Page 34 of Blade's Battle
“Is that so?” Liam leaned forward and sniffed her neck. “You smell like him.” Then his gaze dropped lower, and he sniffed again. “He hasn’t touched you. Good.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of that comment, and before she could say anything, Liam took her hand in his and gently touched the abrasion on her palm. “You’re injured.”
“I tripped.” She pointed to her oversized shoes, so he’d see the problem. Liam was making her nervous, and she regretted saying there was nothing between her and Blade.
“That’s something we can fix.” Liam offered his arm. A second later, Blade’s yelling intensified as he emerged from the tree line, two guards flanking him. In quick succession, his face displayed anger, shock, and then rage as he spotted Anna with Liam.
Anna looped her arm around Liam’s and walked with him toward the main house, leaving Blade behind in their wake. She hadn’t planned on making Blade jealous, but she was angry with him and she needed to calm down. That meant leaving with Liam, not Blade.
Blade’s shouts faded in the distance as she entered the rustic but comfortable home that had all the makings of a lodge. Timber walls, a large hearth in the center, carved wood tables and chairs, yet a very expensive and modern kitchen with granite counters, hardwood floors, and a five-burner gas stovetop. Most male shifters preferred to hunt small and large game. Kitchens and cooking, in general, were not a big part of shifter life, at least not from what she’d seen at Kurt’s pack. The cookhouse tended to be the central place for eating. Those on kitchen duty prepared the food and most of the pack ate together often. It was simply how things were done, though not a rule.
“What’s an alpha doing with such a fantastic kitchen? I mean, given that most males I’ve seen prefer to hunt in wolf form or eat with the rest of the pack.”
“My mother liked to cook, so after I became alpha, I indulged her. She complained that the shifters in charge of the meals at the cookhouse didn’t know what vegetables are. She wasn’t big on meat.”
Anna shook her head. “I never heard of a vegetarian shifter.”
“My mother was human.”
That shocked her. “Did she blood-bond with your father?”
“No, which is why she died so young. She refused to weaken him, including the day she was shot by hunters. The bond could have saved her, but she refused.”
It was a dilemma she understood all too well, except she’d learned too late that she didn’t have to blood-bond Kurt. They could have still married, but the bond had meant so much to him. He talked endlessly about how it was the basis of a true marriage. She had never thought twice about it, and he’d suffered because of it.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“And I’m sorry for yours, Anna Winters.”
“How do you know my last name?”
“Hello again, Anna.”
It was Ravirez, the doctor from Drake’s compound.
Chapter Six
ANNA
Anna couldn’t talk. She’d only met the doctor once, but if he was here, then Liam knew all about her. Everything, at least Drake’s version.
“Cat got your tongue?” Ravirez said, with a burst of dark laughter behind his unforgiving black eyes.
“Ravirez has some interesting claims,” Liam said.
“Not claims,” Ravirez said. “Facts.”
“Lies,” Anna countered.
Liam’s gaze moved from one to the other, but he stood there, arms crossed at his chest, silent once more. His strategy seemed to be one of sitting back and letting them argue and spill information without realizing it. She wasn’t going to let Ravirez bait her or Liam manipulate her.
“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, but I won’t do it in the same room with him,” Anna said, pointing to Ravirez.
When Ravirez raised his hand to strike her, she threw her arms up to cover her face. The blow never came. Liam had moved in front of her, his steely eyes warning Ravirez to behave.
“Don’t trust her, Liam. She’ll bring the WSSO down on you the first chance she gets.”
“Go to the isolation ward, Doctor. You have plenty to do administering the cure for my shifters. I’ll join you when I’m done here.”
