Hot Blooded (Wolf Springs Chronicles) - By Nancy Holder Page 0,97

her in a light blue, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans. He was carrying a pair of cowboy boots and had a tall, younger guy trailing after him, maybe early twenties, hands stuffed in his jeans pockets, lower lip pushed out in a childish pout. His name escaped her. He had a scruffy beard and moustache, and an overabundance of dark bangs that swept across a high forehead.

“This is Quentin Lloyd,” Lee said.

“Hey, Quentin,” Katelyn said, checking his eye color.

Amber. Not the one who bit me.

“Quentin Lloyd,” Mr. Fenner corrected her. “That’s his whole first name. Last name is Oskarsson.”

There were a lot of Scandinavian last names among the members of the Fenner pack, which made sense, since they’d originally come from there. Katelyn opened her mouth to say hello again, but then it dawned on her that the alpha wasn’t introducing Quentin Lloyd just to be sociable.

“Kat,” Quentin Lloyd said, looking over her slowly. Inspecting her. Undressing her with his eyes. In a bit of pushback, she folded her arms across her chest, and Mr. Fenner chuckled.

“I’ll leave you two to get acquainted,” he said, before walking over to speak to Doug. Doug caught her eye. His expression said Be nice. Then he redirected his attention back to Mr. Fenner.

Quentin Lloyd cleared his throat. “I don’t like this any more than you do. My family’s line is almost as old as the Fenners’ and I thought the alpha thought better of me than this. I don’t deserve to be paired with a bit-in nobody.”

Even though she wanted nothing to do with Quentin Lloyd either, Katelyn couldn’t help but be completely offended.

“If you’re so upset, why don’t you challenge him?” she snapped.

“Shut up,” he said, and spat at her face. Stunned, Katelyn wiped her eyes with hands shaking with rage — how dare he! She could hear growling. “Maybe I’ll just take you out instead,” he said. “You’re worthless and he’d probably thank me for it.”

She opened her eyes again, blinking. Steve Berglund and two other guys were advancing on Quentin Lloyd. Their teeth were bared; they were the ones making the growling sounds, and past Steve she could see Justin standing bare-chested with a T-shirt in his hand, expressionless, tracking every movement.

Quentin Lloyd flicked his head toward the others, as if not deigning to face them outright, and he growled as well.

Every fiber of Katelyn’s being urged her to take him on. Hit him back.

Challenge him.

What was it Justin had said about gaining higher status in the pack and having more control? You married up or clawed your way up. And she was getting ready to do some clawing.

As if he sensed what she was feeling, he narrowed his eyes at her, face twisted in fury. “They all think you’re some kind of prize. Let them have you.”

“One thing’s for sure,” Katelyn shot back. “You never will.”

“What’s going on here?” Mr. Fenner demanded, striding up in his boots.

“She spoke treason against you,” Quentin Lloyd said.

“What?” Mr. Fenner whirled on her. His eyes — his human eyes — began to glow. Katelyn had never seen that happen before, and it chilled her to the bone. Things were different. More dangerous. She began to sweat.

He was standing on the balls of his toes; his large hands wrapped into fists. He was about to spring.

“She asked me to challenge you,” Quentin Lloyd said, sneering at her.

Terror washed over Katelyn, tugged at her, a fear so deep she could only sense its fatal grasp on her. She was in mortal danger. Lee Fenner had banished his own daughter. He had threatened to kill her, Katelyn, numerous times. This might be the only excuse he needed. The pack would be rid of their problem.

Barely able to move her head, she glared at Quentin Lloyd, who was smiling sourly at her, certain that his accusation had hit home, and that Mr. Fenner was about to kill her.

It’s either him or me, she realized over the howl of fear stuck inside her throat. Think. Say something. She bowed her head submissively to Lee, then looked up.

“He spat on me because he doesn’t want me,” she said, her head still ringing from the accusation. “He went on about how his family line was just as long as yours and that I — that what you were doing to him was — was outrageous.”

Mr. Fenner scowled, first at her, and then at Quentin Lloyd. She sensed his uncertainty and knew she had to buy some time. She