Alpha Beast (The Alpha Shifter Collection Book 10)(2)
Author: Sam Crescent

“I am so sorry,” Bianca said.

 

Liam saw his dad was already pissed. Bianca had already insulted their guests. Liam Sr. grabbed his wife and moved the conversation toward the dining room.

 

“Well, what do you think?” Ben asked.

 

“I think you should go and sit down.”

 

He followed behind Jenny, watching the curves of her ass sway from side to side. Her hands kept clenching and unclenching like she was trying to keep control of something.

 

At the dinner table, they were sat opposite. Liam watched her, unable to take his gaze away. He’d never been this close to her before.

 

She put her hands across the cutlery and tilted her head to the side.

 

So far, he hadn’t seen her talk to herself.

 

Conversation started with traffic, the weather. All the while, Jenny seemed to ignore everyone and everything around her. She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply and expelling breath, until finally, she opened those beautiful grays and looked at him.

 

One.

 

Two.

 

Three seconds.

 

She looked away.

 

The wolf inside him was curious. He felt his beast close to the surface, which only ever happened when he was angry. More often than not, he could keep tight control on his leash, but today, for some reason, it was taking over.

 

He couldn’t control himself.

 

Touch her. Taste her. Claim her.

 

Liam stayed in his seat.

 

Silence rang around the table as the waitresses brought in their first course. Again, he watched Jenny.

 

Her brothers sat on either side of her, but they acted like she wasn’t there. Her father was seated at the end of the table, which was done to show their respect. Liam Sr. took the other head of the table. Their wives on their left-hand sides.

 

Liam couldn’t take his gaze away from Jenny. It was probably a good thing as he was the only one who noticed when her cutlery started moving all of its own accord. In the next second, it flew across the room and Jenny cleared her throat.

 

“There was something on it. I’m so sorry,” Jenny said.

 

“No, it’s perfectly all right. We don’t find dirty cutlery acceptable either,” Liam Sr. said.

 

Jenny looked toward him, but he knew what he’d seen. She hadn’t touched that cutlery, which meant if the rumors were true, right now, someone was trying to talk to Jenny, and from the looks on her face, she wasn’t enjoying it.

 

****

 

“You’ve got to tell them that Bordaux is lying. He’s feeding the coyotes the information!”

 

Jenny didn’t want to look at the man who only had half a face. At least, he’d had half a face the moment she entered the Wolfs’ house. In the past ten minutes, his face had started to grow back.

 

It occasionally happened, but as she looked straight ahead, she caught sight of Liam watching her again.

 

Her father had given her strict instructions: no funny business. No talking to people who didn’t exist, no arguing, nothing. Like she had much of a choice. She thanked the waitress for bringing her another fork and she gripped it tightly, hoping this guy would get the message.

 

The problem … his message was important and he’d died in a really bad way. Betrayal was a hard one to accept, and as she continued to ignore him, even though he knew who she was, what she could do, his anger sickened her.

 

She didn’t know why they were sitting with their enemies. After the latest massacre had killed nearly ten people, she learned three of them had been young civilians. She knew because they came to her.

 

Some people—spirits, ghosts, didn’t matter, they were dead people—didn’t accept that they were in fact, gone. Most did. Those that did liked to linger a lot, to watch. She’d see them looking over their loved ones, and they were nice to talk to. It was how she talked to her grandmother.

 

Her own mother… She cut that thought off immediately. Thinking of her mother always made her feel sad and lonely.

 

“Seriously, you fucking weirdo. Do you think I want to be talking to you when I could be keeping an eye on my wife and kid? I know about you. I even know that after tonight, you’re going to be engaged to Liam, so this is as much—”

 

“Wait, what?” She turned, looking at the spirit. The moment she focused on him, the damage to his face healed.

 

“You can see me. Thank God.”

 

“Honey, what is it that you didn’t hear?” her father asked.

 

She didn’t turn to look at him, instead, listening to the man no one else could see.

 

“I guess you didn’t know that this was an engagement party of sorts. It has all been decided by your dads. Liam is a great guy, by the way.”

 

“I can’t believe this,” she said.

 

“Believe what, honey?” her father asked.

 

“You’re going to marry me off?” She glared at her father, and from the deep crimson of his cheeks, she knew the dead man hadn’t been lying. Betrayal hit her hard.

 

“How do you know?” he asked.

 

“How do you think?” She glared at him. She couldn’t believe she had tried to ignore this damn spirit. A complete stranger to her in every single way and yet, he’d shown more compassion to her in a few seconds. “What do you need me to say?” she asked.

 

She was aware they were all looking at her strangely, but she didn’t care. From the time she was three, she’d been different. The weird one. When she was first born, there were pictures of her with deep-brown hair. Since she turned three, when she saw her first dead person, her hair got whiter. At first, streaks of it appeared. By the time she was ten, her entire head of hair was white, just like her mother’s.

 

“Mr. Wolf, have you ever heard of a man named Bordaux?” she asked.

 

“What is the meaning of this?” Liam Sr. asked.

 

This was going to get ugly fast, and she didn’t want it to escalate. “What’s your name?” she asked the stranger.

 

“Kenrick. He knows I died on the job. They buried me quietly.”

 

She took a deep breath as Kenrick started talking. “A guy who worked for you, Kenrick, died of a gunshot wound to the face. He said that he has discovered Bordaux has a direct communication to the coyotes. He’s feeding them information and your money in the hope of a takeover bid. He was killed trying to contact you.”