Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
The barman put Niamh’s filled cider on the bar, and she drained the current one and pushed it forward. He wrapped his chubby hands around it but didn’t move, watching as Broken Sue stopped at the corner and stared down at Aurora.
“You shouldn’t be out by yourself,” he growled. “And you definitely shouldn’t have left without telling anyone where you’d gone.”
“I’m not out by myself.” Aurora hooked a thumb Niamh’s way.
“Are you calling me stupid?” His intensity increased, his power swirling around them.
She looked up at him as her own power started to pump out, two alphas not liking the other throwing their weight around. The difference was, one of them held seniority in the pack and a lot more experience, and the other had better lower her gaze or there would be hell to pay.
As if hearing Niamh, Aurora dropped her eyes before taking a sip of her whiskey. She crinkled her nose.
“What’d they call you?” the barman asked Broken Sue.
“Sue.” He sat on the stool kitty-corner from Aurora. He reached for her glass, stopping with his big hand around it, but splayed his fingers out a bit, asking permission to take it.
Aurora’s movement was so subtle, Niamh would have missed it if she hadn’t been watching. She only knew what it meant because Broken Sue’s question had been so clear.
His fingers touched down, and he pulled the glass to him, running it under his nose before pressing it to his lips. Aurora watched his mouth, then her gaze dipped to his bobbing Adam’s apple.
Broken Sue lowered the glass to the top of the bar and then pushed it. “Pour that down the sink. It’s garbage.”
“What are ye on about?” Niamh scoffed. “Here, send it over here. Don’t waste whiskey, are ye mad?”
“It’s cheap,” Broken Sue replied.
“So are ye, but we don’t throw ye out, now do we? Aurora, give that here.” Niamh waved it on.
Aurora did as she was told, now watching Niamh as she upended the glass and drank down the contents.
“How do you do?” the barman asked Broken Sue.
“Ah, fer feck’s sake,” Niamh murmured, pushing the glass forward. “C’mere, get the ugly man an expensive whiskey, would ya? Get the girl a girly drink—”
“Two shots of Woodford Reserve, one neat, one with a couple cubes of ice and a twist. Make sure the twist is clean.”
“Ah…” The barman scratched his stomach as he looked toward the containers down the bar. “Yeah, I can do a twist.”
“It’s scrapin’ off a part of the lemon rind,” Niamh said as the barman moved away. “Don’t put yerself out, like.”
“Never do,” he called over his shoulder.
Aurora half glanced at Broken Sue, and apparently that meant something, because he replied, “I didn’t want bad whiskey to put you off the drink. They don’t have any good whiskey, so I ordered you a bourbon. If you don’t like it, at least you gave it a fair shot.”
Niamh didn’t notice any movement from her, but his slight incline of the head was usually his way of saying, You’re welcome.
“Crap on a crust of bread, yis are a coupla mimes. I’m regretting ye tracking us down,” she told Broken Sue.
He stared at her. Aurora stared at her. Neither had any expression whatsoever.
“Forget thinking ye have Botox—people are goin’ta think yis are a coupla mannequins. It’s disconcerting. Try a smile or a frown or a fart, I don’t care. Do something, like.”
“How’d you find me?” Aurora asked Broken Sue.
“Your scent. It’s distinctive. And it lingers.”
“Why aren’t ye with Jessie and them, though?” Niamh asked.
“Naomi said Aurora was missing. She hadn’t checked in or told anyone she was leaving.”
“In my old pack, when we were off duty,” Aurora said, “we were off duty. We didn’t have babysitters.”
The two stared at each other for a long moment before Aurora slowly pulled her gaze away, a beat shy of a challenge.
Broken Sue continued to look at her. “You are not in your old pack. You are also not in the home territory of your new pack. You are traveling in hostile conditions. In this situation, we check in. You report to the alphas or to me. If all of us are indisposed, you report to the most senior of the pack. I was told you’d had extensive training and think you’re ready for your own pack. I shouldn’t have to explain the basics to you.”
She snapped her head back to him, her body minutely tensing.
“You are also here for family reasons, invited personally by the alphas,” he went on, his powerful stare beating into hers. She held it, refusing to back down.
Niamh watched with a small smirk. Maybe she was glad he’d tracked them down after all. This was bloody good entertainment.
“And?” Aurora pushed, clearly out to get his goat, because any fool would know what he meant.
“Given we are in a potentially hostile situation, or at the least an unknown situation, you need to communicate where you’re going to your uncle or Naomi or Jessie, because she will worry the most and scour the world looking for you.” He paused for a moment. “You know this, I see, so why didn’t you check in?”