There’d be more time for this sort of thing later.
~~ * ~~
“Don’t be nervous,” Jackson told me with amusement as we got out of the car. “It’s just dinner.”
I snorted. “I’m not nervous about meeting with the Alliance,” I said, my voice as scathing as I could make it.
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m serious. I could care less about meeting these two. I’m more concerned about leaving Eddie with Trina.” Holly and Dan had wanted to go on their pack run tonight, their skin itching with the need to let their wolves out, and I’d consented only because Trina had volunteered to watch the baby. I loved Trina, but she was absent-minded at best - being thirteen and easily distracted by texting - and I wasn’t sure about leaving a crawling, gurgling, into-everything baby who still couldn’t quite transform into wolf form in her hands. Any eight-month-old was a handful. A werewolf baby? Double the handful.
But Trina had looked at me with such big, pleading eyes and the others had been so quick to agree that I’d caved.
And now I was going to dinner…with the Alliance. Ugh. And I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t.
I’d even worn jeans and a t-shirt just to prove how not-seriously I was taking this. But seeing cute, adorably soft human Bathsheba again? Kind of made me a little anxious, especially since my face looked like a punching bag.
It had been almost a day since I’d last seen Roscoe and true to my wolf nature, my face was healing faster than a normal human’s would. My eye wasn’t swollen anymore; now it was just ringed with a dark blue bruise, ringed with green. There were healing cuts on my cheeks, and another equally vivid bruise on my throat.
Went well with my dark hair, I figured.
We headed into the restaurant, and Jackson’s hand automatically went around my waist, drawing me close to him. Like we were a couple. It startled me at first, and when he flashed a smile my way, I relaxed. Something about Jackson being a little possessive of me felt good, even when I looked like hell.
The small mom and pop diner wasn’t crowded. I figured it had something to do with the fact that it was the middle of the week, later at night, and the Little Paradise Cafe wasn’t exactly a hotspot to begin with. But it was close, and local, and ran by a family of were-badgers. They weren’t great with service, being a rather surly breed, but Jackson wanted to support local shifter businesses, and apparently so did Beau and Bathsheba.
I smelled Bathsheba’s scent as soon as we walked in - human female, covered by the thick scent of a feline. I wrinkled my nose, the wolf in me not a fan of cat smells. Jackson pinched my side, reminding me to be diplomatic, and I pretended to rub my nose, as if warding off a sneeze.
They were seated at a back table, Bathsheba with her long, smooth pale ponytail and demure cardigan set, seated next to a larger man with big shoulders, short, immaculately groomed hair and a pressed shirt with an open collar. They looked like any nice, white collar couple, and it was obvious from the way his hand rested on the back of her chair that they were together. The mate mark on her neck was stark, and she leaned in close to him absently while he whispered something in her ear.
I felt an envious pang at the sight of their coziness. It seemed unfair for a human to have it so very easy when it came to mating. Just show up somewhere and be attracted to someone and boom, magic would happen. Nothing like the schemes and pack machinations of werewolves.
Still, pack machinations had brought me Jackson, so I couldn’t be entirely ungrateful. I stole a look at the sexy man at my side and felt a bit of possessive pride of my own.
Bathsheba looked up as we approached the table…and paled. Her gaze went to my face. “Alice?”
Oh no. I didn’t want to get the tenth degree from her. I smiled tightly and thumped into my seat. “Hiya. How’s it going?”
“Great,” she said in a slow voice, putting her menu down. Her wide-eyed gaze flicked from my face and then to Jackson’s as he sat across from her husband. “I want you both to meet my husband, Beau Russell. He’s the head of the Alliance.”
Beau offered his hand across the table to Jackson, and then to me, and we shook. His manner seemed brusque and cool. Not exactly the reception I’d been expecting from someone that wanted to court wolf packs into their little club. “Nice to meet you both,” Beau said, tone clipped. “How are things going?”
“As well as can be expected,” I said lightly. “A few kinks here and there to be worked out.”
“Kinks,” Bathsheba repeated, blinking her eyes rapidly. She looked over at Beau. “I see.”
“Typical wolf pack dominance issues,” Jackson said, glancing over at me affectionately. He reached out and caressed my cheek. “Give us another week and we’ll be right as rain.”
I blushed at his affectionate gesture.
