Corrigan Magic (Corrigan: Blood Destiny Book 2) by Helen Harper Page A

that he should follow me.  The others, including Staines, hung back.  It was probably for the best.  Tom trailed after me, his head hanging.  I strode to my office and slammed open the door then pointed inside.  He walked in before me, then stood in front of my desk, hands clasped and posture submissive.
    It took a lot of effort to control myself.  I made a point of sitting down first and shuffling through a few bits of paper.  It was only when I was sure I could keep a rein on my emotions that I spoke.
    “What do you think your fiancée would say if she knew you’d been meeting secretly with Mackenzie Smith?”
    Confusion flashed in Tom’s eyes.  It made me feel slightly better.  “Betsy likes Red.  I mean Mack.”
    “Her scent,” I said, picking up a fountain pen and rolling it slowly through my fingers, “is all over you.”
    “We, uh, we hugged.”
    “Did you now.”
    “I didn’t know she was in London!” he burst out.  “She was sitting in the restaurant when we entered.  No-one else noticed.  I didn’t think it was a big deal.”  That last part was obviously a lie.
    “You didn’t think it was a big deal?  Her face has been plastered all over the Othernet for weeks.  We’ve been searching for her high and low.  Don’t you know how dangerous a rogue shifter can be?”  Not to mention one who might possess the potential to cause all out civil war precisely when we could least afford it.
    His face turned red.  “I’m sorry, my Lord.”
    “Where is she now?”
    He met my eyes.  “I don’t know.”
    “What is she doing in London?”
    He hung his head.  “I don’t know.”
    “Was she alone at Alcazon?”
    His chin jerked up.  “No.  She was with a faerie.”  His mouth downturned at the edges to highlight just what he thought of that salient little fact.
    “Let me guess.  Blond hair?” 
    Tom nodded.  I gritted my teeth.  Bloody Lord Sol yet again.  Just what was his deal?  Was that why Mack hadn’t been bothered by Tom’s engagement?  Was she moving up in the world?  Fae royalty would certainly be considered a coup by many young women.  The pen in my hand snapped.  I carefully laid down the two pieces.
    “What is she really?”
    Blind panic flashed across Tom’s face so quickly I wondered whether I’d imagined it.  “My Lord?”
    “You can’t continue with the fallacy that she’s a werehamster.  She’s far too strong.  And her scent is off.  Tell me what she really is.”  I should have had this conversation long ago.  I’d just wanted both Tom and Betsy to feel relaxed and welcome.  I hadn’t wanted to compel them immediately and make them feel uneasy here in London.  I was trying, after all, to make the Brethren a better place, not somewhere shifters had to slink around feeling terrified of what I might demand next.  When I’d done this to Julia, she’d affirmed that Mack was just a werehamster.  It was bullshit though.  Mack wasn’t ‘just’ anything.  I used the Voice.  Tell me.
    Tom swallowed.  She’s a werehamster.  There were lines of taut tension across his jaw and his cheeks were suffused with even more red than they had been previously.  He gave off every impression of a bad liar.  But unless every damn shifter from Cornwall had the ability to break my Voice, then he was telling the truth.
    “If she contacts you again, if you see her again, you tell me immediately.  Got that?”
    He nodded.  “Yes.  Yes, my Lord.”
    “Get out of here.”
    He almost tripped in his haste to leave.  If I hadn’t been so filled with frustrated anger, I’d probably have found it amusing.  The only good thing about all this was that now Mack was in London, I could contact her more easily.  I stood up and paced around the room several times as I thought about the best way to approach her.  Then I straightened my shoulders.  I was the bloody Lord Alpha.  Her Lord Alpha, even if she thought she could disavow me by turning rogue.