Mated to the Enemy Alpha (2 page)

Rolf took a sip, winced. It tasted like
syrup and clear soda with a splash of vodka huddled in the
corner.

“
Lancelot,” Rolf called, a demand in
his voice. “What is this shit?”

The burly, bearded bartender grunted, swung
a towel over his shoulder. “She said get something girly. That’s
fucking girly. The customer is always fucking right.”

“
Man, you don’t believe that shit. Fix
a real drink. We don’t fleece the paying customers.”

Lance paused. “She’s paying herself?”

The bartender looked around the room as if
he were wondering why one of the wolves hadn’t stepped up already.
In a dark corner the clank of a cue against ball covered muted
conversation, pitched so even wolf ears had to strain to hear.

Brunette spoke up, eyes wide. “We don’t,
like, have dates or anything.”

“
Well,” Rolf said, “here first time
customers always get their drinks on the house.”

The blonde chick snorted. “Is that first
time female customers, or do the hombres get the same special?”

“
Well, cowgirl, seein’ as we like to
encourage pretty faces to come in here, that would be a girl's only
discount.”

Rolf turned his attention back to Brunette.
Her eyes were busy scanning the room, and trying to be discreet
about it. He was a bit- disturbed- he didn’t have her full
attention.

“
What’s your name?”

“
Andr- Andrea.” She jerked her
attention back to him. “Nice to meet you. And thanks for the free
drink, but I think we have to go.”

She drew a few bills out of her purse and
put them on the counter, standing up. Rolf placed a hand on her
shoulder, lightly.

“
Stay awhile,” he said.

She made a tiny, aborted movement, then
stilled. “Sorry, another time.”

The women turned, walking towards the
entrance when it opened and the two shit heads he’d been waiting
for walked in. Forgetting about the women, Rolf caught their eyes
and jerked his head towards the side door that led to an office.
Time for a chat.

CHAPTER

Andraste cursed.
What shitty timing. She realized the stupid prey act she’d been
putting on was either slipping, or having the opposite effect she
wanted on the man. Unsettling how interest warmed
his
pale
eyes,
his
body language reflecting someone who was settling in for a
night of hard flirting
-
or
something more. She wondered how his eyes would
look if he knew who she was.

Odd, really. Having
recognized him as soon as she and Cora entered the bar, Andraste
had expected to feel- anger. Disgust. Something. But her wolf was
quiet, almost… waiting.

The width of his
shoulders blocked her line of sight as he leaned in towards her,
his large hand resting on the bar belonged to a man used to
crushing skulls. She knew from his file that he liked to restore
old bikes, but his nails were trimmed and filed neatly, clean
underneath.

She wished she
could drop her shields and get a whiff of his scent, but Andraste
had bound her physical and psychic aura up tighter than a nun’s
wimple, wrapping herself in so many layers of nondescript
nothingness it wouldn’t be possible to make her as anything, even
as human. Of course, that was a risk as well. A perceptive wolf
might wonder why she smelled so…
empty. Almost like if
you closed your eyes, no one was there. But the skills to mimic
someone else's scent were beyond her.

She
hadn’t expected to find him- attractive. In a purely
aesthetic way, of course. Shaggy cut ash blond hair and light blue
eyes. A bit of scruff along a strong jaw and Slavic cheekbones. A
far cry from the city slick high ranked wolves she was used to. He
wore a beat in leather jacket and well loved jeans like any other
man wore an expensive suit, managing to make it both armor and sex
appeal. And despite the lack of scent to react to, the plain old
fashioned woman in her clamored for more when he spoke, his voice a
low, gritty slick of warm honey that made a girl think of long
nights and steamy showers.

Of course, that
pissed her off, considering who her hormones ahhed over. Rolf. The
Dalig Hund Alpha. The man whose pack members thought they could
take any female they wanted and worry about convincing her later.
Whose territory encroaching practices ate up entire blocks of the
city so that anyone interested in
modern
, sophisticated development designed to
bring revenue and tourism into the city had to contend with
motorcycle riding, chain smoking, binge drinking, mannerless
ruffians who barely bothered to participate in polite society. Just
further entrenching the public stereotype that werewolves were
savage, uneducated and aggressive.

She and Cora excused
themselves from the bar, Andraste well aware Rolf might decide to
halt her exit- it had to be galling for a man, much less an Alpha,
to endure a rebuff from a female, especially a human.

Andraste
came to an abrupt stop as
the front door opened and her prey walked in. Her hackles rose,
rage springing like a steel trap so she had to fight herself to
strangle it, to not give herself away. Strong enough emotion was
the one thing that
might
warp her shields enough to give her away
if she lost control. A human on a girl’s night out wouldn’t have
those reactions.

“
You ok?” Cora
whispered, lips right against her ear. Risky, any type of speech in
a place full of wolves.

“
Just a little
dizzy,” Andraste replied for the benefit of anyone listening. “Must
be the drink. Maybe we should sit back down for a
minute.”

“
Maybe. Hey, look
at the cute guys who just walked in.”

Bless Cora. Just the
right amount of casual female interest giving them an excuse to
walk over, strike up a conversation, get themselves picked up so
they could do what they came to do and get the hell out of Dalig
Hund territory. So the ants on her back would go back to the hole
they’d crawled out of.

“
We should go say
hello.” Andraste said.

The women
walked
towards the
men, intercepting them in a neat move that still wouldn’t make them
seem like women on the hunt.

The men stopped,
nostrils flaring. Boy next door, handsome types. But for the tinge
of worn cruelty around the eyes, a slight dissipation that warned
anyone perceptive.

