Page 20 of Alpha Chase

“Hm.” The corner of her mouth ticks up in amusement, but she just turns on a heel, strutting out to the bar and dropping the case of beer on top. She turns to me as I’m walking out with mine, throwing her hands on her hips, a devilish gleam in her eye. “And what about the Alpha?”

The case of beer slips from one of my hands and I fumble to catch it with my knee, bouncing it back up and getting a grip on it again.So much for playing it cool.

“What about him?” I grind out, lifting the case and setting it on the bar beside hers.

She shrugs, a coy smile on her lips as she slides open the top of the beer cooler. “You tell me. There were sparks flying between the two of you last night…”

I snort, shaking my head in disbelief as I rip open the top of the box. “I barely even talked to the guy,” I say as I wind my fingers around the necks of the beer bottles, pulling them out and depositing them into the cooler below. I wince again as they clatter and a fresh wave of pain sears through my temple.

“I know what I saw,” Nessa muses as I reach for more beers, still smiling smugly. “Maybe you didn’t talk much, but that didn’t stop the two of you from eye-fucking the shit out of each other all night.”

“Nessa!” The bottles slip from my fingers and crash into the cooler, my eyes flying wide. I may have a mouth like a sailor, but Nessa usually keeps it more buttoned up.

“What?” she blinks, as if she didn’t just make that crass comment. Then a laugh bursts from her throat. “It’s true!”

Her laugh is contagious. I can’t help but laugh too, and the next thing I know, we’re both in fits of giggles, doubled over and trying to catch our breath.

“You’re crazy, girl,” I chuckle as we both reach into the case for bottles of beer and continue loading the cooler. Once we’ve emptied both cases, Nessa turns to me, setting her hand on my arm.

“Seriously, Vee,” she says, her eyes wide and thoughtful, her tone sincere. “I think he has the hots for you.”

I roll my eyes and wave a hand dismissively. “Yeah, me and everyone else with a vagina.”

She gives a quick shake of her head. “No, that’s not true. The guy didn’t even look at me. He was zeroed in on you all night. There’s something there.”

Her words settle somewhere deep inside of me, giving rise to a distant, nagging feeling that I don’t like. One that’s hard to shake. One that says she’s right, because I saw it too.

“No,” I snap, quickly coming to my senses. “There’s nothing there. If anything, he’s probably just salty that I wasn’t fawning over him like every other she-wolf at that party last night.” I think back to how so many girls were circling the sectional like vultures, scavenging for a morsel of attention from Chase and his friends. “Besides,” I say, a little quieter. “Guys like Chase only know how to take, and I don’t have anything to give right now.”

Nessa’s brows pull in, her eyes sympathetic. She steps closer, setting her hands on my shoulders and gazing at me earnestly. “You’ve got so much to give, Vee. Don’t sell yourself short just because your mom is a royal fuck-up and her boyfriend’s a pervert. This thing with the squad is gonna work out, and once you’re out of that hell hole, things will turn around. You’ll see.”

I blow out a breath, worrying my lower lip between my teeth as I nod. “I know. You’re right.” I reach up to take her hands from my shoulders, bringing them down between us and giving them a little squeeze. “Thanks, Ness.”

She flashes me a smile. “Anytime.” She tugs her hands back and reaches for the empty boxes on the bar. “You can always count on me to be your personal hype-man,” she winks.

I chuckle, following her as she heads back into the storage room with the empty boxes, tossing them in the corner with the others to be broken down later.

“Well maybe I’m wrong about the Alpha, but you can see for yourself tonight,” she says flippantly, reaching for another case of beer. “I’ll pick you up around nine?”

I freeze, holding up my hands. “No way. Even if I didn’t feel like the walking dead, I’m done hanging around that group. They’re bad news.”

Nessa hits me with a sugar-sweet smile. “Tough shit, because they’re having a bonfire in the woods tonight and you’re going with me.” She waggles her eyebrows mischievously.

Only shifters would host a bonfire in the dead of winter. We run hot, so the freezing temps don’t bother us like they do normal humans.

I shake my head adamantly, folding my arms over my chest. “Nope. No way. You’re on your own for this one.”

“Vee!” she whines, reaching out for me. “Callum invited us.Bothof us. I can’t go alone!”

“No,” I repeat firmly with another shake of my head. “No chance.”

And I mean it, too. Yet somehow, shortly after nine that night, I find myself trudging through the forest, arm linked with Nessa’s, bound for the glow of a fire near the edge of Norbury’s territory.

CHAPTER TEN

Chase

There’ssomethingaboutfire.The way it ignites from the smallest spark, bursting into creation. The way it destroys. The way it can be contained one minute and uncontrollable the next, raging and spreading as it scorches the earth. Sometimes that’s how I feel, on the verge of cascading over a barrier into something I can’t come back from. Raging and burning until there’s nothing left but ash.

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