Page 26 of The Alpha Wolf's Pregnant Bride

“Pfft!” I blow through puckered lips. Unlike the Beta, there's nothing remotely “nice” about the Alpha. The way the moonlight magnifies his tanned features and adds to the mystery in his eyes is the only thing nice about him.

The way he acts around me is too questionable to be considered more than his outright madness.

“There's never been anything between us, D. That's crazy!”

“What's crazy?” Dante, the wolf from the other night, appears beside me.

“Oh!” I shriek, hoping he only caught the short end of our conversation. “Hi, Dante.”

“Hello, Cassie,” he greets back, his smile lighting up his hazel eyes, which notice my empty hands. “Would you like me to fetch you a drink?”

“No, thanks,” I reply sheepishly.

To my surprise, Dante hangs back, and we begin talking. Whatever homesickness I was feeling earlier seems to disappear as the male Moon Shine werewolf, and I converse about my time away.

He seems genuinely interested to hear about my travels. In the back of my mind, this feels foreign. All the attention I’m getting from the pack members is something I'm not accustomed to.

I spent the first twenty years of my life not fitting in with the crowd. All of a sudden, I'm the novelty of the hour, as one by one, the pack members gather around to speak to me.

Taking their attentions with a pinch of salt again, I hardly let it faze me. The only reason I'm basking in my fifteen minutes of fame is because Cyrus finally joins the circle of wolves aroundthe bonfire. I notice him watching me intently through the lens of flickering flames.

Tossing my hair over one shoulder, I smile seductively at the man beside me.

“... I absolutely loved the country,” I reply to Dante's question about what Japan was like. “But I must say, I'm glad to be back.”

“Of course you are,” he smirks, taking a small sip of his drink. “So, are you gonna tell me what is the crazy thing you were referring to earlier?”

Dakota perches her chin on my shoulder and blurts, “Cassie thinks that it's crazy that I think that there's still something between her and the Alpha.”

I gasp in utter disbelief. “Whose side are you on?” I whisper irritably.

When I turn a glare of contempt on her, all she does is shrug with a sly smirk on her face.

“That's not crazy,” Dante chuckles. “We all thought it.”

I make the slow, dreaded turn to the man, wincing and praying that Cyrus hasn't heard a thing. I can't even look his way right now.

“Why would you think that?” I ask with a nervous, light giggle.

“Oh, come on, Cassie…” Dante chuckles. “There's always been tension between you two. We always found you alone, speaking about Goddess-knows-what.”

All I can do to stifle heat from coloring my cheeks is bite my bottom lip hard enough to surpass the threshold of pain. It's treading that fine line of pain that allows me to stop myselffrom thinking about nights like these when I'd be watching the bonfire, and Cyrus would drift my way. We'd end up speaking about all the elements, the stars, the planets…

Until someone from the pack came by and Cyrus turned into a ruthless brute again.

“I can assure you…” I lift my hands up in a show of surrender. “... There's never been anything between us. I would never dream of being mated to the Alpha…” I echo the words I'd heard Cyrus tell Jarrod the day I decided to leave for good.

It was the last straw, the last nail in the coffin of my confusion, that did it for me. After years of his constant hot and cold behavior, the only thing that remained consistent throughout it all was how he always bad-mouthed me in front of the others.

I was done then. Just as decided as I am now, that I have no reason to believe that he's interested in me. Cyrus hasn't changed.

His hot and cold behavior thrives. Every time he's friendly to me, he flips a switch and utters words of scorn at me. The only difference is that I'm not a naive young girl anymore.

I won't be drawn in by his antics.

“Good…” he hums with a smug smile, nodding at the Alpha across the bonfire. “If nothing is going on between you two, that gives the rest of us a fighting chance. It gives Em a chance at being this pack's Luna, too.”

Startled by Dante's parting statement, I reluctantly drag my gaze toward the Alpha. To my horror, the she-wolf, Emily, whispers in his ear.

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