Guarded (True Alpha 2) by Alisa Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

realize it.
    And somehow he had been blind to it until that moment. Still stunned by that thought, his father’s gruff voice brought him back out of his own head.
    “After your call last night, Llyr and I and several members of our packs went to the parking garage right away.” His father shook his head. “The Red wolves were already gone.”
    “I left one unconscious,” Lucas objected, but he winced as well. He had waited too long to call, too wrapped up in getting Mia to safety—which was excusable—and giving into his wolf’s craving for her—which was not.
    “I don’t doubt you, son,” his father said. “Not least because I received a call shortly afterwards from Crittenden. He claims it happened without authorization, and those wolves are being punished. But the offer, or I should say threat, still stands.” He glanced at Mia, but his pointed, and definitely angry, look was all for Lucas.
    “The offer that they’ll leave Mia alone if we back down on Loop Source.” At his father’s raised eyebrows, he added, “She knows everything.”
    “Well… not really,” Mia protested. “Who is Crittenden?”
    His father’s look for her was soft again. “He’s the alpha of the Red pack. They have the same reports we do, Mia. They seem convinced LoopSource is the next big thing in mobile computing, but they know we can outbid them. The only way they’ll be able to score the deal is by getting us to back down.” He glanced at the reports clutched in Lucas’s hands. “I’m still waiting to hear whether LoopSource is worth our time…” He looked back to Mia. “But I promise you. Under no circumstances will we allow them to hurt you.”
    Mia seemed to relax a little under his father’s warm assurance. The man in Lucas was glad to see it, but his wolf growled at the intrusion of his father’s alpha. He pushed his wolf’s jealous thoughts to the back of his mind. His father had already extended pack protection to Mia, and he was simply reassuring her of that. Lucas was lucky his father was willing to step in and help where Lucas couldn’t without a pack of his own. He had little to offer Mia and no claim to make. His wolf had better get used to that fact.
    “However,” his father continued, “now that they’ve attacked, that puts me in a very bad position. Mia wasn’t harmed, so technically, my prior threat to hold Crittenden personally responsible hasn’t been triggered. But the fact remains that the Red pack violated our territory when they tried to take her. A pretty brazen act, even if it wasn’t authorized by their alpha. And not something we can just let go.”
    “Are you planning to retaliate?” Lucas swallowed. This could escalate quickly. Which meant even more danger for Mia. Not to mention his brothers.
    “I already have.”
    Mia’s face had gone pale. “But I’m fine! I don’t want anyone to get hurt over me.”
    “This isn’t your fault, Mia,” Lucas said. “This is pack business.”
    “Lucas is right,” his father said, with an approval that unexpectedly warmed Lucas. “None of this is your responsibility. You’re just a bartering chip to the Reds.”
    “Maybe you could convince them that I’m not… I don’t know… anything special?” Mia’s face had scrunched up, and the need to touch her became suddenly overwhelming.
    Lucas edged closer and allowed himself to put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re already special enough that I beat the crap out of them when they tried to take you.” He gave a small smile. “Twice.”
    “Short of your death, Mia, we’re not going to convince them otherwise. And there’s no way we’re going to let that happen.” His father’s gaze was hot on Lucas’s back. He had to be wondering exactly what kind of relationship Lucas had with Mia, especially now that she had turned out to be a shifter. Lucas hardly knew what to call their relationship himself, much less how to explain it to his father. Besides, it was irrelevant to the