To my surprise, Bathsheba threw down her napkin and gave her husband a significant look. “I need to use the little girl’s room. Alice, do you want to come with me?”
Uh, why would I want to come with her?
I started to shake my head, but she stood there, waiting. Jackson gave my elbow a nudge. “I…guess so?”
I followed her through the restaurant into the bathroom, noticing that as she walked, her back was as stiff as could be. Something was up.
As soon as the bathroom door shut behind me, Bath moved to the door and leaned against it, effectively blocking the way for anyone else to enter.
“Er…everything okay?” I gave her an odd look. Were all humans this weird?
“Alice, I am so, so sorry,” she told me, her voice a breathless rush. “I didn’t know he was going to be like that. If I would have known, I would have never let him set up a profile.”
“Huh?” She didn’t approve of Jackson? I thought back to the handshake, the way he affectionately touched my face. What had Jackson done wrong?
“If you want to escape him, I swear we’ll help you,” she told me. “You don’t have to be afraid of him. We’re here to help you.”
Afraid…of Jackson? I stared at her a moment longer…and then realized she thought he’d beaten me up. Typical wolf pack dominance issues, indeed. I laughed, realizing that she’d mistaken everything. “Jackson didn’t do this to my face.”
She looked skeptical. “You’re not defending him, are you? You don’t have to. I realize wolves have their own system, but the Alliance is set up specifically to help those in need—“
I waved a hand idly. “Jackson saved me from the guy that did this to me. The guy that did this is why I needed a new alpha so bad. He’s determined to take over my pack. Jackson being here stopped him.”
The dubious look on her face remained. “You’re…sure? My sister had issues with wolf packs recently and I know a lot of them are not…” she hesitated, clearly trying to figure out the right words without offending me. “A lot of them have their own set of rules that they play by.”
Yeah, I could guess. “Jackson’s perfect,” I assured her. “You don’t have to worry.”
“If you’re sure…”
“I am.”
Relief made her shoulders sag, and she put a hand to her brow. “Oh, thank god. I thought I’d somehow hooked you up with a monster.” Panic crossed her face. “We’d better get back to the table before Beau attacks him.”
Aw, that was cute. She thought her were-kitty could beat up on my alpha mate. My lips twitched. “All right.”
We returned to the table a moment later to find the men engaged in a stare-down.
“Everything’s okay,” she blurted as we moved back to the table.
Both men turned and looked at me.
“This,” I said, waving a hand at my face and neck, “was not Jackson, but another alpha that thought he could come in and take over. I promise you that Jackson’s harmless.”
“Harmless?” Jackson cocked an eyebrow at me, a grin playing on his face. “You’re determined to ruin my street cred, aren’t you?”
I sat down, patting his knee. “You’re a plumber. You have no street cred.”
He snorted and his hand moved to the back of my chair, pulling me closer automatically.
Beau and Bathsheba exchanged another meaningful look, and Bath sat down again, still looking utterly deflated with relief. “Sorry if we had a moment of panic,” she explained. “My sister’s werewolf and, well, we recently had a not-so-great run in with another pack. You’ll forgive us if we jump to conclusions.”
“Easy enough to do,” Jackson said mildly. “Your sister’s Sara, right? She’s with the big were-bear guy? I did a job for them a few weeks ago.”
“That’s her,” Bathsheba said, brightening. “You know them?”
He nodded. “She’s a sweet little thing.”
I scowled, feeling an edge of possessiveness. My hand went to his thigh and I dug my nails in. “Is she, now?”
Jackson looked over at me and wiggled his eyebrows. “Don’t you worry none, Alice. I like my girls with a bit of attitude.”
“Good,” I snapped. “Because you’re mine.”
“Am I?” The hint of pleasure in his voice made it sound like foreplay.
I blushed, and stole a look over at Beau and Bathsheba.
“Well,” Bathsheba said, and her voice had a prim tone to it that made her husband grin. “Now that I know you’re not a monster, how about we talk about what it would take to get the Savage-Wilder pack to join the Alliance?”
Chapter Ten
Two hours and one dinner later, I wasn’t convinced. Beau preached unity and working together to make life better for all shifters, but I was a skeptic. Why did a wolf pack need an Alliance? We were our own island. We banded together because we had each other. We looked out for each other. Between Jackson and I, there was nothing that our pack would need that we couldn’t provide.