Page 39 of Alpha Chase

I extend a finger, sliding the box across the counter toward Vienna again. “Just take the phone.”

She folds her arms over her chest, the white fabric of her shirt pulling tight across her tits as she shakes her head.

I grit my teeth in frustration, narrowing my eyes on her. “Well, I’m not leaving with it, so if you don’t want it, I guess it’s up for grabs to some fucking tourist or something,” I growl out.

Why is she making such a big deal over a fucking phone? Guess this is what I get for trying to be fucking nice for once.And people wonder why I’m a dick.

Vienna blows out a breath, glancing down at the box longingly. “Is this your way of trying to apologize for the other night?”

“Why would I need to apologize?” I snap, my anger bubbling to the surface. “You showed up there with another dude, withoutpanties…”

“First of all,” Vienna interrupts, her eyes narrowing into slits as she holds up a finger, “I didn’t come there with Logan. I ran into him in the parking lot when I was walking in. And second,” she throws up another finger, “Like I said, that dress would’ve shown panty lines…”

“Yeah fucking right,” I spit. “You know you did that just to torture me.”

She throws up her arms in exasperation, raising her voice. “Not everything’s aboutyou, Chase!”

“AlphaChase.”

“Oh, now you’re gonna try to pull rank on me?” She shakes her head, tossing her hair back as she chuckles wryly. “That’s rich, coming from someone who refuses to even step into his role as Alpha. You may have been born into the position, but respect has to beearned.”

My hands clench into fists, fingernails digging crescents into my palms. “You’d better watch that smartass mouth of yours.”

“Or what?” she challenges. “What are you gonna do about it,Alpha?”

The way she says ‘Alpha’ is so fucking snide that it makes my skin crawl. I can think of a few ways to shut her up, shoving my cock past those lips being at the top of the list. That response is on the tip of my tongue when a whistle rings out from across the room and I snap my head in the direction it came from, eyes landing on a guy with his hand in the air, snapping his fingers.

“Hey, beautiful, can we get some more beers over here or what?” he calls out, his buddy chuckling from his seat on the other side of the table.

Fuckin’ tourists.

I turn back to Vienna and see she’s visibly stilled, her demeanor changing on a dime. Her shoulders are stiff, her jaw set. This isn’t the fiery defiance I’m used to seeing, it’s something else entirely, like she’s suddenly profoundly uncomfortable. I don’t like it one bit.

“Those guys bothering you or something?” I ask, arching a brow, trying to get a read on her.

She quickly shakes her head, her invisible mask slipping back into place. “No. It’s fine.”

I watch Vienna carefully as she grabs a couple of glasses off the stack and steps over to the beer tap, placing one underneath and pulling the knob back to fill it.

“Are you sure?” I ask, still assessing her.

“The only one bothering me right now is you,” she snaps, scowling as she sets a full beer on the bar and starts to fill the next one.

I push back on my stool, ready to storm out of there, but something stops me. It’s this tiny flicker of uneasiness, the feeling that something about Vienna’s shift in demeanor doesn’t sit quite right.

She finishes filling the second beer and picks up the first again, turning on a heel and strutting out from behind the bar to carry them over to the two dickheads that fuckingwhistledto get her attention. My eyes are fixed on the hypnotizing sway of her hips as she approaches their table, setting the beers down in front of them.

I can’t hear what they’re saying, but one of the guys is leering at her as the other-

Oh hell no.

His arm wraps around Vienna’s waist, a sharp squeal of protest escaping her throat as he hauls her down onto his lap and I see fuckingred.

I leap from my stool and cross the restaurant to them in two seconds flat. Vienna has already wriggled out of his grasp, darting away from him, just in time for me to fucking pounce.

I barrel into the guy, knocking him off his chair and going to the ground with him, fists flying at his face. He writhes around wildly, trying to dodge my blows, arms flailing in a pathetic attempt to block me. His head snaps to the side as my knuckles connect with his jaw, blood spraying from his mouth and splattering my face. He wails out, but I couldn’t stop now if I tried. My wolf is too close to the surface, spoiling for a fight, and I feel more animal than human right now.

Crunch.

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