Page 5 of Alpha Unbound

She sees it. Smells it.

Something flickers between us. That crackle that lives in the space between challenge and instinct. My wolf wants her. Marked her as mine from the second I walked through the door. But I don’t move. Not yet.

She pushes off the counter and walks toward me, casual like a cat circling prey.

My chest tightens. There’s something in the way she moves—unbothered, bold—that lights every nerve ending on fire. I wonder if she knows. If she can feel the pull as much as I can.

Hell, maybe Hank does. The goose hasn’t stopped glaring at me since I walked in. Maybe he’s trying to keep me away from her. Maybe he senses what she is to me. My mate.

And maybe she does too—and that’s why she’s smiling like sin and walking like temptation. Maybe she knows, and she wants to pretend it’s not real.

“Well, Sheriff Rawlings,” she purrs, “if you’re here to bring law and order, you should know you’re standing in the middle of both and neither.”

“And you?” I ask. “Where do you stand?”

She stops inches from me. She grins malevolently; I wonder what the hell it means... nothing good, I’m sure. “I don’t. I run the place.”

Hank hisses in agreement. It’s not the casual kind of hiss either. It’s sharp, aggressive, territorial. Canada geese are naturally protective—nasty little bastards when they want to be—but this is more than that. This is personal. Protective. He’s pacing the edge of the counter like a sentry, wings twitching. It’s not just me he’s warning. It’s anyone who gets too close to her.Damn bird acts like he’s her mate, not me. And the worst part? I can’t tell if she wants him to keep it that way.

I stare her down, jaw tight. “Get the goose under control.”

“Or what?”

“I’ll arrest him and have him for dinner.”

"Not likely. " Kate says with a grin before throwing her head back and laughing loudly. It’s not dainty. It’s loud, full-bellied, and dangerous. I’ve heard war drums quieter. “You can't be serious.”

“Try me. You'll find I don’t bluff.” I never have. You clear enough rooms in dead cities overseas, you learn real fast that bluffing gets people killed. You say what you mean. You do what you say. And when someone challenges you, you make damn sure they don’t do it twice.

Her smile fades just a fraction. “Neither do I.”

There’s heat between us now. Palpable. Coiled.

My wolf pushes at the edge of my skin, restless, hungry. I shouldn’t want this. Shouldn’t want her.

But Kate McKinley doesn’t just stir the beast—she dares him, and I’ve never been good at walking away from a dare.

She steps back, slow and deliberate. Hank flaps his wings with a self-satisfied honk, hopping off the counter like he just claimed victory in a turf war. He circles her feet protectively, puffed up and strutting like he’s made it clear who really runs this place—and it sure as hell isn’t the sheriff.

“I’m sure you’ve got actual crimes to solve,” she says. “You know, ones that don’t involve poultry politics.”

“I do.”

“So go solve them.” She turns, heading into the back room, hips swaying like she doesn’t give a damn if I watch. At the door that leads into the back, she pauses and says, "Take the tourist with you and lock the front door on your way out."

I look down and see the only lock is a deadbolt that can’t be locked from the outside. I can’t help but watch her and feel mesmerized by the way she moves.

“I can’t do that with the kind of lock you have.”

She doesn’t look back, but her voice floats back over her shoulder before she disappears.

“Then leave it, and I’ll take care of it. But don’t come back here unless you plan to buy something.”

“What if that deranged goose of yours threatens someone?”

She stops and leans back out the doorway. “I tell you what—you don’t arrest my goose, and I won’t tell people what you used to get up to behind the library in high school.”

She winks and is gone... her goose trailing behind her with what I swear is a triumphant look on his face.

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