Page 45 of Alpha Reid

My wolf pushes forward in agitation. “Back up,” I warn.

“What’s going on here?”

I turn to see Gray approaching, flanked by Jax and Brock. Chase wisely backs away to give the others space as they circle up.

“You’ve gotta get your mate under control, man,” I grumble, scrubbing a hand over my face.

“Funny, I could say the same to you,” he growls back.

Brock steps between us, shooting us each a glare. “Will you guys fuckin’ cool it?”

My heart’s pounding as rage threatens to spill over and I re-focus my energy on keeping my shit together.

“Reid, what are you gonna do, bro?” Jax asks, eyes sympathetic.

“So she’s just guilty until proven innocent?!” I demand, sweeping my wide-eyed gaze between my friends. “You all just assume it was her?”

Brock heaves a sigh, scratching his head. “No, but you have to admit that it’s pretty coincidental…”

“But we trust you, however you think we should handle it,” Gray adds, his jaw clenching.

Fallon throws her hands on her hips, turning to stare at her mate incredulously. “Really?! You’re just going to let her continue to walk free?”

“Well what do you expect us to do, Fallon, throw her in a cell?” he snaps back.

“Yes, actually,” she retorts, her face still drawn in a scowl.

I level her with a glare. “Absolutely not,” I bark.

Truthfully, I don’t know what the fuck to do, but I do know that locking Serena in a cell right now would make us no better than the shadow pack.

I look back to Gray. “I’ll keep her at the packhouse until we get to the bottom of this.”

“Fine,” he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

Fallon throws up her hands in exasperation, stomping off.

“I’ll deal with her,” Gray mutters. “Just go handle your shit.”

As I turn to head for the parking lot, Brock and Jax shoot me wistful glances that make me want to punch something. I ball my fists at my sides, gritting my teeth as I stalk toward the gate. The skin on my knuckles has already healed from punching the dashboard of my car, but I’m suddenly itching to vent my frustration through my fists again, an urge I haven’t had in a long time. It’s like all of that calm control that I learned to exercise when I took the mantle as Alpha has suddenly gone out the window and I’m a hot-headed teen again.

As I round the corner of the building and the parking lot comes into view, my heart is in my throat. Some part of me suddenly wonders if she’ll actually be waiting for me at the car. If she was the one to plant the virus she might’ve just run off, right? But then again, if she was going to do that, surely she would’ve done it immediately after planting the thing. She wouldn’t have still been hanging around this morning, taking a verbal lashing from Fallon while waiting for a ride back to the packhouse… would she?

Fuck, I don’t know what to think anymore. Don’t know what to believe. I don’t even know if I can bring myself to ask her if she did it- because if the answer is yes, I’m not sure I’m ready to hear it. Despite the circumstances, I truly believed we could make this work. If she was playing me for a fool all along, I don’t want to know- not yet, anyways. Not until I’m prepared to deal with the ramifications of what that would mean.

When I see her red hair through the passenger window, I blow out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, heaving a sigh of relief. She didn’t run away. She’s still here, so maybe we can figure this out. Maybe hope isn’t lost.

Fuck, am I already blaming her, too? Do I just assume she did it, like everyone else?

I walk around to the drivers’ side of the car and pull open the door, sliding into the seat beside Serena. I immediately reach over for her, cupping her face in a hand and staring into her eyes earnestly. “Are you okay?”

She nods slowly. There’s so much emotion behind her wide-eyed gaze; so much I don’t know how to read and that she’s still keeping locked away. Fuck, she’s hiding something. I can see it.

My heart splinters in my chest as I lean forward, capturing her lips with mine, planting a soft kiss upon them.

“Let’s go home,” I murmur against her lips, pulling back to look at her.

I can scent salty tears forming behind her eyes again and I have to look away before they make an appearance. Her tears set something off in my wolf, and I can’t let my feelings for her cloud my judgment right now. I need to try to be objective and figure this thing out.

---