Page 20 of The Gamma's Second Chance

Her tone and her pointed stare leave no room for me to argue. Even though it goes against all my instincts and the etiquette ingrained into me by my parents, I step aside and let her work instead of insisting on helping and going against her wishes.

“I will say”—she heads into the pantry, her arms full of dry goods—“your presencedoesexplain why Nolan needed more groceries than usual this week. I can’t tell you how surprised I was at how quickly he’d gone through everything. Especially those,” she adds as she reenters the kitchen and she spies me reaching for a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips. “I mean, I know those are his favorites, but he usually still has at least a handful left by the time I come by on Saturday mornings to check his stock and his list. But this week? None.”

“I hope you bought extra,” I say with a laugh as I hop onto the counter and perch on the edge, my legs crossed at the ankles.

“I did! I bought another bag!” She tugs it out of the last remaining grocery bag and tosses it to me with a laugh. I catch it and set it next to me, then open the first bag, digging into the salty, tangy goodness of the potato chips. “You’re probably wondering why Nolan has his mother buy his groceries,” she says as she continues her sorting and organizing of the food and Nolan’s pantry and fridge.

“It is a little odd, yes,” I say as I continue to munch on the chips.

“One of the… side effects, I guess you could call them… of being a gamma is that their job as gamma almost always comes first. My mate was lucky enough that he met me before Emily became Alpha Harrison’s luna. Otherwise, Felix would have likely starved or survived on whatever leftovers he could scrounge up in the packhouse kitchens. But Nolan…” She trails off and bites her lip, like she’s afraid she’s said too much.

“It’s just him,” I finish for her as she glances at me from the fridge.

She nods once. “Exactly. And he’s even more dedicated to Haven than Felix was to Emily.”

“It makes sense.” I shrug. “She’s not just the luna of Crescent Lake but also Selene’s daughter. To be the werewolf responsible for protecting her… it’s an important job and also a heavy burden to shoulder. And he does it well.”

Her smile turns soft and reminiscent. “She was almost his sister. Felix and I tried to adopt her. I still think of her as mine, even though she never was. I think Nolan feels the same—like she’s his little sister. Unofficially.”

I chuckle as I think back on their interactions this week, on the subtle teasing and prodding of each other, and the back-and-forth banter they so easily fall into when they’re together. “I can definitely see that. They’re very close.”

I sense him before I hear him or see him. The tension surrounding him is tangible, and it disturbs the peace of the house and the comfortable familiarity building between Fiona and me. Much as he has the majority of this week, he slams the front door open and shut and stomps through the house towards the kitchen to get his glass of water. The hair on the back of my neck stands, and my lycan stirs in my mind, lifting her head to observe him as he lingers in the arched entry.

Our eyes meet, and I’m once again pinned in place by his stare, by those magnetic hazel eyes of his. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. His gaze is heavy, his expression unreadable, and I hate that I can’t figure him out, that I can’t discern what his motives are or what he’s feeling when he looks at me that way.

So I do what I always do. I smile at him and give him a small wave, then return to my snack, swinging my legs as I do.

“Hey, Nolie!” Fiona says, folding up the fabric bags. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be back before I left.”

The weighted heat of his eyes leaves me, and I’m both relieved and disappointed. I feel their absence acutely, and I’m not sure what to make of that. Even though his intentions are indiscernible, and it’s clear he finds my presence irksome, that pinning, assessing stare of his is almost comforting.

Nolan saunters through the room to his mom, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. His gaze returns to me immediately, boring into and through me with the same intensity as before. It’s a searing brand on my skin, but somehow it’s also a reassuring caress, a protective, familiar gesture that settles both my lycan and me.

“You didn’t tell me you had a guest,” Fiona continues, squeezing him and then grabbing her grocery bags.

“Sorry,” Nolan says, his eyes still locked on me. “I’ve been a little… off-kilter lately.”

“Oh, you know I’m not upset,” she says, shrugging off his apology. “I’ll get out of your hair. I need to get home. Your dad and I have a date night tonight.” She wiggles her eyebrows and winks at me, a girlish giggle falling from her lips as I smile at her, and Nolan sighs in exasperation.

“I did not need that information, Mom.”

“If you think of anything you need, anything at all, you just let me know. Or write it down on the list so I see it next week,” Fiona says to me, ignoring Nolan. “Bye!”

With that, she exits the kitchen and the house with a bounce in her step, leaving Nolan and me in our usual state of impassive silence.

A silence I am coming to despise. We can’t continue like this. I will wither away into dust. And even though he’ll likely rebuke my attempt at friendliness, I make an effort anyway.

“So.Nolie. Your mom buys you your groceries.”

He crosses his arms, and I tense under his stare, waiting. Will he pounce? Will he snap? Or will he bury it all, turn around and leave?

He does none of those. Instead, he stalks closer. Slow and steady, he moves across the floor, my lycan tracking each sure step he takes until he’s right in front of me, a whisper away from my knees. His torso shimmers in the soft, late afternoon sunlight, his muscles glistening with a hint of dewy sweat from his run, and I once again have the inappropriate urge to run my tongue over the ridges of his abdomen and the V that disappears down beneath the waistband of his gym shorts.

I swallow and clench my thighs tighter, praying to Selene that it will hide the hint of my arousal threatening to leak from me. He reaches out and plucks the bag of chips out of my hand, peering inside it.

“These are mine,” he says, taking one out and popping it into his mouth.

“Funny.” I cock my head to the side and lean forward, examining the bag in his hand. “I don’t see your name on it.”

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