Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
He stares at her, watching her with an unreadable expression, his tail unmoving behind him. My wolf walks right up next to him, standing even with him and mimicking his posture, except she turns her head to see him. She has to crane her neck to look up at him, and I can imagine the impression they make together—his wolf statuesque and serious, and mine, playful, petite, and perky.
He nudges her with his muzzle, then lifts his head and releases a howl, letting us know it’s time to run.
My wolf takes off on a sprint, like she thinks she’s a cheetah or a gazelle, and Reid’s wolf is right on her tail, nipping at her heels to get her to go faster. She lets out a spirited yip and picks up the pace, her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth, and I laugh, filled with energy and excitement as we follow the path around the lake Reid told us about.
Our wolf run is over faster than I would like. I could have spent hours out there, running through their lands, weaving in and out of the trees and onto the shore of the lake.
I can imagine it in the summer too, when the weather is warm. I picture my wolf splashing through the shallows of the lake before heading back into the shade of the trees, the scent of water and pine swirling around me as little droplets fly off my fur with every thud of my paws against the ground.
Reid’s wolf stayed behind my wolf for the entirety of our run around the lake. I know he was observing me and taking mental notes on whatever it was he saw, but having him with me, knowing he was right there, watching my back, put me at ease and made me feel safe. And him following my lead, trusting me to guide us down the correct path, made it seem like we were a team instead of cadet and drill sergeant.
I lead us back to our clothes, and we dress in the same comfortable silence present during our warm-up run earlier in the day. As much as I want to, I don’t let myself sneak anymore peeks at him while he’s dressing. I got some glimpses of him earlier, and if we’re going to continue these trainings, I need to maintain some level of professionalism. I need to remember he’s the teacher and I’m the student.
But his presence mere feet from me sends sharp pinpricks of awareness into every cell in my body. It takes every ounce of energy I have left to keep my eyes forward, to keep from turning and peering around the trunk of the redwood tree at my back.
“I’ll save all my feedback for the next time we meet,” he says as I walk around the tree once I’m dressed again. “It will be better for you to implement the feedback in the moment rather than forget about it and me have to tell you again later.”
I nod and cross my arms as we walk out of the forest side by side. “Right. Plus, you won’t be at Silver Ridge to check if I’m implementing it correctly.” We’ve reached the edge of the training field, and I see my car in the parking lot in front of their log cabin packhouse from where I stand. “You’ll let me know what day?” I ask. He nods, sticking his hands in his pockets, and I nod again, too, giving him a tense smile. “I’ll see you later, then.”
I give him a half-wave and turn away as slow as I can. My mind knows it’s time to leave, but my body and heart don’t seem to want to comply, both of them complaining and straining as I walk towards my car. But his deep, compelling voice stops me before I can get too far.
“Actually, there is something else I need to talk to you about.”
REIDAt my words,
Taryn turns around with the fluidity of a dancer, a question in her eyes, her tense shoulders relaxing. “What about?”
“Maybe we can get something to eat while we talk? Are you hungry?”
I don’t know why I blurted that out. Or why I invited her to eat something with me. Other than the fact that we’d spent several hours working off any calories we’d already consumed today. I could easily tell her the information I found the next time we train. Or I could tell her right now, without having to take a drive into town and spend another meal with her.
I was content to watch her leave, fine with seeing her again later this week so I didn’t have to fight the pull to her or fight my wolf. I’d been doing great, keeping my distance and not letting her affect me. Until my wolf pushed me to pet her wolf after she shifted.
I meant what I said. Her wolf is beautiful. Petite but strong, and this unique mix of white, tan, and gray.
But as soon as I reached out to her, as soon as my skin touched her fur, the bond reared its ugly head, sending tingles up my arm and lightning into my soul. I almost got lost in it, in the feel of her fur beneath my fingers and the delight of the mate bond sparks. I had to stop and storm away before my wolf pushed me further, before he made me open up and confess all my sins to her.
At least he listened to me when I told him we couldn’t react to her wolf after I shifted. He held himself still and behaved like a gentleman. But he tugged on the reins of control when she pranced around him and mocked his pose. Her wolf was showing off for us with no qualms about it, and he wanted to pounce on that adorable, sassy little creature.
Come to think of it, I wanted to do the same to her human.
She licks her lips, her dark eyes twinkling with thousands of stars as she gives me a coy smile. “Starving.”
Just that one gesture, that one look, that one word has Reid Junior struggling to not stand at attention.
I clear my throat and think of anything other than her tongue running along the path of her plump lips. But all that replaces it is the thought of her tongue running along my lips, or up the column of my neck, or from the root to the tip of my cock.
And now Reid Junior is standing at attention like a wooden toy soldier.
My throat clears itself again and I walk to her side, taking my time to see if I can hide the outline of my dick in my sweatpants. I can’t let her know the effect she has on me. If she were any other she-wolf, I wouldn’t think twice about making my desire for her known.
But I can’t lead her on. I can’t take things further, can’t act on the impulses the mate bond is awakening in me. It would make things worse in the end. When the truth comes out and I have to reject her. It’s better this way—to be friends. Just two people who are training together.
Will it still piss her off when she learns the truth? Yes. I can almost guarantee it. But at least she won’t feel used.
Or at least I hope not.
“Have you been to Brewed Awakenings before?” I ask when I reach her.
“No.”
She takes a step closer to me, and, even with her height, she has to tilt her head back to look up at me. She’s close enough for her scent to fill my lungs, the way it has been off and on all day. That sweet, delicious scent that does indescribable things to my insides and dredges up emotions I don’t want to process.
The lack of space between our bodies is glaring. I feel my wolf staring at it, scowling at it. I have the urge to close it, to grab her by the shoulders and pull her tall, slender but strong frame into my body and never let her go. The urge to protect, to claim, to cherish, and worship her.
No. No, those are the urges of my wolf. Goddess, it will be so nice when he goes back to being quieter and less on edge after I reject her.
I clear my throat again—I have been doing that a lot today—and take a small step backwards. “It’s a cafe in the human city. Our pack owns it. They have amazing lunch options, high-quality coffee beverages, and…” I scratch the back of my neck and look at the ground, my cheeks heating as I trail off.
Which, what the fuck? I am never embarrassed.
“And what?” she asks, her brow raising and her lips twitching.
Like she knows. Like she knows precisely what I was about to say. Two days with her and she already understands how my mind works.
“And delicious fresh-baked cookies.” I spit the sentence out so fast it all sounds like one word. “They do traditional flavors, seasonal flavors, and two weekly flavors that they rotate, and this week it’s blueberry lemon and salted caramel chocolate chip, and both are my favorite!”
Goddess, I am rambling like fucking Wesley right now.
I need to play it cool. This isn’t my long-lost pen pal who appeared on the shore of the lake in my hometown. She’s not anyone special to me, not someone I need to worry about impressing. I couldn’t care less what she thinks of me. She may be my mate, but only for the next few weeks, and then I can return to my regularly scheduled programming.
So why am I blabbering like I’m a love-struck fool?
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?