smaller dog, blood in their mouths. Connor kept his face impassive, all the while fighting the bile rising in his throat.
This was it, the evidence he needed to take Frankie and his whole crew out. He should do it now. Shift and kill them all. He could even command the dogs to help him if he wanted.
His heart beat too hard in his chest. Now is the moment, Connor, he thought.
But he hesitated, and he knew why.
Casey stood behind him, shaking. He turned, catching the fear in her eyes. He wanted to reach out and comfort her. But since he was a large part of the reason for her fear, he kept his hands at his sides.
As Frankie came toward them, Connor spoke quietly so only she could hear.
“You’re on, Casey.”
She stared up at him for a moment longer with those bright, pretty eyes, and then she straightened her shoulders, smiled, and though he could still sense her fear, she opened her arms to Frankie.
Connor stepped out of the way as she sauntered over, letting Frankie wrap his arms around her, kissing her. She was good, he had to give it to her. She kissed him as though he were the only man in the world that she wanted.
He bit the inside of his cheek and watched Casey rub herself against Frankie’s groin, Frankie’s hands grabbing her ass and lifting her.
Connor looked away.
Victor watched with interest and a hard on. There were four others in Frankie’s crew there. Two took the fighters out of the barn, while another disposed of the dead dog.
He knew what the alphas would say. No one outside the family knew about them. They married other shifters, were homeschooled by shifters, and grew up surrounded by shifters. There was no place in the world for anyone who wasn’t a shifter to know about them. Not that she definitely knew about him. He only guessed that she did.
Frankie surfaced, his dark eyes peering down into Casey’s light ones. He was also good at playing a part, Connor thought, as Frankie smiled. He glanced at Connor.
“Dinner’s in thirty minutes. Why don’t you go settle in, any room on the second floor is fine, and meet us behind the house?”
Connor nodded. “Your bike?”
Frankie wrapped an arm around Casey’s waist and led her toward the house. “My men will unload it. The parts will be here tomorrow.”
Connor watched him and Casey disappear through the fence. So Frankie was going to play it cool, wait to see if one of them slipped up. He could sense the suspicion in Frankie, smell the anger, but the man did nothing. Frankie was going to let this play out.
Connor smelled sweat and onions a moment before he felt the heavy form of Victor loom behind him.
“Luis, Gio, get the bike,” the big man barked.
Connor turned, nodding at him. He only glared in return. Two of the men hurried off, and Connor followed.
When he got to the car, Luis and Gio had already taken the bike off the trailer and were pushing it into a detached garage. Connor grabbed his things, left his car where it was, and headed into the house. Frankie sure went all out with this whole farmhouse thing.
Flowery upholstery on the couches and chairs, a huge wooden table in the dining room, creaky stairs leading up the second floor. There were four bedrooms, none occupied, so he took the one at the end of the hall, out of the way. His room was simple; large bed, old dresser, wooden trunk filled with extra blankets. It felt too much like the birthing room at home, but it had a view of the stable and barn out back. He could also see a table and chairs in a smaller area with lights strung around it. He assumed that’s where they would be having dinner.
Pausing a moment, Connor let the house settle around him, taking in the scent of apples, mint, and horse on the cool breeze, the feel of the branches scratching the siding, the pulse of the dogs outside.
And then he felt something else; a steady, panicked heartbeat. It came from overhead.
The heartbeat moved across the upstairs hall and down the stairs. She was running.
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