Page 28 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

"Dove?" A tall man stepped into the hallway, and his ebony eyes landed on me. He ran a hand through his shortish salt and pepper hair. A frown marred his chiseled face, which was covered by dark brown scruff. "You're new in town."

"Yup." He was more focused on me being new here than the guy lying on the floor? That was a bit strange. "I am."

"I swear, Griffin." Dick looked past me to the bear shifter and shook his head. "We've got to do something about this. Obviously, people are growing more wary of letting residents out of Shadow City, and now you’re trying to get me to promote letting people in. That’s such a horrible idea for this reason here. Yet another attack targeting wolves."

"There's nothing we can do about it even if I wanted to undo Dad’s decision." Griffin kept his attention on me. "The entire council voted, and there was a majority."

My brain struggled to catch up. Nothing they were saying made sense. "You're part of a council?"

"Yes, he is," Luna said and stepped over, placing a hand on Griffin's shoulder. "He's the alpha of Shadow City."

Laughter almost bubbled out of me. This had to be some sort of sick joke. From what I'd seen, he was more interested ingetting into various women's pants than being a leader. Maybe his goal was to be a lead douchebag?

Griffin stepped away from Luna, making her hand fall. He cleared his throat. "My dad was the alpha, and he passed away right before the college was built. The alpha power and title fell to me, but Dick has gracefully stepped forward to help lead the city while I attend college and get my priorities in order."

Things clicked into place, and I groaned. I hadn't realized that I'd been holding out hope that Shadow City’s new alpha would be my ally. Griffin wouldn't help me. At least, I understood why Luna wanted him and was willing to do whatever it took to lock him down. Hell, almost no one would turn him down. From what Dad said, the city had become the home of some of the strongest supernaturals he’d ever seen, and Atticus had been a beacon of power. If that was the case, that meant that Griffin was one of the most powerful wolves in the world, and snagging him would set his mate up for life.

Killian squatted next to the bear shifter and dug through his pockets. "He has no ID on him or anything."

"That's consistent. It has to be so no one can identify the attackers if something goes wrong." Dick sighed, but it seemed…off.

What he said had merit, but for some reason, I didn't buy it. This bear was cocky. He’d honestly thought he had me. He wouldn't think to leave his stuff in his car or wherever, so there had to be another reason he carried no ID. I kept my mouth shut, though, since I wasn’t alone with Killian.

"Harold." Dick faced the front of the restaurant and clapped. "Take this jackass who attacked this poor girl to Shadow City jail. He's been roughed up enough, so try not to injure him much more. We need him to be able to talk."

A dark olive wolf shifter about Killian's height appeared and walked past us but avoided eye contact. He bent down, picked up the injured bear, and headed straight out the exit door.

He was gone within seconds like he couldn't stand to be near us or was scared. So strange.

"I'm impressed that you handled him without getting injured." Dick tightened his black tie as he addressed Killian and Griffin, ignoring my presence. "And thank God there are no other customers. That could've been a publicity nightmare."

"Actually, Dove took the guy out on her own." Sierra smirked and gestured to me. "Griffin and Killian didn't make it in time."

"Are you serious?'’ Dick’s gaze landed on me, making my skin crawl. "That'sinteresting."

His negative energy nearly stole my breath. But I couldn't afford to alert him to that little fact. Dad had told me that at some point in my life, I'd meet someone truly evil. And that I couldn't let on that I could sense their darkness because it was a trait only silver wolves had. If I gave away my reaction, I could put not only myself in danger but the people I cared about. Granted, at this time, the total of people I cared about had dwindled to one—Killian. But I had to continue to play the game until I had a royal flush. Only then could I reveal my hand. "What can I say?" I forced my words to sound light, and I smiled. If my gut hadn't warned me, I would've thought he was concerned. "I believe that everyone should know how to protect themselves. Had I not been trained, this situation could've gone an extremely different way."

"So true." He smiled. "Even though men are normally the guards, not the women."

My skin crawled from his creepy-ass smile. Not only that, but he’d chastised me yet somehow managed to make it not sound too judgy. So he was the worst kind of villain—a manipulator—which meant Killian and Griffin were clueless. "In this particularinstance, it's a good thing I didn't need a man, or he would've had me out the door." I refused to cower like Dick wanted.

Something unreadable crossed Dick’s face before his features smoothed back into place. "Well, I should probably get back to Shadow City. I'd planned on working the books here for a little while today, but that obviously won't be happening."

"I'll go with you," Griffin said as his forehead lined. He scanned me before looking at Killian. "And why don't you take her somewhere safe?" His voice held concern, which shocked me.

"That's a good idea." Killian wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gestured to the exit. "Do you mind if we leave this way?"

"Sure." Dick waved him off, but his shoulders tensed. He turned to Griffin. "Stay here with Luna and have lunch. I can handle the attacker."

"No, I'll go with you." Griffin narrowed his eyes. "Technically, it’s my place, not yours. And he attacked my best friend’s g—" He cut off like he couldn’t say the word and inhaled sharply. "Dove. He attacked Dove right in front of us. That's equivalent to him giving me the middle finger. I want to hear what he has to say."

"But—" Dick started.

Luna touched her dad's arm. "It's a good thing he wants—"

He cut her off with a glare. "Obviously, I can't tell you no, but I think it would be more prudent for you to stay here and enjoy a meal."

Griffin pursed his lips as he considered Dick's words.

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