Brink Of Passion (Alpine Woods Shifters)

by Sondrae Bennett

  Laurie shrugged, looking around the dining room as if searching for something. Anything to avoid his gaze. Maybe he’d think she’d just shacked up with someone last night. Would that be better or worse? She wasn’t sure how she felt about him thinking that it had been a casual one-night thing. That a shower would turn her back to normal, even though nothing so simple would fix this. Max’s scent was now permanently mixed with hers. Her cup wobbled as she set it down, the multiple clinks of the dishes betraying her anxiety.

  She knew she’d have to face Danny and the rest of her family eventually. She just needed a little more time to sort things out on her own first. Everything was moving too fast, and last night had gone differently than she’d expected. Mating hadn’t been on the agenda. Laurie had never been one to analyze something to death before jumping in, either. So if she thought things were going too fast, they were going way too fast.

  “Laurie.” A strong hand gripped her chin and pulled her gaze to his. “What’s going on?”

  If she’d seen anger or frustration in his eyes, she might have retorted with some snide remark, but she was powerless against the concern she saw. Concern for her.

  “I met my mate last night.”

  Danny didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then he pushed her hair behind her ear and lowered the neck of her shirt until the mating mark was revealed. Laurie looked away, unable, or maybe unwilling, to see his expression. He’d already been so disappointed in her yesterday. She’d slipped up in the lobby with Dominic, and then they’d had that awful fight. She couldn’t bear for him to question her judgment any more than he already had. She was condemning herself enough for the both of them.

  “Ahh,” he cleared his throat, “I see. You didn’t want to wait and get to know him first?” There was no accusation in his tone. She almost wished there had been. The worry she heard made her eyes burn with tears she desperately tried to hold back.

  “It’s not like I had a choice.” She pulled out of his grip, and started to scoot her chair away from the table, but Danny grabbed her elbow, his grip painful in its intensity.

  “He forced you?”

  She lifted her gaze in time to see murderous fury encase her brother. Uh oh. This wasn’t good.

  “Not exactly.”

  Danny’s nostrils flared.

  “I mean, it wasn’t like that.”

  “Where is he?” The words were guttural.

  Panic, completely different than before, gripped Laurie. She’d only seen that look on her brother’s face once before, when rogue shifters had attacked his mate. If she hadn’t stopped him then, she had no doubts he would have killed the offenders. Danny was on the verge of something drastic, and she had to stop him. Not only would her family never forgive her if Danny was arrested for murder, but she had a feeling a fight between Max and Danny would end badly for both of them. Without a doubt bad for her.

  “Danny.” She framed his face with her hands, used her strength when he tried to pull away, and stared into his eyes. “Do you really think I would let a guy live if he forced himself on me? I would castrate him. And then the real torture would begin.” She waited as the truth of her words seeped in. Until she could see belief in his eyes. The anger remained, but reason was returning. Thank God. She needed to be breaking up a fight between her brother and her mate this morning like she needed a crowbar to her kneecap. And she had no desire to take a tour of a Tucson hospital. Danny lowered into a chair across from her.

  “Then why did you say you didn’t have a choice?” Yup, definitely still angry. But at least he no longer had that killing rage aura.

  “Let’s just say, I wasn’t expecting things to go so far.”

  Danny studied her as she took a long swig of coffee. Keeping cool was harder than she’d thought.

  “You’re in my seat,” a voice growled behind her. Laurie cringed at her mate’s angry tone. Could he have chosen a worse moment to appear? Beyond that, was politeness so hard for him to manage? “I’d suggest you’d leave my woman alone unless you want me to mess up that pretty face. She’s taken.”

  She was going to kill him.

  Silence descended in the restaurant. She didn’t need to look around to know everyone was looking their way. Again. The only sound around them was the slight scrape of chairs against the carpet as diners turned in their direction. Another scene to embarrass her pack. At least this time it was not her fault. She refused to take the blame for this incident. How could she have possibly foreseen this situation? She turned to glare at the person she did blame.

