Page 29 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

“Not yet,” I grunted back.

“What’s the holdup?” Nolan asked.

“The card. It’s locked up tight in the safe, and I don’t know the code.”

“Your birthday?” Reid asked.

“No.”

“Maddie’s birthday?” Nolan suggested.

“Tried that one. And Seb’s.”

“Seb’s what?”

I spun around to see my brother running close enough to us to eavesdrop. “Fuck off,” I muttered, then turned back forward.

“No way,” he argued. “I’ll tell Dad you’re trying to buy plane tickets to Colorado unless you buy me one too.”

“How did you—“

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what the three of you are trying to buy with the pack’s emergency credit card that is kept in the safe.” He chuckled with a roll of his eyes. “Which I also know the code to, by the way,” he added, looking at his fingernails, like he didn’t just drop a crazy important detail on us.

“Well, then, tell us!” I demanded.

“Take me with you,” he demanded back.

I gritted my teeth and stared him down, but he just stared right back, unaffected by my demeanor.

“He’s growling again,” Reid stage whispered, and Nolan snorted but tried to cover it with his hand.

“Fine,” I hissed out between my teeth. “What’s the code?”

He grinned in triumph. “It’s 59226.”

“Why?” I asked with a furrowed brow.

“Because it spells ‘lycan.’”

I blinked at him a few times. “That’s a terrible code.”

“I know, right?” He laughed.

“No, Seb, we’ve watched Harry Potter way too many times. We’re not watching it again tonight. If you want to watch it, you can have your own movie night in your own room,” Reid said as we rounded the corner nearest our dads.

Sebastian pulled his lips into his mouth and turned his head towards Nolan to hide his cracking facade from our dad’s watchful gaze.

I smiled at my dad as we passed, and he returned it, although it wasn’t his usual smile.

My heart sank, and my stomach tightened, but I clenched my jaw and kept running, albeit a bit faster than before.

“Wes, slow down!” Reid panted from behind me, but I was locked into my rhythm and unable to break my stride to let them keep up with me.

What I wasn’t expecting, however, was the sound of footsteps next to me, matching my pace. I glanced to the side, and there was Sebastian, keeping up with my every step.

“Come on, Wes, I know you can go faster,” he taunted, his eyes glinting with a challenge.

But underneath his challenge, I could also see his understanding, his knowledge that what I needed was a distraction.

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