Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“It’s a running joke from our childhood,” I say as we enter the crowded kitchen and dining room. “Sebastian drew a dick on Reid’s forehead”—I gesture at Reid where he stands on the other side of the kitchen counter from me—“while he was sleeping on
Alpha Harrison’s couch, and when Reid woke up, Seb called him a dickhead.”
“Hey!” Sebastian says, leaning his elbows on the counter next to Reid and pointing at me, his head tilting towards Reid. “You left out the part where Reid called me a dickhead first at training!”
“I only called you a dickhead because you did something dickheaded,” Reid says as he gives Sebastian a gentle punch on the shoulder.
“Which you yourself admitted you don’t actually remember what that was,” Taryn adds from Reid’s other side, a smiling Savvy held in her arms.
Reid covers his chest with his hand, a dramatic gasp echoing around the kitchen. “I told you that in confidence, Cadet!”
“Fault aside,” I say over Taryn’s laughter and Reid’s sputtering, “the nickname has stuck, and it is now our go-to insult or term of affection for each other.”
Cassandra’s smile grows, and I squeeze her hand as Wes and Haven join the five of us in the kitchen. “Beer?” Wesley asks in greeting, nodding at me from the fridge.
“Please.”
He nods again and opens the fridge, grabbing two bottles out. “Cassandra?” he asks, holding the door propped open.
She nods at him. “A beer would be great, thanks.”
Wes grabs a third and then closes the fridge with his foot, crossing the kitchen to us and handing Cassandra and me our beverages. “Food will be ready soon. Mateo and Mason are making burgers. They’re having a contest to see whose grilling skills are better, so I hope you brought your appetites.”
“Come and meet everyone else,” Haven says, linking her arm through Cassandra’s once Cassandra’s opened her beer and leading her towards the large dining room and the spacious living room.
“I’ll join you,” Taryn says, perking up and darting around the kitchen island as fast as her pregnant belly and the baby held in her arms allow her. “Maya still needs to show me the dress she designed for Haven for the ball next weekend.”
As our luna and our beta female introduce Cassandra to the rest of our friends, I push my sleeves up to my elbows and sit on a barstool. Reid’s eyes latch on to Cassandra’s name written on my forearm.
I sigh and take a large swig of my beer before I set it on the counter with a soft thud, smacking my lips and raising my chin at him as I cross my arms in front of me. “All right. Let’s hear it.”
Reid’s smile grows. He and Sebastian exchange a glance, and I brace myself for the impact.
Sebastian furrows his brow, but his eyes glitter with humor as he mimics me. “You should be home resting.”
“Not that shirt! It’s Sebastian’s!” Reid says, deepening his voice to a growl.
“Don’t make me carry you home, Daisy!” Sebastian adds, getting louder.
I groan and rub my temples, even though I asked for it. “Yeah. You deserved that pounding I gave you.”
Sebastian has the audacity to appear affronted. “You should be thanking me. You were miserable, and now you’re not.”
I grunt my response and take another large drink of my beer, then glance over my shoulder. It doesn’t take long for my eyes to lock onto Cassandra. She stands with Haven, Taryn, Maya, and Taryn’s friend Blake, a tail-wagging, tutu-wearing Cav at their feet. Savvy grips Cassandra’s finger in her fist, and Cassandra smiles at her as she leans forward and speaks to her.
It’s too loud in Wes and Haven’s house for me to hear what she says, but Savvy’s gray eyes light up, and she giggles, and Cassandra laughs with her. Cav barks his approval and then catches my eye, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, and I swear he glances between Cassandra and me several times, like he’s urging me to join her.
I spring off the stool and stride over to them, unbothered by the laughter ringing from my three friends behind me. I reach the little group just as Taryn asks, “Do you want to hold her?”
Cassandra pinches her lips together and shakes her head, prying her fingers from Savvy’s fierce grip. “No, that’s quite all right,” she says.
I slide my arm around her waist from behind, my hold firm and possessive but casual at the same time, and I draw her further into my protective stance, my fingers teasing her waist and her ribs. She gestures behind us towards the dining room with the hand holding her beer bottle. “Wesley is going to ask who wants to—“
“All right, we’re going to play poker while we wait for Mateo and Mason to finish the burgers,” Wesley says, slamming a deck of cards onto his dining room table, and Cassandra lifts a brow pointedly. “Who’s in?”
Everyone voices their response at once and makes their way to the table, finding seats and grabbing refills on drinks and snacks before getting comfortable. Cassandra’s gaze follows Taryn and Savvy as they make their way to Reid, and Reid scoops Savvy into his arms before taking a seat next to Wesley. Savvy blows a raspberry and then laughs, covering her mouth with her hands as her nose crinkles with delight, and the entire table laughs right along with her, Reid’s eyes beaming with pride.
I chuckle, and Cassandra takes a drink of her beer, her eyes closing as she tilts her chin back to drain the bottle. “I’m going to grab another. Do you want one?” she asks once she’s finished her drink, glancing at me.
“Sure,” I say, kissing below her ear. “I’ll save you a seat.”
She nods, and after I give her a squeeze, I unwind my arm from her waist and let her go as I walk to the table. I sit next to Haven, ignoring the conversation around me and watching Cassandra for the entire two minutes it takes for her to set her empty bottle on the counter with the other recycling, grab two beers from the fridge, open both, and return to my side.
“Will you be playing too, Cassandra?” Wesley asks from Haven’s right.
Cassandra shakes her head and shrugs one shoulder. “I actually don’t know how to play poker.”
“You can help me, then,” I say, pushing my chair back from the table and patting my thigh. “I need a good luck charm, and you can learn while you watch.”
I yank her down onto my lap before she can respond, my arm once more winding around her waist. She sets my new beer on the table, since I’m still working on my first, and settles herself against my chest as I scoot us closer to the table again. My fingers flex against her hip as she wraps her lips around the top of her beer and takes a swig, holding eye contact with me the entire time, and my dick twitches when she licks a tiny drop off her mouth when she pulls the bottle away.
“That’s not fair.” Reid points at us, and we both whip our heads towards him, all dirty thoughts leaving my mind at the sound of his voice. “Can’t she read minds?”
I chuckle. “She can’t read minds.”
Reid frowns. “She’s an oracle.”
I shake my head and set my old beer next to my new beer, and Cassandra’s shoulders shake as she sips hers in my lap. “That’s not how it works,” I say, smugly, as if I didn’t make similar assumptions when she first arrived here.
“How does it work, then?” Reid asks.
Cassandra clears her throat and leans forward to set her beer next to mine as Wesley deals the cards. “None of us can read minds. We all have a range of abilities—some generic and some unique. Most of us can see glimpses of things or people. For example, I saw Nolan leave to go on a morning run a few weeks ago, but it was a flash and then it was gone. When an oracle is marked by their fated mate, they gain access to the full depth of their abilities and are no longer considered an acolyte.”
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?