The Deputy and His Enforcer (Kincaid Pack #3) - Kiki Clark Page 0,36

absolutely fine. And maybe her requesting you enter the store was what allowed you to pass the warding… Tash wasn’t sure the last I spoke with her. She is very sorry though, and so am I.”

“I’m not upset at you for it—you didn’t cause it to happen. And I’ll probably forgive her eventually, but I want to talk to her myself first. Really get a feel for her.”

Marcus’s dark red eyebrows scrunched together before quickly smoothing out. “Feel for her? I don’t think… I believe she knows who her mates are.”

Robson was so confused again. “What?”

“If you want to… feel her, I believe you’ll be rejected,” Marcus said carefully, eyes on the plate between them. “She has premonitions, and I believe she has seen who her mates are, and you aren’t one of them.”

The conversation was beginning to remind him of the money laundering discussion, but this time he felt like laughing at Marcus’s misunderstanding rather than strangling him over being deliberately obtuse. Leaning forward, he rested his forearms on the table and tried to catch Marcus’s gaze but was unsuccessful. “Did she tell you who her mates will be?”

“Excuse me?” Marcus glanced up but quickly looked away when he caught Robson’s smirk.

“How do you know I’m not one of her mates? Did she tell you who each one was?”

He wasn’t sure what possessed him to poke at the damn wolf sitting across from him, but his breath caught in the back of his throat when Marcus turned hard, glowing eyes on him, and snarled, “You are not one of her mates.”

His smirk turned into a grin, and he leaned back against the booth cushion, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why not? She couldn’t mate a human? That’s speciest. She’s very attractive and seems extremely intelligent and capable—I’m sure I’d be very happy in her harem.”

The growl that filled the space between them sent a shiver down Robson’s spine—but it wasn’t from fear. Fuck. Robson glanced around the diner to make sure no one had noticed the noise while he dropped a hand into his lap and tried to subtly adjust his thickening cock.

The sound cut off abruptly, and when Robson turned back to Marcus, he had to chuckle at the confused head tilt the guy was sporting once more.

“You aren’t afraid?” Marcus’s green eyes ran over Robson’s face and body, a slight furrow between his brows.

“No, Marcus, I’m not afraid.” He wasn’t exactly prepared to tell him that his dick was suddenly associating the sound of a wolf growling with a sexy, possessive Marcus, but he could definitely admit he wasn’t frightened.

“Why not?”

He couldn’t help but laugh again. He was pretty sure Marcus didn’t want Robson to be afraid of him; he just didn’t understand why he wasn’t. “I served in the military—I obviously don’t have great self-preservation instincts.”

He saw the urge to ask about his service in Marcus’s eyes, but he didn’t want to change the subject just yet. His time in the military had been… less traumatizing than it could have been. He’d come back with his body in one piece and his mind mostly intact, even if he had the occasional nightmare. He knew a lot of men and women weren’t as lucky, and it made him feel guilty as hell. Part of him felt like he should have served until he’d sacrificed a bigger piece of himself.

“So what happened with the wreaths that has you and that Jamie guy at each other throats?”

Marcus glanced away. “It wasn’t the wreaths… Are you familiar with the Harvest Festival?”

“Sure. We didn’t have it as a kid, but I’d heard about it from my family and attended some of it this year. You two were responsible for making wreaths for the festival?”

Shaking his head, Marcus flattened his hands on the table in front of him and kept his gaze turned downward. “No. The Harvest Festival is a pack event that the town is invited to, even though they don’t realize the significance of many of the traditions and activities. The committee that organizes everything only includes pack members and is supervised by a high-ranking member so they can report the progress to Alpha Kincaid and deal with any issues that pop up.”

“Let me guess—you supervised the committee.” Robson could absolutely see Marcus bossing around a group of middle-aged women and making them remake wreaths that weren’t up to par.

Marcus grimaced slightly. “I was the supervisor for previous years. This year… I was replaced after I had a disagreement