Brink Of Passion (Alpine Woods Shifters) (2 page)

“No.” His smile widened and a huff of a laugh escaped. “Well, yes.” Then he laughed for real, a deep bellow of sound that further settled her nerves. She wasn’t exactly sure what he found funny, but at least he seemed to have a sense of humor. “A group of rhinos is called a crash. Or a herd.”

“A crash?”

His protruding forehead wrinkled when he raised his eyebrows.

She sensed he wasn’t a person of many words. “That’s so cool. Why would you ever use
herd
if you could go by
crash
?” Laurie joked, smiling at the man.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Danny stiffen beside her. Great, had she stumbled into some other unknown shifter convention rule? Navigating this event was turning out to be trickier than a minefield.

“Hence the reason I said crash first,” the rhino joked back.

She smiled at him in gratitude.

“Hi, I’m Danny, officer of the Alpine Woods wolf pack in Colorado,” Danny interjected, holding his hand out to the man in front of her.

“Dominic.” The man took his hand and shook once. Concise and authoritative. She liked it. Similar to everything else about the rhino, the brief clasp shouted no-nonsense and power.

She was grateful he had been amused rather than offended by her innocent blunder. He was not a man she wanted as an enemy. Anyone with half a brain, including full humans, knew better than to cross a rhinoceros. Or a hippo, for that matter.

Wait, were there hippo shifters? She’d never heard of any, but that didn’t mean they didn’t exist. For years, she’d been more or less content to stay in Alpine Woods, so she hadn’t met a lot of other shifters besides those in the neighboring towns. Truthfully, if her brothers hadn’t pushed this event on her, she’d have been more than happy to stay in Alpine Woods forever.

She opened her mouth to ask about the possibility of hippo shifters when common sense prevailed. She looked around the room at the people still observing their group, rubber-necking as if they were a wreck on the highway.

Correction, as if
she
were a wreck on the highway. No doubt those that weren’t watching still had one ear tuned in to their conversation. Laurie had already screwed up once, and she wasn’t about the give these people more of a show. Not without charging a fee. At least she had a back-up plan if she ever needed quick cash.

“Your mate is quite amusing,” the rhino told Danny. Laurie looked around for Amber, Danny’s mate, wondering why she was here when she was supposed to be quitting her job in DC and moving her stuff to Alpine Woods. Then the meaning behind his words hit. Her? She made a face even as Danny rushed to correct the man.

“Sister.” He glanced over at her and Laurie focused back on the conversation. Something in his gaze turned Laurie’s stomach sour. What was it? Disappointment, maybe. Pity? Whatever she saw, she didn’t like it. “She means well, she just isn’t used to these types of events.”

Laurie tried—she really did—not to get offended by his patronizing tone, but she couldn’t help feeling smaller because of the words. She wasn’t a child. Or stupid. If he had such a low opinion of her, why was she even here?

“Unmated sister?” Dominic’s question pierced through her brain, scattering her annoyance at Danny and centering it squarely on the rhino.

“Excuse me?” she interjected. All well and fine if he wanted to hit on her, but he’d better ask her, not her brother. This wasn’t medieval times and she could make her own dates.

“I find you amusing. There’s not enough amusement in my life.” The rhino shrugged.

“Then get a Slinky. Hours of amusement.”

Beside her, Danny groaned and buried his head in his hands. His obvious distress dissipated some of her bravado.

Hadn’t she just decided smart people didn’t antagonize rhinoceroses? And yet, here she was doing just that. She’d always considered herself a smart person before, but maybe it was time to reconsider. Then the rhino laughed, and she once again thanked God the man had a sense of humor.

“I’ve had Slinkys before. But you… You’re unique, and much more amusing.”

Did that mean he wasn’t going to crush her with his massive rhino fist? Seemed so. But would he push her down the stairs just to watch her tumble? That was a different question. One she didn’t have the guts to ask.

“Your brother should have warned you. An unmated alpha female at these events is like a juicy steak in a tiger pit. Especially one as alluring as you.”

