Free Touch of Desire by Lia Davis Page B

gasped at the sight of the den she’d called home all her life. Debris littered the street. About ninety percent of the buildings and homes stood untouched, but the other ten were either half gone or had burn to the ground. Russell’s Bar, her place of employment since she turned eighteen, was among the few destroyed. Her heart ached, and a lump formed in her throat.
    “It looks worse than it is,” Keegan said as he led her toward the office building adjacent to the medical center. Both were among the undamaged structures.
    “Any harm to our home is heartbreaking.”
    “I agree, but we’ll rebuild and grow stronger because of it.”
    She shook her head. Leave it to Keegan to turn everything into a learning experience. “You see? You can’t stop being Alpha.”
    He glanced at her over his shoulder, one corner of his mouth lifting. “And you are stronger than you believe.”
    “Because I tease?” She shrugged. “You are like family to me; my wolf is comfortable with you.”
    “And Pack is not family?”
    She stopped in mid-step and stared at him. She’d never turn away from Pack. Yet, somehow she had during her period of grief and again in the past few months after Jason died.
    “I didn’t realize….”
    He held out his hand. “I know. I was in your spot after my Cate died. I nearly abandoned the whole Pack. Could you imagine what would happen if an Alpha turned away from his Pack? Yeah, it’d be fucked up. You see, our Pack wouldn’t let it happen. Each member paid his or her respects and not one of them would leave me alone. Especially your parents and brother.”
    They were her family. Well, her biological family. She still had a family, didn’t she? The Pack held over a hundred members of extended family—leopards, wolves, and the few other types of shifters who’d found refuge with Ashwood Falls.
    “I’m not alone.” She spoke the words aloud more for her benefit than Keegan’s. She’d lost her birth family, but how many had Keegan lost over the centuries? His parents when he was only twenty, forcing him to take over as Alpha, then his first mate and child. Sure his daughter, Ana, hadn’t died and had eventually returned to the Pack, but at what cost? Father and daughter didn’t know each other.
    Meeting his stare, she offered a weak smile and raised her chin. “Show me how to find my inner peace.”
    “That is something you have to learn on your own. I do have a job for you, though.” Without another word, he opened the door they stopped in front of, and she froze.
    The one person who unnerved her, ignited a fiery desire inside her, and scared the hell out of her wolf stood hunched over the shoulder of Alec—Keegan’s youngest son—as the two of them stared into five large computer screens.
    Torin Fisher.
    Pure sex cast into the body of a sensual, yet deadly male with broad shoulders stretching his black T-shirt tight across his torso. She scanned his figure and drank in how his black jeans hugged his ass and thick thighs. The black on black was his choice of uniform. She seldom saw him in anything else.
    Torin was a senior enforcer and Hayden’s—the wolf Marshal, leader of the wolf enforcers—right hand and best friend. He had grown up with Hayden and his family. Cora didn’t know much more of his childhood or anything else about the male.
    When he turned to face her, her legs threatened to give out from under her. His silver gaze connected with hers, in a stare so intense and raw with power she couldn’t hold his stare for more than a few moments. Her body heated, and her heart rate increased a fraction. The woman in Cora wasn’t the only one affected by his presences. Her wolf perked up her ears and watched the male, waiting. Torin was one of the few to get a response from her wolf. Keegan and Luna were the only others since she lost her family. Any other time she curled up silent and sad.
    She glanced away, not wanting Torin to see the mixture of grief and desire in her eyes.