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I had flipped to the next page in the file. Thomas Elliott was the alpha at the Staffordshire pack, and he was unmated and unwed. I studied his photo objectively: he was handsome enough, with a full head of unruly jet-black hair and a square jaw. Only a nose that had been broken too many times marred his appearance. It was rare to see such an injury on a shifter because our shift healed our injuries. I frowned. He must have gotten the injury as a kid before he could shift.
Thomas Elliott was our host, so I wouldn’t be able to spurn his attentions lightly if he offered them. My stomach churned with nerves and I tightened my hold on Greg’s hand. He raised our joined hands and kissed my fingers. ‘It’ll be okay, Peaches.’
I nodded but I didn’t have it in me to lie out loud. We were so damned far from okay. The walls were closing in on me. Greg had been right: with this suitor business, I’d invited all sorts of attention I didn’t want.
I looked out of the window as we rolled up to Fellworth House. To call it a house was an understatement – it was definitely a mansion, and it made mine look like a cottage. If Elliott had to pay for it, I could see his and Aitken’s motivations for getting into the black tourneys. Maybe money was tight and, as Elliott’s beta, Aitken was trying to bring more of it into the pack. Not that it excused such behaviour in the slightest, but I knew what it cost to run and maintain my mansion.
I looked around the grounds as we drove up to the mansion. In the distance was a small wooden shack, so dilapidated that it even had a tree growing out of its roof. The building was rundown but something else about it sent a chill down my spine, and not in a good way. There was darkness there.
There, I said to Esme, directing her attention to the ramshackle building.
Yes, she agreed. That is the source of the wrongness. Something feels … disconnected.
It looked like I’d be slinking off at the first opportunity to investigate a small, creepy, wooden shack. And that always went so well for the heroine in horror movies.
Chapter 24
The car rolled to a stop. ‘We’re here,’ Archie announced unnecessarily.
‘Thank you,’ I said quietly. ‘Thank you all for coming here with me. I know it’ll be awkward at times but remember to try and flirt with me a bit. Greg promises not to batter you for it.’
Greg snorted. ‘I promise no such thing, though I promise that retribution will be light and swift, and it won’t take place here.’
I sighed; I was doing a lot of that these days. ‘Greg! We need them to flirt with me.’
‘And they can, but there’s a line. If they cross it, I’ll let them know.’ He smiled at the occupants of the car but there was nothing friendly in it.
‘We’re going to get pounded,’ Archie complained to Liam. ‘My poor pretty face.’ His whine broke the tension and we all snickered a little.
‘Come on,’ I said. ‘We’d better face the music.’
‘I’ve always been a fan of silence myself,’ David muttered, looking dubiously at the huge mansion. He slid out, walked around the car to my side and held the door ajar for me.
‘Thank you.’ I climbed out and touched his wrist, offering him a small, intimate smile. I had to think flirty.
David blushed. ‘Oh boy,’ he murmured.
A small laugh slipped out of me: bless David. The others decamped and surrounded me, Greg and David to my left, Liam and Archie to my right. In front of us were Elliott’s battle thirteen, including the man himself and Aitken. It was notable that there wasn’t a single female amongst them.
‘My Queen,’ Thomas Elliott announced loudly. ‘The Staffordshire Pack is honoured to host you and your prospective mates.’
Tell him you are grateful but that the long journey has wearied you, and you would like to run on his lands.
I parroted Esme’s words aloud.
‘Of course. For the duration of the stay, my lands are your lands,’ Elliott said, a shade pompously. ‘By all means explore the grounds to your heart's content.’ He gestured to the land behind me then stood, waiting for me to shift.
Now? I asked Esme, a shade hysterically. I didn’t want to strip in front of thirteen strange men.
Now, she agreed. She didn’t understand my reluctance. She needed to run; her paws longed for the dirt beneath them and blood in her maw. For fuck’s sake. I stripped as quickly and unselfconsciously as I could.
‘I have arranged food for you and your suitors. You can join them for a meal after you have run,’ Elliott said smoothly when I was naked, though I credited him for not once letting his eyes move from my face. ‘In the meantime, I will show your suitors to your private dining area.’
The men couldn’t refuse his hospitality without causing grave insult. I saw Greg’s jaw working; the last thing he wanted was to leave me to run alone.
Esme was unconcerned; the urge to run was too high. Let’s go, she said impatiently.
I shifted in a blink and turned to run. Esme’s joy was infectious and I let my worry slide away – after all, I still had Jacob guarding me from the skies. We pounded the earth, racing across the green and fertile land as the soft spring breeze cooled us. We reached the edge of the pack’s lands and scouted around them. When we were certain we were alone, we turned to the wooden shack of doom.
