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)
“Is that thing going to follow you here?” Sue asked as the cab stopped in front of a busy, upscale club in a hopping neighborhood. Lights flashed, people laughed, perfume wafted into the slightly open window. Bodies crowded the sidewalk, more than Aurora had ever seen in one place, never having traveled to a big city like this. The nightclub scene here was clearly very popular.
Sue paused with a foot out of the car, doing a double take back at her. He put out his hand, large and scarred, waiting for her to fill it with her own.
But they weren’t in the trenches anymore. This was just normal life. Loud, chaotic, busy, but normal. It was outside of her comfort zone, sure, but that was no reason for the pack beta to give her special treatment.
“Nah, he’ll get himself together before he makes contact again,” Niamh said, leaning against Aurora to see the meter. “He won’t want to risk being told to bugger off because he’s not up to standard. Jaysus, I’d expect a happy ending for a price tag that steep. What kinda petrol am I payin’ for, rocket fuel?” She handed two twenties forward. “Guess I don’t need the change. Girl, take that lummox’s hand so he can drag ya out. Hurry up now, let’s get cracking. I’m dyin’ of the thirst.”
“I’m fine—” Aurora cut off as Niamh gave her a shove.
She sighed, taking Sue’s warm hand and letting him help her out of the cab. On the sidewalk, he stayed close, posturing in such a way that the passing guys, their gazes appraising, found somewhere else to look.
“This way,” Niamh said, peering down at her phone. “Broken Sue, stay at that girl’s back, would ya? We don’t need one of these Dicks grabbing her butt and getting a deserved baytin’. They won’t let us in if she does that.”
Sue did as she said, his hand on Aurora’s shoulder possessively, his body close behind. A wide berth opened up around them on the busy Los Angeles sidewalk. They threaded through a cluster of people to a bouncer at the front of a long line. Niamh yelled something at him, showed him the screen of her phone, and waited while he turned away to talk into his headset. In a moment they were through, Sue as big or bigger than their security, broader and more muscular. Tougher, too. Meaner. More vicious.
They sized him up as he passed, used to being in charge in this place, but quickly realizing they were outgunned. They dropped their gazes one by one, giving him the respect due to an alpha.
“Is it hard for you?” Aurora yelled over the sudden cacophony of music and laughter as they walked through a short hallway and were guided past a ticket booth and into utter chaos. Colored lights streaked through the air, white lights flashed, people shouted, bodies gyrated.
She stopped and then tried to back-pedal. Her senses were being assaulted. The noise alone felt like a suffocating bag that had been pulled down over her head.
“I’ve got you,” Sue said, leaning down so his lips were next to her ear, his body pressed against hers. “Just follow Niamh. I’m right here.”
He guided her on, pressing through the throng of bodies that Niamh somehow didn’t seem to notice. They could’ve been walking into a half-deserted dive bar for all she paid attention to the mayhem.
“Is what hard for me?” he asked as they slowed when a people jam blocked the way.
“Is it hard for you being an alpha with a beta title?” she shouted, barely able to hear herself over all this noise. Someone belched. Another shrieked with laughter. And then they were moving again, Aurora grabbing Sue’s wrist to keep hold of something. “With beta duties, I mean. You’re an alpha, but you don’t get the respect of one.”
“If it had been Tristan’s old situation, where the leader wasn’t as good, or as dominant, or as respectable, I wouldn’t be here. But this pack—even when it was just a pack—is different. Alpha Steele is more dominant than me, no question. More intense. More vicious. A better leader. Better for the team he and Jessie are putting together. Anytime I think I might be catching up, he bumps the ceiling a little higher. He gives me ample respect, and when we’re in the company of other alphas, he treats me as though I am their equal. He doesn’t make a show of my beta title when it’s clear I have equal power to another. He only seeks to maintain our hierarchy, which I respect and the shifters need.”
She turned a little to look up at him, gauging his honesty. He held her gaze, clearly knowing why she was looking. His intense, dark eyes were open, entirely serious. He was not just saying any of this for her benefit or to kiss the butt of the alpha’s niece.