  “You sure you don’t want me to kill him?” Danny asked. “We can always find you a new mate.” Laurie might have worried, but despite his words, the anger had dissipated in his tone.

  “Go grab a plate and let me think on that for a bit.”

  Max, who’d been glaring at her brother until now, turned and scowled at her, but she could tell he wasn’t really upset.

  Laurie frowned, examining his features. From the corner of her eye, she saw Danny move toward the buffet, but her focus remained on Max. How could she tell he wasn’t truly upset? They barely knew each other. Had only met last night. And by expression alone, he appeared upset. So why did she suspect he wasn’t as upset as he appeared? No, that was wrong. She didn’t suspect anything, she knew.

  “What has you so confused, baby?”

  Her frown deepened. “Eww, don’t call me baby.”

  Distracted by the condescending endearment, she realized the anxiety crushing her all morning had lessened as well. Not quite vanished, but as soon as she heard his voice, something inside of her had settled. He smelled of sandalwood and soap, and the scent made her wolf want to wag her tail in pleasure. Traitorous bitch.

  “Then what should I call you?”

  She ignored him, pondering his first question. “How did you know I was confused?” There could have been any number of reasons she’d been frowning. Not least of which being how rude he’d been to her brother. How had he pegged her as confused?

  “I can tell,” he said, snatching a sausage link off her plate and taking a bite.

  She slapped his hand. “Mine. You get your own.” She took the sausage back and shoved the whole thing in her mouth. Eating or drinking from someone else’s meal had never bothered her, and after last night, she was even less concerned about sharing with him. But she could be territorial about her food.

  “Stingy,” he complained with a mock frown.

  “When it comes to breakfast, you bet.” After all, it was the most important meal of the day. Everyone who knew her knew not to mess with her in the morning until she’d eaten. “How can you tell?”

  “Well you slapped my hand when I tried to take one measly little sausage link. That kind of tipped me off.” He reached for her coffee, which so wasn’t going to happen.

  Laurie scooted the cup farther away from his hand.

  “See, stingy.”

  “No, not about that. How could you tell I was confused?” she asked again. Her wolf relaxed inside her, but something about this situation made Laurie clench her teeth.

  “The mate bond. The same way you know that I don’t really want your breakfast, but like seeing you get all grumpy when I try to steal it. If you really thought I was after your food, I suspect I’d be missing a digit.”

  “More like a limb,” Danny interjected, pulling a chair from the adjacent table to theirs with the hand not holding a plate full of food.

  “I thought I told you to get lost.”

  “Did you know they ran out of bacon?” Danny asked, ignoring Max entirely.

  “These people clearly have no idea how to handle a hotel full of shifters. They ran out before I came down, which was over an hour ago.”

  Danny had gone for the sliced ham instead of the sausage Laurie had chosen.

  “Sliced ham, sausage, bacon, what’s the difference?” Max asked, staring at their two plates.

  “Oh, here we go.” Danny lowered his fork, and covered his face w
ith his hand.

  Laurie just stared at Max. Did he really just compare ham to bacon? Yes, they came from the same animal, but that didn’t mean they were the same thing.

  “What are you still doing here? Find another woman. I told you, this one’s taken,” Max grumbled, glaring at Danny’s direction.

  “What’s…the…difference?” Laurie asked, ignoring his rudeness for more important concerns. How could he ask that? Bacon was the best food in the world. She’d even seen an invention on Shark Tank for a bacon alarm clock that cooked bacon so the owner could wake up to the smell of bacon. The Wake’n Bacon. Okay, so they hadn’t gotten any money, but that was only because of the whole fire hazard liability thing. As an invention, it had been brilliant. “Bacon is the greatest food that was ever invented. Everyone loves bacon.” At least, she’d always believed so.

  “I’m pretty sure bacon wasn’t invented. Besides, it’s just another breakfast food. There’s meat here.” Max turned his head left and right, gazing at other diners’ plates, before returning to her with a shrug.

