Page 327 of Primal Bonds

The Full Moon went dead silent. Benny was on the door again. He moved to intercept them, but Dion snarled and the bouncer checked, his animal instinctively recognizing a dominant.

Dion’s gaze swung to where Adric stood at the bar. His nostrils flared. He strode toward him, his eyes the pure silver of his animal.

“Uh-oh,” muttered Zuri.

Benny recovered and stomped after Dion, but Adric shook his head. “Let them in.” He set down his bottle, gave the Rock Run alpha a mocking little nod. “Peace.”

“I’ll give you fucking peace.” Dion halted a foot away, Davi at his heels.

Zuri moved to block the tenente. The three other Baltimore fada present sprang up to form a semi-circle around them.

Dion didn’t even bother to look at the other men.

Claudio moved out from behind the bar. Lean and charming, he had salt-and-pepper hair and the features of a Latin American aristocrat.

“Senhores,” he said in his melodic Brazilian accent. “This is neutral territory. I must ask you gentlemen to take your dispute—”

Dion and Adric turned as one to bare their teeth at him, and he inclined his head and glided back behind the bar. “My apologies, senhores.”

Dion’s scent was hot with anger. His dark brows formed a furious slash across his forehead, and the look he trained on Adric was pure murder.

“I’ve tolerated your mining in my mate’s territory. I’ve let your people mix with my clan in Grace Harbor. And I was happy to allow your lieutenant, Jones, onto our land to visit his niece. But—” His lips peeled in a snarl.

Adric tensed. Here it comes.

“Deus if I’ll let your people come and go on Rock Run territory as they please.”

“What?” It took Adric a full three seconds to realize the other alpha wasn’t here to beat the crap out of him over Rosana. “One of my people was on Rock Run territory?”

“A wolf.”

Adric’s stomach bottomed out. He straightened from the bar, conscious of their audience. If it was Luc, he didn’t want the whole damn world to know.

“Let’s take this to the back room.”

He led the way down the hall without waiting to see if Dion agreed. A poker game was in progress, but at a nod from him, the four men tossed their cards on the table and vacated the room.

Adric entered and faced off with Dion. Davi stood at his alpha’s shoulder, while Zuri shut the door and leaned against it, arms folded over his broad chest.

“What color was this wolf?”

“Dark brown.” The other alpha’s lip curled. “Are you saying you didn’t know?”

Hellfire. It sounded like Luc, all right.

He willed his heart and breathing to remain steady. “Yes. No one in the clan has my permission to enter your territory without your say-so.”

Dion inhaled, testing Adric’s statement for truth. He leaned forward, his mouth a hard line.

“Then get control over your own damn people. Because that wolf was in my woods. If we see him again, he’s fair game.”

Adric went rigid. In the six years since he’d become alpha, he’d thrown his heart and soul into healing his fractured clan. However, as Dion knew, he still had trouble from time to time.

Davi smirked at him over Dion’s shoulder. The tenente was Adric’s height, with the dark eyes and Mediterranean features of his Portuguese ancestors. On Davi, those looks were poster-boy gorgeous.

Adric narrowed his eyes. He’d seen Davi hovering around Rosana. If the other man wasn’t careful, he was going to find his pretty face rearranged.

From the door, Zuri growled lowly, his wolf pissed at his alpha being challenged.