Of Secrets and Wolves (Winsford Shifters #1) - Alice Winters Page 0,2
gives me a tight-lipped smile before scurrying off.
I sit down next to Scott who shudders. “They just give me the heebie-jeebies.”
The shifters, known for their exceptional hearing, most likely can hear him and will probably murder us before we’re done with this place.
The small shifter hurries back to us and slides a glass of water in front of Scott and the lemonade in front of me. “Would you like anything else?”
Scott shoos him off a moment before the shifter who’d been staring at my dog outside slides into the booth across from us.
“Oh, dear god,” Scott groans. “What the fuck do you want?”
The young man raises an eyebrow as I realize he’s even more attractive close up. He’s got this defiant look to him that seems to be pissing Scott off even more. “Me? Hmm… probably a dog biscuit or a bone. Why?”
“Fuck off, kid.”
“I… was under the impression you wanted to speak with me,” he says as he leans forward on his elbows. “Am I wrong?”
Scott seems to be annoyed he’s failing at bullying the shifter into backing off. “We want to speak to the alpha.”
“Correct. I’m alpha.”
Scott snorts and even I feel a bit amused by this. There’s no way this man’s alpha. He looks like a twig and while he’s not short, he couldn’t be over five foot nine and not at all threatening. He looks like he’d have trouble wrangling rabbits.
“Cute. Now let me speak to your alpha,” Scott says.
The man gives him a rather cocky look that seems to be pushing Scott further and further over the edge. “Uh-huh… because I’m not, right? Is it the clothes? The hair? What makes me not alpha enough for you?”
Scott is growing pissed and this guy needs to realize it before Scott does something he can’t undo. “Your alpha better show up shortly. I’m getting tired of wasting my time.”
The young man smirks. “Understood.”
Then he leaves. A few minutes later, a man comes out of the back who dwarfs me. He’s a good six foot seven with broad shoulders and muscles that leave his shirt with little room to breathe. He seems uncertain as he sits down and faces us.
“I see you finally decided to show,” Scott says. “I’m Nathan Scott and this is our tracker consultant, Rowan Sinclair. We’ve had two escaped convicts that you might have heard about if you guys have the luxury of TV out here. Do you guys even know what that is?”
The man seems confused. “TV?”
Scott shakes his head like he pities the man who I honestly think is just confused why Scott would think he doesn’t know what a TV is. “Anyway, we have reason to believe you’re illegally hiding them here.”
“Dude… why are you telling me? I’m just the cook,” he says, clearly confused. “I’m not even a shifter. I’m human, like you.”
Scott’s boiling point is horribly high at this juncture. “Then who in this godforsaken place is in charge?”
“Our alpha’s Quinn,” he says as he points to the man from before. He’s sitting at the counter talking to the unique-haired man who is laughing about something.
“You… You seriously let that twig of a man be alpha? What a joke,” Scott says.
The large man looks at Scott with wide eyes. “Quinn? Quinn’s fucking scary.”
I watch as Quinn the “fucking scary” blows his straw wrapper off and hits the smaller man in the side of the face with it before laughing.
“I’m terrified,” Scott says sarcastically before getting up and storming over to Quinn. “We’re positive you’re hiding the missing fugitives, and if you don’t hand them over, I’m going to get a warrant to search your entire pack.”
Quinn, as I now know he’s called, slowly turns to look at Scott. “First off, we are not shielding any fugitives; second, if you come onto my land and threaten me or any of my pack, you will pay. Now sit down like a civilized human and explain what’s going on, and just maybe I can help.”
Scott’s pissed, so I decide to step up to the task. “I’ve been hired to track down two people who escaped prison three days ago. There’s speculation that they came this way.”
“Ah, a rational human. A pleasure to meet you. I’ll ask around, but I have my doubts anyone would enter my land without my knowledge. What was your name?”
“Rowan Sinclair and this is Nathan Scott.”
“So Rowan and Nathan, got it,” he says, but before he can continue, Scott interrupts him.