  “Blaspheme.”

  Max laughed. “Blaspheme? About bacon?”

  “I think you need to leave.”

  She was kidding. Really. Had said it in jest.

  So when he stood, frowned in her direction, and walked out of the room, she was not just surprised, but upset. And she would have told him to stay, had opened her mouth to do just that, if he hadn’t moved so damn fast.

  As soon as he left, regret surged through her.

  “Way to chase away your mate,” Danny said, digging into his eggs.

  “Shut up.”

  Could he not pretend to be sympathetic? Or at least not rub her face in the fact she’d chased her mate away. Not like he’d been a perfect Romeo when he’d met his mate. All her brothers had screwed up in one way or another.

  Her wolf pulled at the bonds containing it which allowed her to be human. Begged her to chase after him. To bring him back. But Laurie chased after no man. When she saw him later, she’d apologize.

  If she saw him later.

  A surge of panic hit her in the gut. Her wolf howled, and Laurie bit her lip to keep the sound from escaping. The man had tracked her to the dining room. Of course she’d see him later. Besides, the convention started today. He wasn’t going to come all the way here and leave before the whole thing started. She knew where he was staying. Was sure she could pick out his room again. He couldn’t hide for long.

  Laurie picked up a sausage link, but frowned at it. Suddenly, she wasn’t as interested in food as she had been moments ago. Crap. She dropped the food back on her plate.

  Who would’ve thought they would have their first argument over bacon, of all things. Bacon was great. She loved it. But she wasn’t delusional. She knew it was just a breakfast food. Between the lobby yesterday and the bacon today, one thing was for sure. She was not on her A-game this weekend. Hell, even she’d recommend her foot start looking for real estate in her mouth if it was going to live there anyway.

  A Styrofoam take-out container landed in the middle of the table, jarring her out of her thoughts. She tilted her head up and looked up at Max standing behind her. He didn’t say anything, but raised his eyebrows and nodded at the container.

  Thank God she hadn’t scared him away permanently. Laurie could be brash at times, and sarcastic. Okay, she could be a real pain in the ass. But if he wanted to be her mate, he had to learn when she was kidding and could be poked back, and when to stay out of her way.

  She was reaching for the container when the smell hit her. Amazing it had taken so long. Usually, her nose would have picked it up the moment it entered the room. Maybe her thoughts had been in too great a turmoil, or maybe her brain had been unable to process the kitchen’s lack of bacon with the smell of it. Her gaze jumped to Max, before turning back and grabbing the container.

  There wasn’t just some bacon, or a serving of bacon. Inside, there was a whole heap of it.

  Laurie grabbed a piece and bit in, groaning as the fried meaty goodness exploded on her taste buds.

  “How?” she asked, reaching for a second piece. The cheetah at the next table eyed the container with interest. Laurie pulled it into her chest and growled at the man in warning.

  “There’s a diner a few doors down. I called it in on my way, and they had it ready by the time I got there.”

  “You got me bacon.” Laurie closed her eyes, savoring her fourth piece. So much better than flowers. She sensed Max move and heard his chair scrape against the floor as he sat back down.

  He’d brought her bacon. Not because she asked him to, or because she was being sweet. Truth be told, she’d been a right bitch. Mornings were never her best time of day, despite her job requiring an early start.

  Laurie opened her eyes and met Max’s gaze, trying to channel all of her appreciation into that one look.

  “It seemed the best way to end the argument before it started,” he said, sounding embarrassed. “No need to use your eyes, it’s already yours.”

  “Use my eyes?” What did that mean?

  “Nevermind. Just eat your bacon while I go grab something to eat.” Max walked to the buffet and began piling his plate with food. His shirt stretched over his broad shoulders as he reached for a bagel. She couldn’t keep her eyes off him. Her gaze dipped to his butt. His pants clung to his hips and glutes before widening over his thigh and calves. He turned then, and she caught a glimpse of the bulge in his pants. Would it be bad if they missed a bit of the conference and went back to their hotel room for a quickie?

