Page 20 of Alpha Varsity

My brows pop. “Course.” I shovel the lost flour from the floor with the dustpan, dumping it into the trash.

“Lauren’s not all human.”

I stop and stare at him. “What?”

He tosses me the broom. “She’s part bear. We think her grandfather might be that old bear that was hanging out on pack land last month.”

I whistle. “No shit. So that’s why fate put you with her.” I start to sweep up the remaining flour.

Abe nods. “So maybe there’s a reason, you know?” He shrugs. “I tried to resist her, but it just drove my wolf nuts.”

I work the corner with the broom, trying to get it all up. “You think there’s a reason Fate chose Carlotta for me?” I shake my head. “No way. I mean, she’s hot as fuck, so in theory, we’d make cute pups, but that won’t happen.”

“That’s what I thought, too.”

“Nope.” I won’t let it happen. “I’d choose moon madness if it came to that over marking that female.”

Abe leans against the back wall and folds his arms over his chest. “That could be your defense. For the council, I mean. The fact that she’s your mate. No one is going to fault you for defending your fated mate’s reputation.”

I sit on the stack of flour sacks. “I know. But I’m not going to tell the whole fucking town before–”

I stop. Before what? Before I tell Lotta?

Is that what I plan to do?

I haven’t even figured out my next move beyond hunting her down again at the next full moon run.

Somehow, I doubt I’ll make it that long, though.

The need to get my hands on her grows every minute of the day.

“Before you mark her?”

“I’m not going to mark her,” I snarl. But I know it’s a lie.

I’m going to sink my teeth into that delectable flesh of hers and leave my scent, so no other male ever touches her.

That doesn’t mean I’ll keep her.

It will be a catch and release situation.

Except I know that’s a lie, too.

I’m going to mark Lotta, and then I’m going to tie her to my bed and punish her in every delicious way possible for the misery she’s caused me.

I just have to graduate high school first, so I don’t create a scandal even bigger than the one that got my dad thrown out of town.

Lotta

“You’re an asshole for not coming back, even for a visit,” my high school friend, Olive declares, narrowing her long, fake lashes at me.

“Seriously,” Brianna agrees. We’re at the New Moon Diner where the two arranged to meet me, so we could catch up.

“I know. I’m sorry. It’s just…it was hard to live with humans, so I kind of needed to cut off my old life, so I could adapt.”

There are two paths for Wolf Ridge pack members after high school–death or rebirth. That’s my take on it, anyway. Death is staying. You’ll work at the brewery or some other local business, get knocked up by another pack member, and dig in to die here the way everyone in your lineage has. Or, if you’re lucky and work hard enough, you can get out. But it will mean living away from the pack amongst humans, which has its stressors. In order to survive, you’ll have to be reborn as a human.

“It’s good to see you. I didn’t even realize how much I missed your faces.”

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