Page 41 of Alpha Gray

“I’m so sorry for what happened,” she begins. “I lost control, and it won’t happen again. Just…” she trails off, and I can scent her fresh tears before she averts her eyes to hide them from me. “Please don’t send me away,” she whispers.

It’s like a dagger straight to my heart. I swallow hard, fighting to retain my stoic expression.

“How can I allow you to stay after you pulled something like that?” I ask. The words taste bitter as they leave my mouth. I’m mad at her- mad that she would do something so stupid and reckless and force my hand. “Why would I let you stay?”

Fallon looks up at me, wiping at her eye before a tear can slip out. “Because all I’ve ever wanted is to be on the squad. It means everything to me. I’ve spent years training, learning how to fight so I could make it.” Her voice breaks a little and she pauses, sucking in a breath. “I don’t know who I am without this. I’m not smart or clever or good at anything else.”

My wolf whines at her self-deprecating comments, but I remain steady.

Fallon’s eyes flutter to the floor. “Please,” she whispers. “It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted.” Slowly, she glances up at me again, holding eye contact. “Until you.”

It’s like the knife in my chest has been twisted. I’m a fucking goner. I want to rush over to her, take her in my arms, and kiss her within an inch of her life. I fold my arms tighter across my chest to hold myself back.

“Fallon…” I heave a sigh. Despite my best efforts, I can’t help myself. I move toward her, opening my arms. Almost instinctively, she falls into them and I pull her close, pressing my face to the top of her head and breathing her in.

It feels like she’s clinging to me for dear life, but I will myself to pull away, reaching down to cup her chin and tilting her face up toward mine.

Her lips don’t move, but her eyes tell me everything I need to know. They’re full of sorrow and regret and I know she genuinely means it. Even so, it doesn’t take back her actions; there’s no rewind button she can hit to erase her mistakes.

I pull away, turning from her and taking a few steps further into my room. The loss of her touch is excruciating, but I have to put distance between us in order to think straight. I turn back to face her, reaching to rub the back of my neck with a hand.

“Do you know why I started the security squad?” I ask, pinching the tense knot of muscles on the back of my upper spine.

Fallon clasps her hands in front of her again. “To protect the six-pack.”

I sigh, leaning back against my dresser. “Right, but it’s more than that.”

“The shadow pack?” she ventures, staring down at her feet.

I nod. “Yeah.” A long pause settles between us before I continue. “You’ve all been taught to fear the shadow pack, but you don’t know how dangerous they are, not really. You’ve never had to face them.”

Fallon’s eyes shoot up to meet mine.

I let out a breath. “I have.”

Fallon

I feel my chest tighten in response to Gray’s admission. It dawns on me that although I’ve been pining after this guy for weeks, I don’t actually know anything about him. I don’t know anything about his background, or how he became Alpha, or what brought his pack to our territory. I didn’t know he’d had a run-in with the shadow pack. The shadow pack has always been this abstract idea; something I learned to fear without knowing much about.

“The shadow pack came for mine,” Gray states, his eyes trailing to the floor. “By the time we knew they were coming, it was too late. We didn’t stand a chance.”

Slowly, Gray returns his gaze to mine, and I can see the pain swirling behind his eyes. “They killed my family.” His voice comes out a little strained, his expression twists like he’s haunted by the memory.

“Less than half of the pack survived. My dad was killed, so they looked to me to step up as their Alpha. We were on our own for a while, just surviving, until we found Reid’s pack. Then the six-pack.”

“Gray…” I whisper. His story devastates me. I go to him, pulled like a magnet, and press my body against his, twining my arms around his neck. “I’m so sorry…”

Gray just shakes his head, settling his hands on my waist. “I don’t want your sympathy,” he says, his voice hard again. His dark eyes are wide, sincere. “I want you to understand how real the threat is, and that it’s out there. I know you have this idealized vision of joining the squad, of becoming a warrior, but it’s not a game. It’s our job to defend the six-pack, we’re all that stands between them and the shadow pack. It’s life or death.”

The gravity of his words is heavy. I want to take his pain away, fight his demons for him. I reach up to touch the scratchy stubble of his jaw. “I understand, and I’m not afraid of a fight. Let me stay… I’ll stand by you, fight with you.”

Without warning, Gray pulls my body into his, stamping his mouth down over mine. Sparks ignite between our lips as I drag my hand up to his hair, tangling my fingers in it. I kiss him back urgently, parting my lips and darting my tongue into his delicious mouth, twining it with his own.

He doesn’t stop kissing me as he slides his hands down to my ass, cupping underneath each cheek and lifting me up. My legs part to straddle him as he spins me around and sets me on top of the dresser, moving one hand to my waist and the other to the nape of my neck.

He presses his body forward into me and I can feel the hardness of his dick against my core. My pussy starts throbbing with wanton need as he nips my bottom lip, dragging it between his teeth.Oh, yes.

His hand moves from my waist to my belly, snaking up under my shirt. He cups one of my bare breasts as he starts trailing kisses down my jaw to the tender skin of my neck and I let out a needy whine, writhing against him.

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