Page 3 of Forced By the Alpha

Jo flashed a wicked grin. “I’m well acquainted.”

“Gross.” He jabbed a finger at Jo. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“You know that tenacity carries over to all areas of her life—“

Dev hurled the water bottle at Jo’s head. He ducked, and it smashed into the door behind him.

“Woah. Shots fired.” Caleb walked in, wearing a white tank top, navy gym shorts. He nodded his chin at Jonah. “Not the first one either. Nice fat lip you got there.”

“Yeah? Amanda won’t mind it.” Jonah smirked.

“I told you to stay away from her,” Devon cut in. “The last thing we need is you idiots getting a human girl involved right now.”

“How can you be into her?” Emma walked in behind Caleb, sliding her hand into the hair at the back of his neck. “Weak, frail little thing. Could snap her to pieces with a look.”

She was in a sports bra and joggers, blonde hair up in a sleek ponytail. The only female in the White Winter pack, and she liked it that way. Another girl might’ve brought some maternal energy to the group, given the boys someone to be good for, but not Em.

For the boys, she was a dangerous mix of potential mate and bossy older sister. Dropping her into the situation, there was a fifty-fifty shot that a fight would break out.

“Don’t even think about it.” Caleb shoved her off of him. “She’s off limits.”

Emma raised one slender, arched eyebrow. “Sounds like she’s off limits for you, too, unless you want Dev breathing down your neck.”

“Not the kind of threesome I’m into.” Caleb flashed her a boyish grin. “Now, if you'd like to get involved…”

“I don’t share.” Emma sat beside Devon, stretching her arms overhead to show off her toned stomach. “Unlike you two.”

Caleb and Jonah didn’t even try to hide their ogling. She reveled in it, their eyes on her and the friction it caused between them.

“Knock it off. Don’t stir up trouble.” Devon shoved her with his elbow.

She turned toward him, chin up. Something stirred in her eyes, darker than his rebuke warranted. Something born the moment Dev had become alpha. Then it was gone.

“Lighten up, I’m only teasing.” She bent down and started wrapping her hands. “Better they fight over me than some human. You should be thanking me.”

Devon got to his feet. He couldn’t match his pack’s levity or shake the tension from his shoulders.

“Done already?” Caleb shadow-boxed, hands wrapped, ready to get in the ring. On a technical level, he was the best fighter. But outside the ring, he lacked the ruthlessness required.

“We’ve already been here two hours, man. You two slept in.” Jonah tossed his gym bag over his shoulder.

“Guess it’s just you and me, Em.”

They shared a look that made Dev want to bleach his eyes. “Gross. I’m out of here. Coming, Jo?”

Jo lingered, eyes darting between Caleb and Emma in a way that spelled future trouble.

Devon snapped his fingers. “Let’s go. We’ve got shit to do.”

He left the gym and trotted up the stairs. Jo followed a moment later, and Dev breathed a sigh of relief. It was one thing dealing with disobedience from his sister. Getting it from his beta was another.

The White Winter pack had a massive house set back in the woods, courtesy of Dev and Emma’s parents. They’d had more money than they’d known what to do with, and when they’d taken off to Europe, they’d left the house to their kids. To Devon, really, the older of the two, but Emma bristled when he reminded her of that.

The entirety of the basement was laid out as a gym. Weight room, boxing ring, little area for stretching that Em insisted on. A sauna. That was Emma, too. Upstairs, the den had a TV, an array of couches, and a killer view out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. One more floor up, there were enough bedrooms for the entire pack to sleep in, though some had places of their own they preferred to crash in.

“Look who it is. Can the plebs enter the gym now?” Eli, the pack's newest member, and the biggest problem, popped up from the couch when Jo and Dev climbed the stairs.

Something snapped in Devon. He crossed the space between them in three strides and shoved Eli back onto the couch. The younger man’s eyes widened, then narrowed.

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