Elder: Reckless Desires (Norseton Wolves #6) Read Online Free

your old alpha you got spotted with some unfamiliar a-hole, more power to ’em.”
    “I’m—kind of between alphas at the moment.”
    “Oh yeah?” He set down his menu and raised one dark eyebrow at her. “How’s that possible?”
    Interesting-looking man. Handsome, really. She didn’t know how to behave around handsome men. Her Jersey pack hadn’t exactly been thick with them, and her late husband had been average enough. Most alphas preferred that the men in their packs were lesser in every way, looks included.
    Esther swallowed and fussed over Darla’s menu, chiding her to pick something from the kids’ column that wasn’t all bread.
    “I’ve never heard of a lady getting expelled from a pack. Women are commodities.”
    She cleared her throat. Licked her lips.
    “What happened to your husband?”
    Not answering that here.
    “He fell,” Darla said.
    Damn it. Esther squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. She’d tried so hard to shield the kids from the event, but there was only so much damage control she could do. She’d kept them close, but she was sure they’d heard some rumors—maybe even that she’d been responsible for the event.
    “What do you mean he fell, honey?”
    “He died,” Kevin said.
    So now they want to talk.
    She gave Kevin’s little thigh a discreet pinch under the table.
    “Ow!”
    She cut him the look .
    He slumped a little lower on the bench and went back to scanning his menu.
    She didn’t really understand why the kids were saying anything to Nixon at all. They’d been pretty well trained not to speak unbidden to male wolves. They’d witnessed the consequences for other children who were careless with their tongues, and the treatment their mothers got for allowing the behavior.
    “Did your alpha let you leave, or did you run?” Nixon asked. “Just trying to figure out how much over the speed limit I need to be driving on the way into Norseton. Normally a lady who loses a husband would have been automatically given to some single guy in the pack. That’s pretty universal throughout the continent.”
    “Yes, that’s usually the case.”
    “So, what are you telling me? Don’t beat around the proverbial bush. I need information so I know how vigilant I need to be.”
    He would have to wait to concern himself with vigilance, because the waitress returned with her order pad poised and looked around the table.
    “Anyone ready?” she asked.
    “Go on,” Nixon said to Esther.
    Ether had barely looked at the menu. All those words and pictures hadn’t been much more than colorful blurs on the page. She was hungry, but too agitated to eat. Her stomach was in knots, but she had to try to get some sustenance. She needed to stay awake. “Um. Soups—what are the soups today?”
    “Vegetable beef and crazy corn chowder.”
    “I’ll take the vegetable beef with a BLT on the side, I guess.”
    Darla tugged at her sleeve and then pointed to some item far down the menu. “What’s that say?”
    It said, Personal Pan Pizza , but more important, in Esther’s opinion, was that it said ten dollars.
    The waitress peered around the menu and grunted. “Oh, don’t eat that. That’s shaken out of a box and cooked from frozen.” She tapped higher up on the menu. “That’s real good for little hands. Meat and cheese and crackers. Stack ’em up and make little sandwiches.”
    Six bucks.
    Still more than Esther was used to forking over per kid during their rare meal outings, but her baby girl had had a long couple of days. If Darla had picked out a steak with gold flakes sprinkled on top, Esther probably would have given the item at least a little bit of thought before saying no.
    “Okay,” Esther said.
    “I want a cheeseburger,” Kevin piped up. “With fries and stuff.”
    “Good choice,” the waitress said. She turned to Nixon and dipped her chin to her chest in that, Come on, bub kind of way.
    Obviously, his numerous charms were lost on her. She looked