Alpha's Moon (Shifter Ops 1)

“Oh,” she breathes.

“You got this.” I nuzzle her head.

“Sadie?” Scott spots us by the front desk. His gaze bounces from me to her. Emotions flit over his face in comical progression—surprise, annoyance, anger—and settle on fake happy. “It’s so good to see you here.” He sounds smooth and casual, but he doesn’t look at me, and his scent stays angry.

“Yeah, I took the day off work. Deke drove us down.” She turns further into my body and puts her hand on my chest, giving me a little smile that I can’t help but return. “We had such a great road trip. He made it perfect.”

Scott looks like he got a whiff of roadkill. His fake smile slips a little bit.

“Thanks, babe.” I squeeze her close and dip my head to breathe in her sweet scent. She’s totally sincere. She looks back at Scott, though, and her scent changes. I think she feels a little bad for Scott.

“I hope this won’t be too awkward for us,” Sadie says.

“No, no,” Scott forces out. “I’m actually seeing someone now. She’s a model. She’s going to try to get away to meet me here.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Sadie says. Not a whiff of jealousy in her scent. Just relief.

Scott, however, is lying. He pulls out his phone and waves it. “I, uh, gotta take this,” he says, even though his phone is not ringing. “See you tonight?”

“Yes.” Sadie waves, and I steer her towards the grand staircase. The bellhop already took our bags to our room.

As we ascend, I look back down at Scott. He’s ducked in the corner, hunched and on the phone, probably phoning an escort service to see if he can drum up a weekend date. Heh.

Score one for the fucked up werewolf.

Chapter 8

Deke

Our room is bright and spacious, with a view of the mountains, which sprawl just outside. I’m relieved. I might be able to hike far enough out to shift and run to take the edge off. Tight quarters and too many humans make me antsy. Not to mention the sexual tension.

Even as I think about leaving for a run, though, my wolf resists.

Like he’s not willing to leave Sadie’s side, even for a minute. The urge to protect her is overwhelming.

I stand at the window while Sadie moves around, unpacking. For such a small person, Sadie takes up ten times as much space as you’d expect her to. It’s her scent, her sunny energy and her smile. The rest is clothes. She brought a lot of clothes for a four day trip.

“That went well.” She bustles back and forth between the bathroom and the bedroom, spreading her stuff everywhere. Good thing the room is big. There’s a nice king bed made of rustic logs that should be sturdy enough to take what I’m capable of dishing out.

I shake my head to dismiss that thought. We’re in the same room, but I’m going to be a gentleman. I’ll sleep on the floor.

Unless she makes the first move, my wolf counters.

“I think we should be fine this weekend. Scott should leave me alone with you here.”

“He better,” I grunt. I hate hearing his name on her lips. He doesn’t deserve her time and attention. Neither do I, I remind myself.

Sadie wrinkles her nose. “Do you think he really has a new girlfriend?”

“Nope.” I turn from the window and uncross my arms, so I look less intimidating.

Sadie’s lips quirk, and her eyes dance with amusement. “You think he was lying?”

She’s so trusting, it’s cute. Except that dickbags like Scott take advantage of her. I give her a soft look. “Babe.”

“Oh. I guess it couldn’t be that easy.” She gnaws her lip again.

A knock sounds on the door. “Room service,” a helpful voice trills outside.

Even though it’s probably not a danger, I stride to the door before Sadie can get there, my need to play bodyguard raging.

“Sadie Diaz?” The lady’s brows shoot up when her gaze meets my chest and then has to rise to find my face.

“Yes,” Sadie calls from behind me.

The woman uncovers a tray of fresh chocolate strawberries. There’s a note with them. “From your secret admirer,” she gushes, winking at me like I sent them.

Dammit. The thought hadn’t occurred to me. I’m not sure I even knew that was a thing until this moment. But Sadie sure as hell deserves them, even if they are from her dickwad ex.

“Oh,” Sadie says without much enthusiasm. She shoots me an apologetic look. “Great.”

I take the tray and shut the door.

Sadie opens the card. “Enjoy your stay. Let’s talk soon,” she reads the note aloud.

I try to keep from growling out loud.

“Yuck. This is so like Scott. He doesn’t stalk in ordinary ways. He throws his money around and puts apps on my phone and then just won’t leave me alone even though I have you here. I’m obviously with you, but he has to prove he’s the bigger man with a bigger bank account or something—”