Page 74 of Follow Your Instincts

“I’ve been missing you in class! But I think I understand your absences now,” she said with a smirk. “Hi Paul, nice to meet you.”

I kept my arm wrapped firmly around her waist.

“Nice to meet you…” He trailed off. His anise scent was strangely spicy and overpowering, but not completely unpleasant. Maggie wrinkled her nose a little.

“Katie,” Greta jumped in. “I told you about her, we have a ton of classes together.”

“Ah, Katie,” Paul said.

“That’s me! Hey, could you show me where the bathroom is?” Maggie asked. “I think I’m getting my period.”

Paul looked at her, alarmed, and released Greta so the two of them could wander off to the bathroom. I hated letting Maggie out of my sight, but this might be our only chance to talk to Greta away from this Alpha.

“Paul Henchcliffe,” he said, holding out his hand to me. “I own the bar.”

“Soren,” I said. “Nice place.”

“It’s a work in progress,” he said, looking around critically.He was huge, even for an Alpha, maybe even taller than Lucas and twice as muscular. His blonde hair was long on top but faded to a close shave on the sides. He was wearing a tight black t-shirt, black slacks, and the kind of gold chain that screamsI have a gambling problem.

“Must help with the girls,” I said, nodding towards where Greta and Maggie had disappeared to.

Paul laughed, a short, harsh sound, and clapped me on the shoulder. “I don’t need any help with the girls. That one is just a placeholder,” he said.

“Damn,” I said, trying to sound jealous.

“You’re not doing too bad yourself, old man,” he said, looking at his huge gold watch.

“Pretty sure she’s using me for a free dinner,” I said, shrugging, even while my skin crawled. “How long have you been with that one?”

“Six months? She’s a good fuck, but we’re waiting for the real deal if you know what I mean.” Paul looked me over, noting my lack of an Alpha scent, and smiled nastily. “You probably don’t, huh?”

“An Omega? Nice. You got one lined up already?”

Paul grinned again. “My packmate has his eye on one. I haven’t met her yet, but she’s supposed to be a firecracker. I bet she’ll be insane in bed.”

A surge of panic and desire to get Maggie out of the building as fast as possible and away from this asshole hit me, but I kept it together. “Good luck, man.”

The Alpha laughed. “Yeah, luck has nothing to do with it.”

Greta and Maggie reappeared in the doorway and I moved towards them. Maggie shook her head slightly, gave Greta a quick hug, and stopped to let me catch up to her.

“We need to go,” Maggie said quickly. “Like, right now.”

I wrapped my arm around her waist and pushed through the crowd, which had grown even in our short stay. I could tell her descenter was wearing off, probably due to the stress of the situation. Once we made it outside, Maggie pulled me down analley and took several deep breaths.

“Oh, thank god, that’s so much better,” she said. “That asshole smelled like weird licorice or something.”

I was holding my breath since it smelled like garbage in the alleyway. “Is Greta okay?”

“No,” Maggie said, looking up at me. “That pack is holding her hostage. They’re the ones that orchestrated the robbery.”

“You’re sure?” I asked, looking over my shoulder back towards the bar.

Maggie nodded. “Greta said she figured it out the night it happened, and they haven’t let her leave them since. They needed the money to pay back some loan, she’s not sure why they did it, but she saw the jewelry at their pack’s house.”

“If it’s still there, then let’s go get a warrant,” I said, pulling Maggie gently towards the street.

“We can’t,” Maggie said sharply. “They’ll know it was her and she’s scared they’ll hurt her.”

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