Page 22 of The Alpha's Heart

And, true, it’s easy to challenge an Alpha. Crossing into his territory without permission. Making prolonged eye contact. The wrong tone of voice. The wrong quirk of an eyebrow. Stepping too close to his mate… Bishop could take any slight and accept the challenge.

Why would Guy risk it? That’s the part that makes no sense. He can’t beat Bishop. He’s never even met my mate, but it wouldn’t matter. He’s an Alpha with his mate on the line. It would be suicide.

I have to get him to stop. Declan’s right. I’m the only one Guy will listen to. Without his phone, I can’t call him. I’ll have to talk to him in person. That might be better. One sniff of Bishop’s clove scent all over me will tell him everything he needs to know.

That I belong to the Alpha, and Guy needs to head on back to River Run before Bishop ever finds out he was here.

I don’t trust Guy right now. I know desperation can make even the sanest shifters break and go feral. Is that what happened to him? I don’t know. A feral is ruled by lust and greed. They take what they want. Reason doesn’t exist for a feral.

Neither do consequences.

If he makes it to Hickory, he won’t respect the invisible border that warns non-packmates from stepping onto pack land. The second he tests the pack’s defenses, he’s fucked.

No. He’sdead.

I put the phone back to my ear. “If you make it here first, can you keep him from crossing into Hickory?”

If Guy boldly walks onto Sylvan Pack land, he’s a dead wolf. It doesn’t matter that Bishop isn’t here. It’sworsethat he would take advantage of my mate taking a rare trip out of Hickory.

“That’s what I’m planning on. Guy’s still one of us. If I can stop him, I will. And you’ll come talk him down?”

I have no choice. If I stay in the cabin, hiding behind my cowardly wolf, Guy’s blood will be on my hands. But that’s the thing about maternal deltas. We’re not weak. We just don’t fight back without claws and fangs until someone under our protection is threatened.

And, Luna damn it, I have to make sure Bishop doesn’t kill Guy. Not even for my former packmate’s sake. Not really. It’s more because, after getting to know Bishop, if he is forced to defend his pack and kill someone from River Run, he’ll never forgive himself.

He’ll have cause. Even Kendall would understand that. But Bishop… we’ll be right back at square one where he believes that I’ll always, subconsciously, be afraid of him.

“I will. And Declan? Thank you. You didn’t have to do this… but thank you. You’re the best.”

“Just remember that, Sofe,” he says, no hint of his normal teasing laugh in his tone. To knock that out of Declan Slate… he must be as worried now as I suddenly am. “See you in, what, fifteen?”

So long as none of my packmates catch me sneaking toward the edge of Hickory and think I’m getting cold paws all of sudden about bonding myself to Bishop tonight…

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

One of thebest things about being the Alpha’s intended? Very few of the other shifters will approach me when I’m not with Bishop. They’re afraid of offending him or inadvertently setting off his protective instincts. Our mating dance is winding down. Once I wear his bite, things will be settled.

I’m careful to skirt the edge of pack territory so that none of the gammas in charge of preparing for our Luna Ceremony see me. I won’t be gone long. Either I confront Guy and end this silly infatuation the delta has with me for once and for all, or I have to trust that Declan can intercept him before Guy does something he’ll regret.

A twenty-hour drive and he left nearly two days ago. I know he’s not in Hickory yet—even without Bishop here, the other dominant wolves would know that an outsider broke past our boundaries—but he’s gotta be close. I could run faster myself if I shifted to my wolf, but considering the reason why Guy decided to follow me to Louisiana, it’s better if I don’t ruin the only clothes I have on. Coming back in my skin to talk to him? Not a good idea.

Still, I’m a she-wolf. I run much faster than any other humans and supes in my skin, and once I’m sure I managed toescape most of the gathered crowds of packmates, working on tonight, I pour on the speed.

My stomach flip-flops when I catch the scent of lemon floating to me on the breeze. I’m approaching the edge of pack territory, and though this is a different spot where Declan and Guy traded me off to Harris and West, it must be where Declan wants to meet me.

I turn, heading toward the sour lemon scent.

Where is the anise?

If Guy is here, no way I wouldn’t smell his licorice scent. Did Declan manage to beat him here? Did Guy change his mind? Maybe a burst of sanity broke through and he turned around, heading back to River Run.

I have to check. At the very least, I have Declan my word that I would meet him at the edge of his pack territory to try and talk down Guy. If I don’t, my best friend might get worried that something happened to me. As my text replies back to him took longer and longer these last few weeks, Declan wondered if Bishop was keeping me from contacting my old pack.

He wasn’t. I told Declan that. Bishop encouraged me to keep old relationships, as long as I promised that my loyalty was to him and the Sylvan Pack first. With everyone in River Run, a thousand miles away, he wasn’t worried about one of them turning me against him.

They can’t. I’m loyal to Bishop, and because I want my happily-ever-after with my grumpy Prince Charming after all, I have to clean up this mess before Bishop comes back.

The first thing I notice is the pack truck parked on a small dirt path, tucked among the hickory trees. It’s not a Sylan Pack truck; the name of the fictitious company on the side, plus the number with a familiar area code on it belongs to River Run. That makes sense, since Declan said Guy stole one of my former pack’s trucks to make his escape, but I see the truck.

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