Rivals and Retribution by Shannon Delany

Author:Shannon Delany [Delany, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Published: 2012-08-07T06:49:41+00:00

Alexi

I decided to greet everyone at the door like a proper host (or an alpha). Marlaena wisely let Gareth take the lead and do the introductions. The pups were gracious and curious, their eyes still wide from seeing the outside of the house. In truth, it was a relatively standard Queen Anne, though I would never claim it to be modest. It was simply the standard home built for its time.

Squeezing into our foyer, one of them closed the door behind them.

“Wait,” I said, looking out the lacy curtain that fluttered against the door’s window. “Was there not someone else with you?”

The pack members looked at one another and then back to me. “No,” Marlaena said. “This is all of us.”

“Oh. I thought there was someone else.…”

Gareth glanced out the window. “There’s no one there now. And we would have smelled the only missing members of our pack.”

“Or any other troublemaker,” Marlaena added, sharing a nod with Gareth.

I presumed they meant Dmitri, the troublemaker who had landed them in this predicament.

“Where’s Pietr?” one of the blond girls asked. Londyn or Jordyn—I could not yet tell them apart.

I stopped myself from saying anything and, instead, looked at Jessie.

She shrugged at me.

“I do not know at the moment,” I admitted. “It appears he has thrown us to the wolves.” I winked at her.

She rolled her eyes.

Cat slid in between us, her eyes kind but crisp with challenge. “I think it is best if we move all of Amy’s things into Max’s room and give your pack the basement. It is not the most comfortable location,” she said almost apologetically, “but it will allow you all to stay together in one place.”

Gareth nodded. “We appreciate that consideration,” he said.

Marlaena just eyed Cat. “And no one knows where Pietr is?” she asked.

Cat and I exchanged a glance. Whereas the blond girl’s question had seemed offhanded, Marlaena’s sounded more calculated.

Jessie asked what we ourselves were wondering in silence. “Why should it matter to you?”

Marlaena raised an eyebrow, as if talking to Jessie was somehow belittling.

Max coughed to draw attention to himself and away from the smackdown that was preparing to happen in our foyer. Da, this would be no trouble at all.

“Alphas like to be aware of the locations of other alphas. You wouldn’t understand,” she said in dismissal.

“Oh, I wouldn’t, would I?” Jessie asked, stepping closer.

Marlaena straightened her back.

So did Jessie.

Gareth’s hand came down on Marlaena’s shoulder, but that didn’t turn her attention from Jessie at all. If anything, it focused her intensity to laser hot.

“Here,” Pietr called from the top of the stairs, verbally stepping between the girls before they squared off in the foyer below. “I am here.” His eyes first found Jessie and he smiled, but his expression changed—subtly, but still a change—and his gaze was drawn as if by magnet to Marlaena.

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