Page 19 of Forced By the Alpha

“Hey, Jo,” Beth said, leaning against the doorframe. She gave him a smile and got one back. It was easier with Jonah, to forget that he was a White Winter. “Are you bored?”

He got to his feet, tucked his paperback into his back pocket, and flashed me a knowing grin. “Areyou?”

She nodded. “Super bored. Losing my mind, pulling out my hair, sort of bored. In fact, I’m so bored I’d rather hang out with you.”

Slapping his hand to his chest, he staggered back as if shot. “You wound me. I get it, though; rainy days make me crazy too. Rec room? Gym? Kitchen? Pick your poison.”

She thought about it for a minute. From Emma’s body, she could assume the woman spent a lot of time in the gym. Her stomach grumbled, deciding for her.

“Kitchen it is,” she said, patting her stomach.

Jonah took them down to the kitchen, a huge, bright room with an industrial oven and enough snacks to feed an army.

“Grilled cheese?” Jonah asked, pulling out a pan. “Seems like that kind of day.”

“Got any tomato soup?” It was an old favorite of hers, something her dad would make on rainy days.

Jonah nodded his chin toward the pantry. “I bet we do. Go ahead and take a look. Grab me some cookies while you’re in there, too, I’m starving.”

Beth rolled her eyes. Jonah was always starving, but she grabbed the package of chocolate chip cookies from the shelf and tucked it under her arm before pulling two cans of tomato soup from the shelf.

“We lucked out,” she said, returning to the kitchen where the smell of butter filled the room. She stopped short. They weren’t alone anymore.

One of the other Winters, Caleb, she thought his name was, sat on the countertop. He nodded cooly when she came in.

“What’s up, Beth?”

He wasn’t cruel, like Emma, but he wasn’t kind like Jonah. Like the rest of the White Winters, he didn’t know what to make of her yet. As their luna, she commanded a certain respect, one reinforced by Devon, but as a Rosewood, she was their enemy. They were all stuck in that liminal space.

She cleared her throat, pushing past the fear that still filled her in the presence of a bloodthirsty White Winter. He wouldn’t hurt her. Devon would kill him. She didn’t know much about her alpha but knew he was protective.

“Not much. Cookies?” She held up the package lamely.

Caleb opened his hands for her to throw it, and she tossed it to him. He caught it easily and ripped it open.

“Hey, those are for me,” Jonah protested as Caleb grabbed three of the cookies.

“You boys can share,” Beth said, slipping onto a stool across the island from the oven where Jonah was cooking. She felt safer with a little distance between herself and the boys.

“See? Getting a luna was a good idea, after all. She’ll make you learn to share,” Caleb said around a mouthful of cookie.

Jonah poured the tomato soup into a pot and turned the heat on to simmer. The sweet smell of the tomatoes made her stomach growl again. Despite the lack of exercise she’d been getting, she’d lost weight during her time with the White Winters, and her body was protesting the lack of food. Not much of an appetite when living as a prisoner. What did it mean now that her hunger was rising again?

“So how’s it feel being the Luna of the White Winters? Must be a mindfuck, huh?” Caleb brushed the cookie crumbs off of his legs and reached for another cookie. “To, like, go from hating us to having to help lead us.”

“Caleb,” Jonah said warningly.

But Beth didn’t mind the question. After all, she’d been puzzling it over herself, turning it around and around in her head like a Rubik’s cube. Maybe talking about it out loud would be the key to solving it.

“It’s… strange. I was losing my mind at first, honestly.” She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Emma wasn’t lurking in the doorway. No way would she divulge any of this in front of her. “I still kind of am. But I’m trying to accept it now. This is where I am, and I don’t have a choice in the matter, so I might as well make the most of it, you know?”

“You’re strong.” Jonah slid a grilled cheese off the pan and onto a plate, adding a cup of soup on the side before setting the dish down in front of Beth. “Devon was right to pick you.”

She flushed, looking down at the food. “Thank you, Jo. This looks delicious.”

“Don’t let it go to your head,” Caleb said, ruffling Jonah’s hair. “It was a desperate move, though, Dev picking you. Bad luck that we didn’t have a single girl in our pack other than Emma. Made it kind of unbalanced, yeah? Like too much testosterone, too many egos.”

“Right, because Emma is so soft and maternal,” Jonah snorted.

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