Page 23 of Alpha Chase

“You think I couldn’t?” I slip a finger underneath her chin, tipping her face back up to mine.

There’s defiant fire in her eyes as they return to my own and she says, “Iknowyou couldn’t.”

Vienna’s hand slips from my chest and I crowd her in, grabbing a handful of her round ass and yanking her body into mine. Despite the raging sexual tension between us, she’s too fucking stubborn to give in to my advance- instead she writhes against me, trying to shove me away. I relent, loosening my grip to let her go when her hand darts up to deliver a sharp slap to my cheek.

What the fuck?I grunt and rock back momentarily, cheek stinging as I reach out to snatch her wrist before she can slap me again, curling my fingers around it tightly.

Vienna freezes, a flash of fear in her eyes as I level her with a glare. I’m pissed off, but I’ve also never been so hard in my fucking life. It’s a confusing mess of sensation and emotion, like this girl has knocked my world so far off-kilter that I don’t know which way is up anymore.

I suck in a breath through my teeth and lean my face down right in front of hers, so close that I can feel her breath against my own lips as it comes out in short little pants. “There’s a difference between can’t and won’t,” I rasp, tracing the length of her nose with the tip of mine. I feel a shiver run through her and I chuckle lowly, chest rumbling. “Besides, baby, we’d fucking kill each other.”

I release her wrist and she wrenches it back, clutching it to her chest and scowling up at me as I straighten. She may say she doesn’t want this, but she’s a liar; I can smell the scent of her arousal hanging thick in the air. It’s the only reason I move back- because it’s driving me fucking crazy, my dick straining painfully against my jeans.

“Better run back to Levi since that’s who you came here for tonight,” I mumble bitterly, shoving my hands in my pockets so I don’t do something stupid like reach out to touch her again. My hands were only on her body for a moment, but fuck it felt good. Too good.

Vienna gives a little shake of her head. “No I didn’t. I came for Nessa.” She lifts her chin haughtily. “At least he’s a gentleman, though. He doesn’t try to manhandle me at every opportunity…”

“Nessa?” I ask, cutting her off, brows drawing together in confusion.

“Yeah,” she says with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Cal invited her.”

I squint my eyes, assessing her dubiously. “Cal?”

“Yeah, he texted her this morning…”

“Hetextedher?” Now I’m really confused- Cal doesn’t fuckingtextgirls. He can barely be bothered to text us.

She throws her hands on her hips. “Are you just going to repeat everything I say like a goddamn parrot? You’re…” she stops speaking abruptly, eyes rounding and nose lifting. “Do you smell that?”

I take a deep inhale through my nose, the sickening scent registering. The dirty, rotten smell of a rogue- the same scent I trailed from the restaurant of the lodge to the parking lot the other day.

My posture goes rigid, shoulders tense. If a rogue was trespassing in our territory, he would’ve tripped the border security system and the squad would’ve already been alerted. Since whoever’s on patrol tonight isn’t out here investigating, it likely means that the rogue is lurking just beyond the border, close enough for us to smell him but not close enough to trip the sensors. Too close for comfort.

“Get back to the fire,” I grumble, reaching into my pocket for my phone. I need to alert the other alphas, get them out here so we can deal with this situation before the rogue makes a run for it again.

“What?” Vienna blinks as I type out a quick message and hit send. I look back up to see that she hasn’t budged. “I’ve trained with the squad, I can-”

“Go!” I repeat, harsher this time, infusing Alpha command in my tone so that she might actually fucking listen for once. This isn’t up for debate- she needs to go and I need to stay right the fuck here, between her and that filthy rogue, just in case he decides to try his luck by crossing into the territory. I also need to keep a beat on his scent in case he tries to run before the other alphas get here so we can track him.

Vienna frowns and pushes past me, shoulder-checking me as she goes to emphasize her displeasure at my dismissal. I grit my teeth to stop myself from saying something but can’t resist turning my head to watch after her, eyes fixed on the sassy sway of her hips as she retreats toward the pit.

I’m practically in a trance until the vibration of my phone in my hand breaks it. I look down to see the screen lit up with an incoming call, Gray’s name flashing across the screen.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Chase

“Howthefuckdidhe get away again?” Theo spits, face screwed up in an angry scowl.

He and the other alphas of the six-pack alliance- Gray, Jax, Brock, and Reid- rushed out here to meet me shortly after receiving my text, bringing along the two best trackers on the security squad, Leo and Adrian. We’d all hoped the incident at the lodge was a fluke, but now that the same rogue is skulking around our border days later, that doesn’t seem likely. He must be hanging around for a reason, and none of us want to waste any time in finding out what that is.

“The border sensors never alerted?” Jax asks, still catching his breath. We are circled up in the woods in all our naked glory after shifting back from our wolf forms- a sight that would be odd for humans to stumble upon, but for us, public nudity like this is a regular occurrence. Our clothes are left behind when we shift, and the others were able to get here so quickly because they came as their wolves.

“No, I checked them twice,” Theo replies, scrubbing a hand over his face. “The fucker must’ve known where they were so he could avoid tripping them. Who knows how long he’s been casing our borders…”

I turn to look over my shoulder as I hear the crunch of approaching footsteps, Rob stepping out from under the dark cover of the trees. He strides over and tosses a duffel bag to the ground in the middle of our circle, sweatpants and shirts spilling out of the top. He was my second call, after I spoke with Gray, and Levi was my third so he could shut down the party at the pit. While the others swarm the duffel and reach in for clothes, I step away to retrieve my jeans from where I left them on the ground, tugging them up my hips and fastening the button.

“You’re sure it was the same one?” Brock asks, looking over at me as he tightens the drawstring on a pair of sweats to fit his waist.

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