Page 27 of Alpha Rising (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

I sat back in my seat and stared straight ahead. The complex knot in my stomach that had been twisting tighter and tighter over the last few days finally loosened.

Maybe I wouldn’t have to hate this woman after all. Sarah McAvoy did have unusual strength of will. As far as I could tell, she hadn’t even balked when she accidentally learned we were shifters. That was saying something.

When we reached town, Sarah first stopped at the liquor store. I helped her get the keg loaded into the back of the Jeep, then later at the bakery with the four boxes of cupcakes.

Twenty minutes later, we were outside the party supply store to pick up the balloons. Sarah entered the store quickly, as if she was eager to get back to the lodge.

I followed more slowly and a few feet behind. As I caught the edge of the door just before it closed, I heard my name being called from a half-block away. “Mel?”

I sucked in a breath and turned.Oh God. Theo.

“Babe!”

Trepidation washed through me. Fortunately, Sarah was already deep inside the store. Maybe she hadn’t heard him.

I released the door, letting it close, then smiled like a cat who got her cream. Theo Hawke may have been human, but as he dismounted his new Harley, he rivaled a shifter in both size and fluidity of movement. This made for a very pretty view—a view I’d been regularly enjoying for the last year.

Today, he had his dark hair pulled up into a knot, and it looked like he’d hacked the sleeves off his black Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt with a pair of dull scissors. The ragged fashion choice put his muscled, tattooed arms on delicious display, rivaled only by a pair of long legs encased in perfectly faded jeans.

There was a reason the other members of the Northern Brotherhood motorcycle club had nicknamed him “Yoops.” It was a play on UPS, the delivery service, because women called Theo “the total package.”

“What are you doing in town?” I asked when he was still ten feet away. "Don't you have work?"

Theo grinned broadly, then, closing the remaining gap, took me into his arms and kissed me right there on the sidewalk.

I wanted to push him away before anyone saw. If my brothers discovered I was dating a thirty-two year old human, there’d be hell to pay. Or at least uncomfortable questions to answer.

But Theo’s kisses were not to be missed, so I took the gamble and enjoyed them for a little while longer.

In fact, it was Theo who finally ended it, and he did it with a satisfied smile. “We’re having an impromptu cookout at the garage tonight. I’m on baked-beans detail. You should come.”

“Can’t.” I glanced nervously at the door to the craft store. “And I can’t talk right now either.”

“Are you all right?” He was obviously picking up on my agitation. His happy expression slipped into concern, and his blue eyes turned penetrating.

“Fine," I said. "Just picking up balloons. We have a party tonight, too.”

“Oh, right.” He nodded once. “That staff-appreciation thing.”

“That’s it.”

“Well, you know I hate partying single, but I’ll see you this weekend, right?”

“Of course, but I gotta go.” I made another furtive glance toward the store then rose up on my toes to kiss him.

Theo swung a strong arm around my waist and hauled me against his body, nearly lifting me off the ground.

While this kiss was shorter than the first, it wasscorching, and I returned it with equal enthusiasm.

Seemingly reassured, Theo released me with a swat on the behind, then he was on his way.

I watched him go, my skin hot and tingling. I put a hand to the doorknob just as Sarah exited the store. Or rather...tried to exit. She was wrestling a bouquet of a dozen blue and green latex balloons with their strings wrapped around a small weighted anchor.

“Who was that?” Sarah asked as she pushed three balloons through the doorway.

“Who?” I asked, hoping she hadn’t seen too much. “Here. Let me help you with that.”

“Who?That guy you were talking to.”

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