He stopped dead, unnaturally still as he inhaled again.
I froze. Everything Max and I had done upstairs flashed through my mind.
Fucking hell.
I should’ve taken a second shower when Max did.
Xen’s low growl started out softly, building steadily into an angry roar as he spun round to face me. His hand shot out, clawed fingers wrapping around my throat so quickly I barely had time to suck in a breath before he cut off my airway.
“I warned you what would happen.” He didn’t raise his voice, didn’t show any sign of the rage I knew was bubbling inside him, and that made it all the more terrifying.
Max
Elliot was already seated when I arrived at Cassie’s.
“Hey.” I sat down opposite him, glancing around to see who was in our vicinity. Cassie’s was a mixed bar, patrons a mix of human and non-human. I’d spotted two shifters and a witch as I’d walked in. The shifters were from the Thoresby Park Pack, Myla’s pack. I didn’t recognise them, but I recognised their scent. We’d have to be careful what we said.
“Glad you could make it.” Elliot smiled at me, gaze flicking to the shifters at the table over to the right.
Ahh, okay.
I smiled back. “I was surprised to get your message. Pleasantly so,” I added in case anyone was listening.
“This is for you.” He slid a thin, brightly wrapped parcel across the table. “Open it later,” he said when I reached for it. “Somewhere private.” He winked, so I laughed, playing my part.
“Noted.”
I figured that was the sole reason he’d asked to meet me, but we couldn’t very well just get up and leave without looking a little suspicious. Definitely not now that we seemed to have caught the eye of the two shifters.
“Shall we order?” I reached for the menu and Elliot did the same.
Despite the burning curiosity to see what was in the parcel he’d handed me, lunch with Elliot was… nice. We chatted as we ate, Elliot filling me in on the recent goings on at the pack house. But the longer he spoke, the more I realised how out of touch I was. With everything happening with Rys’s pack recently, I hadn’t had much time for my own. Not like I should’ve done.
By the time I sat back, my plate empty, I’d started to feel incredibly fucking guilty.
Had I missed something major going on in my pack? My gaze swung to the parcel again.
“Let me know what you think,” Elliot said, nodding to it. “Don’t keep me waiting.” He smiled, but I didn’t miss the urgency in his voice.
Yeah, I needed to know what was in it. Glancing at my phone, I offered him what I hoped was an apologetic smile. “I hate to cut this short, but I really need to get back.”
Elliot paid the bill and stood when I did.
“Thanks for lunch,” I said, wondering what the etiquette was for ending a non-date.
I wonder what Jake did with Myla?
Nope, now was not the time to be thinking about that. Before it could get awkward, I pulled Elliot in for a hug. “I’ll ring you as soon as I get home,” I whispered, feeling him nod against me.
The parcel called to me all the way home, and it took all my restraint not to pull over and open it. But Elliot had said somewhere private, and out on the side of the road where anyone could drive by and stop probably wasn’t what he’d meant.
Besides, Jake would want to see what was inside, and it felt wrong to open it without him.
My blood ran cold as I pulled onto our road and saw the all-too-familiar car parked outside our house. “What the fuck is he doing here?” I mumbled, pulling onto the drive. Nothing good, that was for sure.
I couldn’t hear anything from inside, but then our soundproofing was pretty good.
Slipping the parcel under the passenger seat and out of sight, I got out and headed for the front door, trying not to let nerves get the better of me. He’d probably come to check how Jake’s date went.
