Page 96 of Alpha Theo

I heave a sigh, leaning against the doorframe. After a few moments, I hear the click of the lock and the door swings open.

“Hi Theo!” Fallon greets, smiling brightly.

Is this girl fucking bipolar or something? In the past week she’s screamed at me, punched me, and kneed me in the nuts- and now she’s all chipper like we’re buddies? I can’t keep up; her changing moods are giving me whiplash.

“Hey,” I grumble, peering past her into the office. Gray’s seated at his desk, leaning back in his chair, fastening the button on his jeans.

Sothat’swhy the door was locked. I smirk when his eyes meet mine.

Fallon steps aside, gesturing for me to come in. “How’s it going with Brooke?” she asks.

“Good,” I grind out, stepping inside and grabbing for one of the chairs opposite Gray. I hear the door close as I take a seat, but unfortunately Fallon isn’t on the other side of it- she strides over to the chair beside me, flopping down on it sideways and kicking her legs over one of the chair’s arms.

“I’m glad,” she sighs, stroking her long ponytail over her shoulder. “I hope you two can work things out.”

Okay, now I’m confused. Isn’t this the same girl who was just warning me to stay away from her sister a couple weeks ago? My confusion must show on my face because she speaks up again.

“It might surprise you to hear this, but I’m rooting for you guys,” she says, fiddling with the ends of her hair.

I arch a brow. “You are?”

“Of course I am,” she shrugs. “You’re her mate.”

Hermate. Fuck, I can still hardly wrap my mind around it. There’s something primitive inside of me that responds to that word, something possessive.

I study Fallon dubiously, wondering if her words are actually sincere. She’s never seemed particularly fond of me, but then again, I haven’t exactly been warm and fuzzy to her, either. When she started things up with Gray, I guess some part of me felt like she was taking my friend away. Now that I have Brooke in my life, I realize how selfish and immature that line of thinking was.

“Did you get those cameras up?” Gray asks, and my attention shifts to him.

“Yeah,” I breathe. “Brooke just finished linking all the feeds up. It’s pretty slick, dude, you’ve gotta come check it out when you get a chance.”

Gray gives a curt nod. “Definitely. Thanks for getting that going. We should get some of the squad trained on the system so they can start monitoring the feeds.”

“I’m sure they’ll be lining up to do it if they know it means less patrols,” I chuckle.

He nods again. “Why don’t you make an announcement after practice on Monday? See if we can get some volunteers.”

“Sure,” I say, leaning back in my chair. “Brooke showed me the general gist of the system, but IT will probably have to do the actual training.”

“Where’s she at with her program?” Gray asks.

“Done. The geeks have been playing around with it for a few days now.” I got to see it in action, too, and it’s fucking impressive. It’s basically a big database to collect information on known shadow pack affiliates and track their movements through their technological footprint.

He smiles, leaning forward on his elbows. “You guys wanna go back to Denver next week so Brooke can get it set up over there?”

“Yeah, for sure,” I say, a little too enthusiastically. The thought of getting away with her again, spending the night, has me itchy with anticipation.

Gray cracks a smile in response to my enthusiasm. “Cool. I’ll set it up.” He and Fallon exchange glances. It feels like they’re scheming- like setting it up has a dual meaning.

It makes me a little uneasy, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have them in my corner. I’ll take all the help I can get when it comes to Brooke.

I know she still has doubts, but if we don’t mark each other to seal the mate bond by the next full moon, it’ll dissolve away- and now that I’ve felt the bond, the thought of losing it is fucking painful. I get why Brooke’s resistant to bind herself to a guy like me, but we’re also hard-wired to give in to the bond, to seal it right after it snaps into place, and it’s driving my wolf a little crazy to be around my mate without claiming her.

If Gray and Fallon are any indication, then sealing the bond only strengthens it, makes it run deeper. I want that with Brooke. I want all of it, all of her.

“Thanks,” I say, rising to my feet.

“See you at the bar tonight?” Gray asks as I stride toward the door.

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