Page 146 of Dominion
“How many?”
“The pack is huge—a hundred fifty members. If only the men came, it would be eighty or ninety.”
He gritted his teeth. His pack would be no match for them. Ben’s could handle them, however. The question was, did he want this to be his return favor from the guy? He didn’t relish releasing that debt quite so soon and for something that wasn’t really his deal. But he wasn’t going to leave this woman unprotected, either.
“I’m going to take you back to my place until we figure out the best strategy. I might want to hide you up in Denver where there’s a bigger pack to protect you if there’s trouble.”
She shook her head. “Bigger pack means more wolves who might know… him. Or talk.”
“We’ll take that into consideration.” Irritation with the situation in general made his tone sharper than he meant.
In the rearview mirror, he saw her flinch and duck her head. “Sorry, Alpha.”
He blew out his breath in exasperation. He was trying to win her trust, not bully her into submission. “Forgiven,” he muttered.
He pulled up at his place and carried the boy inside, Colleen and Angie trailing behind.
Melissa met them at the door, brow furrowed with concern. She bustled around, offering food and beverage, and when they were refused, preparing a plate of pancakes, sliced apples, and a pile of strawberries, anyway. She dropped them on the coffee table with syrup, plates, and forks.
The kids immediately reached for the food, devouring everything in five minutes flat. Melissa picked it up and prepared a second plate, which she brought with glasses of orange juice.
He said little, working on finding a show on the television to occupy the kids so the adults could talk, watching Melissa with gratitude. Her cheery small talk filled the space, easing the tension and distracting the children.
Melissa noticedCody wore that vaguely concerned look he’d worn during the pack meeting, like too much rode on his shoulders and he wanted to get it all right.
“Let’s talk out on the back porch—the kids are fine in here,” he said.
She stood up, then hesitated, not sure if he meant her, too, or if he wanted privacy talking to Colleen.
He caught her indecision and nodded. “You can come, too.” To Colleen, he said, “She’s a friend of the pack and under our protection. She can be trusted.”
Colleen didn’t quite meet her eye, but mumbled, “She’s part wolf.”
“How did you know?” she asked in surprise.
The female shrugged. “I can just tell.”
Cody gave a vague smile. “Your wolf instincts are better than mine; I didn’t guess it right away.”
“I’ve had to use them for survival on a daily basis.”
They sat down on the back steps, since Cody didn’t own any patio furniture.
He rested his forearms on his knees, hands caged loosely between them. “So what’s your story?”
The woman didn’t seem taken aback by his bluntness. Maybe it was a shifter thing. Her brother-in-law was pretty direct, too. She remembered Ashley calling her the day she met him and likening him to Batman with his brooding, monosyllabic authority.
Colleen smoothed her blonde hair, fidgeting with the ends. She had blue-green eyes and a pretty, heart-shaped face. Melissa had originally pegged her as older because of the strain around her mouth and eyes, but now that she observed, the woman seemed too young to have children half-grown. She couldn’t be much older than Melissa.
“Our alpha wants us back. He’s my mate. Or at least, he thinks he is.” Something in the stony way she said the last sentence gave a glimpse of the steel that lay beneath that kicked dog vibe.
Melissa almost smiled.
“You left him.” Cody’s words sounded more like a statement than question.
Colleen nodded. “My sister helped us get away after he beat Jayden so badly he didn’t heal for school.”
She felt the blood drain from her face.