Page 14 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

I storm away from him, and he calls out after me, sounding angry, “Is that the only word you know?!”

“No!” I shout back at him. “But I’m not going to waste my vocabulary on you!”

It’s late, fortunately, and there are not many people on the street as I make my way back home, dripping wet.

After entering my apartment building, I climb the steps to my floor, leaving a trail of damp carpet behind me. I’ve just inserted the key in my lock, still shaking from the cold, when Mary’s door opens; her apartment is right across from mine.

She stares at me. “What happened to you?”

“I went for a swim,” I snap.

She leans against the door frame, crossing her arms over her chest quizzically. “Now, why don’t I buy that? Did somebody push in the lake?”

“Yes,” I mutter, annoyed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Too late.” She closes her door behind her just as I open my own door. Following me inside, she says, “I want to hear this. I was waiting for you to come home so we could order pizza.”

“I really don’t want company right now, Mary,” I complain, but my friend just picks up my drenched bag and studies it.

“I’ll set this out to dry while you take a hot shower. What do you want on your pizza?”

I’m clearly not going to win here. Plus, pizza is starting to sound really nice. “Pepperoni and sausage.”

And now that I think about it, a hot shower also sounds heavenly.

My apartment isn’t huge. It has a small living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom with an attached bathroom. It is in a pack-owned building, and the rent is cheap. I applied to several other buildings in better locations, but this is the one I was assigned.

The hot shower makes me feel like a new woman. Wrapping a towel around my long, red hair, I study myself in the full-length mirror in my bedroom. My fingers linger around my lips as I finally allow myself to recall that kiss.

I read romance novels. I know all the ins and outs of sex and love and all that lovey-dovey stuff. But I never thought I would be at the receiving end of any of it.

Darian said he kissed me to prove a point. What point?

Women in books always describe the act of kissing as fireworks exploding in the background, but that’s not how it felt to me. When Darian touched me, I felt a restless energy within me, a desire growing, an ache that I couldn’t quite grasp. It made me feel helpless and anxious. It made me want to cross a line. And that scared me. I didn’t feel like I was in control.

I always have to be in control.

Darian made me feel strange. He made me act differently. Or maybe I simply relaxed around him for some reason.

I grip my head, groaning quietly.

Why does it matter that I’m so confused? It’s not like I’m ever going to see him again.

Pulling on my pajamas, I head out to the smell of cheese and bread. I must’ve taken longer than I thought in the shower because the pizza has already arrived. Mary has set out plates and is pouring water into two glasses.

She looks up at me. “Feeling better?”

“Loads.”

It’s over the course of the meal that I tell her about my second meeting with Darian. There’s no reason to lie to Mary. She chuckles at my concern about acting strange around him.

“You weren’t acting strangely. That’s how you are, Alice. You’re blunt, and you’re sweet, and you’re funny. Once we became friends, you relaxed around me and let me see who you really are. It seems you did the same with Darian.”

“I had no reason to. I barely know him.” I take a bite of the pizza, savoring the taste.

“He seems to like you, though,” Mary laughs. “He kissed you, after all.”

I look down at my plate and murmur, “He doesn’t know what I am, Mary. If he did, he wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot pole.”

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