Shifted Love Volume 1 - Fiona Davenport Page 0,3
to spend most of my time surrounded by family and friends, but every once in a while, I needed to recharge on my own. Unfortunately, my solitude only lasted for about five minutes before Kace flung open my front door, stomped through my living room, and dropped down on my couch.
“I need you to head over to Stewart and talk to the owner of the liquor distributor we use for Howler’s.” He tossed a sheet of paper in my direction, and I reached out to snag it from the air. Glancing down, I wrinkled my brow when I scanned the list of alcohol bottles with check marks next to way too few of the items.
“They fucked up almost half of our order yesterday, and I’m tired of this shit. A phone call isn’t going to cut it this time. They need to understand there are repercussions beyond losing our business for pulling this kind of shit.”
“Fuck,” I groaned, running my fingers through my hair. What Kace was asking should’ve been an easy yes for me. Stewart was only two towns over, and I was always up for knocking some heads together when warranted—plus, there was the fact that I was a wolf shifter, and he was my alpha. But I’d been looking forward to my low-key night, and I had the worst luck whenever I had to run an errand there. “Can’t Tane do it instead?”
“You got a problem with the shit I tell you to do?” he rumbled, his dark eyes flashing with more than a hint of his power.
“Dude. You know me better than that.” I tilted my head to the side, just enough to show him my throat as a gesture of submission. “I’m a part of your pack not just because I was born into it. You’re my alpha because I respect you and can’t see myself willingly following anyone else’s lead.”
He sighed and dropped his head to stare at his lap for a minute. After he took a few deep breaths, he met my gaze again as the tension between us disappeared. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I do know you better than that, which is why you’re my second in command.”
Many alphas didn’t bother to apologize, and Kace’s choice to admit when he was wrong was one of the reasons he had my respect. But I’d noticed he’d been doing it more often than usual over the past few months. “Is there a reason you’ve been so damn grouchy lately?”
“I’m not sure what’s causing it, but my wolf has been on a shorter leash. I noticed it in September, but I think it started before then,” he admitted, shaking his head. “I haven’t been able to figure out why he’s so damn edgy.”
“Maybe you should go for a run,” I suggested. Sometimes the wolf side of our nature needed to work off his excess energy just as much as the human did, especially for those of us who hadn’t found our mates. The female fate intended for us was the only thing that could truly soothe the beast inside our skin, but neither of us had found ours yet.
Kace considered my advice before he nodded. “That’s a good idea. Things have been crazy around here lately, and I haven’t had the chance to go on a run since the last full moon.”
I crumpled up the paper and tossed it back at him. “Since I just solved your grouchiness issue, how about you get someone else to head over to Stewart to fix the liquor issue.” I pointed at the half-eaten plate of wings and added, “My plans for tonight didn’t include dealing with anything other than a full stomach.”
“Sometimes we’ve got to do shit we don’t want to do.” Kace shrugged but didn’t look too worried about ruining my night as he grabbed a couple of my wings for himself. “Sending Tane won’t send a strong enough message. It’s got to be you since you’re my beta.”
“Damn,” I groaned, flipping the handle on the side of my recliner to send my leg rest down. “Fucking Stewart.”
Kace chuckled and tossed his chicken wing bones onto the side of my plate. “I don’t get it. Why do you sound like I’m sending you to your death?”
I wasn’t the kind of guy who got embarrassed, but I felt heat fill my cheeks as I remembered what had happened when I was in Stewart a few days ago. “My mom wanted a pecan pie from the diner over there