Page 20 of Protection of the Pack

Yes, food. It’s helpful.

Food should be hunted,she said firmly.

I was at a loss how to respond, so I didn’t. Manners was watching me curiously. I’d been silent for too long. That made me blurt out something that had been playing on my mind. ‘If I gave you an order and Emory countermanded it, whose order would you follow?’

There was a very long pause. Shit.

Manners shook his head. ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted finally. ‘But I promise you this – I will never follow an order from Emory that would put you or the pack in danger. You don’t know Emory, but he would never order me to do something that would put me in a shitty position like that. He hasn’t given me an order since I’ve been here. You and I don’t know each other properly yet, but I’ve given you my oath and my loyalty. I promise you, you won’t need anything else.’

I felt a visceral thrill at that. I believed him. In my head, Esme purred loudly. Having command of a man like Manners was the stuff of dreams.

I searched around for a topic that would distract me from how breathless I suddenly felt. ‘How come you don’t call me Toots?’ I asked.

He blinked, but that was all the surprise he showed. Note to self: do not play poker with Manners.

‘Ah … you’re my boss?’ he said finally.

‘You called Jess “Toots”.’

‘I was trying to provoke a reaction, see what she was made of. She’ll face a lot more adversity than a little name calling for dating the Prime Elite. Calling my boss names is disrespectful.’

I sighed. ‘I kind of need you to be a bit disrespectful to your boss now and again. You’re the only one I can trust, and I need a friend more than I need an obedient automaton. In front of the pack, you can ma’am me all you like, but behind closed doors call me names. Tell me the truth. I don’t need a yes-man.’

He watched me for a long moment before nodding, leaned back until he was slumped in the chair and crossed one leg over his other knee. It was only then that I realised he’d been sitting to attention. ‘Alright. We’ve got a dead packmate. What do we intend to do about it?’ he asked.

‘We’re going to find the fucker that killed him and bring him to justice.’

‘And justice means … what?’

I thought about it. I didn’t trust the Connection, not after everything Jess and Emory had told me about them. I trusted Steve as an individual, but that wasn’t enough, not when the corruption Jess had warned me about seemed to be endemic. ‘We bring him to justice,’ I repeated. ‘Pack justice.’

‘So we’re going to get our hands dirty.’ He looked pointedly at my manicured nails. ‘Are you good with that?’

‘I have to be, or I’m not going to survive as alpha for more than a New York minute. I’m a werewolf, an alpha. I’m not an accountant, not anymore.’ I could mourn my career later, not now. ‘If I’m going to make it, I’m going to need to toughen up.’

‘You’re tougher than you give yourself credit for, Toots.’

You are,Esme agreed.And I definitely am.

I rolled my eyes. ‘Don’t call me Toots.’

‘You just told me to call you Toots.’

‘No, I said knock off the ma’ams and be my friend. Toots is your thing with Jess. We need a new thing. An “us” thing. Be original.’

He smirked. ‘Noted, sweetheart.’

‘Ugh. Too patronising.’

He laughed. ‘You’re difficult to please.’ It was the first time I’d noticed him laughing. It was nice.

‘I have standards.’ I sniffed and pretended to poke my nose in the air, but secretly I was pleased. Our little chat seemed to have broken the formality between us and I needed that desperately. Jess was two hundred miles away and she had her own crap to contend with. I needed a pal in this strange and violent realm I’d stumbled into. I didn’t know the rules and regulations; I barely knew how to be a werewolf. I had Esme, thank goodness, but I needed more than an amusing inner monologue to keep me sane. Manners was it.

‘I guess I should start thinking of you as Greg.’

‘That works, given that it’s my name.’

I shot him a mock glare. ‘Funny guy.’

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