Page 82 of The Strongest Wolf

It doesn’t matter what his pack thinks, Sierra. So get out, find Galen and tell him something you should have told him weeks ago. That you love him.

I release my seatbelt just as the front door swings open and a tall man with shaved hair, long ropy muscles, and serious dark eyes steps out. The second my gaze hits him, I know I’m looking at Galen’s beta, Dom.

Disappointment stirs that it’s not Galen, but he must be too busy with the rest of the pack to come out.

When his gaze moves to the passenger seat and a frown creases his brow, I turn the engine off and climb out of the car, my eyes never moving from his as he thumps down the porch steps and toward me.

We meet halfway. “Dom, I’m guessing,” I smile.

He nods. And again, his gaze darts to my car. “You’re alone.”

My eyes narrow. “Yes,” I say slowly, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

His attention refocuses on me. “Galen isn’t back yet.”

I blink at him.

Is this some kind of joke?

“What do you mean, he isn’t back yet?” I ask as murmured voices draw my gaze to the open front door.

Seven people wander out. Four women and three men in their early to mid-twenties. All of them stare at me with an intensity that makes me want to jump back in my car and drive away.

They walked out on their last alpha because he fell down on the job. What would they do to me if I fail to live up to their expectations?

“Sierra?”

Dom’s voice pulls my attention back to him. A deep frown creases his brow. “He left hours before you. How can you have beaten him here?”

I shrug, trying to ignore a jittery feeling in my gut. “I don’t know. But he should be here.”

He’s silent for a beat. “He could be stuck in traffic.”

“It was bad near New York,” I agree. “But the roads were clear from the last interstate to here. He should have been here by now.”

“What’s going on?” a woman calls out from a few feet away.

I ignore her.

My eyes don’t move from Dom as I try to bottle my growing panic that something is wrong. “Have you called him?”

Dom nods. “More times than you can count. The phone rings out. He’d texted to say you were coming, and I assumed he’d decided to wait for you so you could finish the journey together.”

I think of all the times I called Galen on my way. “I thought he was busy with… well, it doesn’t matter. Could he have—”

A ringing phone silences me.

Dom reaches into his pocket, his brow smoothing.

I nearly sag in relief because it has to be Galen.

He probably got a flat tire on the way and he didn’t have a phone signal until now.

“Yes?” Dom’s gaze doesn’t move from my face as I listen in, relieved that shifter hearing means I don’t need it on speaker to hear both sides of the conversation.

“Dom?” a male voice asks, his tone hesitant.

Must be the mechanic.

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