Hunting Grounds (City Shifters the Pack #2) - Layla Nash Page 0,99

keep an eye on Silas. The poor bastard still paced and growled in the storm-cellar in the fancy house that the alpha’s mate owned. It had become the central residence for Evershaw, the alpha, and a few other senior wolves in the pack. Only Todd Evershaw, the alpha’s cousin, stayed at the place downtown to keep an eye on the rest of their misfit pack.

He still wasn’t entirely comfortable in the big ass mansion that Deirdre, the alpha’s mate, had inherited from her family. It was an old house, creaky and full of history, and it reminded him way too much of where he came from: where his grandparents lived and how much they fucking judged people. How much they’d judged his mother.

So he couldn’t relax much in the house unless he was chilling in the storm cellar with Silas, his feet propped up, smoking cigars and drinking whiskey. At least the crazy wolfman had settled down somewhat, at least when Dodge was around, and Dodge could doze down there without fear of getting his throat ripped out.

Otherwise he paced through the house and along the porch, or went outside to do the same when Deirdre finally got too irritated with the noise and yelled at him to stop making such a racket. She’d gotten more irritable after the confrontation with the sorcerer and not being able to figure out what kind of fucked up magic lingered on Silas. Dodge had his own theories on why the witch was hard to be around, but it wasn’t his business and he wasn’t about to offer an opinion on the alpha’s mate.

He shook his head and headed for the front door, trying to escape another of Evershaw’s rampages about finding the sorcerer and making him pay for attacking the pack. Dodge missed Henry’s steadying presence; the pack’s third-in-command had retreated to Montana after his familial pack asked for his help, but the son of a bitch left a hole in the SilverLine pack that they apparently expected Dodge to fill. He clenched his jaw and whipped the door open. No way. Not his thing. He’d had enough of being in command, being responsible for other people’s lives. He just wanted a quiet life, no responsibility, no more threats or death or blood.

Dodge nearly steamrolled right through a tall young woman in a stuffy business suit who stood right outside the door. He slammed on the brakes so he didn’t knock her ass down, and gripped the door to keep from growling out of sheer irritation and shock. Her dark eyes widened considerably when she saw him, so he must have scared the shit out of her. She scrambled back, or tried to – Cricket, the witch’s damn mountain lion of a house-cat, had made himself a nuisance like usual and tangled up her feet.

Or maybe it was the fancy high heels she wore that threw off her balance. Either way, her arms windmilled and she threw a leather-bound folio at him as she pitched backward.

Dodge could have let her fall, since she was the one who’d been hanging around on the wrong side of someone else’s door, but he wasn’t usually a dick to women. So he leaned forward and caught the front of her shirt in his fist, hauling her back upright.

She blinked, breathing hard, and stared at him.

He stared right back, unmindful that he still held onto her pretty blouse and no doubt wrinkled the shit out of it with his grip. At least he hadn’t caught her bra by accident. Or torn something off completely. He arched his eyebrows. “Can I help you?”

Her face turned red, as did every visible inch of skin across her chest and throat. She cleared her throat a few times, then brushed at the front of her shirt – dislodging his hand. She wobbled a bit on her heels, then bent to retrieve the folio that had nearly dented Dodge’s chest. Her voice, low and throaty, didn’t match the prim and proper exterior. “I’m the architect. Mr. Evershaw called about a habitat to be built. We had an appointment at ten.”

Her voice was meant for dirty jokes over a poker table, maybe dirtier talk fucking on a pool table. She had the body for it, too, and it was even more intriguing because she hid it with the charcoal gray suit and pretty pearls and subtle diamond earrings. Trying to wear a uniform so shitheads like him didn’t leer at her as she was trying to do her job. He tilted his head at the interior of the house and held the door open wider, stepping back to invite her in. “I’ll get him. Come in. Watch out for the cat.”

She eyed him with clear distrust, but apparently Cricket approved of her, because the cat trotted inside and hopped onto his favorite loveseat to lash his tail and knead the pillows into pin-pricked, down-spilling wrecks. The girl swallowed and maneuvered through the open door, brushing past him without a second glance. He closed his eyes briefly as the scent of her perfume drifted past him – subtle and understated elegance, perfectly matched to the pearls and the demure click-click of her heels.

He shook himself and slammed the door harder than he meant, making her jump. He turned away, too unnerved by the girl to remain in the room with her. “Take a seat if you’ve a mind to. I’ll get the boss.”

Her lips parted to say something – maybe ask a question, maybe reprimand him for his bad manners... He wouldn’t have minded the reprimand, not if she could add some glasses and a naughty librarian kind of vibe. He felt like a dirty old bastard for thinking it, but she could whip down her hair and give him a hell of a lecture, and it would have been the sexiest thing he’d seen in years. But Dodge went over to the stairs and shouted up them, “Boss! Got a, er… architect here.”

He’d almost said ‘human,’ which would have required all kinds of explanation. Dodge waited until he heard Evershaw’s tell-tale grumble and cursing, and figured the old man was on his way. Dodge turned to catch the visitor still staring at him, her cheeks flushed, and that pretty perfume wasn’t quite enough to hide the hint of interest in the air.

He swallowed a grin. Maybe she wasn’t so prim and proper after all.

Find out what happens next in Head Hunter, book 3 of the City Shifters: the Pack series!

Also by Layla Nash

Urban Fantasy

War Witch

Crossroads Burning

Paranormal Romance:

City Shifters: the Pride

Complete 5 Book Series

A Chase Christmas

A Valentine’s Chase

A Mother’s Pride

City Shifters: the Den

Complete 5 Book Series

Breaking Free

A Beary Merry Christmas

City Shifters: the Pack

Witch Hunt

Hunting Grounds

Headhunter

Other Paranormal Romance

His Bear Hands (with Callista Ball)

Loaded for Bear (with Callista Ball)

A Lion Shame (with Callista Ball)

Bait and Switch

Signed (Bear Mail Book One)

Sealed (Bear Mail Book Two)

Delivered (Bear Mail Book Three)

Science Fiction Romance

The Galaxos Crew

Vaant (The Galaxos Crew Book One)

Vrix (The Galaxos Crew Book Two)

Trazzak (The Galaxos Crew Book Three)

Frrar (The Galaxos Crew Book Four)

Mrax (The Galaxos Crew Book Five)

The Sraibur Crew

Faros (The Sraibur Crew Book One)

Wyzak (The Sraibur Crew Book Two)

Nokx (The Sraibur Crew Book Three)

Izyk (The Sraibur Crew Book Four)

Harzt (The Sraibur Crew Book Five)

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