Fated To The Alpha: A Paranormal Shifter Romance by Simply Shifters, Jasmine White Page B

of being someone I’m not. Shouldn’t be too hard.”
    I tried to laugh, even fake laugh at my own comment. It wasn’t funny.
    “You’ll have to watch what you say,” he said gravely. “If they start to suspect you’re a Caldour, even for a second, it’s all over.”
    “No pressure,” I muttered.
    “I mean it,” he said.
    “I know you do,” I said, getting up from my seat and walking over to hook my wrists about his neck. “Don’t think for a second I’m underestimating the situation. But the more we stress about it, the guiltier we’ll look.”
    He sighed. “Yeah, you’re right about that.”
    “I just have to make sure not to say or do anything to raise their suspicions. I don’t mention the name Caldour, or name anyone from my pack, and they shouldn’t have any reason to suspect me, right?”
    “I hope it’ll be that simple,” he said.
    I kissed him, trying to reassure myself as much as him. “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go face the music.”
    I started walking toward the door, when he suddenly said, “You’re not trying to get away from my cooking, are you?”
    I looked back to my unfinished plate of breakfast, and grinned sheepishly. “Okay, maybe I’m a little scatterbrained this morning,” I said as I returned to my plate.
    “I wonder why,” he said.
    So we finished our meal, and then, holding hands we stepped out into the village.

CHAPTER SIX
     
    As soon as we emerged, we saw several more of Jeremy’s pack going about their business, many of whom stopped and looked up when they saw me. I suddenly had a very strong compulsion to duck and hide behind Jeremy’s back. “They’re all looking at me, aren’t they?” I asked, looking down at the ground.
    Jeremy laughed a little. It was a bit of a dry laugh, but it was a laugh. “Nothing suspicious, remember?” he said. “You’re just a new face to them. Don’t be more than that.”
    “Well… can I just be a shy new face?”
    He shrugged. “I guess there’s nothing suspicious about that.”
    A strawberry blonde she-wolf with her long curls tied back came striding up toward us, her attention definitely on me more than him. “Hi there,” she said. “I’m Tara. You’re Elena, right?”
    It took me a second to recognize my fake name. “Uh, yeah, that’s right. Uh, nice to meet you…”  I somewhat awkwardly extended my hand, suddenly feeling like I should have done that in the first place. Tara laughed good-naturedly, and accepted my hand.
    “So you’re the one who broke the heart of half the ladies in this pack,” she grinned at me.
    That got me feeling a little less timid and a little more curious. I turned and looked at Jeremy with a raised eyebrow. “Is that what I did?”
    Jeremy shrugged again. “Well, I didn’t want to sound like I was tooting my own horn.”
    “Really?” Tara said. “You never mentioned your track record with the ladies? About how she-wolves in this pack have been throwing themselves at your feet since you grew big enough to howl?”
    “I didn’t think she’d find that very endearing,” he defended himself.
    I looked at Tara with a tilted gaze. “Did you and he ever…?”
    “A few times,” she admitted. “During howls, mostly. But there have been a lot of others along the way. And… I think some of them are still pretty attached.”
    I hesitated a moment, before asking, “Should I be worried?”
    “Absolutely not,” Jeremy said.
    “Maybe a little,” Tara said.
    “Definitely,” said a skinny teenage brunette who came walking up to join us.
    “Um, hi,” I cautiously greeted the new arrival.
    “Elena, this is Maggie,” Jeremy said.
    “And I’m the girl who was gonna get that wolf before you came along,” the newcomer sassed me.
    Jeremy laughed. “She has a lot of confidence,” he pointed out.
    “Bigger confidence than her britches,” Tara smirked, her arms folded.
    “Can you back it up, cutie?” I said, lightly taunting Maggie. “You ever get with