Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
Wesley’s barking laughter joins with the girls’, and I roll my eyes but stay on my back, my body aching from the sprinting and my fall.
“Dickhead,” I grumble, staring up at the ceiling as Wes crouches over me.
He reaches down, laughing at me, and I grab his hand. But instead of using it to help myself up, I yank him down onto the floor with me.
He’s prepared for it—of course—and catches himself in a roll, taking me with him. We grapple on the floor, rolling and throwing fists, elbows, and knees, both of us trying to get the upper hand. It’s not sparring as much as it is roughhousing, reminiscent of what we’d do when we were pups, still learning how to use proper form and how to be werewolves, still learning how to focus our energy and strength.
“Ouch!” I say as his elbow hits my stomach, my body curling on itself. “Fuck!” His arms wrap around my neck, and he pins me to the floor, his full weight on top of me.
I scratch and tug at his arm, pushing against him with all my might, but while I may be the strongest of all the warriors—besides Seb—Wes is the alpha and a lycan, and I’m no match for him when he’s set on winning. Which is always.
“Fine! Fine!” I slam my hand against the floor. “You win!”
He chuckles and rolls off me, laying next to me on the floor and staring at the ceiling while I stay on my stomach, my arms at my side and my cheek pressed against the cool, smooth mat. We both say nothing, breathing in and out until our heart rates slow.
“Haven!” Wes says, tilting his head back to look at where she sits against the wall with Taryn.
She tosses something at him, something that jingles and clinks together, and he catches it with one hand, holding it out to me.
It’s a set of keys on a key ring—two of them, an exact match to each other.
“What’s this?” I ask, pushing myself to a sitting position as I take the keys.
“The keys to my old house,” he says, sitting up as well, draping his arms over his knees. “You can’t stay in Taryn’s guest suite forever, and I wasn’t sure if you’d want to stay in the beta apartment considering… everything. Hospitality cleaned it and set up some basic supplies for you.” I stare at the keys in my hand, my throat bobbing. “You don’t have to use the house if you don’t want to, but it’s yours if you do. You and Taryn. Until you build your own house or—“
“Thanks,” I say, cutting off his rambling, my lips twitching as I hear Haven’s muffled chuckling behind me.
I put the keys in my left hand and hold my right out to him, waiting for him to clasp it and shake it.
But he’s too familiar with my tricks. Instead of taking my hand, he lunges forward and tackles me again, laying me out flat on the floor.
“Werewolves, I swear,” Haven mutters.
I laugh and we start wrestling again, the same as before, except with less weight on our shoulders and less guilt in our hearts. No more words are needed—not for us, anyway.
Our roughhousing ends the same as our first round—with Wesley pinning me and me yielding to him. Laughter bounces around the room, and I grab the keys from the floor as I get to my feet, walking over to my girl. She smiles at me from the floor, her dark eyes gleaming. I dangle the keys from my finger and smile back at her, reaching my other hand out for her to take.
“Let’s go home, Cadet.”
TARYN
“Here we are!
Home sweet home!” Reid says as he opens the door to Wesley and Haven’s old house.
I stand on the steps of the small sage green, white, and tan bungalow, my eyes taking in the covered porch and the adorable patio swing at one end. The house has less of a cabin feel than most of the buildings here at Crescent Lake, but it gives off the same homey vibes I get from the pack as a whole.
I climb the steps and walk to the door, but Reid stops me from entering the house, blocking my path.
“What are you doing?” I ask, leaning away from him and the mischievous glint in his eyes.
“I have to carry you over the threshold.”
I protest, but he lifts me in his arms, cradling me to his chest, and I squeak and cling to his neck, laughter bubbling out of me. My braids swing as he spins us around and steps into the house, holding me tight against his body and not letting me go.
The entry has a long console table under a mirror, and within it, I catch a glimpse of us, of Reid and I together, our marks visible and on display for everyone to see, an unmatched and unfettered joy gleaming in our eyes and on our faces. I look up at him, and my breath catches in my throat at the intensity of love and happiness in him as he stares into my face.
The day has been rough. For both of us. And yet he’s here with a smile on his face and light in his heart, moving ahead with our life together instead of dwelling on the past; the what-ifs and what-could-have-beens. The strength it takes to push through, to become the male he is now instead of someone else is impressive, as what he’s faced would have broken a lesser male.
And I’m filled with pride because he’s all mine.
He sets me on my feet but keeps my body close, his hands settling on my hips as his mouth finds mine. His muscular body towers over me, his broad shoulders curving in and forming a protective shell, keeping me safe within the circle of his arms. The kiss is soft, yet my toes curl in my boots, my body arching against his, hormones racing and desire pulsing through me from our lips moving together.
He pulls away, forehead touching mine, eyes closed as he catches his breath. He gives my hips a squeeze and then looks at me, smiling.
“I’ll bring everything in from the truck. You explore our new home.”
I nod and reach up to kiss him once more before stepping away and moving further into our new home as he makes his way back outside.
The space is small, clean, and mostly white, but the white doesn’t detract from the overall homey feel of the house. The dark hardwood floors offset the bright walls, cabinetry, and furniture, and the crisp lemon scent of the cleaning solutions used on the interior mixes with the snow and pine leaking in from outside through the cracked windows. It’s a beautiful house, and a perfect blank space for us to make ours.
Our home.
I turn away from the living areas and walk down the hallway, peeking into the three rooms there. The first room I look inside is empty, with a large window complete with a window seat overlooking the backyard. I picture it covered with pillows and blankets, picture Reid sitting there with our daughter in his lap, reading her a story or watching the first snow as it falls in winter.
I smile at that image and close the door, moving to the room across the hall.
I open the door and peek inside, and I’m surprised to find not a bedroom, but another dance studio. Unlike the professional one in the packhouse basement, however, this one looks pieced together, like a child designed it.
“Ah, I see you found the first dance studio Wesley made for Haven?” Reid says, looking over my shoulder.
In the mirrors, I see his arms are almost overflowing with items we brought over from my guest suite in the packhouse.
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?