Page 34 of Tempest

Robbie rolled his eyes at him, hands on his hips and sass in full swing. “Of course not. He thinks I’m visiting Yosemite with a couple of friends.”

Cash shook his head but didn’t comment. It wasn’t his business why Liam’s nephew visited their pack regularly without letting his father know what he was doing. It wasn’t his family. It wasn’t his human to take care of. And he definitely wasn’t going to tell Quinten Amato his kid was mixed up with their coven doing who knew what.

He valued his life a little too much.

He ran his eyes over Ore’s body once more to check for injuries, but he appeared to be all in one piece, a little of the color returning to his face.

Taking in the knocked-over display, he looked over at Ginny. “Any books that are damaged, I’ll pay for.”

“Oh, no. That’s fine,” she started to say, waving a hand at him. Her scent was nervous still, making him realize that despite how often he came into the shop, she was intimidated after she’d seen him nearly lose his shit.

He hid his grimace. “No, I insist.”

“Well. Then, you should at least take them with you,” she said, crouching on the floor and picking up a few of the books that look untarnished, stacking them on the table.

Robbie dropped back down and started helping her, the two making quick work of separating the books that had tears or bent covers and pages from those that seemed fine. Cash left them to it, stepping around the mess and over to Ore. He put a hand on his elbow and guided him a few feet away.

When Ore wouldn’t meet his gaze, he dipped his head to catch his eyes and said softly, “Are you alright?”

Ore nodded, glancing away. “Yeah, it was just an accident. I’m fine.”

Cash cupped his chin and tilted his face up so that he couldn’t avoid him. “I don’t care about the fucking books. Areyouokay?”

Ore sucked in a shuddery breath, his eyes glistening for a second before he blinked a few times. He cleared his throat. “I’m fine, Cash. I just wasn’t expecting to hear that.”

“You shouldn’t have had to hear that shit,” Cash said, his panther getting riled up all over again. To soothe himself and Ore, he shifted his hand to the side of his neck and rubbed his scent into his skin. Ore’s eyes got wide, but he didn’t pull away. “I’ll make sure that Liam deals with it.”

He didn’t know what his alpha would do. It wasn’t exactly a banishable offense, especially not for someone like Billy, who had lived in Silver Oak his entire life. But if he was that comfortable throwing hateful slurs toward someone just because they weren’t a feline shifter, Cash couldn’t see Liam tolerating shit like that long term.

Either way, he’d be following up with Billy and making sure he understood he was never to go anywhere near Ore again.

Or he wouldn’t live to regret it.

“I can’t believe you had to buy all these books because of me,” Ore said, setting down the stack he was carrying on the kitchen table.

Cash set his own next to him and shrugged. “They’ll get read.”

Ore shot him a smile and shook his head. “That’s not the point. I can’t even repay you. I don’t have any money.”

Silly little bird.

Clasping the back of his neck, Cash gave him a squeeze. “Even if you did, I wouldn’t let you. You heard Ginny. She told her wife that display was too wide for that table and warned her something like this would happen.”

He wasn’t sure that was completely true, but he’d appreciated her making the effort to lessen Ore’s guilt. The display had been a bunch of viral books, so even though most weren’t his preferred genres, he knew he’d still read them.

Ore shrugged casually, but he leaned into Cash’s touch a little. “Still, if I’d been paying attention instead of focused on talking with Robbie…”

“I’m glad you two are becoming friends,” he said, changing the subject as he rubbed a small circle in the dip just behind Ore’s jaw. “He can be a little wild though, so be careful. I don’t want you two getting into more trouble every time you’re together.”

He’d meant it as a tease, but Ore was solemn as he said, “We won’t. I’m usually much more careful, I’m sure.”

Shaking his head, Cash gave him one more squeeze and then headed out of the kitchen. “I’m sure you are. Now, quit worrying.”

He dipped into the back bedroom and changed into a pair of worn sweats, not bothering with a shirt, before going straight for his favorite spot on the couch in the living room. Grabbing the remote, he flopped into the corner of the sectional.

After getting so worked up at the bookstore, he needed to just chill for a while. Usually he’d go for a run, stretch his legs until he was exhausted and his head was clear, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to get very far with Ore upset and alone.

He told himself that he could trust his pack, but after what had happened, he wasn’t so sure about that anymore. Most of his packmates, sure, he knew Ore would be perfectly safe with them. But he knew Billy wasn’t alone in his beliefs, and while it’d be easy to spot most of the ones who weren’t okay with Ore’s presence in their territory, it was the ones who he couldn’t guess felt the same way that had him worried. If given the chance, how many of his packmates would try and drive Ore out just like Billy had?

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