Free Silver Mine by Vivian Arend

bathroom. “Caroline brought over the Takhini Alpha?”
    “His name is Evan. Met him the other day. Seemed a decent enough fellow.”
    The bathroom door creaked open, and two heads peered around the corner, one the familiar blonde of her sister, who Shelley had every intention of killing ASAP, and the other a darkly handsome wolf. Who, yes, was obviously some kind of chief pooh-bah because even across the room his mere presence made her wolf tremble.
    “Can we come out?” Caroline asked. “Is it safe?”
    Evan stood in the hallway, a bundle of sexy muscle and power. “As if it was dangerous before. She had no top on—to your average male a half-naked woman isn’t the scariest thing on the planet—”
    Shelley watched in amazement as her sister stepped in front of what had to be the top wolf of the territory and firmly grabbed him by the ears. “My sister. Naked. Don’t ever put those two words together in the same sentence if you want to keep your nuts. Got it?”
    Chase opened the pop bottle. The resulting fizz drew all their attention his direction. “Anyone want a drink?”
    There was a moment of silence before they all seemed to decide pretending none of it had ever happened was the best idea. Caroline grabbed plates, drinks were poured, pizza and wings piled high. Someone turned on music in the background, and suddenly Shelley found herself sitting on the edge of the couch next to a relaxed Chase as he lifted the first piece of pizza in a toast.
    “To life, and just how damn amusing it is.”
    Evan’s grin widened as he returned the salute. “So, you have a successful stay in town?”
    “Mostly.” Chase tilted his head toward Shelley. “She’s still looking into a few things for me, but everything else is done for the year. I won’t be troubling your territory until next July.”
    The guys chatted a little more, but Shelley only listened with half an ear. Caroline had brought the Alpha to her house, and from the way he was curled up next to Caroline at the table, stealing food off her plate, they were an item.
    Shelley’s head spun. Caroline and the pack Alpha? How in the world had that happened?
    Caroline seemed to be trying to send her clues with head signals, but this mess was far too complicated to settle with head jerks, rolled eyes and grimaces.
    Shelley rose to her feet. “You boys excuse us? We need to talk for a minute.”
    She grabbed her sister by the hand and dragged her from the room. Neither of them spoke until they were safely ensconced in the bedroom where she’d unpacked all of her things. Bright sheets and curtains made up the decor, her treasures proudly displayed. A comforting place to deal with a very uncomfortable topic.
    She whirled on his sister. “What the hell?”
    “Sorry, but I never expected you to have Mr. Yummy in your apartment. I wouldn’t have interrupted if I’d known. Good for you—”
    “That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it. You’re sleeping with the Alpha? You’ve gone insane. The pack women are going to rip you to shreds. What was he thinking? How could you do this?”
    “Stop with the twenty questions already. I’m fine. We’re fine. It’s a business arrangement.” Caroline had the grace to flush as Shelley took a long, pointed sniff and raised a brow. “Okay, more than business, but really, that’s what started it. And the pack is fine. I kicked a few butts, and now the girls are more than happy to behave around me. It’s okay, it is.”
    Shelley stopped tugging on her hair before she made herself bald, but the urge remained. “And you didn’t feel the need to tell me this before because…?”
    Caroline stiffened. “It wasn’t any of your business.”
    Shelley gasped. “How can you say that? You know how much I’ve been dreading contacting the pack, and here you are sleeping with the damn Alpha. You didn’t think I would want to know that tidbit before you rushed into my apartment?”
    “Sorry about that. And I did