Promising Peter (Bad Boy Alphas) (Shrew & Company Book 6) by Holley Trent

choice wasn’t Peter’s to make.
    He stroked her cheek.
    She forced heavy-looking eyelids up. Pretty brown eyes, pleading with him to do something.
    “I’m trying to,” he said to her.
    “I’ll give you a day to decide,” San said. “Don’t call me before twenty-four hours have passed. I’m warning you, Ursu. Call me in a day, and I’ll come if you want.”
    “Another day of this ? Come on, San. She needs to eat. I can’t feed her like this.”
    “She’s used to having the bear starve her. One more day won’t kill her.”
    San gave Andrea’s hand a squeeze and took her leave from the room.
    The front door opened, and then snicked shut.
    He stroked Andrea’s chin and ground his teeth.
    Andrea closed her eyes again. “Do what you think is best,” she said.
    “This is your decision, sweetheart. I don’t want to sway you.”
    “I trust you. You know more.”
    “But, we’re talking about your bear. It’s been attached to you all your life, so you have to make the decision.”
    “You decide. I’m tired.”
    “Because you’re starved.”
    “Maybe. Talk to me in a little while. Okay?”
    “In a little while. Yes.”
    Her breathing slowed, and scent altered subtly. Asleep again.
    He was left alone with his thoughts, and that wasn’t always a great place to be.
    She’d given him the decision to make, and his immediate reaction was to make San strip the bear away so he could get his woman upright and functioning again, in spite of what she’d lose. But that was selfish of him.
    He couldn’t make the decision unilaterally. He needed input, although he hated to have to consult the obvious sources.
    “Fuck,” he muttered.
    He fished his phone out of his shirt pocket, opened his contacts list, and had the device call Bryan.
    “Fuck.” He didn’t feel any better for having repeated the word, but swearing seemed to be all he could do.

CHAPTER TEN
    At around five the next morning, Peter looked out the peephole, spotted the two Bears in the hallway, and let out a long growl.
    He tapped his forehead against the door several times, and then went to work undoing the chain and locks.
    A fight was inevitable. They weren’t going to let him get away with what he did without some censure but, for Andrea’s sake, he hoped they’d save the scuffle for later.
    He pulled the door open and barely had time to register the pale flash before he felt the sting to his cheek.
    “You fucking idiot,” Tamara spat at him in Romanian and pushed past him. “Where is she?”
    While Peter tried to lock his jaw back into place, a growling Bryan stepped up to the threshold.
    Peter’s hands balled reflexively and chin tipped upward. He wasn’t going to lower his head to the alpha. Couldn’t , no matter how much he respected the man, and he hoped Bryan didn’t push for adherence to formalities at that moment. He was generally relaxed about traditional greetings and gestures of respect, but when he was in certain moods, he pushed for them.
    But Peter wasn’t going to back down about something he knew he wasn’t in the wrong about. He hadn’t done anything Bears with mating fever hadn’t done in the past, and Andrea had given her consent.
    “If you want to fight, one alpha against another,” Peter said low, “I suggest we set a time and place.”
    Bryan closed his eyes and laid his head from one side to the other, cracking his neck. He opened his eyes again and took a deep breath. “Fine.”
    The energy roiling off of him receded slowly and Peter tamped his down as well. It wasn’t a good time for a fight.
    “She’s in the bedroom,” Peter said. “Don’t panic when you see her.”
    “If that warning was supposed to make me feel calmer, you picked the wrong words.”
    Peter closed and locked the door.
    They joined Tamara who was already in the bedroom. She was leaning over the bedside with her ear close to Andrea’s lips.
    “She says not to kill you,” Tamara said, frowning. “She must be