Page 1 of A Lady's Heart
Chapter One
Bedlam.
Everywhere.
Three male wolves chased a couple of laughing females through the common room at the Takhini pack house. Justin Cullinan pulled his feet out of the way in the nick of time to stop from tripping another couple as they argued loudly without looking where they were going.
He swung his paper to the right and continued reading, ignoring the chaos best he could. He’d had a couple of months’ experience now, and while he was never going to be completely comfortable immersed in the community-loving wolf shifters, he still found it entertaining enough to put up with.
Loud, boisterous, and in your face.Twitter bio for over half of the members. And the other half, the lone wolves who craved a little more silence, were tucked away into hidey holes around the building. Finding that balance between alone time and the pack they needed as much as they needed air.
Justin reached without thinking and stole a sandwich off a passing plate.
“Hey, man, that’s mine,” a teenaged wolf complained loudly before noticing who the thief was. “Oh, it’syou. No prob. You want the rest of it?”
He held the plate forward good-naturedly.
Justin bared his teeth in a grin. “Thanks, this is enough.”
The kid glanced around to see who had seen him talking to Justin before he sauntered off cockily, as if he’d done something amazing like bearding a wild bear in his den.
Justin chuckled before enjoying his stolen goods with gusto.
He was still figuring out the nuances of wolf politics. Even with the time he’d been crashing at the pack house, he wasn’t sure where he fit into the hierarchy.
The answer should have beennowhere, considering wolves had fated mates, mystical pack bonds, and Alpha/Beta leadership teams. Bears had…
Well, in their animal forms they had claws and fangs, and they weren’t afraid to use them. But more than that, bear shifters didn’t usually willingly gather in groups, or spend a lot of time in each other’s company. Not the way these wolves did—
Yet they’d welcomed him into their presence. Probably more to do with circumstances than the fact he was charming.
Although, hewascharming, if anyone asked.
The past months had seen a turnover in bear-shifter leadership, the political process a dangerous endeavour that had thankfully ended with a positive outcome. A new administration was in place that had removed a threat to all shifterdom and placed his boss Tyler, who was also his best friend, at the helm.
But that was in the past, recent as it was. It was time to focus on the future—not just for the bear clans, but more importantly, for him.
It was good to have a new, more personal goal to pursue.
Justin wiped his hands on a handkerchief as he observed the chaos one more time.
His phone went off, and he hurried to answer. His boss had been impossible to get a hold of for the past couple of days. The man was safe—the security detail Justin had put together ensured that, but heck if Justin didn’t miss the bastard.
Of course there werereasonshe hadn’t gone abroad with his friend.Goodreasons. Good enough to make him temporarily ditch his role as bodyguard to the newly elected leader of the northern bear clans.
“Tyler. You back on North American soil yet?”
The other shifter sighed. “I wish. We were actually in the air when we got an emergency call from the Slovene family.”
Justin whistled softly. “Impressive. I didn’t expect you to be called in to deal with Russian politics this early in your regime as Bear In Charge Of All Nations.”
“BIC for thenorthonly, which is a big enough pain in the tuchus in the first place, thank you very much. I guess they decided to hold joint meetings with all heads of state, and in typical shifter fashion, they thought of it one second, set it up the next.”
Tyler sounded a little more out of sorts than usual, and Justin attempted to soothe the waters.
“Hey, it’s better now than you relaxing at home then suddenly having to turn around and leave again. What’s a couple more days added to your trip?”
“I suppose,” Tyler admitted. “Enough about my work. How’re you enjoying your vacation from watching my six?”
