Page 75 of Alpha Gray

Even though it kills me to stay out of it.

Jax cracks a smile. “Are you two still…”

I shoot him a glance, then realize that everyone’s eyes are on me, waiting for my response.

“Yeah.” I sigh, scrubbing a hand over my face. These guys are my brothers, I can’t lie to them. Fallon and I agreed to keep things quiet, but I don’t see the harm in admitting what they already know. “The girl’s my fucking kryptonite.”

Theo cocks a brow, a devilish grin on his face. “How is she, man? I’ll bet she’s a screamer…”

My wolf surges forward and I slam the front legs of my chair down, rising to my feet in an instant and slapping my palms on the table. I lean forward menacingly toward Theo, seated opposite me, surprise playing on his face at my reaction.

“Don’t talk about her like that!” I roar, a growl rumbling from my chest.

“Easy, Gray…” Reid murmurs, reaching out to grab my arm.

Theo leans back and rolls his eyes, which only enrages my wolf more. He’s clawing at my insides, fighting to get out.

I take a beat, shaking Reid’s hand off and drawing a deep breath as I sink back into my chair. I concentrate on my breathing, settling my wolf down. I already knew he was protective of Fallon, but now he’s taking it to extremes. One of Theo’s typical lewd comments doesn’t warrant an attack, and I’m man enough to recognize my overreaction.

Theo leans sideways toward Jax, muttering under his breath. “Must be good if he’s already whipped.”

It takes a great deal of effort to exercise restraint; I just shoot Theo another glare. Jax gives him a sideways glance warning him to shut the fuck up.

“So we’re in agreement, Fallon stays?” Reid asks, looking exasperated. He’s the most level-headed of all of us- a necessary component to our group.

“Yep.” Brock gives a curt nod. “Reilly can go, she hasn’t improved over the last two weeks.”

Reid scribbles on the paper again, moving on. “Alright, done. And I think we’re all in agreement that Davis stays?”

Jax chuckles, leaning forward and running a hand through his wavy blonde surfer hair. “Casey would flip if we sent him home.”

“I almost want to, just to watch the world burn,” Theo laughs, waggling his eyebrows.

“Can we stay on task here, guys?” Brock heaves a sigh, leaning his elbows on the table and dropping his face into his hands.

“Davis stays,” I grumble. “He’s one of our best.”

Reid nods, going back to his paper. “Then that just leaves Carter, Boyd, Maxwell, and Alex.”

“Alex,” Theo and Jax say, almost in unison.

We all laugh. We debated sending Alex home last week, and we really should’ve. Not only is he an annoying blowhard, but he sucks. The only reason he’s lasted as long as he has is because he’s Jax’s cousin, and Jax promised his dad he’d let him get at least halfway through.

Reid circles his name, then glances up at us again. “And the other three?”

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of Boyd, but I can’t bring myself to throw him under the bus just because I’m fucking jealous- he’s one of Fallon’s closest friends. It’d kill her for him to go, and my desire to make her happy far outweighs my disdain for Boyd. I stay silent, looking around at the others.

“Keep em’,” Brock mumbles.

Nobody else speaks up, and after a moment I hear the scratch of Reid’s pen against the paper as he finalizes the list.

“Alright, so…” he pulls out another sheet of paper from underneath the first, jotting down a list of names. “Tori, Blake, Derek, Reilly, Alex. We good?”

We all mumble in agreement as Reid scrawls their names on the fresh sheet.

“Okay,” he says, affixing a piece of tape to the back and holding up the paper. “Who wants to do the honors?”

I push my chair back from the table, snatching the list from Reid’s hand.

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