Shadowed Instincts by Wendi Wilson Page B

her eyes and frowned.
    “He came here? To your room?”
    He lifted his nose in the air and took a deep breath.
Declan’s scent wafted to him and he let out a low growl. He had been so focused
on Melanie, he didn’t catch it when he first walked through the door.
    “Yeah. It was no big deal,” Melanie said, a nervous hitch in
her voice. “He said you asked to shift and stretch your legs, and that he was running
with you and things got competitive. You were just sparring.”
    “Sparring, huh? That’s not exactly how I remember it.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, I saw him outside and asked if there was somewhere I
could shift and stash my clothes so that I could have some privacy when I
shifted back. He showed me a shed that the sentinels use and said he’d run with
me. As we ran through the woods, he tried to exert his dominance over me. It
wasn’t as simple as sparring or being competitive.”
    “Maybe you misinterpreted his actions?”
    “Maybe,” Jeremy conceded doubtfully. “Let’s go to dinner,”
he said, pulling her from the bed.
    As Melanie followed him out into the hallway, she thought, Jeremy
has to be wrong. Why on Earth would Declan feel the need to exert dominance
over him? It just doesn’t make sense.
    Shaking off her thoughts, she smiled at Jeremy and took his
hand as they descended the staircase.

Chapter 12
     
    At dinner, Melanie kept her eyes on her plate as much as
possible. Jeremy was sitting on her left, nudging her knee with his when
someone spoke to her directly and she didn’t respond. The conversations
floating around her were like white noise to her troubled mind.
    The reason for her distress had strutted in without a care
in the world and plopped down in the chair to her right. Declan didn’t speak to
her directly, or even look at her, but every so often his elbow would brush against
hers as he ate. Melanie was almost positive it was not accidental. She had a
feeling he was trying very hard to make her uncomfortable.
    “Melanie?”
    “What?” she said, a little too loud, glancing around the
table to determine who had called her name.
    “Honey, what’s going on with you tonight?”
    Melanie’s eyes shot to her mother. There was no way she was
going to answer that question. Chad and Willow were sitting directly across the
table from Melanie and Declan. Elaine sat in front of Jeremy and Darren was at
the head of the table. There were three other high ranking members of the pack
at their table, plus an additional three tables filled with the other members
of the community.
    Yeah, like I’m going to admit I saw Declan naked in front
of a room of people with supersonic hearing, she thought.
    “Melanie saw me naked today,” Declan announced in a booming
voice before she could come up with a valid excuse for her discomfort.
    Her mouth dropped open as her eyes shot to him, wide with
disbelief. Somewhere in the room a fork hit a plate loudly, then there was
silence. Declan winked at her. Her gaze flew back to her plate and she felt
Jeremy’s hand squeeze her knee.
    “Oh, Declan,” Willow said softly, her voice laced with
disappointment.
    “What happened?” Darren asked. His voice didn’t sound angry,
but was filled with authority.
    “I was out running with Jeremy. He wanted to go for a run
and I joined him, you know, to show him around. We started racing, which led to
a little friendly competition. We were just having some fun and Melanie
misunderstood. She kicked me so hard I think I might have a bruised rib.”
Melanie’s eyes shot back to him in horror, but he just smiled to let her know
it was okay. “Anyway, she was freaking out and I wanted to explain. I didn’t
think. I just shifted, and well, you can imagine the rest.”
    “Did you apologize to my daughter, Declan?”
    Declan’s head shot up in shock at the alpha’s harsh tone.
“Of course I did, Darren.”
    He nodded at Declan then said softly, “Melanie.”
    She dragged her eyes up to him with raised