Page 67 of Alpha Rising (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

Abby’s eyes went wide. “I’m not! I just…” Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah. Okay.”

We stood silently with our backs against the hallway wall. Ten minutes later, Lauren emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam. She’d wrapped herself in a towel and clutched her ball of clothes against her chest.

“You don’t need to stick around.” Lauren crossed the hallway and entered her room.

I followed only as far as the doorway with Abby on my heels. “I thought you might want to talk.”

“No.” She dumped her clothes on the floor by her closet then climbed into bed, still wearing the towel. “I just want to sleep.” She rolled to face the wall.

I looked over my shoulder at Abby and whispered, “Stay with her.”

Abby nodded, and I stepped out of the way so she could enter their room.

“Hey, Laur,” she said. “I got you an icepack.”

I let out a breath, closed their door, then left to face my own music. I’d delayed as long as possible.

Entering the lodge through the kitchen’s back door, I returned the Jeep keys to their hook then peeked out into the hallway, expecting a firing squad.

Miraculously, the coast was clear, so I sprinted across the lobby for my room, tore open the door, and ducked inside.

I silently turned the lock, then rested my forehead against the door, taking three calming breaths. This was going to be a sleeping-pill kind of night. My adrenaline was still in overdrive, and there was too much to think about.

I turned slowly toward my bed, then nearly jumped out of my skin. My heart seemed to lodge in my throat—probably the only thing that kept me from screaming.

Reese was in my room, looking like a storm cloud.

I put my hands up, chest level, palms flexed out in what I hoped was a calming gesture and took a step toward him.

“Don’t move,” he said.

I startled to a halt. “Reese, I—”

“And not a word.”

I pressed my lips together. If I was going to get my ass chewed, at least it would be a private affair. It would be too humiliating to be scolded in front of the rest of his family.

“Sam said that fucker had a knife.”

I looked down at the floor. I’d been actively trying to forget that part of the evening.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you,” Reese growled.

I looked at him all right. My eyessnappedto him. “Ex-cuseme?”

Reese moved fast, faster than I’d ever seen him move in human form. Within a half second he had me by the shoulders and he’d pushed me against the door—not hard, but not gentle either.

“Uh…Reese?Given the fact I’ve already dealt with one physically abusive man tonight, do you really think—?”

“You think this is abuse?” he asked. “This,Sarah, is abject terror.”

He was terrifying. That was for sure. But that wasn’t what he was talking about. The wild look in his eyes confessed everything he was feeling, and though I appreciated his alarmed concern, this wan’t the way to communicate it.

“You have your hands on me,” I reminded him.

“To convince myself that you’re still breathing.”

I swallowed hard and refused to blink, not wanting to reveal how much that sentence scaredme. “You have me pushed against the door.”

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