Page 56 of Twice Bitten

I turned back to the register and picked up the towel. I’d deal with the problem if it ever happened. Until then, I’d do well not to make up trouble that didn’t yet exist.

My heart dropped as soon as I pulled into my driveaway. A large man sat on my front porch.

A familiar man.

Silas Ward lounged on my porch swing, pushing himself back and forth with his foot. He stilled when he spotted my vehicle but didn’t rise. Instead, we stared at each other.

In the daylight, the Shifter King was larger than life. I wasn’t even close to him, and I could practically feel the magic radiating from his body through my car windshield.

“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.

Part of me wanted to put my vehicle in reverse, peel out, and start a new life somewhere in a small town where no oneknew my name. That seemed easier than dealing with whatever was about to happen.

But Silas made no move to approach me. Instead, his lips twitched as if he knew where my mind had gone and what I was currently deciding.

I turned off the car and grabbed my purse.

Might as well get this over with.

SEVENTEEN

Silas didn’t have the air of violence around him that Alric did. He seemed relaxed and calm as he watched me walk up the steps, though his eyes burned with power.

When I stopped at the second to last step, he spoke.

“You’re wearing the necklace.”

His voice was a low sexy rumble. Where Alric was smooth and polished, Silas was rumpled and messy. The Shifter King wore a pair of beat-up jeans, an aged green and blue flannel, and brown work boots. His dark hair was carelessly mussed, and his jaw was speckled with five o’clock shadow. That’s not to say he wasn’t handsome.

Alric was a beautiful man, someone destined to halt traffic and turn heads.

Silas Ward, on the other hand, was devastating. There was a command about him that forced your gaze his way. He was handsome in a way you couldn’t define. Silas possessed dark good looks, but he had something different, something I felt drawn to.

“You left it on the porch?”

“A courier.”

“Yes, I’m sure the Shifter King is too busy to drop his own packages.”

Silas flinched. A sigh escaped him. “You know who I am.”

“It’s difficult not to remember one of the two men who left me to die.”

Silas scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “I thought about you every single day since. I’m sorry, Alex. There’s no excuse for what I did. My position forces me to make difficult decisions and that…” His voice trailed off. “That one was the wrong one.”

“How’d you find me?”

He tapped the side of his nose. “Alric called me too.”

Of course he did. “You and the Prime have an odd relationship.”

Silas inclined his head. “I’d like to speak to you in private, if you’ll allow me inside.”

I watched him for a long moment.

“You will come to no harm from me,” Silas said quietly. “On my word as king.”

“You aren’t my king.”