Page 27 of Resisted

My wolf pulled inward asI jumped onto the steps of our patio, leaving the man in his place. The morning jogs were my absolute favorite thing in the world. The crisp air strumming through my fur as I ran was a sort of freedom I could never quite grasp in my human form. I walked the last few steps as a man and grabbed a pair of shorts I’d left on a chair by the balcony. I wasn’t shy. A shifter never really was. But with Bella around, Silas had laid down a list of rules so fucking tight, I almost wished I could send her back.

No walking around naked.

No shifting around her.

No doing shit for her.

No fucking lounging and watching a damn movie with her around.

It was ridiculous, of course, and I knew it was only a matter of time before Vince and I said fuck it and ditched the endless list of dos and don’ts. Still, I wanted to comply for the first few days until Silas calmed down some. If that was even possible. She made him wound so fucking tight, I doubted even a good fuck could release his tension.

I pulled open the door, lost in my own thoughts, and nearly jumped out of my fucking skin when her soft voice broke the silence. “Hey, Boyce.”

I looked over to where she sat at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of fries and… “Is that mayo? Bella, you’re disgusting.”

She dipped a fry into the thick substance and shoved it into her mouth, causing me to fight off my gag reflex. “Mmm, delicious.”

“If you can eat that, I bet you could eat anything,” I muttered as I made my way over to the coffee pot.

“Pretty much anything. My gag reflex isn’t nearly as sensitive as yours.”

I froze as I reached for a cup. Fates. I wondered if she even realized how sexual that had sounded. Images of my cock in her mouth as she sucked it down her fucking throat had me hard in an instant, and I had to bite my tongue just to stifle a groan. What the hell was wrong with me that I let such a simple statement affect me? It was our kiss all those years ago all over again. The weak fluttering I’d felt resurfaced.

Vince picked that exact moment to walk in. He stopped for a second, looked between the two of us, then continued to the mug cabinet, where he took the mug I was reaching for and one other. He effortlessly prepared two cups of coffee before walking toward Bella and setting one down.

His face pulled in repulsion as he said, “Baby, that’s disgusting.”

“It tastes so right, though.” She shoved another one in her mouth.

Vince walked toward me again to grab his cup, and I whispered, “I thought we weren’t supposed to make her coffee.”

“Fuck Silas. I’ll do what I want,” he muttered before grabbing his cup and taking a gulp. “He’s my subpack alpha, not the alpha of the whole pack. His power over me is minimal.”

I wish I were bold enough to think like him, but Silas had power over me. He’d been my alpha nearly as long as I’d lived with my own parents. I’d learned a lot from him, and I owed him the respect to obey his wishes. Still, when I looked at her, looked at the girl who’d once scowled me for decorating cookies wrong, who’d once been the tiniest of pups, I had a hard time obeying this single order. Everything inside of me said to be close to her, to learn her, to get to know every dislike and prove to her that as a pack, we could provide for her needs. It was an instinct damn near impossible to fight. If I was doing something for Vince too, it wouldn’t be going against Silas’ orders, right?

“I’m making food. You need something more than that shit you’re eating. Over easy, Vince?” I headed for the fridge to take out a cartoon of eggs.

“Four,” he instructed.

“Jesus. That’s a lot of eggs,” Bella commented.

“She’ll take two. Side of toast.” He looked at her. “Do we have any bacon?”

I smirked because we always had bacon. Vince was obsessed with this precooked type that he literally shoveled in his mouth any chance he got. “Never run out.”

“Give her a few slices of that too.” Then he looked at her, their eyes locked in a stare down as he brought his coffee to his lips and drank.

“It’s fine, Boyce. Really. You don’t have to—”

Her words were cut off by Vince as he tore his eyes away from hers and brought them to mine. “I said what I said.”

I’d had plenty of opportunities in this life to go against Vince’s requests, and some of them I have, full force. But I also knew that Vince could be the biggest of assholes, and I just didn’t really know if I was mentally up for it today. “Bacon it is.”

I got to work making the eggs and putting toast in the toaster as I spoke. “So, Bella, going to college these days?”

“Nope. Playing the field.” I almost growled before she added, “I’m kidding. I work the diner now, waiting tables. I haven’t figured out what really interests me.”

The thought of her waiting tables, having all those men talk to her, ogle her, speak to her, made my chest burn, but I ignored it. “You could be like, I don’t know, a party planner or something. You’ve always been bossy, and heaven forbid if a sprinkle was in the wrong place.”

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