Page 34 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

“I don’t think so?” I answered, shaking my head. “I just moved here a few months ago. I’m in the ballet company just down the mountain and—”

“Oh!” she said in realization. “You’re hu… who Maya said she was inviting tonight!”

“Yes, that’s me!” I said with an awkward laugh.

“Maddie!” Maya yelled. “Go bother someone else!”

“But—”

“No buts! You’re not even supposed to be here, and you know your dad would not be happy if I told him you snuck out.”

Maddie paled and scampered off in the direction of the neighboring houses. “She wasn’t bothering me,” I chuckled.

“I know, but she really will get in trouble. Or rather, I would get in trouble.”

I scrunched up my face at her words. I didn’t understand why Maya would get in trouble with Maddie’s dad, but she cut my musings short when she looped her arm through mine and led me to the table she had grabbed seats at.

She quickly introduced me to all her friends from here, and I just as quickly forgot all of their names. Nothing against them. I just didn’t make a habit of remembering people unless I’d met them five times or more.

The sun had set by the time I finished eating, and after I’d cleared away my trash, I threw my jacket on and made my way to the shore of the lake.

Even with the dull roar of the party, the area near the lake was peaceful and comforting. The nearly full moon reflected in the crystal clear, calm waters of the lake. The water was so still it was hard to tell for sure which was the real sky.

I turned my face up towards the moon, soaking in its light and breathing in the mountain air. It was like Colorado in many ways, yet somehow even more familiar than that place had ever felt. And definitely more than Utah—that place had never really felt like home.

The shuffle of footsteps on the pebbles behind me caught my ear, and the clearing of a throat made me turn around.

My heart leapt into my mouth. Not just from the noise and the sudden interruption of my quiet time but also at the brown eyes staring back at me. Brown eyes that were familiar and yet not, because the boy behind them was no longer a boy, but a man. And oh man, was he aman.

A very tall, very strong, very handsome man. With a short, trimmed beard, broad shoulders, and a piercing gaze that cut through my self-imposed shield.

I shook my head. It couldn’t be him. There was no way it was him.

But his eyes—those eyes I could never forget—went wide with a shock that matched what I felt in my soul. He opened his mouth and breathed out just one word, his voice a deep husk that made my knees weak and turned my insides into fondue.

“Haven?”

CHAPTER 14

WESLEY

I stared out the window above my kitchen sink, sipping my beer as I looked at the view of the lake from my house.

Soon, I thought to myself.Soon, this will all be mine.

Well, provided I found my mate. Or chose one. And, since it had been three years since I’d turned twenty-one and been old enough to meet my fated mate, the idea of having to take a chosen mate was becoming more appealing.

I let out a sigh and set my bottle down on the countertop, my hands gripping the edge and my chin dropping to my chest. Exhaustion hit me like a freight train, the same as it did every day at the same time.

My lycan grew more restless and agitated by the day. His constant irritation wore me out to where all I wanted to do after working all day was come home, have a beer, and turn the TV on, only moving to tell Netflix that, yes, I was STILL watching.

The only reprieve I got was the early morning workouts every day, and the interrupted sleep each night. His attitude was becoming a distraction even at work, and unless something changed—and quick—there could be some real problems on my hands.

My lycan bristled, and I let out an almost silent groan as I heard the front door open and shut, followed by the footsteps of the trio of fools who decided to trespass on my domain of peace this evening. I loved my friends, but they had poor timing.

“We are going for a run!” Reid declared without even greeting me.

I snapped my head to find him grinning like a clown in the kitchen doorway.

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