Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 131137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
Before he lost control and kissed her, Nick released her throat and leaned back. “You need to go.”
Swallowing hard, she nodded. “Thanks for the ride. Bye, Bruce.” The dog merely looked at her blankly.
Once Shaya was inside the salon, Nick moved his gaze to the rearview mirror. Yep, the red Rolls-Royce was still a little distance behind Derren. The car had been following them for the past two minutes. Irritatingly, a white van was also following—the same white van that the human extremists used. Deeply suspecting that the Rolls-Royce was the Nazi’s car and that he had something to say, Nick drove away from the salon, not wanting him anywhere near Shaya. As he suspected, the Rolls-Royce followed him to the local park where Nick had yesterday taken Bruce. Similarly, so did the white van.
As Nick parked in the small, half-empty parking lot at the edge of the park, Derren’s SUV took the space on his left, and the Rolls-Royce took the space opposite Nick’s car. The van pulled up a few cars away from the Rolls-Royce. As Nick got a glimpse of the driver of the van, he noticed the familiar profile. Logan. Fucker.
Ignoring the two vehicles, Nick and Derren began walking along the narrow dirt path through the wooded area with Bruce at Nick’s side. A few minutes later, five wolf shifters came close enough to warrant a reaction—one of whom was the bald male shifter who had confronted Nick the day before. In response to the tension, Bruce growled at the strangers.
“I don’t think he likes me very much,” said an olive-skinned male with deep-brown eyes. If Nick hadn’t vaguely recognized him, he would have known it was the Nazi by the dominant alpha vibes emitting from him. “But that’s fine. Not many do.” He looked hard at Nick, attempting to stare him down, to intimidate him into lowering his gaze. Like that would ever happen. “You attacked four of my wolves yesterday.”
“They were irritating me,” said Nick dryly.
“That made me very unhappy.”
“As it’s your fault, you might want to take up that matter with yourself.”
He laughed. “My fault?”
“You ordered them to summon a wolf who is not only much more dominant than them, but an alpha. What did you expect would happen?”
The amusement fled from his expression and tone. “I expected you to be smart enough to speak to me.”
“I have no interest in you or your pack. But if it’s a brief conversation you want, we can have that now.”
“I suppose we should start by introducing ourselves. I’m Petrus Hadley.”
Nick could see that Hadley expected some sort of reaction, so he didn’t give him one. “Nick Axton.”
Hadley went into deep thought for a moment. “Nick Axton, Alpha of the Ryland Pack?”
“Previous Alpha of the Ryland Pack. I’m no longer Alpha or part of the pack.”
“You’ve joined another?”
“No.”
“A Pack Alpha’s turned lone wolf? I have to ask myself why an alpha as powerful as you would live without a pack. You’re too powerful for anyone to have forced you out, so you must have left of your own accord.” Hadley shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
“You don’t need to. It’s not your concern.”
Hadley stepped forward. “This is my turf. Therefore, any of your business—”
“Is mine and mine alone,” Nick firmly stated. His wolf growled his agreement.
A minute of complete silence passed. “There are only two things that make men do stupid things—women and greed. After spotting you with a redhead, I’m guessing that in your case, it’s a woman. I’m also guessing that while you’re here, you won’t involve yourself in pack business.” That was more of a pressing suggestion than a query.
“As I said, I’ve no interest in you and your pack.”
“Good. If things remain that way, you and I won’t have a problem. But if they don’t…What’s your redhead’s name, by the way?”
Son of a bitch. Nick stepped forward. “You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were threatening my mate. But I have to be mistaken, because if that was the case, I’d have to kill you—and I’m pretty sure you’d prefer to live.”
A smile spread across Hadley’s face. “She’s your mate? Well that explains everything. And now I feel so much better.” His expression turned grave as he continued. “That’s not all that I wanted to speak to you about. I’m sure you’ve heard the ‘drug lord’ rumor and how many of my wolves abruptly vanish.”
“Rumor? You’re saying it’s untrue?”
“Although you haven’t been in town long, you may have noticed that the human extremists here are somewhat eccentric. They started the drug lord rumor in an effort to blacken my reputation. It makes me the perfect suspect each time one of my wolves goes missing.”
Hearing the pain and anger in Hadley’s voice, Nick’s skepticism began to fizzle away. “You have nothing to do with their disappearances?”