Page 43 of Out of Peril

“It is you. How? Where have you been? We thought we'd lost you forever.”

“You have,” I whispered.

I was ready to bolt when he reached out and grabbed my arm.

I jerked back. “Don’t touch me.”

My beast was already stirring within, and she did not like another male touching me in any way.

Leo was my Alpha's son and heir to the NOLA Pack. Someday he would be Alpha, but he could never be my Alpha. He wasn't a bad guy, but he'd never really been allowed to hang out with the rest of us kids, so I didn't know him well. And I definitely didn't know the kind of man he had grown into. If his father was any indication, then I expected him to be just as hard and ruthless by now.

He held his hands up. “I'm not going to hurt you. I’m just surprised to see you. Where are you staying? Have you seen your parents yet?”

I shook my head. “No, and you can't tell them you saw me. Trust me, it's best if they think I'm dead.”

“You can't mean that.”

“Yeah, I do, Leo. No one can know I was here.”

He reluctantly nodded then pulled out his wallet and handed me a card.

“This has all my contact information on it. I won't push you, but if you need anything, you call me, okay?”

I was so confused by his actions, but then I remembered, he didn't know the beast was me. He'd been there the day his father had banished me from the Pack. None of them knew it was me at the time as I was still locked inside her with no signs of humanity left. But I'd known, and I'd felt the severance of my Pack connection that day. There was no coming back from that. And despite what Walker thought, no other Alpha would accept a banished wolf in their territory. I was walking on thin ice trespassing at the house on Pack land as it was.

But I took the card anyway and managed to mutter a thanks.

“It's really good to see you, Lindsey. I won't say anything, but I hope you'll stick around and let others know.”

“I won't, but thanks. Just passing through. I didn't even realize I was so close to the Pack,” I lied.

He nodded, and I was grateful that he didn't appear to want to press me on the issue. So I awkwardly abandoned my groceries and turned to leave. We had to get out of here now. I didn't trust Leo to keep his mouth shut.

“Hey,” he said as I turned back towards him against my better judgement. “If you plan to go out to the old Manor, don't. We have these abominations of genetic mutations out there called the Experiments. Every now and then one will surface in the area, and the panthers alerted us to the fact that one's squatting in the Manor.”

“Uh, thanks.”

“Be careful out there, Lindsey.”

“You too.”

This time when I turned to leave, he didn't try to stop me.

It was weird because I'd always pictured a moment of crossing paths with a member of my old Pack. In my mind it had always led to bloodshed. Never had I dreamed it would be so civil or with Leo of all people.

“Was that Lindsey?” one of his enforcers asked. Of course they were nearby, Leo wasn't allowed to go anywhere without being surrounded by enforcers to protect him. His father wasn't willing to take any risks when it came to his golden heir.

“Nah, just a pretty girl.”

“Wow, she sure looked like Lindsey. I wonder whatever happened to that girl?”

Leo shrugged. “Who knows, but I hope wherever she is that she's doing well.”

I turned and gave him a curt nod before I channeled my cheetah powers and got the hell out of there.

The second I returned home, I yelled through the house. “Maya, Dante, Walker, pack up. We're leaving.”

The kids appeared at the top of the staircase.

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