Bishop got right in my face.
With him this close, his magic was all I breathed, but it was laced with the scent of his cologne—a musk smell, the smell of seduction, but underneath it was the smell of the earth and of magic. It was intoxicating. That wasn’t something that could be found in a bottle. His closeness made my knees weak. He looked down at me—easily a head taller than I was—and his proximity was dangerous. Something else was beneath the magic and the threat. The atmosphere shifted between us, growing hot and heavy. My wolf rose to the surface, and I was aware of his coming closer as well.
Heat washed over me, and every nerve ending was alive. I was hyper-aware of how close he was, the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed, the five o’clock shadow on his chin. His eyes grew dark, burning with lust, and my heart fluttered in my chest.
Stop it.
I wasn’t here to look for love or lust. I wasn’t here to get distracted. Especially not by the alpha himself. I was here to find Turk, which was what Colter had asked for, so that I could go home.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Bishop finally said, and he took a step away.
It broke the spell, and I swayed on my feet. I caught myself and sat down again. Bishop turned his back on me and walked to the bar to drink. The rest of the patrons went back to their drinks and conversations as if nothing had happened.
“You’re lucky he didn’t just rip you apart then and there,” Elaine said in a shaky voice.
“He’s not all that,” I said with a shrug, although my fingers trembled when I reached for my wine glass, and I took a big sip.
