Page 18 of Tested
“Oh sure. Call the guy in charge.”
I aim my comment at Lydia. “I could, but you don’t need the help. Besides, watching you teach Spunky over there a lesson will be fun.”
The Los Feliz alpha roars at my insult, but Lydia laughs. “You’re trouble, Collins.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I bow in her direction. Sheena pokes me, hard enough to let me know she’s exasperated but not hard enough to leave a bruise.
“Okay,” Lydia says. “Here’s what I’m going to do for you, son.”
The Los Feliz alpha starts yelling at her, but she raises her hand and shuts him up.See, that’s how a real alpha operates.
“You and your friends go back to your overpriced condos and get on the internet and look up the rules around claiming another pack’s territory. You’ll find you need to petition the City of Los Angeles Were Council, and if they approve it, you’ll take it to the LA County Council. If they approve it, and that’s a big ol’if, then you and me can negotiate a fair price.”
He draws himself up like he hasn’t just had his ass handed to him. “Or how about we just settle it in the ring.”
The up and down look Lydia gives him should have flayed the meat right off his bones. “I don’t think you want that, boy. I’d hate to mess up that pretty face.”
“You’re joking. I’ll take you down, old woman, without even breaking a sweat.”
Lydia and I share a glance, and I springboard off that little nudge of energy. My wolf and I might still be discovering what we can do without the Collins Family Pack around us, but it’s harder to argue with genetics.
And I come from generations of alphas.
I stalk to the center of the floor, and without raising my voice, I tell the Los Feliz pack to kneel.
Three of the guys drop immediately, averting their eyes as if they can hide from their other pack members. I don’t repeat myself, at least verbally. Instead I catch the eye of one of the girls and nod. She bends one knee and then the other. One of her friends tries to pull her back to standing, but I nod at her and she kneels, too.
That leaves one of the frat boys and the third girl. Without the strength of the Collins Pack around us, my wolf’s retreating. I fight him, holding on and bringing them down with a raised eyebrow.
Then I turn to the pack’s alpha. He’s way more resistant than the others, and though I’m not as strong as I was when I so rudely bopped into Lydia’s lesbian bar and made her kneel, I’m still a Collins. He and I get locked in a stare-down. I’m mostly faking it at this point, but damn. He breaks away from my gaze, and I’ve got him.
Slowly, moving like somebody’s grandfather, the Los Feliz pack alpha kneels to me.
“Now apologize to Lydia, or you can meet me in the ring.”
He doesn’t look up, but he responds, “I’m sorry, ma’am,” with enough sincerity that I let it go.
Lydia looks at me and grins, tipping her head toward the door.
“Now get the hell out of here, all of you,” I say, and the Los Feliz pack scrambles to their feet.
They take off, all except the alpha. He stops in the door and glares at me. “We’re not done,” he says in a tone that’s probably meant to be threatening.
I don’t even respond.
I can’t. I’m ready to keel over I’m so tired, which makes it hard not to be bitter about what I’ve lost. The previous version of David Collins had more power than he knew what to do with. Now I’m just a lone wolf with alpha tendencies.
“Let me know if he gives you any trouble,” I say to Lydia. “He’ll be fun to fuck with.”
“Punks. Both of you. I don’t need some pretty boy fighting my battles for me.”
“Oh honey, no.” I raise my hands in surrender. “You would have hurt that guy without trying. I just got annoyed at his disrespect.”
She snorts and turns her glare on Sheena. “I asked for back-up, not this.” She waves at me like I’m a cat or something.
“Stick a sock in it, Lyd.” Sheena takes my arm and starts for the door. “Every wanna-be in this city thinks you’re an easy target, and I figured for once we’d show them the kind of allies you really have.”
“Ally, huh?”
“Always,” I say. With Lydia and her wolves following us out the door, Sheena hustles me to her car.
