Page 37 of The Alpha’s Heir

“This was the best thing I’ve eaten in Ethica so far,” she told him. “I’m sorry your restaurant got ruined.”

The officer still inside the building eyed me funnily, as if to say, “Can you believe this?”

The chef beamed under her praise and even boxed up dessert for her to go.

My adrenaline was still reeling from the chaos, and my hand sparked like a live wire when I touched the small of her back, intending to guide her outside to the alley where the vehicles were waiting.

But the warmth made me slow my steps.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked, needing to hear her voice. To make sure she was truly okay. She’d said shifters healed fast, but I knew words could wound deep.

“Never better.” She held up the cardboard box the chef gave her. “I have cake.”

The laughter that bubbled out of me felt foreign. Meg smiled as she glanced over her shoulder, and when our eyes met, I felt something I had no business feeling.

It’s the post-crisis come-down, I told myself as I released her and held open the door.

“What took you both so long?” Justus cried from the backseat as he held up his hand. “I needed medical attention.”

“It looks like you got some,” Meg said.

Justus frowned. “Did you stop and get food on the way?”

“No. The chef insisted I take dessert.” She put the box down beside her.

“Why would he do that?” Justus asked.

“Maybe because I was polite to him,” she snapped back. “Honestly, I didn’t realize humans were all so rude to the people working for them.”

It seemed the newly engaged couple was back at each other’s throats again. What had I thought would happen after I’d forced Justus to propose to her the correct way? That they’d fall in love and live happily ever after?

A strange feeling churned in my gut.

I slammed the door closed and used the half-second it took to get to the passenger side to release the breath I’d been holding. A drop of water hit my cheek, but I didn’t think anything of it as I hastily wiped it off.

“Roll out,” I told Sgt. Marcus as I buckled my seatbelt.

I could’ve closed the partition between us and the back seat of the armor-plated limo, but a sick part of me needed to hear them argue. To assure myself that Meg—and Justus, of course—were both okay.

She wasn’t planning on sharing her cake with him. I smiled to myself, feeling the knife twist deeper in my stomach.

The police cars guarding the back alley moved, allowing Marcus room to pass, and the unmarked black sedans ran security details as they flanked us on the road.

“Well, that was something.” Sgt. Marcus glanced at the rearview mirror. “Colonel is going to be pissed.”

I grunted in response.

The tension still wouldn’t leave, even as we left the entertainment district and turned toward the government housing.

A drop of water hit the windshield. Then another. The sound caught as hundreds joined in, blurring the sights of the gardens we approached.

“Uh… Lieutenant Miller…” Sgt. Marcus’s eyes widened as he turned on the wipers. “Is it scheduled to rain today?”

12

Meg

Rain soaked the pavement and greenery surrounding the street as we dashed back into the councilwoman’s house. It was just a little water, but you’d have thought we were drowning with the way Justus shivered and gasped.