I removed my chin from his fingers. “Spy on Creeks? No.”
Car doors slammed shut, making me jump. Liam and I both turned to scan the lot. Lucas, Matt, August, and Cole were walking up from where they’d parked the pickup.
Was it eight already? Had Liam and I spent an hour in his car? The sky was streaked with oranges and pinks, which told me they were early.
“We didn’t feel right about you two going in without protection,” Matt said as he approached in a pair of black jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, both fitting snugly over his broad, ropy limbs.
He’d made even less of an effort to dress up than Liam, which confirmed my earlier worries that I was way overdressed. The boys were like evergreens, and I was like that palm tree I apparently wanted in my dream house. I gripped the tulle, wishing I could transform it into a pair of jeans and a tank top.
Lucas’s blue-eyed gaze skipped between Liam and me, as though trying to gauge from our postures where we ranked on the scale of love and hate. The shaggy-haired shifter must’ve noticed that only billowing smoke remained from our spat, because his features relaxed. Had he been expecting to have to pry my claws out of his Alpha’s skin?
August’s face was a blank mask, but through the link, I felt his body thrumming with something, something that made him cross his arms, straining the fabric of the dark-olive Henley that matched his eyes.
“Shall we go see what the great Creek Alpha wants?” Lucas gestured to the inn.
Liam turned back toward the revolving doors, but Matt shoved him aside.
“I’ll go in first,” the blond giant said.
The doors spun, tossing the familiar scent of chimney smoke and potpourri at us, as well as the scent of musky sweat and damp fur. It smelled like the Creek delegation had traveled by paw instead of by foot and tire. Perhaps some had.
Liam went in after Matt, then Lucas. Cole gestured for me to go, so I pressed my fingertips into the cool glass and pushed. I expected noise but was greeted with silence. The place was eerily quiet. No one stood behind the bell desk. No one roamed the hallways. No footfalls echoed on the buffed pine floors.
I’d stopped just outside the revolving doors, so when Cole stepped through, I felt his hand on my back, pressing me a couple of inches to the side so he could fit into the inn without toppling me over. The tether tautened when August came in. I dropped my hand to my navel instinctively, not because it itched, but because touching it seemed to lend me strength. Unlike Cole who’d gone to stand next to his brother, August remained standing at my back, his steady heat pulsing against my bare shoulder blades, battling the goose bumps swarming over my skin.
“This doesn’t feel right,” Cole said.
The silence rattled my bones.
Lucas sniffed the air. “The place reeks of them.”
“I sense heartbeats,” Liam said. “Human and-”
There was pounding, scratching, then two wolves lurched out of the living room. Not wolves-dogs. Huge black and tawny ones with droopy faces. They stopped in front of the six of us, teeth bared, drool spilling over their floppy jowls.
I backed up, smacking into August’s chest. His hands settled on my arms at the exact same place where Liam’s had been not too long ago. Instead of bruising like Liam’s, August’s grip on me was gentle but firm-velvet instead of steel.
I relaxed when I noticed the dogs were hooked onto leashes, leashes that were stretched tight. Footsteps sounded on the hardwood floors, and then a silver-haired man came through the living room doors.
Aidan Michaels.
He reeled in the leashes. “I hope you’ll abstain from slaying my new Bloodhounds. I only received them a week ago.”
While Cole inched closer to me, Matt and Lucas positioned themselves in front of Liam. August didn’t move. Didn’t let go of my arms that had started to shake. Not with fear but with pure, unadulterated hatred.
I had no interest in killing the dogs, but their owner… I was sure interested in sectioning off one of his arteries and watching him bleed out.
“He can’t hurt you,” August murmured.
I wasn’t afraid of him hurting me. Quite the opposite.
“What are you doing here?” Liam’s tone was as cutting as a chainsaw.
“I was just visiting my new acquisition. It’s a tad shabby, but the view is splendid. Best thing about the place.” His bespectacled navy eyes sought mine through the wall of male bodies.
“Where are your guests?” Lucas bit out.
“They went out for a little exercise. Lovely bunch. Very educated and forward-thinking. A nice change from the citizens of Boulder.”
“All of them?” Liam asked.
“They’re not all sharp as tacks, but-”
Matt cut in. “Liam meant, are all of them out running?”
“Oh, yes. They all went. Even the young’uns.” Aidan scratched one of his hounds between the ears. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll lead you to the festivities.”
“You’re staying?” Lucas asked.
“Why not? This place is mine now, isn’t it?” Aidan swept his gaze over the high-ceilinged foyer.
Tendons shifted in the back of Liam’s neck. “Does Mrs. Morgan know you’ll be staying?”
Mrs. Morgan? Wasn’t Morgan her first name?
Aidan smiled that oily smile of his. “Oh, she does. Now come this way.” He gestured toward the living room. “After you.”
“You go on ahead, Aidan,” Liam said. It was the first time I’d heard him address the old man by his first name. “We’ll follow you.”
The hunter’s lips curled higher. “I’ve no rifle on me, Kolane.”
“Unless you want me to snap your dogs’ necks, you’ll walk in front of us,” Liam said.
Aidan tapped the flank of the bigger of the two Bloodhounds affectionately. “These two boys could be your cousins.”
“We aren’t related to dogs,” Liam gritted out.
Liam’s rising anger was fueling Aidan Michaels’s perverted glee.
The old man yanked on the leashes and then turned, leading the way into the living room. Liam turned toward me as though about to say something. His eyes glowed amber with bloodlust, the color intensifying when he caught August’s hands on me.
I’d been so absorbed by the sight of Aidan that I’d forgotten August was even holding on to me. I eased out of his grip. No one spoke, making the already uncomfortable moment all the more awkward.
“I can’t believe the bastards are out running,” Matt finally said.
“It’s nothing more than a negotiating technique,” Liam muttered. His eyes were slowly shifting back to their normal human hue. Only the rings around his irises remained lit like flames.
I crossed my arms, rubbing my pebbled skin. They’d turned the AC units to their full power.