Page 39 of The Werewolf Cowboy
Grayson’s smile dropped. He drew her forward. “Katy, this is my friend Chase.”
Chase gave a formal bow. “Welcome to our world, Katy.” He had merry brown eyes, a shock of thick, dark hair spilling down to his shoulders and looked wild, but she liked him.
A shorter male wearing cloth trousers and a leather vest pushed forward. Gray-haired, with thick, dark brows set over dark eyes, he did not smile. An air of authority clung to him, and something else. Instinctively she knew this was the pack alpha. Older than the others, he swept her over with a scrutinizing look. It made her skin crawl as if ants burrowed beneath it.
Grayson stepped forward and hugged the male like a son greeting his father. Cedric hugged him back, but there was a coolness in his gaze when the alpha released him.
“About time you returned home to us. I thought you’d be home sooner, after my little talk.”
What little talk? Katy wanted to ask, but seeing the guarded look on Grayson’s face, decided against it. Pack politics were delicate matters, and she had no idea how things operated in this world.
Grayson gave a polite nod. “Cedric, this is Katy. Katy, this is our alpha.”
Katy tried to conceal her revulsion as Cedric took her hand. Gray-haired Cedric was heavily muscled, and looked wilder than the others, as if he’d been living a long time as wolf. He was barefoot, and the tops of his feet were hairy, along with his toes. She glanced at his hands. Same with those. It was as if he’d shifted, and some parts of his body forgot what it was like to be in human skin again.
Though the alpha made her want to run away, even to the dark forest, years of pack living drilled into her. Forcing a polite smile, she struggled against the need to yank away her hand. “Hello.”
“My dear Katy,” Cedric crooned. He pulled her closer and smiled. Katy tried to tug her hand away, but he refused to release it.
“Let her go,” Grayson protested.
The alpha did, and then Cedric turned with whirlwind speed and raked his claws across Grayson’s face. Katy cried out and rushed forward, but two other men grabbed her arms.
“I’ve been searching for her ever since Gerner informed me she escaped. Thank you for delivering her to me. Now back off. The female is mine.”
The alpha gave a sinister smile. “Mine to fuck and breed with.”
