Bad Love: An Alpha's Regret (Leah and Aaron)

Chapter 102

I plaster on my most gracious smile. "Honored members of the

Council, welcome!"

I step forward and shake hands in the order that they position. themselves and pray I'm not committing some terrible faux pas by not starting with Petyr or Aleksei. But they are to the back of the others, so if I bypass everyone else...

Aaron and Liam flank me and make their own hel los.

Karolina grips my hand hard. I lock eyes with her and wonder what it is she is trying to convey. A warning perhaps?

"There is food spread throughout the main floor and

additional buffet tables outside. Please. Eat. Have a drink."

Elder Aleksei comes from the Old World and he looks it. He

wears a suit but no tie. His silver hair is styled back. His eyes are light and taking in every detail. There's a preternatural stillness to him that gives off a different energy than Karolina or even Tobin-and he's probably the most intense wolf I've

ever come across.

"We did not come here to mingle," Samsen says. He's big and tawny. Aaron angles so he is in front of me. Liam too shifts his

body to protect me.

Karolina laughs. "Look at this wolf! Always so ready to fight. Relax, Alpha Rathborn. We come here to talk."

Aarom smiles easily. "Of course." He glances at me. "Where

would you like to entertain our guests, Alpha Leah?"

I appreciate how he's handling this. Part of me worried that

he'd already be resorting to violence, and part of me worried if he did keep his temper in check, that he'd be speaking on my behalf or doing something to relegate me to the background. But Aaron isn't doing any of those things. He's deferring to me.

"Let's bring our guests into the dining room." I turn to my

brother. "Liam, perhaps you can ask any of our packmates to clear that area so we might speak more privately. Yes?"

Liam nods and moves quickly.

Now I just have to hope nobody wrecked the place in the time

I was upstairs.

"It's just this way," I say. I lead our group through the center of the main hall, thinking that they can take a minute to interact

or at the very least to allow some of our pack to show their respects-and many do.

When we reach the main stairwell that would take us upstairs,

I turn left to branch into the corridor that can take us to the

dining room and formal living room.

"It's just this way," I say, glancing over my shoulder and

extending my arm to the left.

Most of the wolves move off in that direction.

Except for Tobin.

He hangs back.

Aaron does too. His eyes narrowing.

Tobin pauses by me at the foot of the stairs. He sniffs the air and says: "I smell death..."