Page 32 of Tempest

Ore snorted.Understatement. “Oh, I’m not allowed out by myself. Cash is next door grabbing a drink, and then we’ll head back to his house.”

“Cash Grumpypants Lawson?” Robbie’s eyebrows shot up. “And you’re staying at hishouse?”

Cheeks heating, Ore nodded and smiled. “Yeah. He volunteered so I wouldn’t have to stay in the basement of the Alpha House.”

A huge grin spread across Robbie’s face. “You’re blushing!”

“Shh!” Ore slapped his hands to his face to try and cover the evidence. He hurried to the end of the shelf and glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention to them, and the older man who’d been on the other side of the store was now examining a display on a table near the front. His eyes were on the books, but there was a sneer on his face.

Stomach dropping, Ore ducked behind the shelf. He highly doubted the man was disgusted by the display that appeared to be featuring books written by authors from Kansas.

Robbie was watching him, smile fading. “Sorry.”

Ore shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I just don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea and think badly about Cash. He’s just helping out while I’m here.”

Did he raise his voice a smidge when he said that? Yes.

Did his stomach sour at the words? He wasn’t telling.

Robbie grabbed his arm and gave it a squeeze, his face sympathetic. When he stepped back, his voice was completely normal as he said, “Did you find anything good to read?”

Thankful, Ore grabbed the two books he’d been debating and showed them to him. They slowly made their way toward the front, talking books and authors. He got so caught up in the conversation and Robbie’s funny reactions to things he somehow missed the way one of the front table displays had the end of a stand sticking out over the edge.

One minute, they were walking along, debating the believability of alien races being biologically compatible with humans in sci-fi romances, and the next, he’d whacked his hip on the wooden corner, a sharp pain shooting through him as the large stand wobbled.

“Shit!” Robbie yelled, jumping forward to help and slamming into Ore.

He tried to regain his balance, arms windmilling, but with Robbie’s extra weight, he couldn’t get his feet firmly beneath him. In what felt like slow motion, he fell backward, Robbie’s violet eyes huge and about three inches from his face, and crashed into the unstable book display.

He grunted as his back hit the top of the table, his stomach swooping as it wobbled beneath them. Thank the goddess, it held. The wooden display stand?

Not as lucky.

Robbie pushed himself up, somehow kneeing Ore in the thigh in the process, and they both turned to stare in horror at the broken pieces of wood and strewn around books. Some of them looked fine, but others had landed under the stand or at odd angles. He saw at least three with torn dust jackets.

“Oh my goddess!” a female voice shouted. The woman from behind the counter hurried over to them, her eyes enormous behind her pink glasses. “Are you alright?”

“We’re so sorry, Ginny,” Robbie said quickly, dropping to his knees next to the mess.

“So very, very sorry,” Ore reiterated, a little slower getting up as his hip and back still ached. “I’m not sure what happened…”

He was, but he didn’t want to blame her display for the mishap. If he’d been paying attention to where he was going?—

“Fucking hind toe.” The snarled words were dripping with disdain. The older man from before was staring at Ore, his eyes glowing and lips curled back from his teeth.

The bookstore owner—Ginny—gasped at the slur, but Ore just stared at him in shock, nausea rolling through his stomach. Robbie, still on his knees as he sorted through the mess, jerked his head up to look back and forth between the shifters around him.

“What did you call him?”

Ginny held up her hand. “Do not repeat it, Billy. You need to get out. Right now.”

“You’re kicking me out?” Billy snarled, eyes still locked on Ore. “What about him? His kind isn’t welcome here! I don’t care who he’s fucking for special treatment. I’ll drag him out of our territory myself if I—mph!”

Ore jumped, eyes darting up to the looming Enforcer behind Billy. Cash’s hand firmly planted on his mouth, he dragged Billy back until he was pressed against his wide chest. His mouthlowered next to Billy’s ear, a low, dangerous rumble filling the air.

“What the fuck did you just say to him?”

Chapter 10