Chapter 10
It’d been especially hot in Texas the night we met.
Beads of sweat rolled down my back from the dingy dive bar’s lack of air conditioning.
The two tottering ceiling fans did nothing but push humid air around.
When I returned from the bathroom, Aurora’s “meal” had left, but she remained in the hallway as if she were waiting for me.
She had her back flush against the wall, one boot propped up.
I should have gone straight back to the bar, returned to Mila. For whatever reason, my body, my mind wouldn’t allow me. Something tethered me to that moment. A desire in the depths of my gut to share the same space with her, even if for a few heartbeats. To see how it’d feel.
Smirking, I’d walked up to Aurora, the faintly shadowed hallway making both of our gazes glint. Neither of us said anything immediately, just stared at each other, trying to figure out why we both still stood there.
Aurora had slipped my hat from my head, plopping it onto her own and I let her. “You’re surprising, wolf.”
A tightening had coiled in my chest. I gently took my Stetson back. “You look good in red, vamp.”
Aurora had smiled, sinking her exposed fangs into her lower lip. “I should go.”
That would be all we said to each other that night.
A moment of innocent flirting I still, to this day, couldn’t wrap my head around.
It would have gone nowhere, given I was with someone I thought had been my mate.
Aurora, accompanied by her vampire boyfriend.
Yet, we had that moment. No animosity. No judgment.
A quarter century later, I had unintentionally tied myself to her and brought her literally into the wolf’s den. Now, I shouldered through pack members to stop two females from tearing each other to shreds.
Moving behind Aurora, I slipped a finger through her back belt loop and lightly coaxed her away.
“Easy now, Apex,” I grumbly whispered near her ear.
“Delilah,” I locked eyes with the female wolf.
“Think about this. Is showin’ how big your canines are to a vamp really worth being separated from your mate? ”
Delilah’s claws crept out over her fingernails. “You know what they did to my mother.”
“I do.” Sliding in front of Aurora, I held her behind me. “She wasn’t the one who did it.”
Delilah’s eyes formed angry slits before she shut them tightly, willing her wolf to settle down. “Apologies, Alpha.”
“No apologies. No excuses. Just do as I ask.”
Delilah gave a curt, affirming nod before turning away. She was still clearly fuming, but trying to hide it.
“And you—” I started, peering toward a smug Aurora. “—you think that was the best idea to get into a tussle after only two hours in the Falls?”
“Would you have preferred if I’d have waited for five hours instead?” Aurora thrust her hand forward. “What was I supposed to do? Let her gnaw an arm off while she regretted her decisions?”
“You’re supposed to let me handle it. No reason for you to get wrapped up in all of this.” I tried to soften my voice, but Aurora only kept getting louder.
The vamp slid closer to me. “And I told you I don’t need you handling everything for me.”
Several wolves started to stare at us.
“Let’s go outside.” I led her by the arm, trying like hells to ignore those static drops trickling down my neck from her touch.
Aurora wretched free of my hold once we exited, turning in a huff to face me. “Harky sure is a crazy contrast to everyone calling you Alpha now, isn’t it?”
I shook my head from the verbal whiplash Aurora had just given me. “What?”
“That night. You were there with a woman. Seemed like you two were pretty close from how she was sitting on your lap, nibbling your ear, calling you ‘Harky’.” She did air quotes. “Why aren’t you with her now?”
With a bit more hostility than I would’ve preferred, I pointed at the clubhouse. “You go from barkin’ at me about handling things to asking me that?”
“Answer the question, Harkin.”
I speared both hands through my hair. “She was a female I thought was my mate.”
The skin beneath Aurora’s eyes wrinkled. “How can you think someone is your mate?”
I turned my gaze to the moon, willing its radiance to give me the godsdamned strength. “Listen, it’s a long story that I’d rather not get into right now. To cut it short, she wasn’t, and she left. That’s it.”
Aurora’s face softened. “Shit. Rejection? Sorry, I didn’t realize.”
“Again, vamp, how could you?” An itch formed on my upper lip. I rubbed my knuckles over it. “Need to get back inside. Can I trust you to behave yourself for ten minutes so I can handle a few things? After that, we’re headin’ on to Rusty Claw.”
“I’m not the one you need to worry about, Alpha. It’s your wolves. I haven’t made it this far by rolling over and exposing my belly. I will defend myself.”
When I say she had a point, she had a huge damn point.
“Understandable. In that case, stay close.” I grabbed the doorknob.
“I will become one with the wall, but what’s at Rusty Claw?”
“I’m meetin’ with the other pack leaders to ensure what happened with Delilah doesn’t happen with other shifters not under my command.”
Aurora poked the middle of my back, a petite finger and a quick, light jab, but still enough to make my knot throb. “You’re really covering all your bases.”
“That’s what wolves do when someone is in danger under our watch. Pack member or not.” I fixed her gaze with mine. “Wolf or not.”
A smile ghosted across Aurora’s lips.
Back inside, Aurora did precisely as she had promised. She sat in a chair, leaning against a wall five feet away from me. She’d cut her sight between me and the shifters still present after the meeting, having their own conversations.