How was she supposed to stay mad after a comment like that? Laurie knew she was attractive, maybe not a beauty by traditional standards—her features were a bit too elongated for that—but she was comfortable in her own skin and with her own sensuality. She had her own style and it suited her. Still, a girl never got tired of hearing compliments. And as far as compliments went, alluring was a good one. Even the word itself sounded like a caress. In fact, it might be her new favorite word.
Alluring
.

“Now you’ve done it. Her head is going to be inflated all day.” The words didn’t bother her, but the harsh edge to Danny’s tone burst her bubble of happiness. Irritation with a hint of ruefulness.

Why was he being so mean to her? Her rocky start with his mate, Amber, crossed her mind. Could that have something to do with the way he’d been treating her? She really hoped not. The last thing she’d wanted to do when giving Amber a hard time was compromise her relationship with Danny, but she’d been worried about him and had wanted to protect him. He was her baby brother. And it wasn’t as if she didn’t have reason to distrust Amber when she’d first come to Alpine Woods. But now, she was afraid she might have done irreparable damage.

No. She shook off the gloomy thoughts. They were family, and family always pulled through in the end.

“Maybe we could grab a couple drinks.” It should have sounded like a question, but it didn’t. Dominic didn’t seem like the kind of man to ask questions unless he was certain to get the answer he wanted.

Laurie assessed him, no longer clouded by the annoyance she’d felt when he’d asked Danny about her as if she hadn’t been standing right next to him. He wasn’t an unattractive guy. A little rough around the edges, maybe, but it suited him. And she couldn’t help but wonder how he’d be in the sack. Judging by the sheer size of him, he was probably hung like a horse. Or rather, a rhino.

Even as the thought came to her mind, her interest waned. When she gazed at him and thought about sex with him, she felt only mild curiosity. No tingle of awareness, or fluttering in her stomach. And Laurie was the type of girl who needed at least a small spark pretty much right away. Besides, she was almost thirty and the only unmated sibling in her family—which didn’t seem like such a big deal except that she was one of five, and older than both Julie and Danny, who had mated in the past year.

Laurie was starting to feel a bit anxious about the whole situation. Frankly, if there were no sparks, it wasn’t worth her time trying to trigger them, despite her worry that sparks seemed to flare up less and less when she looked at attractive men. Picky wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. At twenty-nine, she doubted she was losing her sex drive. She just needed to give it the right motivation. And apparently Dominic wasn’t the food it craved.

“I would love to have a drink with you. As friends.” He seemed like a nice guy, and she couldn’t see how becoming friendly with another pack—err,
crash
—would be anything but beneficial to Alpine Woods. That was why they were here, right? But she also wanted to be clear. Friendship was all she had to offer.

Disappointment, quickly banked, flashed in his eyes. “Friends would be nice.”

*****

“I cannot believe that just happened,” Danny ranted as he pulled her along behind him, his grip on her elbow harder than normal.

Laurie didn’t understand why he was still so upset. Yes, she’d made a blunder, but out of that blunder, Alpine Woods met a potentially powerful new ally. Who messed with rhinoceroses? Besides her, that was. In her mind, the situation was a win, and wasn’t that what really mattered?

“Lighten up, Danny. Everything worked out. Brilliantly, I might add.”

He turned then, and the full force of his anger slammed into her. Danny used to be the calm, even-tempered brother, but ever since fighting for his own mate when a couple of rogue pack members attacked them, his emotions had been much closer to the surface. This side of her brother she barely knew, but backing down had never been in Laurie’s nature.

“What is your problem?” she demanded in a whisper, stepping closer so the shifters around her didn’t hear what appeared to be an unavoidable argument. She’d already made the mistake once today of forgetting how acute shifter hearing could be. She wasn’t about to make it again.

“Do you have any idea how bad that could have been?” He released her and closed his eyes. His lips moved, and she thought she saw numbers forming on them. Counting to ten, something he’d no doubt picked up from their sister’s mate, Brendan.

She understood she’d screwed up, and that the situation could have been bad. But it had turned out fine. So what was the problem? Still, she waited and watched as the tension slowly drained out of Danny. When he opened his eyes, he appeared defeated.

“Maybe you were right.”

Laurie breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he was seeing things her way and realizing his overreaction. No harm, no foul.

