Page 15 of Deception

“To whom do we owe the pleasure?” Thomas said in a carefully neutral voice. He stretched to his full height and turned on his alpha wolf glare that Drew met, watt for watt.

“Pleasure’s all mine,” Drew said. His deep voice resonated throughout the room.

“What the hell do you want here?” Dryver barked in open challenge.

Summer held her breath, watching Drew’s fists clench.

Chapter Four

Drew paused, taking in his surroundings. The room crackled with anticipation like a thunderstorm that had dead-ended in a box canyon. Fear, hate, and suspicion swirled around the room, and a rush of whispers reached his sensitive ears.

“A bear! A bear!”

What, had they never seen a bear shifter before?

“Don’t tell me he’s one of those no-good Vosses,” someone else growled.

Just a distant relative, but hell, yeah. He was all on board with his cousins. The problem would be hiding that from this ugly crowd.

That, and hiding his attraction to Summer. Pulling this deception off. He could scent her from across the room, and his bear was screaming to run over and smother her in a kiss.

Inside, his bear paced, but on the outside, he battled to keep perfectly still. Soren had been right to keep him from following Summer, saying it was much too obvious that he was interested in the she-wolf.

Interested? He was damn near obsessed. He’d barely slept over the past week, and the few hours he’d caught were filled with dreams of Summer smiling at him or nightmares of her screaming for help. He’d even charged out of bed one night, determined to race to her side, but Soren convinced him to turn back, saying Summer was safer without anyone there to give her true mission away.

But then an anonymous message had reached the Blue Moon Saloon, and that changed everything.

I don’t fucking believe it,Soren had muttered, reading the email that came in from an account they couldn’t identify.

Inside man willing to work with you to keep Blue Bloods under control,the message said.There’s been enough violence. Might need your support. Are you with me?

The writer had signed with an X. Nothing more.

Could be a trick,Soren said.

Could be the real thing,Simon shot back.

Can’t trust anyone,Drew had thrown in.

Soren and Simon had deliberated it with the wolves of Twin Moon Ranch and finally decided to send Drew to Hope Springs while they tried getting more information out of the author of that note.

If this guy is legit, we don’t need Summer up there,Soren had said, and Drew had just about exploded out of the saloon in his rush to depart. But Soren wasn’t finished.If they’re trying to con us, Summer could be in more danger than we thought.

Which was when he really did explode out of the saloon and hit the road. And now that he’d finally made it, all the emotions Summer triggered hammered him at once. Love. Lust. Joy. Fear. It took everything he had not to swivel in her direction and reveal all that. Hell, it took everything he had to resist running over and pulling her into his arms.

He took a deep breath and ordered himself not to betray his emotions. A good thing he had some practice hibernating — it helped him force his heartbeat to a crawl. And hell, he’d never had to do that quite as much as right now. His pulse was thumping, his nerves twitching. His bear wanted to maul every wolf in sight, grab Summer, and steal her away from this bad place. Every shifter pack suspected outsiders, but these wolves had knives in their eyes. How had Summer survived a week here?

“What the hell do you want here?” a man barked.

Drew ignored the scarred old wolf and kept his eyes on the younger, fair-haired one. Every instinct told him that was the wolf to watch out for. That one was smarter, subtler, and much harder to read. Was it he who sent the message to Soren?

Drew doubted it. The guy seemed cocky as hell — not the kind to ask for outside help. Was it that older woman sitting to one side, listening intently? She looked capable of anything — like selling out her own pack or faking a call for help. Impossible to tell which. The three bearded men looking at him closely from the front row looked old and weary before their time. Could they have sent the message?

Jesus, was there anyone here he could trust?

No one. Well, apart from Summer.

He channeled all the power of his bear clan into a fierce look and made a slow sweep of the barn, studying every face. He forced his eyes to run smoothly past Summer, but boy, was that hard. She looked drawn and thin — thinner than before. He ached to take her home and feed her berry pancakes covered in honey. His favorite treat. Could it be hers, too?

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