Page 37 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

My nostrils flared as I tried to keep my cool. Sebastian danced beside him, and as Nolan walked up to me, he attempted to keep a straight face, and remain serious, but failed.

“Sorry, Wes,” he chuckled as he grabbed my shoulder. “But you have to admit, he’s not wrong.”

The worst part was they were right. And I wanted to be annoyed, but I wasn’t. My list of ladies wasn’t anywhere near as long as Reid’s, but there was a small string of brokenhearted she-wolves I had left in the dust.

“Why’d you let this one go?” Reid called as I made my way off the porch with Nolan by my side.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my brows furrowed.

“Well, with Jane, it was ‘We didn’t click anymore.’”

“Caitlin didn’t make him laugh,” Sebastian said.

“No, that wasKatie,” Reid reminded him. “Caitlinwanted different things in life.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Sebastian laughed.

“Shannon talked too much,” Nolan added. “And Ashley didn’t talk enough.”

“And Beth was too agreeable,” Reid concluded. “So, we want to know, what was wrong with this one?”

My jaw clenched as I held in a snarl. My lycan didn’t like the teasing, but he—and I—also knew my friends weren’t wrong. With each female I’d dated, I had found some unforgivable, irreparable flaw. Something that was maybe tiny and insignificant to most but was too large a hurdle for me to overlook and move past. And Lauren was no exception.

“I didn’t worry about her safety,” I mumbled, shoving my hands in my pockets and looking at the ground as we walked.

Sebastian snorted.

“What?” I asked him with a glare.

“Nothing,” he said after a sharp look from Reid.

“Well, it’s true,” I continued. “I didn’t even realize we hadn’t talked in two days. I should have been worried or at least realized we hadn’t spoken, but…”

I trailed off at another snicker from Sebastian and shot him another glare. “What?!” I gritted out.

“Nothing!” he said again, lifting his hands in the air.

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he just gave me a cheeky grin, then said, “Look, Reid! Sprinkles!”

I stopped in my tracks as the two of them took off towards the cookie table at Maya’s party, and Nolan stood next to me, watching them and the rest of the party.

“Will you three ever like a girl I date?” I muttered, not expecting an actual answer.

“If she’s our luna, I’m sure we’ll love her,” Nolan murmured, crossing his arms.

“You mean if she’s my Goddess-given mate?”

Nolan blew out a breath and ran his hand over his buzzed hair.

“I mean… maybe?” He glanced at me. “Look, Wes. Chosen or fated, it won’t work if you keep holding these females you date up to some impossible, imaginary standard. You can’t hold someone at arm’s length and expect them to become someone important to you and, by extension, us. If you don’t connect with her, then we won’t connect with her.”

I mulled his words over in my mind while he walked to the table with the other two idiots and grabbed a cookie.

He was right. For the third time that night, he was right. Shit, I hated that. I hated when Nolan pulled his “I’m one year older and therefore more experienced and wiser” crap. And I hated even more that ninety-nine percent of the time, he actually had a point.

I kicked at a small dirt clod and then walked to join them, hoping maybe a chocolate chip cookie would ease my agitation.

My lycan pranced around in my mind as I moved towards the table, more excited about baked goods than I’d ever seen him about anything.

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