But then he continued, his words sharp enough to draw blood. “Bringing you was a bad idea. I thought… I just needed someone to watch my back, and with everyone else so busy…” He shook his head. “If this is the way you watch my back, maybe you should just go home.”

Laurie froze. Stunned. Poleaxed by his words. No, not the words alone, but the certainty behind them. Danny truly thought she couldn’t be trusted to watch his back? It felt as if he’d stabbed her in the chest. She looked down, half expecting a knife handle to be sticking out.

In shock, she stood there motionless as he turned and disappeared into the crowd. Did he really feel that way? How could he? Laurie would do
anything
for family. Absolutely anything. And Danny knew that, right? He had to. Yet, everything he’d done that day pointed to the opposite.

Things hadn’t been easy between them lately. They’d been tense ever since she’d given his mate, Amber, a hard time after sensing Danny had fallen for her—despite the fact that Laurie had a perfectly good reason for worrying about them being together. Amber had been an undercover FBI agent investigating some explosive protests near their town, and Danny had been tasked with making sure she didn’t learn about their pack, or shapeshifters. Laurie had only been hostile because she’d worried Danny had gotten too close to Amber. And, hello, mates now. That would be the definition of “getting too close.” Just because it worked out in the end didn’t mean she hadn’t been right to be cautious.

Even as she thought it, she realized the similarities in her current situation. Just because things worked out in the end… But she dispelled that line of thinking because, frankly, it made her uncomfortable. Besides, once she realized what Amber meant to Danny, Laurie had changed her tune. She’d never wanted to hurt him, and her hostility toward Amber would have if it had continued. But in the beginning, Laurie had a right to worry. Danny was her baby brother, and officer of the pack or not, that made protecting him
her
responsibility.

So to hear him say that he didn’t trust her to watch his back hurt Laurie on a level so deep she couldn’t begin to heal, cutting to the very heart of her and destroying it. Undermined the most basic foundation of who she believed herself to be.

She was an alpha wolf. Just because she wasn’t a leader of a pack, didn’t mean she was any less of a dominant alpha. That part of her affected everything she did. It was her duty to protect those she cared about. Her family. Her friends. And eventually, her mate and children. If her own brother didn’t think her capable of it, where had she gone wrong?

Laurie started forward, intent on chasing Danny down and demanding…what? Answers? An apology? Damn straight. Like where his doubt came from, and why he’d been treating her like an incompetent oaf all day. A second chance to prove she could do what needed to be done, too.

She’d give him a piece of her mind, alright, just as soon as she figured out which way he’d gone. All the different shifters crowding into the lobby were confusing her senses, and the crowd was too thick for her to see through. Did all the freaking packs in America have to be checking in at the exact same time?

Christ, forget the zoo, it was a circus in here. She stood on her toes, but still couldn’t see Danny. And it wasn’t as if she were short! At five nine, she towered over women in most situations, but among the shifters in town for the conference, she was average at best.

Disgusted with the whole situation, she lowered her heels to the floor. She didn’t even know where their room was, and Danny hadn’t seen fit to give her a key yet. What an embarrassing situation. Maybe she should take Dominic up on that drink. Anything to get the horrible taste of guilt and failure out of her mouth.

She spun around, determined to track at least one person down, and ran straight into the person walking behind her. The first thing she noted was the incredibly hard chest on the man as she put her hands out to steady herself.

She opened her mouth to apologize, breathed in, and froze. The scent of the man filled her lungs. Masculine. Dark. Enticing. Buzzing clogged her ears as everything around them disappeared. Her heartbeat quickened, the rhythmic pulse increasing until she felt it hammering against her temples. Her body went cold right before a strange heat flooded her from head to toe. Christ, she felt drunk as the man clouded all her senses.

But the joy of discovering her mate was overshadowed by the other truth her nose told her.

Cat.

“Oh, you have
got
to be kidding me.”

*****

Every muscle in Max’s body locked as he stared down at the woman he’d run into. His skin had been tingling ever since he’d walked past the hotel’s sliding automatic doors, but he had no idea the cause. Until now. One incidental brush of flesh and the tingles he’d felt had turned into a live wire setting every nerve ending on alert. Not a doubt in his mind that those early warning prickles had been caused by the woman in front of him.