Page 75 of Mortal Shift
But Cole was right; it was time to go.
I blew her one last kiss and fell into step beside Cole as Fletcher led us along the deserted corridor, and back down the stairs. The hairs at the back of my neck prickled as we descended, but it wasn’t until we reached the bottom that I realized what had set my senses on alert.
There were two figures waiting in the reception area. One of them was short and stocky, with close cropped dark hair and eyes that seemed to miss nothing as they raked me over. A silent kind of menace seeped from him and into the air itself.
But he wasn’t the one who triggered my unease. Because standing in front of him was a man I’d seen before, and hoped never to see again.
Cole’s father.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The five of us stared at each other for a long moment. No, four of us—Fletcher had ducked his chin to his chest and was staring steadfastly at his feet, face pale. And everything about his sudden change in demeanor told me that my fear of Cain was no overreaction.
“Good evening, son. I heard you were back. I was surprised to learn you had come here. Though not as surprised as I was to find you’d gone upstairs to our guest.”
He shot a look at Fletcher, who trembled on the spot.
“Forgive me, alpha, I—”
“I gave him an order that circumvented yours,” Cole said, straightening. “I had business to attend to, and little time to waste. It’s good to see you, too, father.”
Cain narrowed his eyes, and then jerked his chin at the nurse and then the door. “Leave us.”
The man scurried away without so much as a backward glance, and I couldn’t help wishing I could do the same.
“I didn’t expect to see you outside of the academy in the middle of the semester,” Cain said. “With her.”
His little added emphasis made sure I didn’t miss his disapproval at his son’s choice of company.
“Needs must,” Cole said, his voice loaded with hidden meaning that promised a world of pain for me if he wasn’t bluffing. And why would he be? This man was his alpha and his father.
“Indeed.” Cain’s tone matched Cole’s and a shiver ran the length of my spine. Some part of me urged me to bow my head and show respect, and another told me to go for his throat. I ignored them both and stayed very, very still.
“Perhaps we ought have a talk, son,” Cain said, but his tone made it clear that it wasn’t a suggestion. “Blaine, take our visitor to the guest facilities. My son and I require some privacy.”
Cole jerked his head round to lock eyes with the other man. “If you lay one hand on her, I’ll—”
“You will remember your place,” Cain snapped. “Last I checked, you’re alpha heir, not alpha.”
“It’s fine,” I said to Cole. “I’ll be fine.”
“You’d better be,” he growled, and I tried not to dwell on the alternative. Blaine stepped up beside me, gesturing me to a doorway and with one last glance at Cole, I stepped through into a hallway. He pulled the door shut behind us and nodded to a door at the far end.
“Kitchen’s that way.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have shifter senses. It’s not like I can eavesdrop.”
“You’re not used to being around shifters, are you?”
“I’ve met plenty at the academy,” I said, crossing my arms and cocking a hip.
His lip twitched into something that was almost a smile, but his eyes stayed hard as flint. “And how many of them defy an alpha’s order?”
I thought back to Ryker and his total control of the shifters in our lessons, and their utter obedience.
“None,” I grudgingly admitted. Blaine nodded.
“Like I said, kitchen’s that way.”
