Page 18 of Claimed By the Alpha Wolves

She hums as she lays in the grass, then moves into a sitting position, giving me a smile. “So, did you find anyone at the ball last night? Anyone looking good to you?”

I continue picking at the grass, not looking up to meet Addilyn’s gaze. I know she’s just being a good friend by focusing our conversation on something happy, but, of course, I didn’t find anyone last night. I was too busy trying not to die. Too busy avoiding everyone and anyone.Except the kind alpha and the strange one on a balcony.

A cloud moves over the sun and all the omegas collectively sigh in relief. It’s a blazing hot day, and we’ve been out here at least an hour already. We'd been brought outside right after breakfast and told to wait at the lawn. At first, all the omegas had stood together in a tight group, barely talking. But the longer we’ve had to wait, the more relaxed we’ve become.

Now, we’re all just sitting around in the grass with nothing to do but talk. Luckily, Addilyn and I are a little ways from the others, so the laughter and chatting isn’t nearly as annoying. The alphas are all grouped together on the opposite side of the lawn. Some of them are talking, others are rough housing around, wrestling and hollering. It’s like a boy’s club. But then again, life is pretty good for alphas. For men. Alphas have all the power and all the control.

I look away from them and focus on the question.Had I met anyone last night?“No,” I say, shaking my head, “definitely not.”

“Well, if you discover that you have a fated mate, you better tell me about it right away.” She points at me with a serious look before smiling. “You know Maeve? The girl from the end of the hall? She found her fated mate last night, and it’s all anyone could talk about at breakfast this morning.”

I’d heard. I’d just been too disturbed to focus on it.

“That’s…” I start to say, searching for the right word. I want to sayterrifying, but I don’t think Addilyn will agree with that, so I settle on, “…nice.”

“I mean, it would cut out a lot of the anxiety from this whole process. To justknowright away, who the right alpha is.”

“I guess.”

She gives me a pointed look, like she’s trying to look angry, but failing. “You haven’t found a fated mate, have you? You would tell me, right?”

I don’t exactly know what it feels like to find one's fated mate, but I’m pretty sure even though I don’t know, I would if it happened to me.Right?Yes, I’d have to be aware of it.

“No, I haven’t found one.” I laugh, and then my laughter dies as a sobering thought hits me. “I don’t—I don’t know if Icanhave a fated mate.”

“What?” Addilyn asks, wrinkling her eyebrows and pulling her head back. “What do you mean? Why would you think that?”

I swallow hard, looking down the field at the alphas just so I don’t have to look at her. All at once, the image of my brother’s broken body flashes into my head, and I have to squeeze my eyes tight to flush it away.

Since the day he died, I’ve had a solid brick wall around myself and everyone else. And that didn’t just stop with pushing people away like I did with Addilyn. It extended to all my mental and emotional ties, too. As time went on, I stopped feeling the pack bond. Stopped caring about the rest of my pack-mates.

If I can’t feel the simplest of connections to the people in my pack, how could I ever form a mate-bond with an alpha?

Luckily, I’m saved from answering when a ball comes hurtling across the field toward us. I flinch back when it almost hits me, but Addilyn reaches out and grabs it at the last moment. She hops to her feet, smiling buoyantly at the alphas as she tosses the ball from hand to hand.

In her little white tennis skirt and collared shirt, she looks amazing. I can’t see the alphas from this distance, but I imagine they’re all staring right at her.

One of the alphas turns, jogging in our direction, like he might come to collect the ball, but Addilyn pulls her arm back, rocketing the ball out into the field, far past the alpha who’d started heading our way. All of the men watch the ball sail into their area, landing firmly in the arms of a bare-chested, rather hairy alpha, who looks stunned.

Addilyn waves at them, then blows a kiss in their direction.

“Woah,” I breathe, when Addilyn sits back down, brushing her hands like that throw was nothing. Omegas aren’t exactly known for their athletic ability. I didn’t even know it was possible for an omega to be that strong.

“I used to play catch with my brothers,” Addilyn says with a laugh. “Guess it’s like riding a bike.”

“I guess so.”But that’s damn cool.

“Do you think the alphas were impressed? How many of them do you think saw?” She looks like a kid talking about a really good day at recess, which makes me happy.

“Every single one was staring at you, for sure,” I say with a laugh.

Addilyn glances in their direction quickly, like she doesn’t want to be seen looking. “Hopefully some of them approach me during the next event, whatever it is,” she says.

Of course they will.Alphas want the strongest omega they can get. That display probably put Addlyn at the top of many of their lists of women to check out.She better be ready to be swarmed by men.

Yet, something about what she said surprises me. “What do you meansomeof them? You don’t have your sights set on a certain one yet?”

I would have thought by now that Addilyn would have zeroed in on one guy, who she’d be determined to make her alpha. She’s the type of woman with a laser focus when it’s something she wants, and she wants an alphareallybadly.

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