Page 25 of Alpha Rising (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

“Of course.” I plastered on a smile. Apparently my aloofness hadn’t been as subtle as I’d thought, and Sarah’s awareness only worsened my awkwardness and dread. I didn’t like eventhinkingabout my brothers’ romantic relationships. Forget about discussing them.

And if Reese had any idea about the speech I was planning to give, he’d probably shut me down so quick my head would spin.

“Okay,” Sarah said. “Sure. I’m picking up balloons too, and they can be hard to corral. A second set of hands might be useful, so whenever you're ready, I’ll be in the Jeep.” Sarah exited the lodge.

I took a deep breath, then shoved my phone into the back pocket of my tight-fitting jeans and walked out from behind the desk.

“Melanie,” said a deep and familiar voice from down the hall.

I closed my eyes, slowly filled my lungs, then turned to see Reese standing in his office doorway. After several days away, his beard was fuller than I was used to seeing it.

“Yes?” I asked innocently.

“What are you doing?” His tone was stern, and his expression was suspicious.

I hooked a thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the door. “I’m going to help Sarah pick up the things she needs for the party tonight.”

Reese moved closer. “I heard. But what are youreallyup to?”

I narrowed my eyes and crossed my fingers behind my back. Sam had always been the most perceptive of us, but Reese was an annoyingly close second. “Why do you always assume I’m up to no good?”

“Because I’ve known you for twenty years, and you always cross your fingers when you’re about to make trouble.”

I uncrossed my fingers but admitted nothing. “Says the alpha who disappears for days at a time and makes his own kind of trouble.”

My insubordination solicited a low, rumbling growl and the wound his claws had inflicted on my shoulder—though nearly healed—pulsed with warning. I never did learn how to hold my tongue.

“It’s not a great time for you to be stirring up things in town,” Reese warned.

“We’re picking up balloons,” I said while rolling my eyes.

There was, however, some context for Reese’s admonition. Several weeks ago, I’d written a scathing op-ed for theEvergreen Gazette, and Reese had gotten a few calls about it.

While he hadn’t been pleased that I’d submitted the article without running it past him first, he’d liked what I wrote. And I didn’t regret a word of it.

The city council’s noise pollution ordinance was a thinly veiled attempt to push the local motorcycle club out of town. When you were a shifter, you personified marginalization to the extreme, so prejudice was always a hot-button issue for us, and I was never one to sit back and let others say what needed to be said.

Which was why I was about to have the most awkward conversation of my life.

“Promise me,” Reese said, though there was a twinkle in his eye. “No trouble in town.”

“I promise. You know, you were never this cynical before becoming alpha.”

“That’s because you were Dad’s problem then.”

Pain sliced through my heart at the mention of our father. I wondered if there’d ever be a time when it didn’t. But before I could give it any more thought, Reese pulled me into a brotherly hug and kissed the top of my head.

“Be good," he said. "See you when you get home.”

I pushed him away and pretended to be grossed-out by the kiss, even though the lioness and I both enjoyed our alpha's affection.

Sarah was already behind the wheel of one of the Jeeps when I got outside.

“Ready?” she asked as I climbed into the passenger seat.

“Ready.”

We’d just left the circular drive and were headed down the hill toward town when Sarah said, “So.”

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