Page 30 of Alpha Chase

“You mean besides the obvious?” Fallon looks over at Serena as she steps up on the other side of me to check out her dress in the mirror. “Ask Serena, she’s his bestie.”

Serena’s eyes meet Fallon’s in the mirror and she sticks out her tongue. “Oh man, you want me to explain Chase?” Her eyes flicker to mine. “How much time have you got?”

Fallon laughs, shaking her head. “Case in point. Run the other way, honey.”

Serena shoots her a look. “C’mon, you know he’s not all bad. Chase just wants someone to understand him.” She smooths the front of the canary yellow dress she’s wearing, eyeing her reflection critically. “He’s got major abandonment issues from his mom leaving when he was a kid, and his dad’s sudden death basically sliced open that wound. You’ve gotta feel for the guy. If you ask me, I think he’s just afraid to get close to anyone.”

Bits and pieces of our interactions start to click together in my head. The way he shut down when I asked about his upbringing. The way he got defensive when I made assumptions about how he grew up. I never knew his mom left, and suddenly I feel really shitty for never putting two and two together.

“He’s close with you, though,” I point out.

Serena nods. “Yeah, he is. But that’s because there’s a limit, ya know? I’ve got a mate, so he can only get so close.” She sweeps her hair over a shoulder, eyes trailing down the front of her dress in the mirror again. “Okay, this color is not working for me.”

“Try the green one!” Fallon urges, blonde ponytail flying as she spins around to swipe it off the rack. It looks more like a nightie than a dress, but Serena gets that same look in her eyes that she had when I first handed it to her. She grabs it from Fallon, ducking back into her changing stall and pulling the curtain closed behind her. Fallon pulls another dress for herself, disappearing behind her own curtain while I continue to admire the one I’ve got on in the mirror.

“He just puts on a hard front to drive people away,” Serena continues as she starts changing.

“Well it’s fucking working,” I grumble, staring at my own reflection. “He needs to get his shit together.” The conversation that I stumbled upon between Gray and Rob resurfaces in my mind, and while I don’t want to get anyone in trouble, I can’t help but wonder how serious Rob’s threat was. “What’ll happen to his pack if he doesn’t step up as Alpha anyways? Does it just like, automatically pass to the beta?”

“He’d have to be challenged,” Fallon provides, sticking her head out of the curtain. I spin around to meet her eyes, hoping my own don’t give anything away. “I mean, the beta would make the most sense, but technically anyone could challenge him.”

“That shit never ends well, though,” Serena interjects, her voice a bit muffled behind her curtain. “If it’s not succession by birth right, the pack is usually divided on who they want to take over. It happened to a pack near ours when I was younger, we wound up taking a lot of them in after their pack imploded.” The curtain swishes as she pushes it back, stepping out in the green silk dress.

My jaw goes slack. “Damn, girl,” I breathe, eyes raking down her body. The shiny fabric clings in all the right places and the deep emerald color looks amazing against her red hair.

“Yeah?!” Serena rushes over to the mirror excitedly to check it out, while Fallon steps out from her own changing stall in nothing but her bra and panties.

“That’s the one,” she says approvingly, folding her arms and giving Serena a once-over as she does a little spin. “It’s perfect!”

Serena’s smile couldn’t get any bigger. Like me, she obviously just wants to live in that dress- she doesn’t take it off while we wait for Fallon to try on a few more. Fallon ultimately can’t choose between three that she likes so she decides to just buy them all, while I try to come up with a passable excuse as to why I can’t even buy one. It actually pains me to change out of it and put it back on the rack.

When we get up to the register, Fallon turns to grab Serena’s dress from her, adding it to her own pile. Then she turns to me, brows knitting together in confusion when she realizes I’m empty-handed.

“Where’s your dress?” she asks, fishing her wallet out of the back pocket of her jeans.

“Oh, I uh…” I shift my weight uncomfortably, fingers toying with the ends of my hair. “I decided against it. I’ve got another one in mind to wear.”

Fallon looks at me like I’ve just spoken in a foreign language. “What? That dress was gorgeous on you, Vee! There’s no way you’re leaving here without it.”

“I agree,” Serena says, shouldering past me to head back toward the fitting rooms. “I’ll grab it.”

“No, really,” I protest, but once again, Fallon’s not the type of girl that takes no for an answer. She simply shakes her head, fishing a credit card out of her wallet and pressing it onto the counter as the salesgirl starts ringing up the dresses.

“It’s on me,” she says, tossing me a wink. “Well on Gray, technically, but consider it penance for him taking so long to get back to you about joining the squad.”

I shake my head, dark hair swishing around my face. “Seriously, you don’t have to do that. I have another…”

“Got it!” Serena shoulders past me again, the shimmery champagne fabric catching my eye as she tosses it onto the pile on the counter. Any argument I had dies on my lips when I see it, that feeling of want tugging at my chest.

“Too late,” Fallon chirps as the salesgirl rings it in, then barks out a total that nearly makes my eyes bug out of my head. Fallon just calmly slides her credit card toward her, not even flinching.

“Thank you,” I say quietly, wringing my hands in front of me as my cheeks heat.

While the girl bags up the dresses, Fallon swings around to face me, leaning back on the counter and waggling her eyebrows. “Don’t mention it. We’ll see how Chase Walker really feels about you when you show up inthat.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Chase

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