Her gaze slid over the room once more, this time absorbing more details
about the people around her. Definitely a zoo.
Holy crap, were those rhino shifters? Their foreheads protruded over
small beady eyes as they scanned the room. The look in their eyes was distrustful,
skeptical. As if they didn’t quite know what they were doing there. They all
had the same build, with large shoulder and a stocky frame. They probably all
had mad football skills. If she saw one of them charging down the field toward
her, she sure as hell would get out of their way.
Laurie had heard of rhino shifters before, but had never seen one. She
had no idea there were rhino packs in America. Packs? What did one call a group
of rhinos?
“What’s a pack of rhinos
called?” A hush fell over the crowd around them, as Danny turned toward her,
his eyes wide with shock.
Uh oh, had she done something wrong? Stumbled into some shifter no-no
without realizing it? All she’d done was ask a question. Well, crap. She knew
she wouldn’t be good at this diplomatic stuff.
“Tell me you did not just ask
that, out loud, in a room full of shifters?” His whisper held disbelief, anger,
and just a touch of incredulity. Laurie looked at the faces around her, all
staring at her, each holding a different mixture of the same emotions Danny
portrayed. Anger stronger on some, amusement stronger on others.
Risking a glance at the rhinos,
Laurie tried to read their expressions, but their faces were masks of granite
as they studied her right back. She lowered her head, something alpha wolves
like herself really really didn’t
like to do, and whispered a muted apology to Danny.
Apparently she’d screwed up. Hopefully Alpine Woods wouldn’t suffer as a
result. Damn it, this was exactly why she hadn’t wanted to come. Well, not this
exact situation, but something like this. There was a reason she let her
brothers form their group of officers for the pack without including her. And
it wasn’t because she was female as some of the men in town liked to taunt. No,
it was because biting her tongue just wasn’t in her nature. If she’d tried to
become one of the officers, her inability to work the political angle would
have weakened the leadership as a whole, and her brothers were too good for the
pack to risk them failing because of her.
Danny sighed
as he turned back around to check them into the hotel.
A pair of large feet wrapped in
brown tie up dress shoes stepped into her line of vision. Old school shoes. Her
gaze moved up legs the size of a tree trunk covered by a gray business suit,
pausing at the overly large shoulders before moving up to collide with the
slate gray eyes of one of the rhinos. For a moment, her stomach bottomed out. She
was strong…for a wolf. But even she wasn’t crazy enough to want to go toe to
toe with a rhino. Then she caught the slight up curve of his lips, and a breath
of relief slipped out.
“A crash,” he stated.
“Yeah, and burn,” she replied,
her stomach calming at his friendly demeanor. Thank the Lord he wasn’t easily
offended. It had seemed like an innocent enough question, but with this many
different groups and sensitivities, she supposed everything needed to be extra
PC.
“No.” His smile widened and a
huff of a laugh escaped. “Well, yes.” Then he laughed for real, a deep bellow
of sound that further settled her nerves. She wasn’t exactly sure what he found
funny, but at least he seemed to have a sense of humor. “A group of rhinos is
called a crash. Or a herd.”
“A crash?” His protruding
forehead wrinkled when he raised his eyebrows. She sensed he wasn’t a person of
many words. “That’s so cool. Why would you ever use herd if you could go by
crash?” Laurie joked, smiling at the man.
From the corner of her eye, she
saw Danny stiffen beside her. Great, had she stumbled into some other unknown
shifter convention rule? Navigating this event was turning out to be trickier
than a minefield.
“Hence the reason I said crash
first,” the rhino joked back.
“Hi, I’m Danny, office from the
Alpine Woods wolf pack,” Danny interjected, holding his hand out to the rhino
in front of her.
“Dominic.” The man took his hand and shook once. Concise and
authoritative. She liked it. Similar to everything else about the rhino, the brief
clasp shouted power.
She was grateful he had been amused rather than offended by her innocent
blunder. He was not a man she wanted as an enemy. Anyone with half a brain,
including full humans, knew better than to cross a rhinoceros. Or a hippo, for
that matter.
Wait…were there hippo shifters? She’d never heard of any, but that didn’t
mean they didn’t exist. For years, she’d been more or less content to stay in
Alpine Woods, so she hadn’t met a lot of other shifters besides those in the
neighboring towns.
She opened her mouth to ask about the possibility of hippo shifters when
common sense prevailed. She looked around the room at the people still watching
their group, rubber necking as if they were a wreck on the highway. Correction,
as if she were a wreck on the
highway. No doubt those that weren’t looking still had one ear tuned in to
their conversation. Laurie had already screwed up once, and she wasn’t about
the give these people more of a show. At least not without charging a fee.
“Your mate is quite amusing,” the rhino told Danny. Laurie looked around
for Amber, Danny’s mate, wondering why she was here when she was supposed to be
in DC. Then the meaning behind his words hit. Her? She made a face even as
Danny rushed to correct the man.
“Sister.” He glanced over at her and Laurie focused back on the
conversation. “She means well, she just isn’t used to these conventions.”
“Unmated sister?” Dominic’s question pierced through her brain,
scattering her annoyance at Danny and centering it squarely on the rhino.
“Excuse me?” she interjected. All well and fine if he wanted to hit on
her, but if he was, he’d better ask her, not her brother.
“I find you amusing. There’s not enough amusement in my life.” The rhino
shrugged.
“Then get a slinky. Hours of amusement.” Beside her, Danny groaned and
buried his head in his hands. His distress dissipated some of her bravado.
Hadn’t she just decided smart people didn’t antagonize rhinoceroses?
She’d always considered herself a smart person, but maybe it was time to
reanalyze. Then the rhino laughed, and she once again thanked God the man had a
sense of humor.
“I’ve had slinkys before. But you… You’re unique, and much more amusing.”
Did that mean he wasn’t going to crush her with his massive rhino fist?
Seemed so. But would he push her down the stairs just to watch her tumble? That
was a different question. One she didn’t have the guts to ask. “Your brother
should have warned you. An unmated alpha female at these events is like a juicy
steak in a tiger pit. Especially one as alluring as you.”