“
Oops, sorry,”
Andraste said with a bright smile. “Didn’t mean to get in your way.
We were just finding a seat.”

“
Yeah?” Prey
Number One said. “How about-”

His companion nudged
him. “Man, business first. Pussy later.”

They must be really
confident to use that kind of language right in front of their
potential dates. Andraste mentally patted the smile plastered on
her face, turning up the watt. Loosening her jaw. Discreetly making
sure her nails were still human short, and dull.

“
Why don’t you
gals have a seat at the bar? We’ll be out in a little
while.”

“
Well, we have to
work in the morning,” Cora said, sighing. “So if you can’t party
now…” The blonde gave Prey a direct look, pursing her red slicked
lips.

“
They have a
previous appointment to keep, ladies,” the Alpha said.

Andraste stiffened. A
tiny thrill of alarm traveled her spine. Her wolf hadn’t warned her
the enemy was at her back. Were the shielding spells deadening her
other senses as well? She glanced behind her and met his eyes, all
business now, knowing she couldn’t push the issue.

“
We’ve been late
before,” Andraste said, turning back to the Prey. “We can wait for
a few minutes.”

She and Cora made
their way to a table- choosing one away from the pool tables and
sat down. Andraste picked up a drink menu, impressed this place
bothered with one. Turned her head slightly to peek up through her
lashes. Her heart
rate
increased
. Rolf watched them with narrowed eyes, mouth
firm. She couldn’t tell if it was suspicion or male pride that
she’d picked two low ranking wolves over him. But after a pause he
turned and disappeared through the door in the back.

“
I’m going to
find the powder room,” Andraste murmured after ten minutes had
passed.

Cora looked at her,
eyes flicking to the back door, and started to shake her head.
Andraste put her hand on the woman’s wrist and she subsided.

“
I’ll be out in
ten minutes.” If she wasn’t back in ten minutes, something had gone
wrong and get the hell out.

Andraste
pretended like she had left something in the car and exited the
bar, glad she had bothered to scout the place before coming in. She
knew the room used as a makeshift office where the Alpha conducted
informal pack business
foolishly had a window
attached. She snorted. Stupid much?

Keeping to the
shadows while trying to
appear
casual, Andraste quickly made her way
to the back of the building, glad of the concealing dark as well as
the weathered wood siding that put this place squarely in the dive
category. Bright white stucco might have been a problem. And again,
as she sidled around the back, she had to wonder at the
intelligence of an Alpha who had an office with a window located on
the perimeter of the building- first floor, at that. Also had to
wonder at her own intelligence, and hope she wasn’t having a
too-stupid-to-live minute
.
Did she think
the universe would allow her to
just mosey on up to a
window, overhear coincidentally helpful tidbits of conversation,
and then waltz off into the night, no one the
wiser
?
Hey,
maybe there was a handy wooden crate right underneath the window
for her to step on, too.

There was no crate, and
the window was shuttered from the inside- the kinds of shutters
that meant business, and even her sharp shifter ears had a hard
time hearing sound because they must have insulated the walls with
cork- she could catch an occasional word, and inflections of
speech, but nothing useful.

This had been a
stupid idea anyway. Andraste supposed the idea of sitting and
waiting had just sent her tempora
rily
batty. Sit and wait were two of
the most abhorrent words in the English language.

She turned away from
the window, disgusted, and stopped.

“
Yeah, so how did
that work out for you?” The Beta, Cam, stood several yards away,
arms folded.

Andraste had a
few options
, running
being the first
. Human slow meant keeping her cover,
but getting caught. Shifter speed meant blowing her cover and
possibly leaving Cora in danger because it hadn’t been ten minutes.
Or she could talk her way out of it.

“
I’m
sorry
.
”
Andraste’s lower lip trembled. She wiped a single tear from her
eye. “The therapy sessions haven’t been working really well. I just
have this… fetish. A peeping Tom compulsion. I feel really
bad.”

She walked towards him
slowly, eyes lowered and shoulders slightly bent, the picture of a
humiliated, dejected woman, emphasizing the click of her stilettos
and putting a little extra mince in her walk. Harmless, silly
woman. Right as she passed him he grabbed her arm, yanking her to a
stop.

“
Please don’t
press charges,” she whimpered. “My parents would be so
embarrassed.”

He looked down at her,
expression hard. “There’s something funny about you. Where does a
human woman learn submissive body language?”

Andraste froze.
Mentally cursed. That’s what she got for overacting. She’d
done
werewolf
dejection and
humiliation, not human. Well, hell. She wasn’t human. She thought
she’d been doing a damn good impression.

“
W- what are you
talking about? Can we please just let this go? No one was
harmed.”

What was he
fussing over? So he caught a chick trying to star
e
in a window. The worst
thing he should do was ban her from the bar.

He
walked
her towards
the entrance, grip on her forearm ungentlemanly.

“
Get your fucking
hands off me.”

He smiled. “Yeah,
that’s more like it, sweetheart. Little advice- don’t lie to the
Alpha. He hates liars.”

He all but dragged her
through the bar. Andraste still didn’t want to drop her cover. It
was bad, but so far not bad enough she’d been made.

She gestured
subtly to Cora as they passed.
Get
out.

Her friends eyes
narrowed.
Hell, no.

Andraste gritted
her teeth.
That’s a goddamn
order.

Cam knocked on the
office door, then entered. Rolf looked over, eyebrow raised, then
frowned when he saw Andraste.

“
This is assault
and I’m going to file a complaint,” Andraste said, blinking away
tears, straightening her shoulders with wounded dignity. “I said I
was sorry. I don’t know-”