Page 38 of Alpha Gray

“Yeah,” she retorts. “We’re fine.” She shuffles her feet and glares at the floor, clearly agitated. “I just don’t like how those guys are playing favorites, that’s all.”

I arch a brow, turning my body sideways to face Hannah fully and folding my arms across my chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Hannah’s green eyes narrow. “Oh, I think you know.”

She tries to avert her gaze, but I take a step toward her. “No, I don’t. Why don’t you enlighten me?”

My wolf is pushing to the surface, agitated. She and I both know what Hannah’s insinuating and we don’t like it one bit.

Hannah turns to face me, her expression steely. “You think we all haven’t noticed how you’re throwing yourself at Alpha Gray?” she hisses. Hannah shakes her head, her brown curls bouncing. “Pathetic,” she mutters.

My eyes fly wide. “Fuck you, Hannah.” I reach out and giving her shoulder a little shove. “I earned my spot, fair and square. Maybe you should stop worrying about me and focus on earning your own.”

Hannah’s scowl deepens and she reaches out to shove me back. “Sorry, I’m not willing to sleep with an alpha to get a spot on the squad.”

The anger rising inside of me surges and I see red. I lunge at Hannah, tackling her to the concrete floor. Her plate flies out of her hand and shatters, drawing attention to us, but I couldn’t care less- I’vehad itwith this bitch. I pin her to the ground underneath my body, shoving my forearm against her throat.

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” I yell, teeth bared as I hover over Hannah. She’s writhing beneath me, fighting against my hold on her neck.

She stops struggling for a moment to glare at me menacingly and I can see her wolf swirling in glimmering coppery flecks behind her eyes. “Honey, you’re just another fucking notch on his bedpost,” Hannah taunts. “You think he wasn’t sniffing around other girls at the full moon run? He wasall overKelly…”

Before she can get another word out, I release her throat, cock back my fist, and punch her squarely in the jaw. There’s a sickening cracking sound when I make contact, and then all hell breaks loose. Hannah flails, trying to land a return punch on me, then grabs me by the hair. We go rolling across the floor and I’m still trying to punch at her face, but I keep missing and hitting the concrete floor instead. Blood seeps from my knuckles as I keep punching wildly.

Hannah manages to land a couple jabs and kicks me in the ribs so hard that I swear she cracked one. Still, I continue flailing, punching, attacking. My wolf is out for blood and I can’t hold her back anymore. Before I even know it’s happening, I feel the shift.

I’m acutely aware of the sound of tearing fabric as I rip through my clothes and leap onto Hannah in wolf form. I sink my teeth into the flesh of her bicep as she lets out a shrill, blood-curdling scream. I can taste the metallic tinge of her blood as I clamp down and jerk my head back, tearing flesh from bone.

“Enough!” comes a voice from behind me, deep and loud. It barely registers at first, but there’s alpha command behind it that gives my wolf pause. I release Hannah’s arm, snapping my head in the direction of the voice to see who gave the order.

Gray stares down at me angrily, arms folded. “Shift,” he orders, and my wolf whines as she’s forced by the alpha command to retreat.

Gray

The air around Fallon shimmers as she shifts back into her human form. She’s crouched, naked, with blood running down her chin and sticky around her knuckles. She slowly rises to her feet in front of me, her head bowed slightly as she stares at me with a feral look in her eyes.

Though her naked body is on full display, I’m so fucking pissed off that I can’t even appreciate it. Her long hair hangs over the front of her shoulders, covering her breasts as her chest heaves with her ragged breathing.

Hannah’s still on the floor grabbing at her bloody arm and wailing. It’s a grisly sight- jagged pieces of flesh and muscle are torn and hanging off of her bicep. Jax and Reid rush over to her and help her to sit up while Jax tears off his t-shirt and wraps it around Hannah’s arm to stifle the bleed. My eyes move from Hannah back to Fallon, who is still frozen, staring.

“What the fuck happened?!” I demand, shoving my hands onto my hips.

Fallon’s expression twists into a deep scowl. “She started it,” she hisses, glaring in Hannah’s direction.

“I don’t care who started it!” I growl, stalking toward Fallon. “It’s unacceptable.” I press a finger forward into the center of her chest. “You’reout.”

Fallon’s expression changes instantaneously, from one of rage to shock and surprise. “What?” she whimpers.

I’m so mad that I can’t even look at her, so I turn away. I start to take a few steps when I hear her speak up again, her voice pleading.

“Gray, please…” her voice is gravelly, like she’s fighting back tears.

I whip back around to face her, steady my expression so I don’t convey any emotion. My wolf is clawing at my insides- it feels like he’s ripping me apart. My instinct is to soothe her, make everything better, but she crossed a line. The squad is my first priority and I know what I have to do; she didn’t leave me with any fucking choice. I’m so mad I want to punch through a wall- it takes everything in me to remain stoic.

“We don’t tolerate this kind of behavior in the squad,” I say, shaking my head. “Pack your bags, recruit.”

The brokenness in Fallon’s big blue eyes fucking guts me, but I know I have to do it. I promised the guys that I’d stay objective- and letting her off easy for such a major infraction would be anything but. Hell, if I started letting my emotions rule when running the squad I’d call for my own dismissal. I keep telling myself that it’s not personal, it’s business…

What the hell was she thinking?!I get it, people get mad and fight. Especially shifters- we’ve got a wild animal inside of us that’s always looking for a fight. But losing control and shifting in the middle of the dining hall? Taking a chunk out of Hannah’s arm? Fallon clearly doesn’t have control of her wolf like she should, and her actions can’t go unpunished.

---