Wild

Chapter 32 - Thickening Plot

Storm

When I leave our room, I am so upset that after getting into the elevator, I forget to press the button for the ground floor and stay stewing as other people get on and off, taking me back to the 8th floor before I remember to input the ground floor.

I understand why Makai doesn't trust Callum, but he also needs to understand that I am not about to throw Callum under the bus because of his suspicions. He thinks I'm just blindly trusting Cal, but it is more than that. Cal and I are connected in a way that is difficult to explain to other people. It is not romantic as Makai thinks, far from that. I just wish Callum would come clean with everything he knows so that Kai would get off his back.

I finally get off the ground floor and make my way to the bar, missing my mate but still upset with him. When I get in, I scan the busy bar that has most of the tables filled with drinking patrons. I make a beeline for an empty table at the back but change my mind when I notice the rowdy group next to it.

"Hey, Gorgeous! Why don't you join us here? We've got lots of drinks."

Not in the mood to decline politely, I ignore the call and scan for another empty seat.

"Storm?" Turning around at my name, I smile when I see Justin, Quinn's friend, and the alpha of the biggest pack in New Orleans, waving.

"Where is your brother?" he asks when I take the empty seat across from him, looking around for Quinn.

I chuckle. "I'm a full-grown adult you know. I don't always have my big brother with me. I can go out by myself and everything."

He laughs, his movie-star handsome features becoming even more gorgeous. Justin is a mixed race of 6ft 3 with dark brown eyes and curly hair gorgeousness.

"Touché. So are you in Las Vegas by yourself?"

"Nope. I'm here with my mate," I tell him.

He smiles. "Oh yes, Quinn mentioned that you had found your mate. Congratulations, Storm."

Despite the fight with Kai, I can't help the flush of pleasure that climbs up my neck and into my face, or the wide sappy grin that stretches my lips.

"Thank you!"

He calls a waiter to take my order.

Now it is my turn to look around. "And where are your guards?"

It is unheard of, for an alpha to travel without his enforcer and at least one other warrior. Even when Quinn and I were on pack duty away from the pack we always had two warriors shadowing us, and Quinn is not alpha yet. I had only managed to convince them to let Kai and me leave on our own because I pointed out that Kai alone has the caliber of more than two warriors, and I have magic for extra protection.

Justin chuckles at my question. "They are in the hotel. I persuaded them that I would be fine on my own for an hour since I'm just going to be on the ground floor."

"Aha! I knew your shadows would not be too far away."

He chuckles some more. "How is your brother doing? He needs to find time for us to get together again. It has been a while."

I thank the waiter for my mojito and take a sip. "He's doing okay, we've just had a couple of issues that he is dealing with."

He takes a sip of his scotch as well. "He told me about the abominations that kidnapped you. He also gave me more information about them than I had before, although I still have no idea what they were searching for in my library. I'm grateful that nobody was bitten. I did some research after Quinn updated me, and it just raised more questions."