Phelan angled himself, studying the vamp behind me, and gave a low whistle. “I’ve seen you get yourself into some shit through the years, old friend, but this takes the lead.”
“You listen to a word I just said, Phel?” I snapped my fingers in his face.
“Yeah, yeah. We need to tighten the eastern perimeter, assign more gatherers, and something about a building needing re-painted.” Phel extended his thumb claw and plucked it against his front teeth.
“This building. The one we’re in. It looks like shit. If there’s gonna be one building in our area of the Falls that looks presentable, it should be this one.”
Phelan’s lingering looks at Aurora made my hackles rise. A growl bubbled in my stomach, but I silenced it before it threatened to cause trouble.
“At least she’s not bad to look at, huh?” Phelan flashed me a serpent’s grin.
He knew that would agitate me. I shoved my open hand into his shoulder for it. “Grab your bike. I’m meetin’ with the pack leaders about her. Could use some backup.”
Phelan groaned but stood, rummaging through his pockets for his keys. “Pack leaders too, huh? You really don’t want one split hair on her head.”
Snarling, I blocked his view of Aurora. “Alright, out with it. You got something to say, say it, Phelan. None of this dancin’ around it bullshit.”
“Hark, you’ve got a thing for her. I can smell it on you from a mile away.” He held his hands up defensively. “No judgment here. I won’t tell a soul because it’s good to see you getting out there again. Especially after the whole mess with, well, you know.”
I shook my head at my right-hand wolf. “You’re an asshole. Let’s go.” I motioned for Aurora to follow us.
“Don’t be late for the pack run tomorrow night, alpha,” a female wolf named Coral shouted as we marched for the exit.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” I yelled back.
“Pack run?” Aurora asked. Her eyes visibly brightened as if she already knew what it was, but asked about it anyway.
Phelan rubbed his hands together. “Every full moon we shift and run through the woods until our lungs are burning and our paws are sore.”
Aurora slowly nodded, the light fading from her eyes. “Sounds fun.”
“You’ll get to see it,” I added, hoping to cure her disappointment. “Reckon I can’t abandon you at my place while I go sprintin’ through the forest, can I?”
There was that subtle smile again. I yearned to see it at its full potential.
We mounted our bikes and headed to the bar at Plena Falls’ center, Rusty Claw.
Many shifters frequented it. I tried to avoid it as much as possible.
It was, however, the spot they decided upon whenever a pack leader called for a meeting.
When we entered, I counted seven shifters, minus the three leaders.
Two at the pool table, two at the bar, and three at a table.
Their gazes moved to us, centering solely on the vampire behind me.
I growled at them, deep and commanding, as a wordless cue that they had to go through me to get to her.
I wasn’t their alpha, but knowing who I was, they’d be foolish to overpower me.
The three leaders sat in a booth, arching their brows at us as we approached.
“I’ll be at the bar,” Aurora said, tugging on my shirt sleeve. She sauntered toward it, her ass seeming to sway more intently as she took a seat on the end.
“I’ll be damned,” Gabriel, the panther pack leader, said, his dark eyes drifting with Aurora as she moved. “When you called for a meeting, Harkin, I sure as hells didn’t think it’d be about some vamp.” He circled a finger around the rim of his glass.
“I’ve alpha-bound myself to her.”
Luke, another wolf pack leader, hunched over the table with wide gray eyes. “What danger could she possibly face?”
“Don’t know yet, but I needed to bring her here till we can sort that out. I reckon y’all can guess what I’m going to ask of you.” Slipping off my hat, I rested it on the table between us.
Damian, the falcon shifter leader, smoked a cigarette. He had an arm stretched out on the booth top and shook his head. “Afraid the packs will make her a plaything?”
My hand balled into a fist, that defensive growl vibrating again. The pack leaders did not overlook it.
“She isn’t to be touched. Aurora hasn’t given one reason she’s a threat since she entered the Falls.” I elbowed Phelan in the ribs. A hockey game playing on one of the TVs had him distracted.
Phelan coughed. “That’s right. She didn’t even attack when one of our wolves got a little feisty.”
“It must be something pretty damn dangerous if the alpha bind still thinks there’s a worthy enough threat out there against a vampire.” Gabriel tilted his head to one side, his midnight-black hair falling into his eyes.
I watched Aurora for a beat. She’d ordered a whiskey, clinging to the glass more than drinking it.
The vamp wasn’t afraid, but her rigid posture, as if on the defensive, spoke volumes.
I turned my attention back to the leaders.
“That’s why this is important that y’all agree to it.
Once she’s safe, I’ll take her on back to the Cove. ”
“What do you say, gentlemen?” Phelan chimed in with a wide grin.
The smile dropped when I threw him a sidelong glare.
“What the fuck?” Aurora yelled. “Did you just lick me?”
Pushing to my feet, I pointed at the leaders. “Tell me I got your word.”
“Yes,” Gabriel said, followed by Luke. Damian gave an unenthusiastic, slow nod of his head.
Satisfied, I stormed from the table to reach Aurora. The claws sprang out, and my canines sharpened.