Page 71 of Alpha Chase

“You act all high and mighty, but you know damn well that being marked as an Alpha’s mate would solve all your problems,” I call after her, my voice so dark and cruel that I hardly recognize it. “Isn’t that what you want? Someone to take care of you so you don’t have to work that shitty job or drive that shitty car, or walk around with a busted-ass phone?”

Vienna stops in her tracks, every muscle in her body tensing.

And because I never know when to shut the fuck up, I throw in one more biting remark at her, because her rejection has cut me so deep that all I want to do right now is hurt her back. “Isn’t that why you threw yourself at me in the first place?”

She whips around, and the look on her face fucking guts me. It’s full of pain and rage and regret, her eyes shining with unshed tears and the bronze glow of her wolf, ready to tear me to shreds. And I deserve it. I fucking deserve it, because seeing that look on her face, I immediately wish I could take it all back. I wish I could start over. I wish I wasn’t such a hot-headed douchebag so fueled by my own rage and selfish impulses that I can’t help but burn every good thing in my life down to the fucking ground.

“Fuck you!” Vienna shouts, eating up the distance between us as she stomps toward me. “You’rethe one who started this! I was doing just fine before you came along, I was trying to make my life better, and now everything’s a mess!”

“Pretty sure things weren’t going that well, or you wouldn’t have been over here begging Gray for a spot on the squad,” I mutter.

Her body trembles with fury, and too late, I see her eyes flicker to the coffee cup sitting on the table beside me, wisps of steam curling from the top. She darts a hand out, fingers curling around the handle, throwing the piping hot contents of the mug right into my fucking face. I shout as the coffee sears my skin, temporarily blinding me as I swipe my hands over my face frantically, lumpy blisters already forming on my skin.

Stomp stomp stomp.

I blink my eyes open, vision blurry as I see the front door of the packhouse opening before Vienna can even reach it. “Lose my number, asshole,” she calls back to me, shouldering past a wide-eyed Fallon and Serena as they step inside. They stare at me dumbfoundedly, coffee dripping from my chin and a deep scowl etched on my face. The burns will heal, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to live this moment down.

I swipe a hand over my face, flicking droplets of coffee onto the floor. Fallon and Serena are both still gaping at me, obviously alarmed at my appearance. I’m sure my face is beet red- both from the hot coffee and embarrassment- and blistering by the second.

I just shake my head, face stinging as I turn away to retreat to my bedroom. “Don’t fucking ask.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Chase

“Whathappenedtoyourface, bro?” Alec snickers as he climbs out of his truck, taking in the state of my still-reddened mug. The blisters have already healed, but some evidence of the coffee assault remains, my shifter healing working overtime to repair the damage.

“Don’t go there,” Callum chuckles, shooting me a smug smirk as he slides out of the back seat of my Ford Raptor, parked alongside Alec and Dare’s truck at the lodge. He reaches back in to grab our bags of snowboard gear, hauling them out. “He got into it with his girl this morning and he’s still salty as fuck.”

“Am not,” I snap, snatching my bag from Cal and leveling him with a glare.

“Vienna?” Miles probes, popping up from around the other side of the neighboring truck. His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “You two official now?”

Callum claps me on the shoulder, flashing a toothy grin. “Our boy got himself a girlfriend.”

I shrug his hand off my shoulder and shoot him a scowl. “Knock it off, Cal,” I grumble, striding around the truck and tossing my bag down onto the open tailgate.

“Is it true?” Dare blinks, looking over at me as he slides his snowboard out of the bed of his truck. “You and Vee?”

I shrug, unzipping my bag and pulling out my goggles and balaclava. “It’s complicated,” I grind out, reaching in again to rifle around for my gloves.

“Understatement of the century,” Levi chuckles. He smirks as he rounds the truck to join me at the tailgate, dropping his own bag down beside mine.

Cal’s grin widens as he looks to Levi, a devilish gleam in his eyes. “You still pissy that Chase stole her out from under you?”

“Ohhhkay,” I sigh, holding up my hands. “Let’s get one thing straight. She was neverunder him. And if you guys enjoy breathing, you won’t ever say that shit again.”

“Relax,” Levi laughs, clapping me on the shoulder and glancing around at the others. “I’m not mad. There’s plenty more girls out there, maybe even some that won’t chuck hot coffee in my face when they’re pissed off. Think I dodged a bullet, really.”

Miles, Alec, and Dare all snap their gazes to me, blinking in disbelief. When my face reddens even further, they all burst into laughter, Callum and Levi joining them, cackling at my expense.

“Thanks for that,” I grumble, delivering a sharp jab to Levi’s bicep. I can’t help but laugh too, though, because it’s fucking contagious. I’m still chuckling as I reach into the bed of the truck for my snowboard when Cal gets quiet, his deep voice cutting through the laughter emanating from the others.

“Uh… Chase?”

From the tone of his voice, I immediately know that something’s wrong. Callum is always fucking around, using humor to mask how black his soul is, but when he’s serious, his voice takes on a different tenor. My heart starts racing as my eyes dart to him, his own focused on the screen of his phone. He slowly raises his head to meet my gaze, a grave look on his face, confirming that whatever he’s about to tell me is bad news.

Cal’s throat bobs with a hard swallow, his eyes intently focused on my own. “Vienna wrecked her car.”

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