This Dark Wolf (Soul Bitten Shifter #1) - Everly Frost Page 0,115

the table. I experience a pang when they remind me of the garden in Hidden House.

We start with small talk. The weather. The constant rain. Then we move on to music, favorite food, and movies, not that I’ve seen many. We’ve just moved on to hobbies when several young women venture over. They look my age, but they act young and are more than a little drunk. Judging by the fact that everyone else in this room is older, I suspect they’ve come over to this side of the house purely to see Cody.

He stands and greets each of them formally, another confirmation that he’s transitioning to alpha. If he wasn’t, he would have joined them already, possibly even taken me over there.

They eye me off with differing attitudes. One of them ignores me completely, another won’t stop staring at me, and the third nearly sits in my lap trying to get Cody’s attention.

I stop myself before I grab her arm and break it.

Cody takes one look at my face and rapidly dismisses them. They pout at him. “Come over to the fun side, Cody,” they call as they leave. “We miss you.”

“Boxing,” I say, before the echo of their voices fades.

Cody’s forehead creases. A quizzical smile breaks across his face. He lowers himself back into his chair, stretching his legs out in a deliberately relaxed pose. “Boxing is your hobby?”

I stare at the crowd. “Dad taught me. It was what we had in common.”

I’d rather be fighting right now.

I seek Tristan across the room. By some miracle, he’s in polite conversation with an older couple. Somehow, he’s moving around the room, getting his bearings while I’m stuck in this alcove, making small talk, and getting nowhere.

Damn. My plan is unraveling. I didn’t expect Cody to be so forthright with me. His honesty prevents me from using guile. I also didn’t expect Baxter Griffin to have a true mate he would whisk out of the room. I’m sure he’ll return at some point, but he hasn’t yet. I need to get Baxter alone, but there’s no hope of that right now. I need to think, revise my plan, and start again.

“May I use your bathroom?” I ask Cody.

“Of course,” he says. His focus also shifts to Tristan, telling me he’s as aware of Tristan’s movements as I am. “It’s back through the entrance, up the stairs, last door on the left.”

He stands when I do and I’m not sure if he’s going to follow me, but he remains where he is.

I take care maneuvering around the tables and groups of shifters, making sure I don’t bump anyone. I consider whether or not to rejoin Tristan, but I think better of it. While we’re split up, we appear placid and under control. Returning to his side could be seen as a hostile move.

I take a breath of fresh air when I emerge from the dining room, but I’m disappointed that the entrance isn’t empty.

Two men stand at the bottom of the grand staircase, blocking it. Both are massive, although one is a full head taller than the other with piercing icy blue eyes and a shaved head. He’s wearing black pants but no jacket, his white collared shirt unbuttoned at the top while the sleeves are rolled up over biceps that push at the seams.

The other man wears an eyepatch over his left eye. His long, dark brown hair is slicked back and his jacket conforms to his muscles. He smiles at me with a grin that makes me shudder.

They must both be supernaturals—my buzzing instincts tell me that they are—but I can’t get a read on their exact species, which is even more unsettling. One of them must be blocking their supernatural status. If it were a magical barrier I could detect, then I might be able to break through it, but for now, I’ll just have to accept that I don’t know what they are.

“Excuse me,” I say, trying a polite approach first. “I’d like to get past.”

As I speak, another man emerges from the shadows at the side of the stairs.

It startles me that I didn’t sense his presence sooner. In fact, even now that he’s standing right in front of me, I can’t get a reading on him.

“Don’t mind my security guards,” he says. “They’re overzealous about my protection in situations like this.”

His voice is rough, but also like honey, setting me on edge and relaxing me at the same time, an unnerving combination. He’s tall, leaner