Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“I’m single because I value myself, and I have standards, something you clearly do not have,” I say, standing from my seat and grabbing my purse and my coat. “And I told you, I don’t drink. But you can have this back if it’s that big of a deal to you.”
I pick up my untouched wineglass and toss the contents into his face, smiling as he gasps and sputters and blinks. The wine soaks into his shirt like blood from a flesh wound, and my wolf preens in my mind, pleased with our show of dominance over this cocky dickhead male.
“I’d say it was nice to meet you, but my aunt Gigi says it’s bad manners to lie. I hope you find that blowjob you’re looking for. Maybe that leather mini skirt you were ogling as she walked to the bathroom would be willing to give you one before you drive back home.”
I shoulder my purse and don’t bother putting my coat on. I’m too focused on getting out of there and getting home. “Don’t message me again,” I say, turning on my heel and walking out of the restaurant, leaving him gaping and dabbing at his wine-stained shirt with a napkin.
REIDBuzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
My phone vibrates against my chest, lying where I dropped it as I drifted off to sleep last night. I’d stayed up well into the early morning hours, sleep evading me, my wolf pacing and whining in my mind. I searched the werewolf research database on my phone for a while, hunting for anything I could find on one-sided mate bonds or small wolf forms.
When my search was once again fruitless—as I should have known it would be—I switched to those paranormal romance stories I found that first night after I met Taryn. I needed something to distract me from the ache caused by our distance. I’d had to weed through a lot of terrible books, but I eventually found a few authors who seemed to know what they were writing about.
Maybe those authors are supernaturals in disguise.
I lift my phone and tap the button to snooze my alarm, setting it back down, all without opening my eyes. But it buzzes again right away, tickling my bare chest.
I blink at it as I lift it a second time, scratching my skin where there’s a lingering itch from the vibrations of my phone.
My Girl: Can we do another training this weekend? Tomorrow?
My Girl: I need to work out some frustration.
My Girl: If you’re not busy, of course.
My Girl: You know what? Forget I mentioned it.
My wolf perks up, and the blurry morning vision from my minimal sleep vanishes without a trace as I read the messages from my mate. My thumbs move almost on their own, tapping out a response, my brow furrowing from her texts.
Me: I’m not busy. We can train.
Me: Is everything all right?
Me: Is Dominic giving you a hard time again?
My Girl: No.
My brow raises and I sit up, my black blanket pooling around my hips. I scrub my hand over my face, waiting for her to say more, but nothing else comes through.
Me: Taryn.
Me: Don’t make me drive up there.
Please make me drive up there. Please tell me you want to see me, to spend time with me, to get to know me the way I want to get to know you.
My Girl: It’s not Dominic. I haven’t talked to him since the day I invoked the challenge. But I went on a date last night, and it was awful. The guy was a complete ass, and I’m feeling more frustrated about this whole… finding my mate thing.
My hands clench, my teeth grind together, and I toss my phone on the mattress before I crush it beyond repair in my tightening grip. Then I hop out of bed and storm out of my room and into my bathroom, using my morning routine to calm me.
Not that it works.
She shouldn’t be going on dates with other males. She doesn’t need to. I’m her mate. She wouldn’t be going on dates with other males if she’d felt the bond the night of our date.
Then again, if she’d felt the bond the night of our date, I wouldn’t have agreed to train her, wouldn’t have agreed to keep seeing her so I could figure out why she didn’t feel it, and we’d be avoiding each other until the night of the full moon so we could complete our rejection.
And I would never have realized what an incredible person she is. I would have never gotten to know the woman beneath the gorgeous exterior. The funny, sassy, strong, and driven woman she has shown me she is.
I’m unsure about jumping feet first into this whole… being mates thing… but I can’t keep blaming my wolf or the bond for how I feel about her.
I want her. And I want her to want me. I want to prove I can be the male she needs and deserves. And I will figure the rest out as we move forward.
But I want her to feel the bond first. Which means I need to figure out why she doesn’t feel the bond.
I’ll tell her the truth once she knows we’re mates. Once she can feel the bond too. I’ll tell her I knew the whole time. And I’ll take whatever she dishes out for lying to her. But I’m not letting her go. Not without a fight, at least.
I finish getting ready, throwing on a sweatshirt since I won’t be working out, and the winter chill has settled in to stay for the season. Then I grab my phone from my bed, shooting off another text to Taryn before I head to our tournament with Amber Forest today.
Me: Tomorrow. 11 a.m. sharp. Don’t be late.
I stick my phone in the pocket of my gym shorts and head into my kitchen to grab my water bottle and a quick bite to eat. My dad is there, sitting at the counter, a mug of coffee—probably cold—held in his hands as he stares straight ahead, eyes glazed and unseeing. He turns the entire sky-blue kitchen to shades of gray with his looming despair and despondency.
I pause in the doorway, half in and half out. Half of me prepared to turn and leave, half of me prepared to slide into the role I’ve filled for eighteen years.
Three days have gone by since we tried on our tuxes, and he’s back to the male he was when I arrived home after my date with Taryn a week ago. The lifeless, hopeless, heartbroken male who can’t keep himself together.
The picture of what I could be. Of what any of us could be if we lose our mate.
The picture of what I’ve feared since I was nine years old.
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?