Page 30 of Alpha Reid

She rises to her feet across from me, and fucking hell that girl is stunning. Her lithe body is bare, covered in toned, lean muscle beneath her beautifully tanned skin. Her long blonde hair hangs loose around her shoulders, her blue eyes still sparkling with the silver of her wolf.

“What were you doing off territory?” Fallon demands, narrowing her eyes on me.

“I… what?” I stutter, trying to think fast. I struggle to my feet and bring a hand up to my cheek, wincing when my fingers come into contact with a cut on my cheekbone. “Was I off territory?”

Fallon doesn’t look amused by my theatrics. She folds her arms, her lips set in a tight line.

“I don’t know my way around here yet,” I groan, brushing dirt off of my clothes. “I’ve been lost for the last hour…”

Fallon arches a skeptical brow. “Then why didn’t you call for help?”

“Uh, no phone,” I say, holding up my hands to illustrate my point. “I was out for a run. I should’ve stuck to the path, but I wanted to explore a little bit… guess it backfired, right?” I chuckle softly, trying to play it cool- though on the inside, I’m panicking.

“Hm,” she muses, still looking unconvinced.

This fucking girl, man. I thought Astrid would be the one I had to worry about, but Fallon seems to have had me pegged from the start, always casting suspicious glances in my direction. And for her to be the one to find me out here… it just fucking figures, doesn’t it?

A tense silence stretches between us as I shift my weight uncomfortably, gnawing on the inside of my cheek. Fallon’s eyes are still narrowed on me like she doesn’t buy my story. I don’t blame her- I’ve never been a great liar. Though I’m getting better at it.

“C’mon,” she sighs after what seems like an eternity, giving a little flick of her head. “Shift, I’ll take you back.”

“What?” I blurt, my eyes flying wide and my hand instinctively flying to the top left corner of my sports-bra where the little envelope is hidden. I nearly sigh in relief when I feel the bump underneath the fabric that tells me it’s still there.

Her eyes narrow again. “What’s wrong?”

Shit. Think fast, Serena. Like your life depends on it.

I look down at myself, then back up at Fallon. “Reid just got me all this stuff. I don’t want to shift and leave it behind…”

I should’ve guessed that clothes would speak to someone like Fallon. Her expression softens and her lips spread into a grin.

“Hey girl, I get it,” she chuckles. “I don’t really feel like streaking, so how about I shift and you just try to keep up on two legs?”

“Sure,” I agree, flashing her a smile of my own.

She rolls her shoulders, stretching. “You’re lucky I was close by when the call came out for someone to check the alert at the border.” She turns to me, tossing me a wink. “Or else you might’ve had to leave that stuff behind and let your wolf lead you back.”

“For sure,” I nod.

She gives me another smile, and my heart’s still pounding as Fallon shifts into her wolf form again, shaking out her fur. As she turns tail and starts to jog ahead, I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Fuck. That was a close one.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Reid

I look up from the open refrigerator as I hear the front door of the packhouse swing open, my wolf instantly perking up as Serena breezes through.

“Hi!” she greets brightly, her delicious scent practically slapping me in the face as she pushes the door closed behind her. She’s wearing leggings and another one of those cropped hoodies that shows a tantalizing strip of her flat stomach- this one is light blue, the same hue as her eyes. Her hair is pulled back in two French braids, and I can’t help but crack a smile as I recall a joke that Theo used to make about pigtails being used as ‘handlebars’.

“Hey,” I call back to her, reaching for a bowl in the fridge filled with fruit. I select a juicy looking red apple and step back, the refrigerator door swinging closed as I step over to the sink to rinse the piece of fruit. “How’d it go?”

I had some pack business to tend to this morning, so I asked Cy to bring Serena over to the complex for the morning training session since she seemed to enjoy working out with the squad so much the other day. While playing chauffeur for the pack’s future Luna doesn’t exactly fall within Cy’s job description as Beta, he was all too eager to help out- he’s been chomping at the bit to learn more about my mate. Though knowing what little I do about Serena, I doubt she divulged much personal information on the ride over.

I was going to go pick her up myself after practice, but Gray called to let me know that Fallon actually offered to give her a lift back here instead. I was glad to hear it, thrilled that my friends’ mates seem to be warming up to Serena, but then Gray mentioned something else- that Fallon responded to an alarm at the border yesterday and discovered that it was Serena who tripped it; she wandered off territory during her run.

While Gray didn’t outwardly accuse Serena of anything, I could pick up the subtle hint of suspicion in his tone. I know it shouldn’t, but it irritated me- so I ended the call and asked Cy to cover for me here this afternoon, determined to spend more time with my mate and continue my efforts to knock her walls down. I figure that the sooner I know I can trust her, the sooner my friends will have to come around too… right?

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