  “I take it back. That one is a keeper,” Danny said next to her.

  “I think he just might be.”

  “He got you bacon when there was none.”

  “He did indeed.”

  “You going to share?”

  Laurie grabbed the box and brought it close to her body, snarling in her brother’s direction.

  “Oh, come on. You can’t possibly eat all that by yourself.”

  Laurie looked down at the large pile of bacon. She totally could eat all of this by herself. But she had already eaten two rather large helpings at the buffet.

  She looked back at her brother. Part of her, the petty part, was still angry about the day before. Most of the time, she tried not to listen to that part of her, even though sometimes it was too loud to drown out with reason.

  “Fine. But you have to thank Max when he gets back.”

  Danny, who’d been reaching for a piece, pulled his hand back.

  “I thought you said he was a keeper?”

  “No use letting him get too comfortable yet. There’s still the little matter of forcing you into a mating.” A growl rumbled from his throat.

  Laurie groaned, bending forward until her head clunked on the table. When she’d agreed to come along this weekend, albeit reluctantly, she hadn’t anticipated being such a hot mess. She never claimed to have a silver tongue, but she didn’t think her mouth would get her into this much trouble. Her tongue was like the bad kid at school that kept landing Laurie in detention.

  “I told you, he didn’t force me. You misunderstood.”

  “Then help me understand, because just thinking about it makes me mad.”

  Laurie looked up and caught a flash of Danny’s wolf enter his eyes.

  “I thought you were mad at me.” The words slipped out before she could stop it, drawn from the hurt she still carried from the day before.

  Danny tilted his head, considering her. Laurie drove the emotion from her expression, but knew she’d only been partially successful when Danny’s gaze softened.

  “No matter how mad I am, you’re still my sister. I love you. You can always count on me.” Danny sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Besides, you didn’t deserve that last night. I’m just wound up being apart from Amber.”

  Laurie considered his words. She’d known the first part, even if fighting with her family always left her feeling a little vulnerable. She c
onsidered herself a strong and independent woman, someone who could hold her own in any situation. But with someone she truly cared about, she tended to shut down in an argument.

  “I might have been a little bratty,” she finally admitted. If he could man up and admit fault, she supposed she could too.

  “A little?” He cocked an eyebrow at her, then huffed out a breath. “So you deserved some of it, but not all. I should never have said I couldn’t count on you. I know that if I ever needed you, no matter the circumstance, you’d come. And that works both ways.”

  Laurie smiled and offered the container of bacon to Danny. He returned her smile and reached for a piece. Being back on familiar ground with him mollified some of the anxiety she felt. If, for whatever reason, things didn’t work out with her mating, at least she had a whole handful of people who loved and respected her to help her get back on her feet.

  “You’re still here?” Max jeered to Danny as he returned with two plates piled high with eggs, pancakes dripping with syrup, and sausage of his own.

  “Be nice to my brother or we’re going to have issues,” Laurie retorted.

  “Brother?” In an instant, his whole demeanor changed. He set down his plate and held a hand out to Danny. “I’m Max. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Danny reached out and grabbed his hand, but didn’t shake it. Instead, he held on and stared into Max’s eyes.

  “Laurie has three alpha brothers, a dominant brother-in-law, and a father who all love her. If you hurt her, in any way, you will have to deal with us.”

  Max frowned, but nodded his head in understanding. The whole thing should have made Laurie mad—did Danny forget that Laurie herself was an alpha wolf and could fight her own battles? Instead she felt warmth spread through her. Who didn’t appreciate affirmation that they were loved every now and then?

  Still…

  “Are we done with our pointless manly chest poundings?” No point letting them get away with it. Men would get such big heads if the women around them weren’t careful.

  “Really? You’re giving me a hard time about this?”

  Laurie turned toward Danny with a frown. Both eyebrows were raised until they disappeared under his hairline, and a small smile curled his lips. She ran her words back through her head but found nothing abnormal or offensive.